spartans_in_darkness

EO 1.4. (c)
limbo of "hurry up and wait" as alerts went on
and off as the situation in Laos fluctuated.t"
sion ofthe mission.f" In large measure, the air
force's deployment matched the contingency plan
1t: had written up the year earlier.
(TS//SI) The mission for the CCU was.to provide
VHF intercept coverage of communist air
forces operating in the area of western DRVand
eastern Laos - where most of the communist air
supply fli hts 0 erated - and to alert the 2d
ADVON
L...-
......deploy to the region. In
this, the CCU was heavily dependent on the
USAFSS site in the Philippines for tip-offs to
incipient communist flight activity.t"
'--
-__...----IIAmong other problems,
the long flight time needed to arrive at an orbit
suitable to intercept the airlift communications
cut down on actual mission time, while poor
atmospherics often hampered VHF hearability.
The handful of available aircrews took a pounding
from the extended missions aloft and in a short
time were exhausted. The air force was to learn,
as it did later with the Hilo Hattie program in
South Vietnam, that ACRP mission plans needed
to be written with actual conditions in mind. 8 2
(TSJ/SI) On 20 December 1961, PACAF
advised[
~hat it was sending a 350-man
team to man to establish a Tactical Air Control
System (TACS) under Project Barn Door to
Vietnam. (Barn Door was an USAF project to
upgrade the forward air control system (FAC) in
South Vietnam.) This contingent included the
CCU, which would be limited to fifty men. The
following day, the wing advised PACAF that it
would deploy one intercept van, one cryptanalytic
van, one analysis van, one HFDF station, and a
set of support vans and vehicles. At the same
time~ pdvised PACAFthat it was sending
a communications van to Tan Son Nhut Air
Base to support the AFSSO serving the USAF's
2nd Advanced Squadron (ADVON). The wing
also sent along additional intercept and analysis
vans to Tan Son Nhiit in case there was an expan-
EO
1.4. (c)
(TS//SI) In January 1962, the AFSS elements
finally arrived in Vietnam. They split up between
the two air bases. Two H-1 intercept vans were
airlifted from the Philippines to Danang while
another four vans, including the HFDF station
(V) AFSS intercept operators in '1
mobile van 'It Dananq, circa 1962
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