spartans_in_darkness

Tep SEeRETseOMltHHX1
DF DIPOLE ANTENNA
(V) L-20A
(Beaver)
ARDF
'li~c~'lft
x.••...............
~·....L·.-fI
l!b
-c
(V) Right ~ngle techni~ue of 5ign~1
acquisitlon fat ARDF
(Sl/SI) In March 1962, the army engineers
arrived in Vietnam to test out their developmental
package. Three U-6As were secured from the
Signal Corps, and army transport pilots were
assigned to fly the Beavers. "Backseaters," the
DIF equipment operators who rode in the rear of
the aircraft, were recruited from the PRD-1 crews
of the 3rd RRU. Controlled field tests were carried
out against captured VC low-powered transmitters
seeded around the ci of Sai on
So successful were the tests that
'------_.....
the 3rd RRU wanted to rush the planes into operation,
despite teething problems such as an
embarrassing tendency of the antennas to drop
off in mid-flight.t"
(Sl/Ell) The planes seemed to offer the 3rd
RRU the answers to all their DIF problems. Itwas
the speed of operation and the relative security of
the aircraft that appealed the most; getting in
almost on top of the transmitter while covering so
much area; the jeep-mounted PRD-1was no competition.
In fact, so certain was the ASAcommand
of the potential for ARDF that it formed an
Aviation Section and began developing techniques
and methods of operations for ARDF missions.
A flash network, that is, a communications
system for passing D/F-related information, was
set up between the aircraft, Davis Station and the
Whitebirch MRDF sites so that important technical
data such as callsigns, frequencies, and station
identities could be passed back and forth."
(TSl/SI) The first ARDF mission took place
on 22 March when the planes, now renotated as
L-20s, flew against VC transmitters located east
of Saigon. For four weeks the aircraft flew. They
managed to fix the locations of six major headquarters
belonging the Nam Bo VC command
~tructur~ . I
Durin~ this operation, the Air Force contributed a
specially-configured C-s4withififrared detectors,
EO 1.4. (c)
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