COMMEMORATING THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIETNAM WAR (1961-1973) and honoring the gutty Naval Aviators, Naval Flight Officers, and aircrewmen who carried the war to the heartland of North Vietnam in the years of Operation Rolling Thunder. The 36-month bombing campaign of gradual escalation in intensity was designed to change the behavior of the North Vietnamese and force that beligerent nation to back-off and “talk peace.”… The strategy of “gradualism” was proven to be ineffective…
GOOD EVENING. WHEN NAVAL AVIATION ROARED… #8… The Search-and-Rescue Mission flown by a fearless SH-3A crew from HELICOPTER ANTISUBMARINE SQUADRON TWO on 21 May 1967…
PROLOGUE… Chris Hobson writing in VIETNAM AIR LOSSES: “A (21 May 1967) strike on the Van Dien SAM and vehicle support depot…resulted in the loss of a single aircraft and the rescue of the crew. (LT DENNY WISELY, USN and ENSIGN JIM LAING, USN) The TARCAP flight was once more provided by the F-4s of VF-114 and one of the squadron’s aircraft was hit as it was retiring from the target at low level. The TARCAP flight had evaded three SAMs but came down low and ran into intense flak. The aircraft was peppered with automatic weapons fire and suffered failures of the hydraulic and pneumatic systems. The pilot decided to make for Thailand rather than risk the guantlet of the intense air defences between Hanoi and the coast. The decision was a wise one: as the aircraft crossed the Laotian border it became uncontrollable forcing the crew to eject near Sai Koun, 85 miles southwest of Hanoi. JIM LAING’s parachute started to open the instant his ejection seat fired with the result that he broke an arm and sprained his other limbs. Both men were picked up safely by a USAF HH-3E from Udorn after a Navy SH-3A from the carrier USS HORNET had to be abandoned in Laos after being hit by ground fire and running out of fuel during the first rescue attempt. LT WISELY had shot down an AN-2 Colt biplane on 20 December 1966 and a MiG-17 on 24 April 1967. This was the second ejection and rescue for ENSIGN LAING who had been shot down with LCDR C. SOUTHWICK on 24 April 1967… ” For the full story on the WISELY/LAING tale a reading of Denny’s great book– GREEN INK: Memoirs of a Fighter Pilot— is recommended. Available cheap on Kindle… Here is the critic’s teaser: “It is a naval aviation equivalent of a literary ‘box of choclates’ from which the reader will enjoy excitement, danger, tragedy and triumph.”…
THE REST OF THE STORY… The gallant action of an HS-2 SH-3A crew– LT DAVID RUSSELL GEORGIUS; LTJG SAMUEL WALLACE PAYNE; AX2 DALE BERT KOME; and AE3 TEDDY ROGER RAY– on 21 May 1967.
Source: USS HORNET msg dtg 290022Z May 67.
On 21 May 1967 while flying a SAR alert mission in the Gulf of Tonkin in an SH-3A armored helicopter, LT GEORGIUS and his crew were alerted that an F-4B was attempting to clear the Hanoi area after being hit by enemy groundfire and was heading south. LT GEORGIUS monitored these transmissions and placed his helicopter in the most advantageous position for an attempt to penetrate the coast of North Vietnam south of Thanh Hoa. Upon receiving the word that the crew of the F-4B (WISELY and LAING) had ejected they proceeded to the rescue area south of Hanoi at max speed. From a point three miles off the beach the helicopter was fired upon by light automatic weapons from numerous junks in the area. Petty Officers KOME and RAY returned fire from their own exposed gun stations. Petty Officer KOME’s gun suffered a mechanical failure which he quickly corrected by replacing the defective gun with the spare. At the beachline the helicopter came under accurate fire from enemy 37mm and 57mm antiaircraft batteries and suffered three direct hits. The first hit seriously injured the copilot LTJG PAYNE, rendering him unconscious and cutting his radio cords. Petty Officers KOME and RAY remained at their gun positions and continued to return fire. The second hit by flak was only two feet from PO RAY’s positon.
The two crew quickly evaluated the damage and forwarded an accurate assessment of battle damage to the plane commander LT GEORGIUS. LTJG PAYNE regained consciousness and indicated by means of signals that he was capable and desired to proceed with the mission. LT GEORGIUS dropped to tree top level and proceeded without fighter cover as the accompanying A-1 RESCAP lost visual with the SH-3A. Due to his experience and knowledge of enemy antiaircraft gun positions, which he had memorized and charted, his aircraft sustained no further significant opposition or damage as they transited more than forty miles of enemy territory on the tree tops.
