1 - The Black Vault

Chapter 2
The Combat Talon Weapons System
From Duck Hook to Stray Goose
The requirement for Combat Talon was deeply
rooted in SEA, but actually resulted from the failed
Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961. After the failure,
NSAM 57 was issued in June of that year. In accordance
with NSAM 57, the DOD was charged
with the responsibility for conducting both overt
and covert paramilitary operations that required
significant numbers of military trained personnel
and/or large numbers of military-type equipment.
President Kennedy directed a worldwide review of
ongoing covert operations in 1962 to determine if
any of them fit into the category defined in NSAM
57. The American program, begun in 1955 and directed
towards North Vietnam under the supervision
of then-Col Edward Landsdale, fit into the
NSAM guidelines for transfer to the DOD. When
SOG was established in January 1964, responsibility
for air operations in support of the program
was officially assigned to the new organization, although
it lacked any organic air capability of its
own. 1 As discussed in chapter 1, to support SOG’s
fixed-wing requirements, six C-123B aircraft were
modified by Lockheed Air Service (LAS) Ontario under
the program titled Project Duck Hook . The first
aircraft began modification in February 1964, one
month after the formation of SOG. The last aircraft
was delivered to the USAF in June of that year. The
project included the installation of special receivers,
ECM transmitters, a Doppler Navigation System,
and a special seven-color camouflage paint scheme. 2
Its mission was code named Heavy Hook. On 14
Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.
—Theodore Roosevelt
October 1964 SOG assumed full responsibility for
unconventional air operations into North Vietnam,
with the six C-123B aircraft as its primary
air asset. 3
In addition to Duck Hook , LAS Ontario was
tasked in September 1964, under the USAF Big
Safari program, to conduct a study to determine
what capabilities were needed to support other non-
DOD classified operations. From the study a new
program emerged and was identified as Thin Slice.
This program resulted in a contract to modify two
C-130Es (aircraft 64-0506 and 64-0507) that would
eventually become Combat Talons 62-1843 and 63-
7785.* Modifications to the two Thin Slice aircraft
included the addition of a terrain-following radar
(the SPR-3—later upgraded to the AN/APQ-115), a
surveillance capability (the AN/APR 25/26), and an
electronic warfare (EW) suite for self-protection. 4 As
part of the original modifications, the two aircraft
were sanitized of all identifying markings, including
original aircraft serial numbers. As the aircraft
were further modified to support unique mission
requirements, they were redesignated Rivet Yard I
in August 1966, and the Thin Slice project was officially
terminated. 5
In 1965 the US Army Special Forces (SF) es -
tablished the requirement for a long-range aircraft
capable of supporting its worldwide low-level
infiltration/exfiltration mission. Many early SF officers
had served during WWII in the OSS, and a
few had served in special operations units in Korea
in the 1950s. The legacy of units like the Carpetbaggers
served as the basis for their requirement.
__________
*Aircraft 64-0506 and 64-0507 were produced by Lockheed in September 1964, and three months later, in December 1964, they were removed
from any published inventory. The author could find no further record of these two aircraft. Through interviews with both LAS Ontario and former
Combat Talon personnel, confidential conversations revealed that aircraft 64-0506 and 64-0507 were those originally modified under the Thin Slice
program, which later became Project Heavy Chain. Because of the sensitive (and still classified) nature of Heavy Chain operations, the two aircraft
were sanitized, and all serial numbers were removed from the aircraft. While operating in the Heavy Chain program, they remained “ghost ships”
without numbers that could connect them to their controlling organization. In 1972, when the Heavy Chain program was terminated, the two
aircraft were renumbered and brought back into the USAF inventory as Combat Talons 62-1843 and 63-7785. These two aircraft had actually been
destroyed during the Vietnam War, and official records were altered to show that they had been repaired and placed back into service as Combat
Talons. According to the US Navy Center for Naval Analysis, which published an official report on aircraft losses and damage in SEA beginning in
1962, aircraft 62-1863 was destroyed near Tuy Hoa AB, Vietnam, on 20 December 1965. The crew w as on temporary duty from Dyess AFB, Texas,
en route to a permanent change of station to CCK AB, Taiwan, and were operating out of Naha AB, Okinawa. The actual mission was generated
from Nha Trang AB, Vietnam, and the crash occurred when the aircraft overflew the runway at Tuy Hoa and impacted a hillside well past the
airfield. Aircraft 63-7785 was a US Navy aircraft that was lost on 17 June 1966 in the South China Sea. The aircraft departed Cam Ranh Bay,
Vietnam, en route to Kadena AB, Okinawa, on an operational airlift support mission. About 30 minutes into the flight, with the aircraft 43 miles
northeast of Nha Trang AB, the crew of a naval gunboat cruising off the coast of South Vietnam observed the aircraft explode and crash into the
South China Sea. No hostile fire was observed, and the exact cause of the crash could not be determined, although sabotage was suspected.
Information on the loss of aircraft 62-1843 and 63-7785 was provided by Bob Daley of Dallas, Texas.
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