1100 Hours Local, 18 January 1966
531st Tactical Fighter Squadron
Bien Hoa Air Base, Republic of Vietnam
The bombing halt was long over. The North Vietnamese had used the respite to refurbish supply points, supply routes, and gun pits. Although President Johnson had little trouble with Congress increasing troop strength in Vietnam, rising protest rallies across the nation were making their voices heard. The 3rd Tac Fighter Wing was back in the war mounting scores of sorties per day. In the 531st, Rawson had loaded Court Bannister with as many extra duties as he could find including voting officer and Post Office liaison. Another was to deliver weekly briefings to the pilots of the 531st on a subject of Rawson's choice. Today he was about to give a basic one on the airplane and the weapons. Fourteen pilots, seated on folding chairs or lounging against the plywood walls, were assembled in the squadron map room.
"The F-100D can carry 6,000 pounds of munitions on six under-wing hard points, three on each side, and one centerline station on the fuselage," Bannister began. He had taped bombing charts and photos to one wall which he referred to as he spoke. "Usually we carry two 275-gallon fuel tanks, one on each of the intermediate or middle wing stations, to extend our range so we don't need to mid-air refuel here in South Vietnam."
The pilots were listening to Courtland Bannister tell them what they already knew, but never tired of hearing because every pilot sincerely believed any information pertinent to fighter flying, particularly in combat, needed to be hashed and rehashed time and again so that selection and usage became as natural as an eye blink.
"We can carry four types of bombs; two types of napalm, two types of CBU, rockets nineteen to a pod, and 800 rounds of 20mm ammo for our four M-39 cannons. Delivery speed for all ordnance is 450 knots which equates to 515 mph. Dive angles range from zero for the CBU up to 60 degrees for dive bombing. Release altitudes range from 300 feet for CBU, nape, and strafe, up to 4,500 feet for 60 degree dive bombing."
He pointed to a photo. "The bombs, all called GP for General Purpose, are the 250lb Mk 81, the 500lb Mk 82, the 1000lb Mk 83, and the 2000lb Mk 84. Using the Mk 904 nose fuze, they can be set to explode on contact or delay up to a second allowing penetration of bunkers or tunnels before detonating. The Mk 82 500 pounder comes in both the high and low drag configuration. As a high drag bomb, called a Snakeye, the basic bomb shape has a folding metal umbrella fitted to the rear that opens up, which increases drag when the bomb is released to slow its speed instantly like our drag chute does when we land.
"This allows us to drop the bomb as low as 300 feet from a shallow 15 degree dive yet escape the fragments because it slows down so fast and impacts well behind us. The bomb also has time to arm before impact, as the tiny propeller on the nose fuze revolves a predetermined number of times that, by screw action, lines up the firing pin in the detonator. Of course, the wire attached to the bomb rack holds the propeller in place until release, otherwise we'd be flying around with armed bombs the minute we took off and the airflow wound it down. A slick low drag would impact right underneath and probably fill the plane's belly full of fragments."
Bannister nodded at Freeman who had raised his hand. "What's this I hear about using gas?" the lieutenant asked.
Bannister grinned. "Actually, that subject is supposed to be classified until the substance is used. But it would be difficult to brief its use on a scramble from Alert. The Mk 94 container holds 500 hundred pounds of DM or CN tear gas with a vomit kicker. It's only used in or north of the DMZ during a rescue attempt when bad guys are closing in on one of our guys who has been shot down. We do not use it flying this far south." Bannister saw another raised hand, a new lieutenant.
"What are those two-foot pipes I saw on the nose of some bombs?"
"Those are fuze extenders called Daisy Cutters for use against troops in the open. The pipe sticks out of the nose fuze and explodes the bomb two feet off the ground scattering fragments in a lethal radius out to about 70 feet. Other anti-personnel weapons are the CBUs, the nape, and the 20 mike-mike strafe. The 2.75-inch folding-fin rockets don't hack it. They are World War Two vintage. Half the time the damned fins don't unfold evenly, and they wind up going all over the place. You'd cause more damage to the VC jettisoning the whole damned pod full of rockets on their heads than salvoing the rockets at them." He slapped his hand on a photo of rocket pods.
"The Special Forces particularly like CBU and nape because they are so accurate, and they are so accurate because we drop them so low. For nape, use a shallow 15 degree dive. To drop CBU, fly straight and level at 300 feet holding .72 Mach which is about 465 kts or 500 mph. The bomblets are grapefruit-sized. They dribble out from the rear of the canisters, one under each wing, and unfold narrow strips of metal that make them float down like winged maple seeds. There are two types of CBU; 1 and 3. CBU 1 explodes on contact sending out 200 marble-sized pellets lethal to 38 feet. CBU 3 is white phosphorus, Willy Pete, the same stuff the FAC puts in his marking rockets. The guys up North use a whole different type for flak suppression that can be dropped from a higher altitude." Bannister pointed to another raised hand. It was Colonel Frank Darlington, the DO.
