Subject: CIA Vietnam war controlled USAF aircraft missions
From: George Ruch
Date: 2/29/2004 12:05 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

Aerophotos wrote:

I have on good source from a knowledgeable aviation enthusiast, info
that in the late stages of the Vietnam war for some operations the CIA
controlled a limited amount of USAF assets, eg F-4 Phantoms and F-111s
Adavarks for attacks in Laos and Cambodia.

/\/\ Snip /\/\

What was so sensitive in Laos and Cambodia that would require them there?

Political fallout. Laos and Cambodia were officially neutral at the time,
but tolerated the flow of men and materials through their countries via the
Ho Chi Mihn Trail.

Let's use Occam's Razor here. The enemy is using the Ho Chi Mihn trail to
resupply their forces, the Nixon administration wants to get out while
giving the South Vietnamese a fighting chance, so they order missions into
neutral territory to disrupt that resupply.

George

I flew aboard an airborne command post over there (mid 68 to end of 69) and
have more time over Laos than either Thailand or Vietnam.

While CIA had a presence, Air America, nothing like the original poster claims
ever took place.

There were some black-painted aircraft though. O-2 Forward Air Controllers
(FAC) who worked at night directing airstrikes, but not many of them. For the
most part, the air war went into "standby" mode at night because our abilities
to operate in the dark were limited to gunships, B-57s and A-26s which operated
over the Trail. The gunships and the A-26s had black lower surfaces.

The only other black aircraft I know of was an H-3 helicopter that inserted
ground teams into Laos (I knew/know the pilot).


Ed

"There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers.
We must have the courage to do what we know is morally
right." --Ronald Reagan



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