Petty Officer RAY was able to administer first aid to LTJG PAYNE before returning to his gun position. All four of the crew continued to perform as trained as they closed on the location of the downed F-4 crew. A search of the location was commenced and Petty Officer RAY quickly sighted the downed aviators. LT GEORGIUS commenced an approach for the pickup. PO RAY rechecked the hoist and discovered that it was inoperative, despite the fact that it had performed well on a test several minutes earlier. That information was relayed to the plane commander who advised the covering aircraft that he would probably be unable to effect a pick up. He requested that the back up SAR aircraft come in to effect the rescue. At this point, it became apparent that the aircraft’s fuel tanks had been hit while crossing the beach and the self-sealing compound, which had effectively sealed the holes prior to this time failed. LT GEORGIUS was forced to break off the rescue attempt and proceed towards a safe landing site in Laos.
Unable to make the the safe landing area due to his damaged fuel tanks and unable to lower his landing gear, LT GEORGIUS executed a low hover and had his two crewmen and co-pilot evacuate the aircraft to prevent injury in case the helicopter rolled over on landing. LT GEORGIUS then daringly and skillfully landed the aircraft in an unsecured and unprepared site without further damage to the helicopter. Petty Officers KOME and RAY returned to the aircraft and proceeded to set up a defense perimeter.
Upon arrival of the Air Force rescue helicopters, LT GEORGIUS learned that the fuel he had requested could not be brought in by helicopter and would require an airdrop. LT GEORGIUS had his two Petty Officers promptly evacuated by Air Force SAR units and had his co-pilot proceed to the top of a hill for pick up. LT PAYNE, with complete disregard for the seriousness of his wounds, which required immediate medical evacuation, proceeded unaided to the designated pick up point. LT GEORGIUS, without regard for his personal safety remained with the aircraft awaiting the fuel drop. Shortly thereafter it was determined that a fuel drop would not be feasible. LT GEORGIUS destroyed the vital electronics equipment and as much of the aircraft as possible before proceeding to the pickup point where he was rescued by an Air Force helicopter….
Everybody made it out that day… Thanks to the extraordinary guts of the SAR guys, Navy and Air Force…
BITS OF RIBBON… Both LT GEORGIUS and LTJG PAYNE received awards of the SILVER STAR and the two indomitable crewmen, AX2 KOME and AE3 RAY receieved the DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS…
HUMBLE HOST END NOTE. Snipped from COMBAT RESCUE OPERATIONAL REVIEW: A Summary of Combat Rescue Operations From Vietnam to Kosovo….Paragraph 2.1.4 … Read all 154 pages at:
https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/reports/images.php?img=/images/061/0610101003.pdf
Enemy Reaction to Isolating Incidents… “The North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong placed significant value on the capture of downed American aircrew. When the war began, their intention was to capture the aircrew for the goodwill that might be generated by the prisoners’ release at a later date. Once they realized the political leverage gained by long term possession of American POWs, the strategy shifted accordingly. Regardless of their intention, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong wanted to capture downed aircrew before they could be rescued, and were willing to assign battlefield resources to that end. Once an S/E (Ssurvivor/Escapee) was captured, the enemy frequently used his survival radio to further confuse rescue efforts.
“Very early in the war, the North Vietnamese and their Pathet Lao allies became adept at setting up flak traps (sometimes called SAR traps). The flak traps, ambushes of SAR forces using S/E as bait, were the defining characteristic of enemy reaction to shootdowns in SEA. An excellent example is the case of Wolf 06, an F-4D flying out of Udorn Royal Thai Air Base. In the late afternoon of March 19, 1970, Wolf 06 was brought down by a direct hit from 57mm AAA during a visual reconnaissance mission over Laos. Separated from his backseater, the pilot hunkered down in a concealed area to await rescue. From that vantage point, he witnessed savvy and methodical enemy construction of a SAR trap that was typical in SEA.
“Wolf 06: ‘Enemy activity was astonishing. The minute we were down the enemy started bringing in guns all around our position. They had 37mm, 23mm, ZPU, and small arms. It was obvious what they were doing and it made me furious. They had set their pattern in a crossfire, knowing that the SAR effort would begin in the morning. They fired about 1,200 rounds throughout the evening to make sure their crossfire pattern would cover the area where the Jolly Greens or Sandies would be coming in.’….”…
NEXT POST, NAVAL AVIATION ROARS… #9… USS ENTERPRISE (CVA(N)-65) and the VA-35 Black Panthers take on the Thai Nguyen steel mill on 25 March 1967…
Lest we forget… Bear