Air Commando!: 1950-1975 - Twenty-five years at the Tip ... - AFSOC

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By attacking at extremely low altitudes their accuracy on the convoys was phenomenal. Best of all, they discovered something they could never have guessed until then. North Korean and Chinese fire discipline was impeccable. Ordered by their commanders to avoid detection at all cost, even after being fired upon, the truck convoys took the napalm attacks without response. Later, Aderholt recalls being one of the first Americans to sight the huge, nighttime Chinese infiltration that changed the course of the war We saw thousands and thousands of troops, trucks, bumper to bumper! It was a moonlit night, snow on the ground .. . We flew right down, turned our landing lights on, and they wouldn't fire. We came back and reported and were told "Well, the B-26s will get them. " 6 As history shows, the B-26s didn't get them, Det 2's pinpricks were shrugged off, and the massive Chinese attack took the UN headquarters by bloody surprise. 7 Det 2 's "born ber" operations were ordered shut down when headquarters became aware of their existence, as was a later FECOM/Det 2 .------------------------------------. plan to raid the headquarters of the Russian Advisory staff in North Korea. As the UN forces retreated from the Chinese attack that winter, contact was lost between Returning from a mission a Det 2 aircraft lands at a captured enemy airstrip. For the time-critical mission to locate advancing Chinese units, special identification stripes were painted under the wings of the Air Commando C-47s to identify the low-flying planes to agents using colored smoke signals for communication. (USAF photo) the two armies . The urgent question for the UN became, where will the Chinese strike next? From FECOM-Intelligence the mission went to CCRAK/Det 2: Find the Chinese, and fast! In response, Det 2 parachuted an "early warning line" of Rabbits at various distances along an east-west axis across the Korean peninsula. Because the SCR-300 radio frequently took too long to set up, or terrain blocked its signals, the agents on this mission were given red, green , and yellow smoke grenades. At the same time Det 2 had large black and white stripes painted underneath its C-47s' wings for identification purposes. In the following days Det 2 aircraft flew at 3,000 ft over the terrain along the line of agents. Upon spotting the conspicuously marked Det 2 aircraft, the Rabbits communicated with a simple system. If the Chinese had crossed the point, red smoke was put out; green if South Korean troops were near the area; yellow if no one had crossed the line. Crude but effective, the fieldexpedient detection system worked. 4 Extensively documented elsewhere, the refusal of the United Nations Command headquarters to believe front-line and intelligence reports of the massive Chinese infiltration led to horrific UN casualties in a number of subsequent defensive battles. 14
Det 2 also returned to Psychological Warfare (PSYWAR) operations, this time by fitting loudspeakers to two of its C-4 7s. Just the sight of a slowflying aircraft flying low over their positions with impunity was in itself a psychological blow to Chinese communist and North Korean soldiers below, who undoubtedly wondered why their air force wasn't fighting. Occasionally a female voice was used for the loudspeaker messages, adding insult to injury to the enemy below. Measuring the effectiveness of airborne PSYWAR was difficult, but sometimes a mission occurred that really underscored the power of these messages The exhaustion and strain of high-risk HUMINT gathering shows on the faces of two returning female agents during a post-mission debriefing. The debriefs immediately follow their release by pre-arranged code word from a United Nations prisoner of war cage. (Bob Brewer) The surrender messages were particularly effective . . . a large group of Communist troops once surrendered to the circling C-47 "Voice" plane, which then directed them where to walk. The C-47 was accompanied by four F-51 's and the loudspeakers told the troops they could be napalmed if they didn't obey. More than 300 troops surrendered along with several trucks of supplies. 8 In the overall scheme of the United Nations' PSYWAR effort, Det 2' s contribution was minuscule in scope but significant in other ways. Perhaps most important, it demonstrated yet again the flexibility, initiative, and aggressiveness that characterize Air Commando operations . And just as the World War II heritage was passed onto those who flew and fought in Korea, Det 2 in turn would pass it on to those would follow in their footsteps. The true spirit that marks the Air Commando, whatever they're called, whatever their war. 15
Page 1: AIR COMMANDO! 1950-1975: Twenty-fiv
Page 5 and 6: CONTENTS Acknowledgements •••
Page 7 and 8: In special tribute to Brigadier Gen
Page 9: FOREWORD From their inception as "A
Page 12 and 13: American Air Force and Army officer
Page 16 and 17: THE PENTAGON's "Air Resupply & Comm
Page 18 and 19: Tough and fiercely anti-communist S
Page 20 and 21: Manchuria Sea of Japan ChoDo-~, Isl
Page 22 and 23: Painting "Air Resupply" on the side
Page 24 and 25: As dangerous as the night missions
Page 26 and 27: Taking off from Cho-do in the early
Page 28 and 29: ON THE RooF oF THE WoRLD With the "
Page 30 and 31: With all USAF markings removed, Civ
Page 32 and 33: BAHIA DE CocHINos With the Alabama
Page 35 and 36: The next day Somoza's son flew with
Page 37 and 38: 2 airstrikes as a tactic to mask U.
Page 39 and 40: And finally, where the American Gre
Page 41 and 42: _ -THE INDOCIITNA WAR 41
Page 43 and 44: The commandos' mission is to provid
Page 46 and 47: The early days in South Vietnam. A
Page 48 and 49: CHAOPHAKAOW! A Bhuddist monk blesse
Page 50 and 51: Det 6's (Water Pump) crudely-made s
Page 52: THE STINGING BUTTERFLY Combat Contr
Page 55 and 56: fighters and their targets, someone
Page 57 and 58: The phase-out of the Butterfly FACs
Page 59 and 60: Thailand's northeastern border with
Page 61 and 62: The Air Commando base at Nakhon Pha
Page 64 and 65:
FIGHTING WITH THE HEART Apparently
Page 66 and 67:
differences, profiteering, local po
Page 68:
RANCH HAND I nearly November, 1961,
Page 71:
target area, one of the twin-engine
Page 74 and 75:
The smoking ruins of a government f
Page 76:
From inside "Puff the Magic Dragon"
Page 81 and 82:
lit up the drop zone like a night S
Page 83 and 84:
PREDATOR AC-130s Prowl the Ho Chi M
Page 85 and 86:
sampans sighted, nine were destroye
Page 87 and 88:
that would destroy anything on the
Page 89 and 90:
equest for 25 twin-engine, single-r
Page 91 and 92:
were transferred to the 21st Specia
Page 93 and 94:
May Day! Moments before, this singl
Page 95 and 96:
With the arrival of the initial Far
Page 97:
The Air Commandos also took PSYWAR
Page 100 and 101:
AIR CoMMANDos ABovE AND BEYOND THE
Page 102 and 103:
een twenty days. Fisher made the sn
Page 104 and 105:
exact posttton. Then he spotted som
Page 106 and 107:
ENDNOTES "Rabbits" and Napalm: Agen
Page 108 and 109:
114. Ibid., p. 37 115. Ibid. 116. I
Page 110 and 111:
BIOGRAPHICAL NoTE CoLONEL MICHAEL E
Page 112:
• ··,··. 911 • . ,• • H
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Air Commando!: 1950-1975 - Twenty-five years at the Tip ... - AFSOC

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