1 - The Black Vault

PRAETORIAN STARSHIP
Hoa Hotel. The move from the Anh Hoa Hotel to
on-base quarters began on 12 September and was
completed on the 20th. Several more days were
required to move government equipment from the
hotel to storage facilities on base. Each officer was
provided a one-man room that was supplied with
a refrigerator and an air-conditioner. Although
not as desirable as living downtown, base quarters
were considered very adequate. 78
The turmoil associated with the 14th SOW’s
departure from Nha Trang AB threw the 15th
SOS supply section into a tailspin. Several factors
contributed to decreased efficiency of the supply
unit. In August the supply section experienced a
100 percent turnover in personnel. In September
the move from the Anh Hoa Hotel created a large
requirement to account for and store government
assets located there. All excess equipment was
turned in, with the remainder either being stored
or installed in the Nha Trang Officers’ Club. The
biggest impact on 15th SOS supply, however, was
the transfer of the base supply function to the 12th
Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) at Cam Ranh Bay. 79
Being separated from its primary support unit,
the 15th SOS would soon feel the strain of a system
geographically detached and unresponsive to
its operational needs.
As 1969 came to a close, squadron members
looked back on the year with mixed emotions. No
aircraft had been lost to the enemy, yet the bombing
halt remained in effect, thus preventing Talons
from executing their primary UW mission
into North Vietnam. The Anh Hoa Hotel had been
returned to its Vietnamese owners, and most of
Nha Trang AB had been turned over to the Vietnamese
Air Force. Officers and civilian technical
representatives were living on base in quarters
formerly occupied by 14th SOW personnel. Several
popular leisure activities that were located at
the Anh Hoa Hotel were moved to the officers’
club, including the shuffleboard and nightly movies.
The unit looked forward to 1970 and, hopefully, an
increase in combat tasking.
Air Operations—1969
During 1969 the 15th SOS continued its aircrew
proficiency training program. Training missions,
however, were only a small percentage of the
overall flying effort, as logistics support requirements
placed great demands on the unit. A breakdown
of Combat Talon flight time, for example, revealed
that 79 percent of the total flying hours
were devoted to logistics support, 10 percent to
combat support missions, and 4 percent to maintenance
flights. 80
Mission figures for 1969 showed that Combat
Talon aircraft flew 12 combat missions. They
transported 7,681,460 pounds of cargo and 42,590
passengers. Combat Spear crews conducted 18
Black Baron training sessions, but the number of
Red Baron missions could not be determined,
since the crews conducted this training in conjunction
with routine logistics missions. Combat
Talon aircrews practiced low-level terrain-following
flight and demonstrated the Fulton recovery system
on six occasions throughout the year. Several
factors adversely affected aircraft utilization. Aircraft
availability rates for the C-130E(I) decreased
because of modification programs as the
aircraft began rotating back to the United States
in August. 81
1970: Redeployment Efforts
Beginning in 1970 and extending into 1971,
the Air Force began a series of initiatives, outlined
by two memorandums from the chief of
staff, Air Force to JCS in May and September of
1970, to withdraw the Combat Talon from South
Vietnam. The thrust of the Air Force position
was that Combat Talon aircraft were not being
used sufficiently in a combat role to justify their
retention in South Vietnam and that most SOG
logistics requirements could be satisfied by the
Common User Airlift System. MACV, however,
with CINCPAC’s backing, insisted that these assets
remain in South Vietnam. Countering the
Air Force rationale, MACV cited the “maintain in
readiness” doctrine postulated by the JCS after
the bombing halt in 1968 and contended that security
considerations precluded the use of Common
User Airlift System to transport SOG’s sensitive
cargo and passengers. 82
Although no formal proposals to relocate the
unit actually surfaced until 1970, Air Force planners
had expressed concern over the utilization of
the Combat Spear aircraft as early as the summer
of 1969. A commander in chief, PACAF
(CINCPACAF) message, dated 12 August 1969,
revealed that the use of Combat Talon aircraft
had come under close examination from October
1968 to July 1969. PACAF analysis showed that
81 percent of 15th SOS flying time was devoted
to combat support (logistics) missions, whereas
only 7 percent was committed to combat missions
and about 8 percent to training missions. 83
The 1970 SOG history stated that Seventh AF
proposed relocation of the Combat Spear unit as
108