1 - The Black Vault

PRAETORIAN STARSHIP
landing zone. The road appeared to be similar to
rural dirt roads in America and connected the
two small towns of Yazd and Tabas. How much
traffic traveled the road at night was a question
that could not yet be answered. 79 By March the
desert landing location had been identified as
Desert One, with the helicopter overnight hide
site called Desert Two. Kyle was adamant about
one thing before landing a C-130 in the desert—
there had to be a site survey done to determine
if the subsurface could support the heavyweight
aircraft.
From aerial photos Desert One appeared to
offer a suitable landing area. With the dirt road
on one side, there were approximately 4,000 feet
of hard sand that could be used for a runway.
North of the road also appeared to be usable.
Tracks of vehicles cutting across the area indicated
that the sand there was also compacted
and could at least support heavy trucks. For the
site to accommodate six C-130s and eight helicopters,
an area 800 feet wide was needed near
the end of each runway. To ensure that the site
could handle C-130 aircraft and to put into
place some means for the C-130 crews to determine
the beginning of the landing zone, a survey
mission had to be flown to the site before
commencement of the operation. 80
With the sourcing of a second bladder system,
it was time to expand the 8th SOS crew pool from
three to four. The prototype Benson tank used
by Meller’s crew during the previous dress rehearsal
was still under development, and it
would take Detachment 4 and LAS Ontario
some time to field the production version. The
JTF decided to proceed with the rubber fuel
bladders since they were on the shelf and available.
Brenci realigned his existing three crews
and created a forth crew commanded by Capt
Hal Lewis. Some new personnel were brought
on board, with the four formed 8th SOS crews
consisting of the following personnel:
Crew 1 Crew 2 Crew 3 Crew 4
Brenci Uttaro Meller Lewis
Tharp Diggins Thigpen McIntosh
Ferkes Bagby Williamson Harrison
Chapman Beres Launder Bakke
Galloway Weaver McBride McMillan
Gamble Yagher Robb Drohan
Almanzar Newberry Daigenault Mayo
Chitwood Gingerich Mink Beyers
Wiley Doyle Chesser McClain
Sanchez Metherell Thomas Bancroft
Hurlburt Field had been scheduled for major
runway resurfacing and repair during fiscal year
80, and the contractor had been continually postponed
in starting the work. Since Hurlburt Field
had only one runway, the repair would close the
airfield for an extended period. Therefore, on 14
March all Combat Talons were moved to Eglin
AFB, and the gunships were relocated to Duke
Field. Future operations would stage out of Eglin
AFB, with aircrews and maintenance personnel
being shuttled from Hurlburt Field for each flight.
The 1st SOS aircraft also staged out of Eglin AFB
when they returned for the next exercise.
By March Kyle was ready to source one EC-
130E (ABCCC) aircraft from Keesler AFB, Mis -
sissippi. His security concerns had been minimized
when Pinard’s maintenance deputy, Colonel
Robertson, was transferred from Hurlburt Field
to Keesler AFB to become the chief of maintenance
for the ABCCC outfit. Darden and a basic
Combat Talon crew picked up ABCCC aircraft
62-1857 in mid-March, and training began to develop
low-level formation procedures with the
Combat Talon. The EC-130E did not have the
sophisticated radar and navigational equipment
found on the Combat Talon . For the next two
weeks, formation flights were conducted to allow
crews to become proficient in the ABCCC aircraft.
With the large communications capsule removed,
there was a full cargo compartment that
could handle two of the rubber fuel bladders.
With the in-flight refueling modification already
installed on the aircraft, it was nearly ideal for
the bladder-refueling mission.
Preparation for the 25 to 27 March rehearsals
intensified as the JTF fixed-wing aircraft operated
out of Eglin AFB. Still uneasy about refueling
the helicopters on the ground, Kyle had
asked Guidry to look at the possibility of refueling
the helicopters in flight using the Combat
Talon. Without refueling pods installed, Guidry
looked at the possibility of extending a refueling
hose out the ramp of the Talon to allow the helicopter
to refuel immediately behind the aircraft.
A test mission was flown on 18 March with a
20th SOS helicopter, and Guidry determined
that turbulence immediately behind the Talon
was too great to allow safe operation of a centerline
hose system. Guidry reported back to Kyle
that the only way to refuel the helicopters was
to have the wing refueling pods installed on the
Talons. Oliver was working a solution at LAS
Ontario, but the lead time was too long for the
capability to be in place for the rescue attempt. 81
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