by Orr Kelly
The Pave Low helicopter and the smaller Pave Hawk are equally advanced technologically.
But problems do lie not too far in the future. The Pave Lows were originally built in the 1960s, and, although drastically modernized, they are nearing the end of their useful life. The special operators would very much like to see them replaced with the V-22 Osprey, a plane whose engines rotate on fixed wings so that it can take off vertically like a helicopter and then speed off like a normal fixed-wing plane. Although debate over funding for the Osprey has focused on its use by the Marines, it is even better suited for special operations, where its speed, coupled with its ability to take off and land vertically, makes it an ideal replacement for the Pave Low.
“The Osprey makes a whole lot of sense,” says George Gray, who has been promoted to brigadier general since his duty in Desert Storm. “In Iraq, it took me two hours to get a Pave Low up to pick up that pilot and two hours back. And we had to run tankers into Iraq. With the Osprey, you could do it all in an hour and a half total, at 250 knots instead of 150 knots. That’s a big difference. Special operations has a much greater need for that plane than the Marines.”
The plane has, however, been plagued by technical problems of the kind common with a new type of aircraft and opposition even within the Pentagon. Whether it will be available to replace the Pave Low is an open question. Without it, the special operators will have a critical gap in their arsenal.
Another gap is evident on the parking aprons at Hurlburt. There are no fixed-wing escorts to fill the role of the Spads of the Vietnam era or the P-51s of the World War II battles in Burma.
One proposal that has been made is to transfer a squadron or two of A-10 fighter-bombers to special operations.
“The A-10 fits in as an escort. I pushed for that when I was commander of the 1st Special Operations Wing,” says Gray. “But I was turned down. There are a lot of A-10 folks excited about the possibility of getting into special operations.”
But James Hobson, who led the airdrop in Grenada and, in 1994, became the first career special operator to head the Air Force Special Operations Command, says that’s not going to happen.
Hobson, now a major general, says his superiors at the United States Special Operations Command don’t want to get in the business of owning any more airplanes.
“We don’t need our own,” he says. “We need A-10s chopped to us for specific operations. But I don’t think the command needs to buy and pay for its own A-10s. We train together all the time. But we don’t need to own those guys.”
Other officers fear, however, that the A-10s might not be available when they are needed—or that they might not be available at all—if special operations doesn’t “own” them. Although the A-10 is powered by jet engines, it is designed to fly low and slow, killing tanks and supporting troops on the ground. It is an ungainly craft—they call it the Warthog—and there has always been an influential element in the Air Force that would like to see it removed from the inventory entirely. At some point in the country’s budget-cutting mood, the critics may get their wish.
Of more concern to special operations leaders than hardware is the constant strain on their aircrews. The command has the highest operating tempo of any unit in the Air Force. That means long family separations, high divorce rate, and aircrews who are just plain tired. For officers, the fact that they are away from home so often, coupled with the fact that they do most of their flying at night, makes it difficult to attend specialized military schools or to gain the advanced degrees that are essential for advancement in today’s smaller and highly competitive military.
The air commandos have clearly benefited from their association with the new United States Special Operations Command. It has given them a much more secure source of funds, and that helps to account for the new buildings and its fleet of new and refurbished aircraft. But the parent command is, and will probably remain, dominated by the Army and Army thinking, and many air commandos find that worrisome.
The Pentagon’s plans now call for the military to be able to respond to two major contingencies in two parts of the world at the same time—another Gulf War and a war in Korea, for example. But Hobson, for one, doesn’t think that is going to happen. Instead, he foresees more small contingencies. Some, like Operation Provide Comfort, the aid for the Kurds in northern Iraq, may involve little or no combat.
It will be the kind of world where military commanders will wonder how to cope with unusual and unexpected situations in unfamiliar parts of the world. And then, as they have so often in the past, they will send in the air commandos to do the job.
Image Gallery
Colonel Philip G. Cochran, right, and his brother, Cpl. Joseph L. Cochran, who served under him as a member of the 1st Air Commando Group.
