 
 |
History of Marine Corps Aviation
Vietnam - The Helicopter War
 |
In addition, gunship versions of the UH-1E (the famed "Huey") were introduced and deployed in the VMO squadrons. In 1969, the AH-1G Sea Cobra arrived and operated first in the HML units which had come into being during the war to handle the increased number of UH-1Es.
Transport Helicopters
With regard to the transport helos, the UH-34 was the prime vehicle in the 1st MAW at the start of the war and through most of the following year. In midsummer 1965, a detachment of CH-37s was deployed to give a heavy-lift capability to the wing. The obsolescent CH-37 was a valuable addition and stayed in Vietnam until early 1967 when the first echelon of CH-53s arrived. The CH-46 made its first appearance when HMM-164, landed at Marble Mountain from USS Valley Forge in March 1966.There were several technical problems that had an impact on helo employment in Vietnam. First, the high temperature and high humidity reduced payload second, the sandy and dusty landing zones created engine maintenance problems; and, third, installation of additional armor to protect their vital parts became a requirement in all helos as enemy AA effectiveness increased. Another need was the mounting of door guns and at least one gunner (the crew chief manned a second gun) in the transport helos, further adding to the weight of the machine and reducing its payload.
By the end of 1965, the transport helos were lifting an average of 40,000 passengers and over 2,000 tons of cargo per month, mainly out of the two principal bases at Ky Ha and Marble Mountain. By 1968, this had steadily increased to better than 50,000 passengers and over 6,000 tons per month, the increase in capability coming largely from the introduction of the CH-46. In the first half of 1970, even though the phase-down of Marine forces had already begun, they were lifting more than 70,000 passengers and 5,000 tons in a single month, thanks to the increasing numbers of CH-53s in the wing.
Evacuation of Casualties
One of the most hazardous missions was the evacuation of casualties at night or in bad weather. Most of these types of medevacs were requested by troops in close contact with the enemy and there were no aids to help the pilot in finding the zone and landing in it. Flare aircraft were often used to illuminate the zone for night pickups, and gunships or jets provided fire suppression. It is interesting to compare the Vietnam figures on medevacs with those in the Korean War. Where the latter were measured in the low thousands, including the fixed-wing evacs, in 1968, a peak year in Vietnam, the helos evacuated 67,000 casualties during 42,000-plus sorties. On these evacs, a very large number of the helos received battle damage and crew casualties, with a high percentage of the crews earning the Purple Heart. The double-barreled conclusion adds up to the fact that the helo was one great innovation, and it required lots of staunch pilots to realize its full potential.At the start of Vietnam, there were only 12 light helos in each VMO squadron of the 1st MAW. Two additional VMOs were soon authorized and, in 1968, a further reorganization established three VMOs and three HMLs. The VMO complement was set at 18 OV-10As and 12 light helos, and the HML complement at 24 light helos. By the latter part of 1968, two of each type of squadron were in the 1st MAW, giving the wing a total of 72 light helicopters, including gunships.
In a war of the complexity reached in Vietnam, an appreciation of the part played by Marine Aviation is achieved through a year-by-year summation of operational statistics. It is important to keep in mind that few movements of troops of III Marine Amphibious Force (MAF) were by ground vehicle. It was truly a helicopter war. All the other elements of the air-ground team were present and fully functional, but the vehicle that characterizes the war for most Marines is unquestionably the helicopter.
For each of the regimental or battalion-size operations, the troops were put in initial position by escorted helolift. Also, fire suppression fighters and attack aircraft kept the landing zone sanitized as much as possible during the landings, and aided in preparation of the landing zone. In addition, close air support aircraft were either on station overhead or were on call when requested. Once the unit landed, of course, casualty evacuation and resupply were both a part of the operation plan. When the operation was concluded, the helos and their friends were again on hand to extract them.
III MAF
In 20 months, III MAF had grown from the initial brigade landing at Danang to a two division, reinforced wing air-ground team, totaling almost 60,000 Marines. During this first 18 months of the war, operations or operation "code names" familiar to many Marines include the following: Starlite, Piranha, Blue Marlin, Hiep Due, Thach Tru, Golden Fleece, Harvest Moon, Double Eagle, New York, Texas, Indiana, and Ky Lam. 1st MAW sorties during the 18 to 20- month period through December 1966, totaled the following: 61,457 fixed-wing fighter/attack sorties, with 79 percent in direct support of III MAF, 15 percent against targets in North Vietnam, and the balance of six percent in support of South Vietnamese units; 436,267 helicopter sorties, with 88 percent in support of III MAF, seven percent for South Vietnamese units and five percent for Korean Marine battalions.At the end of 1967, III MAF had reached a strength of 81,115. This was an increase for the year of 10,737. The statistics for the year were astounding. In 1967, III MAF conducted over 110 major operations of battalion size or larger. There were 356,000 small unit operations. These two types of operations resulted in 17,876 enemy killed during the year.
Supporting the III MAF ground operations, the 1st MAW flew 63,000 fighter/attack sorties in direct support, and 10,000 more in support of other ground units in country. In addition, there were 11,000 1st MAW strike sorties over North Vietnam. Total ordnance expended by the fighter/attack sorties for the year included 134,000 tons of bombs, 166,000 rockets and 2,100,000 rounds of 20 mm ammunition. 1st MAW helicopters flew a total of 490,000 sorties and lifted a total of 732,000 troops, besides performing evacuation, resupply and a host of other support missions for units in and out of combat.
|
|
Sources:
U.S. Marine Corps Aviation, by Maj. Gen. John P. Condon, at the excellent U.S. Navy Historical Center's public domain web site
The detailed history of the Marine helicopter pilot has never been written in such a hard, cold-steel factual way as this book reveals. The author, Marion Sturkey, has produced a very exciting chronological documentary using no pseudonyms, only the true names, of pilots and aircrewmen who flew and died in I Corps. He vividly describes night medivacs, and emergency recon extracts and hours of boredom and moments of stark terror experienced by every combat pilot since aviation was born. He tells the true story of the Marine helo drivers, aircrews and grunts in Vietnam. Buy 'Bonnie-Sue: A Marine Corps Helicopter Squadron...' at Amazon.com |