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

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Two Hurlburt Field-based Air Commandos display early loudspeaker setup for U-1 0. Arguably the world's best propagandists, the communists proved extremely sensitive to its use against them. (ACA collection) ''THE OTHER wAR'' Psychological Warfare from Above mericans traditionally have a hard time accepting "psychological warfare" PSYWAR) as a legitimate weapon even in time of war. The "planned use of propaganda and other psychological actions to . . . influence hostile foreign groups" 174 demands in practice much more finesse and patience than the more quickly generated and visually impressive air strike. But when done right, PSYWAR can produce some astonishing results. Appropriately, it was the Air Commandos who were chosen from the beginning to lead the Air Force in Southeast Asia for what was frequently termed "the other war." 94
With the arrival of the initial Farm Gate cadre in the Republic of South Vietnam in November, 1961, the Air Commandos brought four, twin-engine C-47 transports, equipped with belly mounted loudspeakers for PSYWAR missions. 175 On 4 December they flew their first mission, which soon revealed the flaw in their approach (The belly mounted speakers) . . . cost us about two years in redesign time. Like the train blowing its whistle as it comes down the track, the voice from the air kept changing pitch as the aircraft approached and departed, leaving no more than two or three intelligible words out of a complete sentence 176 While design engineers were searching for a fix, 35 the C-47s switched to propaganda leaflet drops. It was on one of these missions, in February, 1962, that the Air Commandos lost their first aircraft to combat in Vietnam. The C-47 was dropping leaflets during Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, when downed by hostile ground fire. 177 With the introduction of improved, side-mounted speakers on the C-47s, voice clarity improved even when the aircraft flew at altitudes high enough to avoid most small arms fire. As one early observer recalls Programs broadcast from 3, 000 feet high are clearly audible on the ground. Broadcasts are often pleas to the guerrillas in the jungle to surrender. It is an eery thing to hear a C-47 droning high overhead, from which a monstrous celestial voice is enjoining the sinners to repent. 178 Almost to the month, four years passed between the arrival of the initial Air Commando C-47s, and the docking in Saigon of the USS Breton, a ship filled with seventeen ilisassemb~d U-10 Super Courier ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~, light observation planes. 179 Quickly assembled and flown to the northern coastal enclave of Nha Trang, the single-engine U-lOs joined the four C-47 transports in a newly organized unit dedicated totally to the PSYW AR mission, the 5th Air Commando Squadron (ACS). With only the 5th ACS and a handful of Vietnamese Air Force planes dedicated to PSYWAR, the former was soon spread thin throughout the country in small detachments. The missions were both difficult and dangerous for a number of reasons. Arguably the most experienced worldwide exponents of propaganda on Third World populations, the communists proved ultra-sensitive to its use against them by the Air Commandos. A typical loudspeaker mission could last four hours, flying slowly at L-----------------------------------1 A rare photo of U-10 and C-47 PSYWAR aircraft in formation in 1967. These are 35 The solution was found in the development of lightweight, door-mounted speakers that could fit from "E" Flight, 5th Air Commando in either the C-47 or the smaller U-10. Squadron at Binh Thuy air base in South Vietnam. (USAF photo) 95
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AIR COMMANDO! 1950-1975: Twenty-fiv
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CONTENTS Acknowledgements •••
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In special tribute to Brigadier Gen
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FOREWORD From their inception as "A
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American Air Force and Army officer
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By attacking at extremely low altit
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THE PENTAGON's "Air Resupply & Comm
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Tough and fiercely anti-communist S
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Manchuria Sea of Japan ChoDo-~, Isl
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Painting "Air Resupply" on the side
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As dangerous as the night missions
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Taking off from Cho-do in the early
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ON THE RooF oF THE WoRLD With the "
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With all USAF markings removed, Civ
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BAHIA DE CocHINos With the Alabama
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The next day Somoza's son flew with
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2 airstrikes as a tactic to mask U.
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And finally, where the American Gre
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_ -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: May Day! Moments before, this singl
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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