Wingate conducts briefing at Lalaghat, India, before attempt to deposit his commandos behind enemy lines. Cochran stands to his rear.
A DC-3 snatches a cable suspended between two posts to take a glider in tow.
P-51 Mustangs of the 1st Air Commando Group over Burma.
1st Air Commando L-5 undergoing repair of battle damage incurred during combat with Japanese forces in Burma
Soldiers try to coax a balky mule aboard a DC-3 in preparation for a flight behind lines in Burma.
Air and ground crew members pose beside a YR-4, the first helicopter to be used in combat, in Burma in 1944.
A YR-4 hovers over a B-25 that had crash-landed in India during the Burma Operation.
A Carpetbagger B-24 drops canisters of supplies to resistance forces during a rare daytime operation.
An agent, known as “Joe,” prepares to drop through the Joe hole from a Carpetbagger B-24 somewhere over occupied France.
The Air Resupply and Communications Service, a Korean War–era operation based on the model of the World War II Carpetbaggers, used the SU-16 for flights into hostile territory, including, on several occasions, the rescue of crashed U2 spy plane pilots.
The 581st ARC Wing used the H-19 special operations helicopter for daring missions far behind North Korean and Chinese lines during the Korean War.
An A-1E Sandy prepares for takeoff from Nakom Phanom, an airfield in Northern Thailand, near the Laotian border, used extensively by air commandos during the war in Southeast Asia.
An A-1E on a combat mission during the Vietnam War.
In a steep dive, an A-1H releases its bombs on a target in Southeast Asia. Various models of the A-1, originally a Navy plane, were one of the air commandos’ favorites.
Brigadier General Henry “Heinie” Aderholt is shown in the cockpit of an AT-28 during one of his tours of duty as an air commando in Thailand. (Courtesy of Henry Aderholt)
An H-53 of the type used in the Son Tay raid in 1970 takes on fuel from a C-130 tanker in Southeast Asia.
Despite intensive air attacks, the truck traffic from North Vietnam through Laos into South Vietnam by 1973 had intensified.
Major Bernard F. Fisher and Maj. Dafford W. Myers have good reason to smile after Fisher landed his A-1E and rescued Myers, who had crashed during the deadly battle for the Special Forces outpost in the A Shau Valley in March 1966.
Nimrod veterans of the Vietnam War pose in front of an A-26 at Hurlburt Field, Florida, during their 1994 reunion. The A-26 Invader was used by special forces for three decades, from World War II through the war in Southeast Asia. (Photo by author)
Wreckage of a C-130 at Desert One, destroyed in an accident during the attempt to rescue hostages from Teheran in 1980, symbolized the decline of Air Force special operations in the years immediately after the Vietnam War.
Members of an Air Force special tactics unit fast-rope from a Pave Low helicopter during exercises at Hurlburt Field. (Photo by Rose Reynolds)
Members of the 1723d Combat Control Squadron jump, with their rubber boat, from a Pave Low into the ocean during training exercises. (Photo by TSgt. Lee Schading)
A C-130 of the 16th Special Operations Squadron and a Pave Lo
w helicopter of the 20th Special Operations Squadron fly in formation over Hurlburt Field.
Navy Lt. Devon Jones, pilot of an F-14 that had been shot down, dashes toward the rescue helicopter, passing Sgt. Ben Pennington, a pararescueman who had left the helicopter to assist him. (Photo by MSgt. Timothy Hadrych)
The crew of Moccasin 05 pose in front of their Pave Low helicopter after their daring rescue deep inside Iraq. From left: TSgt. Jim Peterson, Sgt. Graig Dock, MSgt. Tim Hadrych, Capt. Tom Trask, Maj. Mike Homan, and TSgt. Greg VanHyning.
Four Air Force Pave Low helicopters used their advanced navigation systems to guide eight Army Apache helicopters, like the one shown here armed with Hellfire missiles, for a strike against two Iraqi radar sites to begin the Desert Storm attack on Iraq.
