1 - The Black Vault

PRAETORIAN STARSHIP
spacing between the aircraft. With the battle still
raging around the perimeter of the airfield, Thigpen
departed holding inbound to Rio Hato. 29
Aircraft 64-0567 was the only SOF-I-modified
aircraft of the 14 Combat Talons. Its navigational
equipment was far superior to that found on the
less-capable MOD-70 Talon. Thigpen had chosen
the aircraft to lead the formation specifically because
of its improved accuracy and reliability. The
extended holding period had degraded the MOD-
70 navigation system on Davenport’s aircraft, but
Thigpen’s system was “tight” and was performing
at peak efficiency. As the aircraft neared the fourmile
point on final, tracers from the approach end
of the runway were seen by the crew as they
arched up into the dark sky. Knowing that he had
the gun-jeeps and the critical FARRP system on
board, Thigpen decided to continue the approach.
Meanwhile, Davenport, in the number two Talon,
was having problems with his MOD-70 navigation
system and was approaching the airfield well to
the west of his planned track. Gallagher, in Talon
64-0572, was still in holding and was maneuvering
to begin his approach . 30
When the number one Talon touched down on
the 4,300-foot runway, it weighed 145,000 pounds,
which was exactly its premission computed
weight. The SOF-I system had brought the aircraft
down the middle of the runway perfectly aligned
for landing. As the aircraft slowed to taxi speed,
Thigpen made a 180-degree turn on the runway
and taxied back to the perpendicular taxiway located
2,000 feet down from the approach end. As
the first Talon cleared the active, Davenport was
maneuvering for his landing. The MOD-70 system
had taken the aircraft to the west of Rio Hato.
Scanning outside the aircraft with NVGs, the crew
had realized the system error and had made a
hard left turn, followed by a right turn to final for
landing. With the number one Talon clear of the
runway, Davenport landed and rolled out as
planned. Meanwhile, Thigpen had down loaded his
gun-jeeps, the STS vehicle, and the ranger force on
the parallel taxiway, and had begun to back the
aircraft 300 yards down the parallel taxiway to a
point abeam the approach end of the runway. As
Thigpen began his reverse-taxi maneuver, Davenport
cleared the active runway on the perpendicular
taxiway. The number one aircraft had to stop
his back-taxi maneuver on a call from his loadmaster,
Brackett. There was a tree growing too close to
the taxiway, blocking the aircraft’s path. Thigpen
authorized Brackett to deplane and cut down the
tree with the aircraft’s crash ax. Meanwhile, being
unable to taxi to his planned offload position because
of the position of the number one aircraft,
Davenport’s loadmasters briefed their ranger personnel
of their new position, and downloaded
them on the perpendicular taxiway. As Davenport
completed his download, Brackett had the tree cut
down, and Thigpen continued his reverse taxi
down the parallel. A second call to stop reverse
taxiing came from Wilcox, and Thigpen again
cleared Brackett out for a second time to chop
down another tree. With the removal of the second
tree, Thigpen was able to continue reverse taxiing
to his preplanned FARRP location (fig. 40). 31
While the first two aircraft were maneuvering
to their final positions on the parallel taxiway,
Gallagher landed at 0259, made a 180-degree
turn on the runway, and taxied back to the approach
end to download his assault force. Within
five minutes of touchdown, Gallagher was again
airborne in aircraft 64-0572 and headed back to
Hurlburt Field. Ten minutes after Gallagher departed,
the number four SOLL II C-130E landed,
made a 180-degree turn, and taxied back to the
approach end of the runway. Once in position on
the northern perpendicular taxiway, the number
four aircraft offloaded its personnel and cargo.
The number five SOLL II aircraft was on short
final when tracers appeared from west of the airfield.
The crew initiated a low approach and took
the aircraft around. Once number five was clear
of the runway, number four taxied into position
and departed the airfield to the south. Approximately
10 minutes later, number five landed
without further incident and taxied to the northern
perpendicular taxiway. Once its personnel
and cargo were offloaded, the number five C-130
reconfigured internally to a medevac configuration
and remained in position ready to extract
wounded personnel from the airfield. 32
At the southern end of the airfield, Davenport
had reverse taxied down the parallel taxiway and
had stopped in front of Thigpen’s Talon. He had
an identical FARRP system onboard his aircraft
and was prepared to carry out the FARRP tasking
in the event Thigpen’s Talon was not able to do
so. The lead Talon already had deployed a fuel
hose and had set up a fuel pumping system that
was connected to the aircraft’s single-point refueling
manifold. All available crew members were
cleared off headsets to assist the two ranger munitions
specialists in transporting the 180-pound
rocket containers approximately 100 yards to the
helicopter refueling and rearming point. As soon
as the FARRP was operational (approximately 15
328