1 - The Black Vault

PRAETORIAN STARSHIP
Photo courtesy of David Sammons
Combat Talon II en route to a high-altitude leaflet drop
over the Republic of Yugoslavia.
Photo courtesy of David Sammons
High-altitude leaflet drops required supplemental oxygen
for aircrew personnel. Pictured is Tech Sergeant
Beck during a PSYOPS mission.
Photo courtesy of David Sammons
Leaflets departing a 7th SOS Combat Talon II during
Operation Allied Force.
unit made preparations to deploy to Brindisi,
Italy, where JSOTF-Noble Anvil was established
as the headquarters for SOF. 175
On 23 March the 7th SOS deployed four Combat
Talon IIs to Brindisi to deliver key staff personnel
and equipment to San Vito AS in preparation
for the NATO air war. These prepositioned
forces served as the nucleus for all special operations
activities in-theater, including combat
search and rescue and AC-130 gunship employ -
ment. For the 7th SOS Combat Talons, tasking
revolved primarily around leaflet missions flown
in support of the Joint Psychological Operations
Task Force.
The PSYOPS leaflet campaign was the largest
since World War II. Because of the low-altitude
AAA and SAM t hreats, Combat Talon crews flew
at 30,000-feet altitude, unpressurized, and during
daylight hours to accomplish their mission.
On 3 April 1999 the first of 52 combat mission
sorties was flown by a 7th SOS Combat Talon.
For the next 79 days, the CT II squadron maintained
a 24-hour cycle of planning, executing,
and recovering missions flown over the Republic
of Yugoslavia. 176
The 7th SOS dropped more than 101.7 million
leaflets on 81 separate targets. 177 Drop accuracy
was confirmed daily as international news media
broadcast the arrival of each leaflet type as it
landed on its intended targets. The phenomenal
success enjoyed by NATO forces throughout the
campaign could be partially attributed to the excellent
work done by the deployed Combat Talon
crews. Milosevic was forced to accept the desires
of the people of Kosovo and to agree to the terms
demanded by NATO to protect its welfare. Combat
operations were terminated for the squadron
on 8 June 1999 after the last leaflet mission was
completed.
Throughout the remainder of the year, the
7th SOS pulled alert duties at RAF Mildenhall
in anticipation of follow-on tasking in the Balkans
and actually launched on several occa -
sions. The penetration capabilities of the aircraft
were far superior to anything else in the
theater. In addition to supporting combat operations
in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the 7th SOS participated
in five of the 352d SOG’s JCETs, two JCS
exercises, and 15 SOF training deployments. The
squadron deployed to Romania for the first time
ever and participated with Romanian forces in
NATO’s Partnership for Peace initiative. A CT II
crew flew night terrain-following missions in marginal
weather through the Romanian mountains
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