Three Air Force heroes of a fierce shoot-out in downtown Mogadishu during U.S. operations there in 1993 were honored in ceremonies in the nation’s capital. From left to right, they are SSgt. Jeffrey Bray, MSgt. Scott Fales, and TSgt. Timothy Wilkinson. Bray and Fales were awarded the Silver Star and Wilkinson the Air Force Cross.
Glossary
A-1E Propeller-driven close support aircraft extensively used in Southeast Asia. Known by the nickname of Spad and the call sign of Sandy.
A-26 Invader Twin-engine bomber introduced in World War II. It was known as the B-26 during the Korean War, but again as the A-26 in Southeast Asia.
ABCCC Vietnam-era Airborne Control and Command Center—called AB Triple C. C-47 and later C-130 planes stayed on station twenty-four hours a day. Known in daytime as Cricket, at night as Alley Cat.
Aberdeen Landing zone during Allied incursion into Burma in World War II.
ABF Attacks by fire.
AC-47 Original fixed-wing gunship used in Southeast Asia. Known as Snoopy and Puff, the Magic Dragon.
Air America Airline operated by the Central Intelligence Agency in Southeast Asia.
Air Resupply and Communications Service During the 1950s, used to drop leaflets and insert agents in foreign countries. Known by the acronym of ARCS.
Apache Army helicopter gunship.
AWACS Airborne Warning and Control System, a flying command post with powerful radar.
B-17 Flying Fortress Bomber used to deliver supplies behind enemy lines in World War II.
B-24 Liberator Bomber used by Carpetbaggers in World War II to supply guerrillas behind German lines.
Barrel Roll Area of operations along the Laos-North Vietnam border. Began in December 1964, with Thai-based planes attacking targets in Laos.
Bird Dog Single-engine Cessna aircraft, flown by forward air controllers known in Laos by the call sign of Raven.
Blue Spoon Code word used in planning the invasion of Panama. The operation itself was called Just Cause.
Broadway Landing zone for Allied incursion into Burma in World War II.
Butterfly Call sign for original enlisted forward air controllers in Laos. They were replaced in 1967 by commissioned pilots, using the call sign Raven.
Carpetbaggers Special air operation during World War II delivering supplies and personnel to resistance forces.
CAS Controlled American Source. Code name for CIA operating out of base in northern Thailand into Laos.
CAS Close air support.
Cetniks Forces headed by Gen. Draja Mihailovich, minister of war in the royal Yugoslav government, operating in exile out of Cairo in World War II.
Chalk Term used to distinguish aircraft loads, as in “Chalk One,” “Chalk Two.”
Chindits Designation for Brig. Gen. Orde Wingate’s forces operating behind Japanese lines in Burma. The word is a corruption of the Burmese word chinthe, the fierce dragon-like creature whose likeness guards Burmese temples.
Chowringhee A potential landing zone in Burma named for the main thoroughfare in Calcutta.
Combat Skyspot The TSQ-81 radar, a modified version of the Strategic Air Command bomb scoring radar. It was used in Southeast Asia to direct bombers to their targets, especially in bad weather.
Combat Talon MC-130 airplane used to carry special forces behind enemy lines.
Commando Club Code name for a radar system operated from Site 85 on Phou Pha Thi Mountain in northeastern Laos.
Commando Hunt Code name for a series of campaigns using sensors to detect and attack enemy forces and truck traffic on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. They covered the period of November 1968 through October 1971 and were numbered from I to VI.
Credible Sport Code name for a special program to modify an MC-130 transport plane so it could land in a soccer field in Teheran and take off again with hostages held by the Iranians.
Delta Force Army antiterrorist unit.
Dien Bien Phu Site of a 1954 battle in which elite French forces were trapped and defeated by the Vietminh.
FAC Airborne forward air controller.
FAG Forward air guide, controlling air strikes from the ground in Laos.
Farmgate Code name for first air commando units sent to Vietnam in 1961.
FARRP Army acronym for Forward Area Refueling and Rearming Point.
Fulton Recovery System Method in which a person on the ground releases a line attached to a balloon. The line is snagged by an airplane, and the person is then reeled into the plane.
