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Aviation History
1966
1966 - 0051.PDF
FLIGHT International, 6 January 1966 41 Flying some of the most dangerous sorties in South Vietnam, highly vulnerable to Viet Cong small' arms fire, are USAF forward air controllers in their Cessna L-19 Birddog light observation aircraft. This striking UPI photograph shows Captain K. Wood, USAF, in a diving turn, at the moment of firing his target-marking rockets, for USN Skyhawks to devastate a suspected Viet Cong jungle hide-out. More than 100 FAC L-I9s are used in South Vietnam The Oil Lift NOW IN THE PROCESS of transition to an all-civil operation (see page 10) is the oil airlift to Zambia instituted by RAF Transport Command on December 19 with two Britannias. The force rapidly increased to a peak of eight Britannias, from 99 and 511 Sqns, but last week RAF Britannias started to withdraw. The airlift is over the route Dar-es- Salaam - Lusaka, about 1,200 st miles. Beginning with two return sorties a day, a peak of eight has been reached and by the end of the day's flying on Thursday last (December 30), 120,000gal of fuel had been flown into Zambia by the RAF. Each flight takes about three hours and 56 drums of 44gal capacity each are carried on each inward flight A limiting factor on the intensity of the operation is the acute lack of space at Lusaka Airport, which is exacerbated by the presence there of the small RAF Javelin force. The oil shortage in Zambia is limiting the operations of this force, with fuel being strictly conserved and only short daily flights being made. The RCAF has taken a hand in aid to Zambia, with four C-130 Hercules flying fuel from Leopoldville to Lusaka, and to Leopoldville, from where it is moved by rail into the copper belt. US participation is civil from the start, under charter to the US Government. Transport Command HQ (and prob- ably Whitehall) must have fervently wished during the airlift that the Short Belfast transport was already in service, and in larger numbers than the ten ordered. Operating from Dar-es-Salaam to Lusaka the Belfast could transport about 56,0001b of fuel (exclusive of barrel weight); say, around 5,600 Imp gal ot most fuels and oils being flown in. This is substantially over twice the load the Britannias have been transporting. More Airmobile Divisions to be Formed? us ARMY OUTPUT of trained helicopter pilots will reach 300 a month by February, Aviation Daily reports. Army aircraft mechanic training has been boosted from 18,000 to 26,000 men a year. Production of helicopters against Army orders is now running about 160 a month. All this is part of the massive aviation build-oip of the US Army which, as we have previously reported, is going to make it that country's biggest air force in the very near future. Pilots and helicopters in hand ^Rll be sufficient by April or May to permit the formation of a second airmobile division on the lines of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) now in action in Vietnam, while also permitting aircraft renewal and personnel rotation in that division. The DoD is not yet committed to a second airmobile division, but Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara is known to favour further divisions being formed, and the second is expected to follow in the spring, with yet a third following later. Aircraft inventory of the 1st Cavalry Division is 428 helicopters, of several types, and six OV-1 Mohawk reconnaissance aircraft. The total num- ber of US Army helicopters in Vietnam is reported to have been 1,400 at the end of last month. More on Mpacha SOUTH AFRICA'S NEW MILITARY AIR BASE, near the heart of Central Africa's crisis area at the tip of the Caprivi Strip and within a few miles of both Zambian and Rhodesian territory, is less modest an affair than was previously reported. Last week we repeated a Sunday Times report that the strip is at present about three- quarters of a mile long. A Daily Mail reporter and photographer have since trekked through the bush from the Zambian border to obtain the first photo- graphs of the airfield, at Mpacha, and they report the runway as being about two miles long and over 100yd wide. There is, claims the Daily Mail, a 150yd by 75yd hardstanding, but at present no buildings and no apparent signs that the runway has yet been used. It is of tarmac over a concrete foundation and is obviously a project costing several million pounds. From a runway of the length reported—which would make it one of the largest in Africa—any type of aircraft in SAAF service could make full-weight take-offs. SAAF C-130s flying-in supplies during construction have used the nearby civil strip at Wenela with which, it now appears, the Sunday Times correspondent may have confused Mpacha over the matter of runway length. Many Puffs, Magic Dragons DOUGLAS C-47s mounting three 7.62mm GE Gatling-type Miniguns in two port- side windows and the loading door, and firing up to 18,000 rounds a minute at jungle targets while flying tightly banked pylon turns, are the USAF's latest weapon against the Viet Cong. Designated AC-47s, the converted trans- ports equip the 4th Air Commando Sqn at Tan Son Nhut base near Saigon, which has about 20. More AC-47 conversions are being made for this offensive role. The appearance in numbers of armed Dakotas in recent weeks follows mysterious appearances over preceding months of just one AC-47, which had been sent to Vietnam to evaluate the idea. To hard-pressed US troops the surprising appearances of this once innocent-looking transport pumping a fearful cone of fire at their enemy earned
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