1 - The Black Vault

PRAETORIAN STARSHIP
world. Before acquiring the SATCOM Combat
Talon had relied on the HF radio for long-range
communications, with scrambling and decoding
devices required if communications were
kept secu re. 75
From 20 to 24 February, refurbished FLIR systems
were installed and tested on the three 8th
SOS aircraft. Most Hurlburt Field aircrews had
never seen an FLIR since they had not been installed
in TAC MC-130s over most of the previous
10 years. Only the 1st SOS had maintained the
FLIR capability throughout the 1970s for its sea
surveillance mission. Hurlburt Field crews soon
mastered the system and incorporated the FLIR
into their low-level mission profile. It was none too
soon—Vaught was getting nervous about the relaxed
pace of the JTF. He was also uneasy about
the helicopters—they had yet to show that they
could accurately navigate to the rendezvous site on
time. He and his JTF staff wanted another fullscale
rehearsal, but the CJCS denied his request.
A political solution was being vigorously pursued
by the Carter administration, and Jones did not
want to risk affecting that process. Towards the
end of February, Jones reluctantly approved a
limited joint training exercise for a portion of the
JTF. It so happened that both Kyle and Hess
were still on leave when the planning began for
the late February rehearsal. Through oversight of
the JTF planners, Turczynski was not notified in
time to bring his two crews back from Kadena AB
to participate in the rehearsal. The 8th SOS crews
interpreted their absence as another indication
that President Carter was not seriously considering
a military option.
On 25 February Uttaro prepositioned his Combat
Talon (aircraft 64-0572) to Pope AFB in prepa -
ration for a 26 February launch. The limited rehearsal
was scheduled to use Twenty-Nine Palms
for Night One and Laguna AAF for Night Two,
with both scenarios compressed into the same
night. Only three Combat Talons were available
for this practice, with Brenci flying 64-0562 and
Meller flying 64-0567. One nonair-refuelable AC-
130H, commanded by Dunwoody, also participated
in the exercise. (Dunwoody would land at Davis-
Monthan AFB to refuel.) Uttaro’s and Brenci’s aircraft
were both in the Sealy configuration, with
Uttaro carrying Delta Force and Brenci carrying a
reduced ranger airfield seizure package. Meller’s
aircraft was in the Exxon configuration and for the
first time had internal pallet-mounted twin Benson
tanks installed instead of the rubber fuel bladder.
(Oliver’s team had come through again with a
prototype twin-tank, roll-on, roll-off assembly.)
The now-standard sequence of events began on 26
February, when Uttaro departed Pope AFB with
his Delta Force on board. Brenci was next, taking
off from Hurlburt Field one hour after Uttaro left
Pope AFB. One hour after Brenci, Meller was airborne
from Hurlburt Field. Uttaro and Brenci
joined up en route and refueled in cell formation
with a KC-135 tanker and then proceeded towards
Twenty-Nine Palms. Meller followed the other two
aircraft with a single-ship refueling and continued
on his flight-planned route. 76
Uttaro flew the FLIR clearing pass over
Twenty-Nine Palms with the newly installed
FLIR system, and Brenci landed on the blackedout
runway one minute later with his ranger
airfield-seizure package. Fifteen minutes after
Brenci’s landing, Uttaro was down with Delta
Force. A short time later, Brenci was airborne,
with Uttaro following him 15 minutes later. Meller
was the last to land at Twenty-Nine Palms, and he
taxied into position and began to set up for the
scheduled helicopter refueling. Weather in the
high-desert country of southern California had
been marginal during the operation, but all three
Talons were able to make their scheduled landings
as planned. The helicopters, however, could not
make it through the mountain passes to the airfield
and had to return to Laguna AAF. With the
helicopters canceled due to weather, Meller’s crew
loaded up the rangers and departed Twenty-Nine
Palms. With the three Talons airborne, Vaught decided
to rehearse the ground helicopter refueling
operation at Laguna AAF. The short one-hour
flight was uneventful, and Meller was the first to
land at Laguna AAF, followed by Brenci and Uttaro.
After another hour on the ground waiting for
the helicopters, the three Talons departed for a
short flight to Davis-Monthan AFB, where they
went into crew rest for their return flight to Florida
the following day. Late in the evening on 28 February,
the three aircraft arrived back at Hurlburt
Field. 77
The limited rehearsal had not gone as well as
Vaught and Kyle had expected, primarily due to
bad weather and its impact on the helicopters.
The Combat Talon portion of the exercise was
perfect, with even Vaught commenting to Kyle on
how well he thought the Talon crews performed.
The weather had been a problem for the helicopters
but not for the fixed-wing aircraft.
By March 1980 only about 11 hours of darkness
were available for the rescue force to complete
its Night One operation. The helicopters
204