Air travel during the Vietnam war was strange, especially if you carried orders that granted courier status for anywhere in III and IV Corps areas. If necessary, I could bump a door gunner to get where I needed. Needless to say, a few days R&R was always welcome. But, that's not the reason for this post. David Lange's query about the status of the school at An My started me on a search using Google Earth. (Sorry, Dave, no luck.)Searching for some of the other destinations for my travels brought back memories of flights all over South Vietnam. One in particular comes to mind. While travelling via C-7 Caribou from Vung Tau to Tan Son Nhut, the flight encountered some turbulent weather. (We were headed into a typhoon.) The flight engineer glanced out the window, then proceeded to do some calculations on that circular slide rule they always carried. No problem, or so I thought. After the third time of the flight engineer glancing out the window and hurriedly doing some calculations, I, along with the rest of the passengers, started looking out of the windows. The sea kept getting closer and closer. (It should be noted that a Caribou aircraft floats like a rock.) After the fifth time, the engineer opened the door to the cockpit area and shouted something to the pilot. Whatever he said must have made sense; but I never would have thought of cutting the engines to gain altitude. That manoeuvre made us tail heavy and the restart gave us extra power to climb above the storm. Gutsy!
Air travel in Vietnam was always an adventure if not just for the weather itself. This flight of Hueys make it home to Phu Loi just prior to a monsoon storms arrival. I remember one time when we had to put down in the boondocks to avoid flying in such a storm. We alighted next to a Flying Crane and waited the storm out. Nerves were on edge as this was Charlie's territory. I recall that we sat in the aircraft and sang a song that went to the tune of "Poison Ivy" the words being "Late at night while your sleeping Charlie Cong comes creeping all around" etc. etc.
Introduced to the commanding officer of 1st Bn Royal Hampshire regiment at a TA dinner night, I noticed his miniatures had some odd coloured ribbons. Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Freemantle had been on attachment to the Australian army, he had completed a tour in Vietnam also commanding a special forces boat section. A military MBE and MIDs for services in South Vietnam. His claim to fame was being shot in the 'ass' when in a helicopter! Brigadier Freemantle was for 11 years head of the RNLI .
I have no idea what unit my American cousin served with in Vietnam, but he once told me he was always glad to get out of the plane after a trip. He was also grateful for getting out of Vietnam in one piece. Regards Tom
I have no idea what unit my American cousin served with in Vietnam, but he once told me he was always glad to get out of the plane after a trip. He was also grateful for getting out of Vietnam in one piece. Regards Tom Tom I think all who have served in a combat zone can agree with your cousins thoughts.
Wills we sat on our flak jackets to avoid such an occurrence. Flak jackets don't do much for the derrière. Most of the truckers used to line the floor of their vehicles with sandbags to minimise damage to the nether regions. Granted, hauling a ton of sand in a Huey doesn't work that well either.
Most military craft were great. I think the scariest must have been the Air America planes with the 12 cylinder Lycoming engines. That movie (I forget the name) with Mel Gibson landing on an airstrip with a 37% slope was typical of their operations. I shit myself every time I got stuck on one of those flights.
Most military craft were great. I think the scariest must have been the Air America planes with the 12 cylinder Lycoming engines. That movie (I forget the name) with Mel Gibson landing on an airstrip with a 37% slope was typical of their operations. I shit myself every time I got stuck on one of those flights. I believe that the film was called "Air America". Enjoyable viewing. Regards Tom
I have a picture of some Air America C47's that I took in Vietnam. I will post later as they are on my computer which has gone U/S and is at the menders forcing me to use the memsahib's lap top. Helio Stallions, Pilatus Porters, and C 123s were featured in "Air America"
