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Aircraft bring Vietnam rep to Middle East

Shortly after one Vietnam War vet made a last combat flight on a mission over Iraq, another Vietnam vet arrived for duty.

The vets are metal aircraft, but the airmen who fly and fix them see them as carrying a sense of history wherever they go — and, together, their resumes include the 1970 Son Tay prisoner-of-war rescue mission, the 1968 battle for Khe Sanh and hundreds of lesser-known sorties.

Earlier this month, a 45-year-old C-130E Hercules with the tail number 62-1817 and the nickname “Patches” began flying missions into Iraq as part of the 746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, according to an Air Force news release.

The aircraft earned its reputation in February 1968, when the C-130E and its crew were assigned to deliver supplies to Marines under siege at the jungle outpost Khe Sanh.

Confronted with overcast weather and no communications with Khe Sanh, the aircrew landed the C-130E under heavy enemy fire. One shell hit the aircraft and ignited a fire, threatening the plane’s cargo boxes full of ammunition.

The crew stayed with the C-130E as it taxied down the runway and took additional hits by enemy fire, blowing out a tire. One engine quit after a mortar round exploded and threw dirt into the power plant.

After the onboard fire was put out, the ammo was unloaded and the tire repaired. Despite the damage, the C-130E got airborne as it took more hits.

The plane’s commander, Lt. Col. Howard Dallman, received the Air Force Cross; Dallman’s 345th Tactical Airlift Squadron crew received the Silver Star.

Today’s aircrews and maintainers see the plane as a flying tribute to decades of hard work.

“This is my third time deploying with her,” said crew chief Tech. Sgt. Jeremy Seay of Pope Air Force Base, N.C. “It’s great to be able to work on a 45-year-old aircraft with so much history.”

Just before Patches began flying missions over Iraq, an MH-53 Pave Low helicopter that had flown over North Vietnam on the Son Tay POW rescue mission retired.

The Pave Low, tail number 68-10357, flew its final mission March 28 in Iraq.

The helicopter was the lead command-and-control helicopter for a mission to rescue approximately 50 American prisoners of war from the Son Tay prison camp in North Vietnam in 1970.

From Iraq, the Pave Low will be transported to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, where it will sit on display in the Cold War Gallery.

“It’s fitting that this aircraft’s last mission was flown in combat before it is placed on permanent display at the museum,” Lt. Gen. Donald C. Wurster, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command and an MH-53 pilot, said in a news release.

The Pave Low is the last surviving helicopter of the five MH-53s that flew on the Son Tay mission.

For the rescue mission, it was given the call sign “Apple 1,” and flown by Lt. Col. Warner Britton. Apple 1 crew members were decorated with an Air Force Cross and four Silver Stars for their role in the raid.

Although the mission was considered a tactical failure because no prisoners were found at the camp, it was also considered a success because conditions for POWs held in North Vietnam improved after the raid.