Special Operations.Com
219th Helicopter Squadron, Vietnamese
Air Force (VNAF)
This page is dedicated to the brave,
exceptional young Vietnamese Pilots, Copilots, Crew
Chiefs, Gunners of the 219th by the men of SOG. We
owe you a deep sense of gratitude, appreciation, and
thanks, which these words can never fully express.
We each hold you dear in a special place in our hearts.
You are not forgotten!
From: meyer@nctimes.net (John Meyer)
To: SOG1RLNOE@aol.com
Please excuse my latter-day, slow-thinking ignorance,
but, there are many SF from all the FOB's and later
at CCN, CCC, CCS, Delta project, etc., who would be
pushing up daisies in PF AO were it not for the heroism
and the Rocky Mt.-cool they maintained while under
heavy fire in those Kingbees. Off the top of my pointed
little rock-like head I can name several targets where
my team, ST/RT Idaho would be long gone without Kingbees.
Captains Tuong, Thinh & Lt. Trong and maybe Trung,
were absolutely fearless.
The "219th Helicopter Squadron, Vietnamese
Air Force (VNAF), had twenty-five CH-34 helicopters
assigned. Eight H-34 helicopters were used on a daily,
average bases" to support SOG, "By the end of 1971,
the average amount of helicopters used was forty-six
(46) every day; averaging twenty-four for ‘PHU DUNG'
(Laos) and twenty-two for ‘THOT NOT' (Cambodia) operations".
(Note: Prairie Fire was changed to "PHU DUNG" and
Salem House changed to "THOT NOT" in 1971). Harve
Saal, SOG, MACV Studies and Observation Group, Behind
Enemy Lines, Vol 1, pp183 and 259 respectively.
Kingbee Patch: Scanned image from
origial. The 219th was with SOG from the beginning:
After the 219th's Kingbees inserted the first SOG
Shining Brass Reconnaissance mission from FOB-1, Kham
Duc,with SGM Petry, SFC Card, and Smith on 18 October
1995, a Vietnamese Pilot, Co-Pilot, and Door Gunner
were lost along Cpt Larry Alan Thorne of Norwalk,
Conn, when the CH-34 crashed returning from the insertion
outside Da Nang. Copyright 1999 Mark Austin Byrd.
Kingbee Crew: Kingbee flight crew
checks engine of their Sikorsky H-34 while waiting
call to launch on Prairie Fire mission from MLT-2
near Quang Tri in late 1969.copyright 1970 Mark Austin
Byrd.
Kingbee Pilot: The Vietnamese pilot
in the background is visiting the officers club at
Marble Mountain Aif Facility after a successful "Prairie
Fire" extraction in late 1969. Copyright 1999 Mark
austin Byrd
MLT-2: This picture was taken from
the cockpit of a Marine UH-E gunship from HML 367
which is in a spiraling approach to land at MLT-2
in late 1969. Other aircraft assigned to the mission
package have already arrived. They include three H-34
from AFVN squadron 219, three UH1E slicks from the
101'st Airborne Division, and 3 Cobras from the 77th
ARA of the 101'st Airborne Division. On this mission
the call signs for the Marine gunships which led the
mission was "Eagle Claw", the call sign of the Cobras
was "Dragonfly", the slicks call sign was "Gnat",
and the H-34's were "Kingbee" copyright 1970 Mark
Austin Byrd
String Extract: A US Army huey returning
to South Vietnam after a successful "string extract"
southwest of Co Roc. 1969. copyright 1999 Mark Austin
Byrd.
Nguyen Cao Ky right, Cpt Robert Noe
left. Photo taken in New Orleans, mid 1980 during
a street dedication cermony naming "Saigon Street."
Nguyen Cao Ky, a flamboyant Vietnamese pilot, with
a thick Clark Gable mustache, had a penchant for black
flight suits. At 31, was a Colonel and commanded Saigon's
Tan Son Nhut Airbase--willing to fly anything and
everything, anywhere! He would eventually head his
country's Air Force & became South Vietnam's president.
Flew SOG missions for William Colby, U.S. CIA Station
Chief for Vietnam.
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