Another Nighthawk Lesson Learned.

Curt, please share this with Finnerty and Ed. Even though I was still flying with the Fireball Aviation guys, this LZ would eventually be visited by us in November of 1970 when we were flying Slicks with the 11th Cav.
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As it relates to the point of all these posts, please remember this:

Sometimes that which looks like a duck, flies like a duck and sounds like a duck, isn't a duck at all. That's been a saying for as long as I can remember and in most cases, it still applies. Let's use profiling as an example. More often than not, a rag head is a rag head and it really pisses them off when you stare at them like they're a rag head. Having said that, here's an example that should be viewed in a manner that indicates our thoughts about certain things are sometimes wrong.

One night, just west of Xuan Loc, I had another Nighthawk mission that required me to fly over the rubber plantation between our rear area near Long Binh and Xuan Loc. I don't remember the name of the LZ but I do remember a briefing that changed our mission from one where we responded to a call for help to one that put us in the role of Hunter Killer. I think it was sometime around August of 1970.

Intelligence reports and sensors indicated movement in the area and local eyewitnesses said the NVA were very active in the area and were bringing in large amounts of weapons and ammo. I can't remember if I had Wolman as the Aircraft Commander (AC) or not but I think that I was sitting in the left seat of the Huey and that was normally reserved for the AC.

When we arrived over the area, we noticed an 18 wheeler log truck parked on a dirt road that ran east and west through the LZ. We called the Tactical Operations Center and were given permission to fire on the truck as it was in a zone where that was forbidden.

We began our gun run from North to South, decided to use the 50 caliber as the weapon of choice and gave the gunner permission to fire. As soon as he opened up, I noticed that the VSI or Vertical Speed Indicator began to vary a great deal. The needle, instead of showing straight and level, began fluctuating between a 500 foot per minute climb and a 500 foot per minute dive and it did that with every round coming out of the 50. The VSI was a pressure instrument and if you think a 44 magnum is loud, believe me when I say that the 50 caliber, among all machine guns I was familiar with, sets the standard for loud. The concussion, even though I was wearing a flight helmet, took it's toll on me and I was eventually grounded because of ear problems that came from that flight.

In any event, as the rounds began to penetrate the truck, the gunner began moving his shots to the rear where the logs were located. At that point in time, the largest secondary explosion you could imagine, erupted from the logs. That's when we knew it wasn't a duck or a log truck. They had hollowed up one of the trees and packed it full of God only knows what. Mortars, RPGs, rockets, hand grenades, you name it. The explosion was so big, it completely eliminated our view of the truck.

After that, we orbited the site for a brief period of time and after reporting that to the TOC, we were given permission to leave the area and RTB, return to base.

Curt, if you and Ed will recall the day that Finnerty and I pulled the 4 arps out of the LZ that they were left behind in, you will remember that dirt road and Ed will certainly remember the log he was hiding behind when the NVA were trying to shoot his ass off. It certainly wasn't the log that was hollowed out and containing the ammo but I'm sure it was one of the logs from that truck because it was way too short for the normal "tree length log" that typically went to sawmills.

That was another lesson learned for me and even though I had only been in Vietnam less than 4 months at that time, I had already logged a lot of combat hours flying Nighthawks and it gave me another example of the thoughts that Aircraft Commanders had to have when flying missions like that. "Don't trust anything".  What you see, sometimes isn't what you see at all.

I probably only have one or two more posts to make about my experience with the 199th because they were sent home in September of 1970 and my total time there was only 4 months before I went to Saigon to interview for the job as the Nighthawk Standardization Pilot for the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Air Cav Troop.