Re-Opening of Khe Sanh
Lam Son 719
I made the following post on the VHPA (Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association) fb page, a closed site. However, I thought you might be interested.
Assuming you would not understand some of the pilot lingo: Lam Son 719 (the most intense aviation operation in the history of the Vietnam War ... it was the incursion into Laos. Only US aviation assets crossed the border in support of the Vietnamese army, AC's (aircraft commanders), Varsity (my unit nickname), Rock Pile (a vertical formation of rock about 1000' high laced with caves and tunnels ... a veritable VC/NVA Hilton Hotel), prick (that be me), One and two to flight (throwing the three-position controls of the Chinook turbine engines from idle to full operational flight mode...Off-Idle-Flight ...always an adrenaline rush as the engines started their controlled but violent startup), MACV (Military headquarters in Saigon).
................................................
I have a few memories of Lam Son 719 that stick out.
A CH-47 landing on Khe Sanh … from the Ben Brown collection Varsity B/159th.
The first was just the awesomeness of being at altitude on the first day of reopening Khe Sanh and looking back down highway QL9 thirty miles to Dong Ha and then south to Quang Tri. It was a continuous OD snake of vehicles motoring north.
I had the complete op-order by my side and was amazed that at H+(time) was a set of grid coordinates where we were supposed to deliver our loads, usually bridge building. As we approached an imaginary green spot in the jungle, the trees started falling as the engineer’s Rome plows busted their way through the jungle.
The second and most significant was when Khe Sanh was weathered in (IFR) that day, and everyone had to land around the outside of Firebase Vandergriff’s perimeter to wait for the clouds and fog to clear out. I don’t know how many aircraft were represented (Varsity had eight), but there were elements from five Chinook companies, two H-53 Marine squadrons, and the H-54s Sky Cranes from DaNang. I didn't do well in high school math, but I am betting that the excessive number of large helicopters represented a substantial portion of the medium-lift and heavy-lift helicopters in Vietnam, not to mention their cost. This was the largest aviation operation in the history of the Vietnam war.
As everyone was diddley-bopping around their helicopter looking for a place to heat their C-rations and wondering if they were going to step on a landmine, I turned and looked up at the Rock Pile with a light coating of clouds on the top. I called a unit pilot’s meeting. Having already firmly established myself as the company prick, I had everyone go back to their helicopter to execute their start-up checklist down to the point of starting the turbine engines. The order was to have at least one pilot in their seat, ready to go hot.
Jeez, the AC’s bitchn’ could be heard in Saigon. As far as I was concerned, the target of opportunity would be too great for NVA to ignore. I was right. I do not remember how long we waited around, but when the mortars started landing, the first blades turned in mere seconds.
Throw the engine levers forward, “One and two to flight” ... there would be no formation takeoff. Just pull an Otis elevator (max climb,) punch through the clouds, and we’d meet at altitude. Next stop, Quang Tri, and wait for orders.
Our Chinooks were stuffed with airmobile carts carrying maintenance gear, tents, and personal belongings. At the time, Chinook crews were highly experienced. With few exceptions, pilots getting a transition into a CH-47 required a minimum of 1,000 hours of flight time. Consequently, Chinook drivers have always leaned to the effete side. Sleeping in cold damp tents (Yes, Vietnam gets cold) with incoming rockets and mortars … NO ONE was happy with what had been proposed.
We had been scheduled to live on Khe Sanh for the duration of the Laos incursion. Fortunately, after Vandi’s mortar clue, the idiots at MACV made a strategic decision and decided that medium-lift and heavy-lift units shouldn’t live on Khe Sanh with the slick and LOH drivers; we could fly up early every day.
Back to Phu Bai and hot showers and warm beds …
Nobody bought me drinks at the O’Club that night either.