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“No. Well, yeah, somehow by the grace of God, Kindell on Chalk Five had a .50-cal round pass between his chicken plate and his chest. Imagine, between the chicken plate and his chest. Cut him good across the chest and knocked him out. We thought he was dead, but he’ll be okay. I think maybe Specialist Leonard was hit too, but nothing serious. Luckily, only our aircraft are shot to shit,” Kevin added as he looked at the maintenance officer.
“That’s an understatement. Well, I have work to do tonight. You ladies sleep tight. I’m not.” And with that, the maintenance officer left. Kevin followed him out, hoping to find some chow. The rest of us returned to letter writing and quiet reflection on the day’s events. The reality of what we did was setting in for me.
Chapter 11
Lessons in Formation Flying
“Hey, Mr. Cory, wake up.” This waking up at 0430 hours would be a lot easier if the ops kid could bring me a cup of coffee as well. Ain’t going to happen.
“Okay, I’m awake and getting up. What time is it?”
“Zero four thirty,” he replied as he moved to the next bed, and the next, and the next. Shit, everyone’s getting up this morning. Once everyone was awake, he announced AC brief in the mess hall at 0530 hours and crew list was posted in Ops. It had been a week since the major firefight. Two new aircraft had come in and most of the shot-up aircraft had been repaired—most. Okay, I’d go by and check the board on my way to coffee and breakfast. As I was getting my boots on, I saw Lou sitting on his bed, smoking a cigarette and holding what looked like a cup of coffee. Looks could be deceiving.
“Hey, Lou, do you have a coffeepot stashed over here?” I asked as I walked over, sniffing the air for that aroma.
“No.”
“Oh. I saw the coffee cup and thought—”
“Well, you thought wrong,” he replied as he filled the cup with his morning beer. Lou had been around for about ten months when I’d arrived and was due to rotate back to the States in another month. His first mission in-country was into the A Shau Valley in 1968, and he was shot down on that mission, ending up hanging upside down in the aircraft. Welcome to Vietnam. I hadn’t flown with him as yet, but he had a reputation for being an excellent pilot, according to the last new guy.
“Sorry. I’m going to get some breakfast. Can I bring anything back?”
“No. I have a mission brief. I’ll get something then,” he mumbled as he drained his coffee cup.
On the way to the mess hall, I passed by operations and looked to see who I was flying with. One Chief Warrant Officer Second Class Lou Price. I proceeded into the mess hall and grabbed a tray. Metal trays, just like in most federal prisons. And for breakfast today, we had powdered eggs, undercooked bacon, and potatoes. They also had something they were calling bread, but it had the feel of sawdust baked with water, and a taste to match. Of note, however, was that just about every pilot was in the mess hall this morning. Rather unusual for all of us to be up and about. Mr. Leak and Mr. Toliver were sitting together and motioned for me to join them. Oh, this has to be a setup on the new guy. I approached and asked if they needed anything.
“No, sit down and join us. Who you flying with today?” Mr. Toliver asked.
“I’m on the board with Lou,” I replied, stirring condensed milk into my coffee.
“Good, you’ll learn from him. He’s good. Just remember what we discussed the other day,” Mr. Leak added.
“Also, don’t screw up. Lou is a short-timer double-digit midget and should be flying milk runs instead of this,” said Mr. Toliver.
“Ah, what is ‘this’?” I asked cautiously between mouthfuls of powdered eggs.
“It looks like we’re moving two battalions today, so everyone will be flying formation all day. It’s going to be a long day. One battalion will go back to Bien Hoa, and the battalion there will be inserted to replace them. Captain Goodnight will cover everything in the mission brief to the aircraft commanders. You best get with Lou and get a good preflight conducted before he comes out. Do you know which aircraft is his?”
“No,” I answered. I didn’t know I had to memorize the name of each aircraft commander’s aircraft.
“Lou’s bird is the Iron Butterfly.” At this time, we had no standardized markings on the noses of our aircraft. The pilot’s doors had a green triangle with a lightning bolt through the triangle, but that was all. Across the nose of each, the aircraft commanders and crew chiefs generally put their individual pet name on the nose—Iron Butterfly, Green Lantern, Devil’s Advocate and Hard Luck, to name a few. We had a really good nose artist, Sergeant Scovel, who was kept busy. Some units had a bit more discipline and had a standard emblem on the noses of their aircraft, such as the unit that shared Lai Khe with us from the First Aviation Brigade. They were the Robin Hoods, and so their nose emblem was Robin Hood’s hat with a feather and an arrow through it. They parked their aircraft in Sherwood Forest, as they called it.
After breakfas
t, I walked back to my tent to retrieve my gear, and Lou was just leaving with his stuff to attend the briefing.
“Lou, I’m with you today and thought I’d head out to preflight the bird. Want me to take your stuff out?”
Lou looked at me for a minute and slowly said, “Yeah, and thanks. Can you take my helmet?”
“Sure, your aircraft is the Iron Butterfly, right?” I asked, just to make sure I hadn’t been set up for a practical joke.
“Yeah, that’s her. The crew chief is Bennett and he’s probably already there. You might give Brown a hand with ammo if he hasn’t already got it on the bird,” he called over his shoulder as he walked off to the mess hall. I went and picked up my helmet, map, pistol and turned to leave. As I did, I noticed two empty beer cans scattered around Lou’s bed. Oh boy.
When I arrived at the aircraft, Bennett and Brown were just finishing up with their chores. I introduced myself to them and commenced the preflight, completing it as Lou arrived. I noticed all the other pilots coming out of the Chicken Coop and getting settled in their aircraft.
Lou started to brief us. “Okay, guys, this is what we got. First of the Eighth is in Bien Hoa, and we’re moving them out to replace Second of the Seventh, which we’re bringing back to Bien Hoa. First of the Eighth will conduct an insertion to establish a new firebase here,” he said, pointing at the map spread out on the cabin floor. “We’ll be a twelve-ship formation, making three turns to get the whole battalion in. After they’re inserted, we’ll refuel at Bien Hoa and then break into a six-ship formation and start extracting elements of Second of the Seventh, taking them back to Bien Hoa. We’re Chalk Six today. Any questions?”
