1 - The Black Vault

COMBAT SPEAR
quarters and were provided their own transportation.
Colonel Britton was authorized a 1958
Chevrolet four-door sedan. Stray Goose officers
were also allowed to live downtown at their own
expense and were provided an open-air World
War II-era command pickup, which became the
responsibility of the copilot of crew SG-01. The
Anh Hoa Hotel, located in downtown Nha Trang
City, was leased by the Stray Goose officers and
became an unofficial bachelor officer’s quarters.
With heavy maintenance done at CCK, personnel
were frequently given the opportunity to travel
back and forth and acquire items in short supply
in Vietnam, including soap, fans, bicycles, motorcycles,
and water heaters. Additional duties were
assigned at the Anh Hoa Hotel to keep it running
smoothly—mess officer, club manager, and hotel
manager were key duties that required many
hours of additional commitment. Within six
months the facility was the envy of everyone and
was the only one of its type in SEA. Enlisted personnel
were required to live in the barracks on
Nha Trang AB, but they too set about improving
their quarters, as did the officers. 3
With its own transportation assigned, Detachment
1 personnel handled their transportation
needs internally both on and off base. As a result,
the unit was able to isolate itself from the rest of
the base population, which was important due to
the sensitive nature of its SOG mission. Although
the host wing performed some maintenance functions,
heavy maintenance was done in Taiwan.
Approximately every six weeks, an aircrew would
take a Talon to CCK and remain there for three to
four days while the scheduled maintenance was
being accomplished. 4
Two major problems associated with Detachment
1 during this period were training deficiencies
for the aircrews and lack of test equipment
and spare parts for unique electronic gear on the
aircraft. Accelerated training was performed during
November and December in Taiwan and in
the Philippines to correct training deficiencies.
(It took most of September and all of October for
the unit to set up routes and begin quality lowlevel
training.) Electronic equipment repair continued
to be a problem during the early Talon
deployment to SEA because of the long lead time
from the supplier to the field and because of limited
spares. 5
During a pilot proficiency sortie flown out of
CCK on 24 September 1966, aircraft 64-0561 experienced
a potentially catastrophic main landinggear
malfunction. Maj Albert P. Blosch was giving
USAF Photo
Aircraft 64-0561 with left main landing gear hanging
from the aircraft. The aircraft was flown from CCK AB,
Taiwan, to Kadena AB, Japan, where Lt Col Albert P.
Blosch made a perfect landing on the foamed runway.
Capt Samuel R. Rose an instructor upgrade ride
when the malfunction occurred. The crew had
completed 36 touch-and-go landings when the
control tower called advising them that the left
main landing gear was hanging below the aircraft.
A similar malfunction on a slick C-130 had
resulted in aircraft destruction and loss of the
crew while landing at Ton Son Nut AB in Vietnam.
Recognizing the severity of the situation,
Blosch requested foam be laid down on the runway.
Due to a previous C-130 crash at Ton Son
Nut, the aircraft was diverted to Kadena AB, Japan,
where foam was available, and the political
repercussions of an aircraft crash was less than in
Taiwan. It was 1600 local time when the malfunction
occurred at CCK; therefore, a night landing
at Kadena AB was required. Blosch was a highly
experienced C-130 aircraft commander, having
logged more than 2,000 flying hours in the C-130
aircraft and 1,500 hours in civilian crop-duster/
sprayer-type airplanes. He had also completed a
previous combat tour in Vietnam before being assigned
to Combat Talon. He was the right man to
have at the controls of the Combat Talon during
the emergency.
Blosch requested 5,000 feet of foam be laid on
the diagonal runway at Kadena AB. The flying
safety officer at Kadena AB demanded that for
security reasons all airfield lights be extinguished
until after the emergency. There were thunderstorms
moving into the Kadena AB area, thus allowing
time for only 4,500 feet of foam to be laid.
With the airfield in total darkness, the Combat
Talon crew had to locate the approach end of the
runway by utilizing the lights of a “follow-me”
jeep that was positioned with its headlights at the
beginning of the runway. Blosch shot the approach
so that the predominant crosswind came
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