1 - The Black Vault

THE IRANIAN RESCUE MISSION
had landed on his second approach and had offloaded
his passengers. 130
Three minutes after Jubelt landed on the north
runway, Fleming landed on the south side.
(Carney’s CCT had set up a second runway on the
north side of the dirt road and had repositioned
the remote landing lights on the south runway
after arriving aboard Brenci’s aircraft.) Fleming’s
touchdown was also firm but resulted in no damage
to the aircraft. As Fleming landed on the
south runway, Lewis (in Republic 4) touched
down on the north runway and taxied to his helicopter
refueling location. 131 Tharp, in Republic 5,
was the next to land on the south runway and
was marshaled to his refueling location. Meanwhile,
the blivet refueling system aboard Fleming’s
Combat Talon was rolled off his aircraft, and an
alternate helicopter-refueling location was established.
There were now five aircraft on the ground
at Desert One, with the helicopters inbound and
due to land shortly. Kyle needed to launch Brenci
and Jubelt to make room for Uttaro’s tanker and
the inbound helicopters. It was time to move the
bus passengers to Brenci’s aircraft for transport
out of Iran. Kyle learned at that time that one
of the Iranian generals had lost a loaded pistol
perhaps while aboard Brenci’s aircraft. After a
prolonged search of the cargo compartment, the
weapon could not be found. Kyle made the decision
to move the passengers to Fleming’s number
three Talon to make sure that the pistol did
not fall into the hands of one of the Iranian prisoners.
132
Carney’s CCT marshaled Brenci into position
on the south runway for takeoff, and he departed
Desert One for Masirah Island as soon as the
dust settled from Tharp’s landing. Jubelt was
then cleared for takeoff, and he departed the
north runway behind Brenci. There were now
three aircraft on the ground at Desert One, with
Uttaro (Republic 6) orbiting near the LZ. With
Brenci and Jubelt airborne, Uttaro was cleared to
land on the north runway. The fuel truck was
still burning as Uttaro passed over it on his approach,
and he was forced to make a go around.
After a second attempt to land that resulted in a
second go around, Republic 6 touched down
uneventfully on its third approach and was marshaled
to its refueling position next to Lewis’s
tanker on the north runway. The four aircraft at
Desert One were aligned with Lewis and Uttaro
on the northeast end of the north runway and
Tharp and Fleming roughly at the same position
on the south runway. Fleming’s aircraft was
turned 180 degrees from the other three, facing
down the runway to the southwest (fig. 32). It was
2315 at Desert One, and the helicopters were not
in sight. 133
The helicopter formation (call signs Bluebeard
1 through 8) was having a terrible time making it
to Desert One. Their departure from the USS
Nimitz and the initial leg of their low-level route
went as planned. Shortly after takeoff, however,
Bluebeard 5 experienced TACAN radio failure
and began to experience some yaw problems
brought on by a malfunctioning automatic flightcontrol
system. Although not 100 percent ca -
pable, the aircraft was still flyable and able to
complete its mission. 134 About 140 miles inland,
the next helicopter maintenance problem occurred.
Bluebeard 6 experienced a blade inspection
method (BIM) warning light on his RH-53D,
a condition that indicated possible loss of the
main rotor blade’s internal-nitrogen pressure due
to a crack in the blade. The aircraft commander
landed his aircraft and shut down his engines to
inspect the BIM visually. Meanwhile, Bluebeard
8 landed to assist the downed aircraft. The crew
of Bluebeard 6 determined that the aircraft was
not airworthy and elected to abandon their aircraft
and board Bluebeard 8. There were now
seven RH-53D helicopters en route to Desert
One. 135 The helicopters were operating radio silent,
and the lead helicopter did not know the
status of Bluebeard 6 or Bluebeard 8. With both
crews on board, Bluebeard 8 was 15 minutes behind
the other six helicopters.
The helicopter formation was flying at 200 feet
above the ground when it entered the first
haboob. What had been only a mild nuisance to
Brenci and the fixed-wing aircraft was nearly
catastrophic for the helicopters. Barely able to
see the ground, Bluebeard 1 pressed on, hoping
to pop out on the other side. Visibility decreased
from a mile to a quarter of a mile, but the formation
managed to stay together. Visibility improved
as the formation departed the first
haboob. After a few minutes in the clear, the formation
entered the second, denser haboob, and
had extreme difficulty seeing each other in the
thick dust. When Bluebeard 1 could no longer see
the ground and could only occasionally see Bluebeard
2, he elected to turn his formation around
and attempt to exit the dust storm on a reverse
heading. Upon exiting the haboob, Bluebeard 1
landed in the desert with Bluebeard 2 in trail.
The remainder of the formation did not see Bluebeard
1 make the U-turn and had continued on
223