In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

21 Belt-Tightening Time The weather remained very hot with scattered clouds and occasional light rain. Both the volume and accuracy of the enemy’s antiaircraft fire had increased steadily during the month of April as aircrews learned to their dismay when two South Vietnamese C-123s and three American C-130s were shot down attempting to parachute supplies to the garrison. It was very dangerous for any kind of aircraft to operate below 9,000 feet as an American AC-130 gunship demonstrated when a heat seeker damaged it on 12 May. The big gunship was able to get home, but at least fifteen aircraft of various types came to grief in the lethal skies during the month of May. By that time the North Vietnamese had established an early warning network of aircraft spotters who were posted on the approaches to the city. When inbound aircraft were sighted the sky was soon filled with antiaircraft fire. Before the battle was over, it was estimated that the North Vietnamese had deployed the equivalent of nine battalions of antiaircraft artillery around An Loc, and the lethality they produced was deadly. Once it had been clearly demonstrated that the SouthVietnamese air force could not deliver the tons of ammunition, food, medical supplies, radio batteries , and the myriad of other items the defenders required, the Americans were tasked to keep the An Loc garrison supplied. The only way the Americans could accomplish that mission was to deliver a large volume of pallets by parachute directly into the city. The story of how the U.S. Air Force responded to that massive job, in this case from the customer’s perspective, deserves to be told. The dire situation faced by the garrison didn’t allow air force planners the luxury of spending a lot of time thinking through and preparing for the implications of their new mission. They couldn’t wait for the optimum moment when all the desired equipment was ready to go and all the required 98 Chapter 21 people were properly trained to start their tasks. The appetite for everything required by the troops defending the city was immense and had to be provided or the garrison would die. The air force started working the problem immediately.1 The first American effort to deliver supplies by parachute was conducted on 15 April when a flight of air force C-130s flew straight up Highway 13 from the south. They not only approached the city at well under 1,000 feet, they also came in single file and in the middle of the day. I knew the supply operation was going to take place, but neither I nor anyone else was prepared for how the U.S. Air Force attempted to do it. At the appointed time the first of the C-130s came barreling across our position and on across the city with its back ramp down. Pallets of supplies began appearing over the city, swinging under their enormous cargo parachutes. The enemy would have exacted a heavier cost on that first transport and its crew, but they were caught by surprise. The North Vietnamese must have been as amazed at the unexpected display of audacity as I was.After that first C-130 droned on out of sight, the enemy quickly recovered and antiaircraft fire began to erupt from all around the city. Green tracers were soon flying up from near and far. The arrival of the second aircraft caused enemy fire to become more intense and much more focused. That C-130 was shot full of holes, the navigator was killed, and two other crewmembers were wounded as the load was delivered. The pilots managed to get the aircraft back to Tan Son Nhut despite an on-board fire, but after that harrowing experience the problem had to be rethought. A day later the C-130s were back. That time they came in from all different directions to unload their cargos over the city. They arrived at treetop level and popped up over the southern part of An Loc to give the cargo parachutes time to open once the pallets had been pushed out the back of the aircraft .As soon as their loads were clear the C-130s quickly dived back down to escape the antiaircraft fire as they dodged away from the city. The accuracy of those deliveries was not good and very few of the parachute loads could be recovered, and aircraft were still hit...

Share