1 - The Black Vault

THE SON TAY PRISONER OF WAR RAID
secure communications with his airborne mission
commander, Colonel Frisbie, as well as with General
Blackburn and the National Command Author -
ity back in Washington. When Major Franklin’s
launch time of 1555Z passed, General Manor queried
his launch element in Thailand for an explanation.
When informed that Major Franklin could not
start one of his engines, General Manor immediately
turned to Colonel Kraljev, his Combat Talon
staff expert, for options. Quick calculations determined
that the Talon could operate on three engines
but would have to perform the rotate maneuver
and exchange helicopter formation lead with
Colonel Blosch. If Major Franklin lost the number 4
engine after takeoff, however, he would have serious
problems remaining airborne. General Manor
thought the mission warranted the risk. As his staff
prepared to transmit approval for a three-engine
takeoff, word came from Thailand that Major
Franklin was airborne at 1618Z and was on his way
to rendezvous with the helicopter formation over
Laos after completion of their planned aerial refueling.
He was 23 minutes late, but he would make up
the time without any mission impact. 63 Major
Franklin had called for maintenance to check out
the number 3 engine. They determined that the engine-bleed
air valve was stuck closed and could not
be opened by standard operating procedures. Remembering
an emergency demonstration in the
simulator the previous year, Major Franklin had
maintenance button up number 3, and he performed
a simultaneous start on number 3 and
number 4 engines. It worked, and both engines
came on-speed at the same time.
At 1618Z, just as Major Franklin broke ground
at Takhli RTAFB, the HH-53s and HH-3, along
with the HC-130Ps, launched from Udorn
RTAFB. All aircraft taxied, took off blacked out,
and maintained strict radio silence. Takeoff clearance
was given by the control tower by way of a
green light. If the aircrew had not received a
green light by 30 seconds after scheduled takeoff,
the crew was instructed to takeoff without clearance.
After single-ship departure, the aircraft
joined in formation with the HC-130Ps for the
first leg of their journey to the refueling track in
central Laos. 64 Shortly after helicopter launch,
the A-1s launched from NKP and orbited in the
area to join up with Colonel Blosch’s number 2
Combat Talon. Colonel Blosch had launched without
incident at 1528Z from Takhli RTAFB but
was unable to locate the A-1s over NKP. The A-1s
proceeded toward Vientiane, Laos, and turned
north after passing that location. Colonel Blosch
overtook the A-1 flight and joined en route prior
to the helicopter refueling track. 65
Out of Udorn RTAFB the helicopter formation,
lead by Maj William J. Kornitzer Jr. in an HC-130P,
flew north into Laos. En route to the refueling
track, the formation encountered clouds at 2,000
feet. The formation climbed to 7,000 feet and
maintained VFR on top conditions until after refueling
with the HC-130Ps. The tankers remained
in orbit over central Laos as Major Franklin’s
Combat Talon assumed formation lead and
headed northeast toward North Vietnam direct to
the rendezvous point. Major Franklin had regained
the lost 23 minutes by flying higher-thanplanned
airspeeds direct to the rendezvous point.
As Major Franklin proceeded down track with his
helicopter formation, Colonel Blosch had his A-1
formation in tow and shadowed Major Franklin’s
route (fig. 29). The only visible external lighting
from the Talons was three blue formation lights
on top of each wing. The two formations were initially
in the clear but entered a cloud layer while
still in eastern Laos. After approximately 10 minutes
in the clouds, the two formations broke out
and had clear sailing until reaching the North
Vietnamese border. Not long after penetrating
North Vietnamese airspace, however, broken
clouds were again encountered in the mountains
near the western border. The formations remained
Figure 29. Route of Flight into North Vietnam, Son Tay POW
Raid (Source: Route constructed by author from official Air Force
records; map provided by Air University Library, Maps and Charts
Division, Maxwell AFB, Ala.)
153