Gee box Radio navigational device used in World War II.
Hmong Mountain people of Laos who cooperated with the United States in resistance to the North Vietnamese. Also known as the Meo.
Ho Chi Minh Trail North Vietnamese supply route through Laos into South Vietnam.
Holloway Commission Investigative body, headed by Adm. James L. Holloway III, set up after the disaster at Desert One.
Honey Badger Code name for preparations for a second effort to rescue American hostages held in Teheran.
Igloo White Code name for a system of sensors designed to detect movement of North Vietnamese troops and supplies along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and across the DMZ in Vietnam. Name changed from Muscle Shoals in 1968.
Joan-Eleanor System used in World War II in which an agent behind enemy lines broadcast a narrow beam detected by a plane flying at high altitudes.
Joe An agent parachuted behind enemy lines in World War II. Female agents were known as Janes.
Joe Hole Opening in the belly of a bomber through which an agent was dropped.
Jolly Green Giant United States Air Force HH-3E helicopter often used for search and rescue in Southeast Asia.
Jungle Jim Code word for Air Force unit set up in the early 1960s to help other nations resist Communist aggression. More formally, it was known as the 4400th Combat Crew Training Squadron.
Just Cause Code word for the invasion of Panama in 1989.
Long Chieng A forward staging area used by the CIA in Laos and headquarters for resistance fighters led by Vang Pao. The base was also known as Lima Site 30, 20 Alternate, or Alternate.
Longcloth World War II operation in which three thousand Chindits of the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade crossed into Burma on foot and penetrated deep in country in February 1943. They suffered from lack of air support and resupply.
Maquis French resistance fighters in World War II.
Mosquito A lightweight British twin-engine bomber used by the Carpetbaggers in World War II. In Korea, the word was used to designate forward air controllers flying T-6 trainers.
Nickels Slang name for leaflets dropped in World War II.
Nimrod Call sign used by A-26 pilots operating out of Thailand from 1966 to 1969.
NVA North Vietnamese Army.
NVG Night-vision goggles.
Office of the Coordinator of Information World War II military intelligence unit formed in July 1941.
Office of Strategic Services World War II military intelligence unit known as OSS, formed from Office of the Coordinator of Information in June 1942. The OSS was the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Operation Aviary Agents, code-named Rabbits, were landed by parachute behind enemy lines in Korea.
&n
bsp; Operation Buick One of a series of mass drops of supplies to resistance forces in France in July and August 1944.
Operation Cadillac Mass drop to resistance forces on 14 July 1944 as the battle for Saint-Lo was reaching its climax.
Operation Haik Small air unit set up by the CIA in 1958 to provide air support to rebels against the Indonesian government.
Operation Rice Bowl The plan to rescue American hostages from Teheran in 1980.
Operation Thursday The allied incursion into Burma in 1944.
Pave Hawk MH-60 helicopter used by Air Force special operations. Based on Army Black Hawk design and smaller than the Pave Low.
Pave Low MH-53 helicopter developed for use in low-level operations at night and in bad weather behind enemy lines.
Phou Pha Thi Secret radar site in Laos, twenty-five kilometers from the North Vietnam border, that directed air strikes against Hanoi. Also known as Lima Site 85, it was captured by the enemy in 1968.
Picadilly One of the major landing zones during Operation Thursday in Burma in 1944.
Plaine des Jarres Known as PDJ, an area in central Laos distinguished by large pot-shaped burial urns left by earlier inhabitants.
Project 404/Palace Dog A secret Air Force unit that controlled much of the air war in Laos in the 1960s and 1970s.
Project Lucky Tiger Code name for plan to introduce A-26 attack planes into Laos in 1966.
Project Mill Pond Code name for the introduction of unmarked B-26 bombers into Thailand to fly “armed reconnaissance” missions over Laos.
Project 9 Code name for preparations for the Operation Thursday incursion into Burma in World War II.
Project Ranch Hand Program, beginning in 1962, in which C-123 planes flown by air commandos dropped chemicals to burn the leaves off trees in enemy-held areas of Vietnam.