"Remember, gentlemen," the DO said, "if you press in there and drop this stuff too low, it won't have time to arm. Charlie loves dud 500 pounders and CBUs. He cuts 'em up for mines and booby traps."
"That's right," Bannister interjected, "drop too high and you increase your chance of missing the target; too low and you give Charlie more ammo.' He stepped closer to the seated pilots. "Remember also, gentlemen, you don't drop anything, not even a hint, without the Forward Air Controller's permission. It makes no difference what your rank is, he's the boss down there. He can send colonels home. He knows the land, the people, the weather, the friendlies, the bad guys, and where the guns are. A ground troop wants air, he puts in a request through his net. If it's approved, he gets a FAC and the FAC gets us. The FAC talks to the ground guys on Fox Mike then relays to us on our UHF. You must get permission to release ordnance on every pass, I say again, every pass. There is no blanket permission for a flight or for multiple passes. You get his clearance before each run-in, or you pull up high and dry. He may only have 1 percent of our horsepower and 5 percent of our weight, but he is 100 percent in control."
Another question was voiced, "Why don't we have more 500 and 700 pound bombs, and why don't we have more API (Armor Piercing Incendiary) and HEI (High Explosive Incendiary) 20 mike-mike? Using ball ammo doesn't do much."
Bannister put his hands on his hips, glanced briefly at the DO, and said, "Because, dammit, we are short of ammo. Not just here, but all over Vietnam. We know it's true for three reasons. First, the "Stars and Stripes" talks about it every day; second, the Wing Weapons Officer confirmed it this morning as I was putting this brief together; and third is the most obvious. Look about. Who has been carrying a full load for the last three weeks? So, gentlemen, regardless of what the Secretary of Defense McNamara says to the contrary, we have a bomb shortage." Bannister paused as the pilots nodded and muttered to each other. As he was about to resume his brief about being able to strafe from any angle, but warning against target fixation and flying into the ground, he saw a lieutenant colonel from Wing HQ enter and whisper something in the DO's ear. They exchanged a few more words, then Colonel Darlington walked up to stand next to Bannister.
"Gentlemen,' he said, "the briefing is over. The frag shop has just called from 7th. We are to surge and lay on extra sorties. The war is picking up. The VC are attacking various U.S. and Vietnamese camps and fire bases throughout South Vietnam. Colonel Demski here has the frag orders. Major Rawson, schedule your men as you see fit according to these targets and ordnance requirements."
At this news, most of the pilots cheered and said words like "shit hot" and "let's go get 'em." Others responded in a manner more pensive than pleased. Some wondered what in hell the VC thought they were doing. The remainder, a few, felt their scrotum tighten as they automatically speculated the increased odds of pieces of metal puncturing their beloved pink bodies. Bannister, while glad to be back doing what he told Doc Russell he wanted to do, was one of those who wondered what in hell the VC, who were so obviously being beaten, thought they were doing. Maybe some kind of a Vietnamese version of the Japanese banzai attacks of WWII.
As the pilots began to leave the room, Darlington motioned Rawson to one side. "I assume Bannister will fly today," he said.
"Well, yes," Rawson said, mustache twitching, "he'll fly today."
"Put him on my wing," the DO said.
1300 Hours Local, 18 January 1966
F-100s airborne from
Bien Hoa Air Base, Republic of Vietnam
Two by two the heavily laden F-100 fighters took off in formation. Each flight lifted from the Bien Hoa runway, afterburners roaring and flaming like blast furnace stacks. Once he had assembled his flight of four in fingertip formation, Colonel Frank Darlington, callsign Ramrod Two Zero, called Paris Control for vector information to his FAC.
"Roger Ramrod Two Zero, vector 360. You will rendezvous with Copperhead Zero Nine on the 352 degree radial at 48 nautical miles off Bien Hoa's Channel 73 TACAN. Contact Copperhead on 253.4. You copy, Ramrod?"
"Roger, Paris. Ramrod copies Copperhead Zero Nine at 352 slash 48 off 73 on 253.4. Is that affirm?"
"Ramrod Two Zero. That's affirm. And Ramrod, be advised there are thunderstorms in and around the area. Paris out."
Darlington, Ramrod Lead, spent several minutes leading his formation up through the clouds. They broke into the clear at 15,000 and leveled off at 16,000 feet. He fish-tailed his fighter signaling Two, Three, and Four to spread out and fly in partially extended tactical fingertip formation where each could view the other in addition to a selected segment of the sky and the ground. In position about 500 feet out and slightly aft of Darlington's left wing, Bannister flew as number Two in the front seat of a two-seater F-100F. Rawson was in the back to give Bannister, as he said, "a no-notice check ride."
Equidistant out and aft on Darlington's right side, Captain Jack Ward flew the number three slot. As Four, Lieutenant Fairchild flew the same distance out and aft on Ward's right wing. Viewed from above, the four flight members were positioned like the fingers extended on the right hand with the thumb tucked under the palm. Ramrod Lead positioned as the middle finger, Two the index finger, Three the next finger to the right of the middle, and Four situated as the little finger.
