1 - The Black Vault

PRAETORIAN STARSHIP
With the Central African crisis behind it, the 7th
SOS concentrated on preparations for the upcoming
ORI. The squadron deployed one MC-130H CT II to
Aalborg, Denmark, for a JCET event with the Danish
Jaggerkorpset during the first week of July.
From 8 to 14 August, a large 352d SOG contingent
deployed to RAF Macrihanish, Scotland, for ORE
Hadrian’s Wall. Unlike the previous small-scale
JCET events, Hadrian’s Wall included all three
flying squadrons, along with a robust headquarters
staff, maintenance, and support personnel. A
full range of special operations missions was conducted,
with the 7th SOS crews performing in an
excellent manner. Many lessons were learned,
and the experience gained by the staff and the
flying squadrons left the group well prepared as it
entered the final 60-day countdown to its ORI in
October. 93
With the ORE behind it, the 7th SOS concentrated
on correcting deficiencies identified during
the exercise and soon was on the road again supporting
the group’s JCET program. Single-ship deployments
were made to Norway and Morocco during
September, and the group was tasked for a
no-notice contingency-oriented exercise named Ellipse
Bravo in Italy. Scheduled operations were
soon overcome by another real-world event off the
coast of Namibia in Southern Africa.
Operation High Flight
On 14 September a USAF C-141B Starlifter
departed Windhoek, Namibia, bound for Ascension
Island in the South Atlantic. At 0900Z on 15
September, Headquarters Air Mobility Command
relayed to US Atlantic Command and to USEU-
COM that the aircraft was overdue and was
missing. At the same time a German Luftwaffe
TU-154 that was on a training flight in the area
was also reported missing. At approximately
1200Z Colonel Planert, the 352d SOG commander,
received a call from the commander,
Special Operations Command Europe, General
Lambert, who queried him on the availability of
crews and aircraft for possible support of a SAR
mission. By late afternoon Planert had been
tasked to put together a SAR package available
for deployment in the event EUCOM directed
SOCEUR to do so. Both 7th SOS and 67th SOS
personnel were put in crew-rest status, and
maintenance personnel prepared unit aircraft for
the long flight to Namibia. Group assets tasked
to support the SAR, which was named Operation
High Flight, included one MC-130H Combat
Talon II and one MC-130P Combat Shadow as
primary aircraft, and three MH-53J Pave Low III
helicopters on standby alert. With a USEUCOM
execute order in hand, 352d SOG forces quickly
began to move out. At 0755Z the first aircraft, a
67th SOS MC-130P, departed RAF Mildenhall
with a special tactics team, zodiac inflatable boat,
and Colonel Barnett on board as the mission commander.
Two hours later the MC-130H departed
at 0954Z with Colonel Arnold as the aircraft commander.
Each crew also transported elements of
an A staff, security forces, direct-support operators,
contractor, and medical personnel. The
package totaled 77 airmen, including crew members
flying the two aircraft. 94
The route of flight took them over Algeria, Niger,
Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Zaire, and
finally Namibia (fig. 53). The first IFR was completed
in Algerian airspace, followed by a second
one over Gabon. As the two aircraft were transiting
south, the search operation got under way off
the coast of Namibia with a South African air
force C-130 and Boeing 707. A German Dassault
Atlantique antisubmarine aircraft was also part
of the search team. Two South African helicopters
would join the search in short order. After nearly
18 hours in the air, the MC-130P landed at Windhoek
at 0143Z on 16 September, and the 7th SOS
MC-130H landed at 0416Z. The crews immediately
entered crew rest so that they could commence
the search operation as soon as possible.
The A staff set up communications gear, and
Barnett contacted his coalition counterparts to begin
integrating his operation into the search. 95
The first SAR mission for the 7th SOS was conducted
during the night of 16 September. The
Talon II departed Windhoek at 2043Z and employed
its sophisticated radar and FLIR systems.
The radar had the capability to detect wreckage
on the surface of the ocean, and the FLIR could
detect any heat sources (survivors). On board the
Combat Talon were one special tactics combat controller
and two pararescuemen equipped with a
zodiac boat and an MA-1 sea rescue package (two
seven-man rafts and supplies) that was rigged for
airdrop should survivors be found. The crew flew
at 1,000 feet above the water at 180 KIAS. On the
first mission nothing was found, and the crew returned
to Windhoek. Before landing the crew experienced
problems with the number 2 engine and
shut it down. The aircraft required an engine
change, and it was not until 18 September that a
new one could be shipped and installed. 96
Over the next week both aircraft flew daily
sorties, but only a small amount of wreckage and
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