1 - The Black Vault

THE SON TAY PRISONER OF WAR RAID
objective area at a compound previously identified
as a secondary school. Unaware that he had
landed short of Son Tay, Colonel Simons and his
raiding force deplaned and immediately engaged
enemy forces. Apple 2, realizing that Apple 1 was
at the wrong location, corrected back to course
and executed an alternate attack plan that eliminated
Apple 1 from the assault. Colonel Simons,
in the meantime, realized that he was not at Son
Tay and quickly called Apple 1 back for extraction.
Nine minutes elapsed before Colonel Simons
could disengage the enemy and get his force to
Son Tay Prison aboard Apple 1. 73
Colonel Blosch’s Talon, call sign Cherry 2, arrived
at the IP at almost the desired time separation
from Cherry 1, disengaged from its flight formation,
climbed, slowed down, and dropped two
BLU-27/B napalm ground markers. Cherry 2 then
dropped its pallets of battle simulators and MK-6
log flares as planned. After its airdrops Colonel
Blosch entered a holding pattern 15 NM west of
Son Tay. With Major Franklin’s mission a success,
Colonel Blosch was now tasked to remain in
orbit on call to provide any assistance Colonel Simons
needed during the course of the attack. At
approximately H+ 13 minutes, Cherry 2 detected
unexpected AAA activity near its holding pattern.
Evasive action was taken, and the aircraft sought
protection in the hills northwest of Mount Ba Vi
(a prominent peak in the immediate area) and
established its preplanned alternate holding orbit.
The remainder of Colonel Blosch’s orbit time was
spent below 1,000-feet AGL, with almost continuous
SAM radar activity being received by his
EWO. 74 Numerous SAMs were sighted by the
crew over the Son Tay area. As many as eight
impacted into the hills west of the Red River
where Cherry 2 was orbiting. None were directed
at the Combat Talon . They were missiles that
missed their high-altitude F-4 and F-105 targets
and exploded in the darkened hills as they fell
back to earth. Colonel Blosch was scheduled to be
the last aircraft out of the objective area. In the
event anyone else was shot down, he would direct
SAR forces during any ensuing rescue operation. 75
He also had three Fulton recovery kits on board,
and the aircraft had been configured for recovery
operations in the event a surface-to-air recovery
extraction was required. He had two other alternate
missions—jamming enemy communications
and providing an HF secure communication link
between General Manor at Monkey Mountain
and Colonel Simons at Son Tay. While in orbit,
Colonel Blosch’s crew performed the two alternate
missions. 76
When Cherry 1 completed its airdrops, Major
Franklin accelerated and headed west out of
North Vietnam. En route to its holding point,
Cherry 1 detected prelaunch emissions from a
SAM site and descended to 1,000-feet AGL. The
signal disappeared, and the aircraft climbed back
to its flight-plan altitude. At this time a missile
launch was detected, and the aircraft descended
back to 1,000-feet AGL. The crew observed a missile
exploding several miles east of the aircraft. 77
Once in Laos Major Franklin activated a homing
beacon on his Combat Talon to assist the remaining
forces as they departed the objective area, and
Cherry 1 orbited for 49 minutes at the planned
holding point. Back at Son Tay, the operation was
going like clockwork. Apples 4 and 5 loggered on
an island in a finger lake some seven miles west
of the prison. Their mission was to extract the
American prisoners once Colonel Simons called
them into Son Tay. 78 Apple 3, the gunship aircraft,
loggered about 1,000 yards west of Son Tay
with Apple 1 and Apple 2. The three aircraft were
set to extract the raiding force and provide additional
firepower if Colonel Simons called.
As the operation was unfolding, Carrier Task
Force 77.0 continued its diversionary attack to the
east of Hanoi. High overhead the prison, F-4
Phantoms and F-105G Wild Weasels prowled the
skies in search of enemy MiGs and SAMs. The
Wild Weasels had their hands full with SA-2s.
Sixteen SAMs were fired at the F-105s, and they
retaliated with eight Shrike antiradiation missiles.
During the fight two F-105s were hit by enemy
SAMs, with one aircraft sustaining significant
damage. As the two aircraft turned towards the
west and the relative safety of Laos, the pilot of
the more severely damaged aircraft detected a
rapid loss of fuel. The SAM had punctured one of
the aircraft’s fuel cells. Although a standby KC-
135 tanker aircraft rushed toward the disabled
fighter, the aircraft ran out of fuel before it could
make contact. The two-man crew ejected safely
over Laos while the other F-105 returned to its
base in Thailand and landed without incident. 79
MiG activity was absent. There were only two
night interceptors at Phuc Yen on alert that
night. They were reported by subsequent intelligence
to have been ready to launch at the end of
the runway but never took off. Their inability to
launch might have been due to the effectiveness
of the jamming packages aboard Cherry 2 and the
US Navy aircraft. While holding west of Son Tay,
155