Darlington glanced to both sides verifying the proper positioning of his flight. Satisfied, he transmitted the instructions "Ramrod go 253.4." Each flight member acknowledged in turn.
"Two," said Bannister.
"Three," said Ward.
"Four," said Fairchild.
After their calls, all four pilots switched the knob on their AN/ARC-34 command radio to the FAC frequency. For a back up frequency all four flight members, as did all pilots who flew, maintained a listening watch on 243.0 Guard Channel for emergency calls.
After checking in, each pilot shook his head and squirmed in his seat to relieve the kinks caused by the strain of close formation flying through the gathering thunderstorm clouds. Each relaxed, looked about to orient himself, then began to review in his mind the data he had entered on his mission card (BNH Form 16).
Each pilot also had a card on his kneeboard listing all the AFVN repeater station frequencies and locations in South Vietnam. Tuning their AN/ARN-6 Radio Compasses, that looked like the WWII coffee grinders, to the proper station would allow the needle on the automatic direction finder (ADF) unit to point to the station. Besides being a handy navigation device, the pilots could listen to the music being played on AFVN. Pilots called the card "Music to Strafe By." The two wingmen were tuned in to some Tijuana Brass. Court normally had his on, but refrained because of Rawson in the backseat.
After several minutes of holding the heading, Darlington called for his FAC. "Copperhead Zero Nine, Ramrod Two Zero." After thirty seconds with no answer he called again: "Copperhead Zero Nine, this is Ramrod Two Zero. How do you read?" This time he got an answer.
"Ah, roger, Ramrod, this is Copperhead Zero Three. Zero Nine had some problems. I'm replacing him. How do you read?"
"Loud and clear, Zero Three. Are you ready for my lineup?"
Captain Phil Travers said to go ahead then told his new backseater, First Lieutenant Toby Parker, to copy Ramrod's lineup.
"Ramrod Two Zero, Mission Number 6 dash 2651, four Fox One Hundreds with eight Mark-82 Snakeyes, four BLU-27 napalms, four CBU-1s, and 3200 rounds of twenty mike-mike."
"Roger, Ramrod. Copperhead copies eight snakes, four napes, four CBs, and 3200 times twenty mil. You got sparklers or balls?"
Travers explained to Parker that sparklers were the 20mm High Explosive Incendiary (HEI) that exploded in bright flashes whereas balls were 20mm solid slugs. Darlington said they had some of each; every fifth round was a sparkler. Once in a while the airplanes carried Armor Piercing Incendiary (API), but not unless they had to because its destructive properties were useless in the jungle against soft targets.
"Listen up, Ramrods, here's what we got. Your target is near a small unit patrol that got bounced by a large force of Charlie and are pinned down. There is one canopy of jungle. Target elevation is 50 feet above sea level, wind is 10 knots from 250 degrees, safe bail out area is about 10 miles northeast of us at the Loc Ninh SF camp. You copy?"
"Ramrod copies."
"And the weather is going to get delta sierra (dog shit). You'll have to thread around the best you can. Copy?"
"Ramrod copies."
"We'll start with the Snakes first to open things up, then nape and CBU, and if we have anything left we'll use the 20 mike-mike. Copy?"
"Zero Three, Ramrod copies. We're at the rendezvous point now. What's your position?"
"If you see the horseshoe bend in the river with the rice paddies to the north, I'm orbiting south at fifteen hundred."
"Tallyho, Zero Three," Darlington transmitted and began a left orbit over the FAC. He pumped his control stick fore and aft to make his F-100 bob up and down, the signal for his flight to go into trail formation, one behind the other, with about 500 feet between each airplane. When the FAC marked the target the four ships would form a box pattern around the target each rolling in after the other spaced so as to keep their guns on the target while the F-100 in front pulled off. The pilots preferred to fly a wheel pattern where they could roll in from random headings to confuse the gunner's tracking solution; but with friendlies on the ground, precision was the word even if it meant taking a round or two. Often the FAC told them what heading to use in a simple code.
"The FACs rolling in Florida to New York to mark," Travers said.
"Roger, cleared. Set 'em up, Ramrod," Darlington transmitted.
Each pilot reached down to his armament control panel and set the switches: Bomb to Single Release; Bomb Arming to Nose and Tail; Release Signal to Manual; and Master Switch to On. The little button left of the trim switch on top of the pilot's control stick closed an electrical circuit each time the pilot pressed it to release whatever weapon was selected on the armament panel. Pilots called it the pickle button. The two wingman lowered the volume of their AFVN music.
"Oh, yeah," Travers said, "Copperhead Zero Nine reported light to moderate ground fire, but was unable to pinpoint the positions before he took a round in his engine and had to RTB (Return To Base)."
Bannister tightened when he heard the guns were up. He could see the general area to the north where Austin had gone in. His fireball flared and played just behind Bannister's eyes. Damn, he said into his mask, not at all certain he was ready to go up against the guns again. He arranged his switches and noted his fingers were trembling as he flicked up the Master Arm switch to ON.