The role of FACs at the battle at Kham Duc Vietnam

The FAC Mission

In Vietnam, FACs, or Forward Air Contollers, were pilots who directed air strikes in support of ground troops, especially during close air support (CAS) missions. The would fly their aircraft low and slow over enemy positions to locate targets, mark them for airstrikes, and then coordinate rescue operations for downed airmen.

FACs would locate the targets, mark them by dropping smoke or flares, and then guide the air support aircraft to deliver ordnance on the target. FACs' observations of the battle at Kham Duc provided valuable intelligence on enemy troop movements and positions.

The most common aircraft flown by these Forward Air Controllers were the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog ( a tailwheel light aircraft) and the Cessna O-2 Skymaster.

Photo of a USAF Cessna O-1 Brid Dog Forward Air Controller airplane in flight

The O-1 Bird Dog was a two-place observation and liaison aircraft developed from the commercial Cessna 170 which was developed in 1949.  In Southeaset Asia the O-1 became the most common USAF forward air controller aircraft.

Pilots of the Bird Dogs were usually flown by experience fighter pilots who understood the aircraft they were directing to enemy ground troops and equipment.

The Cessna O-2 Skymaster is a militarized version of the Cessna 337 which seated two crew members allowing one to be free from piloting the aircraft and to be focused on the difficult mission of FAC duties which included marking targets for air strikes while avoiding ground threats.

A photo of a Cessna O-2A Skymaster at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, OH.

Sidenote: I have some flying time in the Cessna 337 aircraft. I recall once I was called upon to transport a deceased person who was in a body bag. We dropped the back of the right front seat and laid the passenger across the seats on the right hand side of the aircraft. It was a quite unusal and unforgetable experience related to the effects of altitude as I climbed and descended!

May 12, 1968 Kham Duc

The first FAC to arrive at Kham Duc was Capt Herbert J. Spier, an Air Force O-2 pilot out of the Chu Lai Air Base. He arrived there well before daybreak, and more than three hours before the ABCCC (Airborne Battlefield Command and Control Center) modified C-130E Hercules aircraft.

A photo of the personnel in the front of an ABCCC C-130 aircraft in flight.

A photo of personnel in the rear of the ABCCC C-130 in flight.

A C-47 flare aircraft was on scene to provide lighting for the F-4 fighter jets while Capt Spier moved three F-4s on multiple passes on targets even before it became light enough to see the targets without the aid of dropped flares from the C-47.

Soon the sun came up, along with the morning fog that was common at the base. The fog blanketed nearly the entire area before the fourth set of fighters arrived. Because Capt Spier had become familiar with the terrain around the base and the location of the enemy positions, he was able to direct the fighters despite the fact that most of the ground was obscured by the fog.

Capt Spier then assigned altitudes to the fighters lining them up on his aircraft and then would tell the fighter pilots when to drop their ordnance. He was able to put the bombs within six to seven hundred meters of the camp perimeter this way. 

The ALO (Air Liaison Officer) on the ground at Kham Duc could not see any of the aircraft above the camp; however, he could see and hear the bombs impacting the terrain and he was able to help Capt Spier move the bombs closer the camp perimeter and on top of better targets.

Spier remained on station for 2 1/2 hours directing 10 fighters attacking the enemy forces on the ground. He was then relieved when another FAC arrived but returned in the afternoon and remained on station until the last evacuation was completed.

By the time Spier returned there as many as five FACS were there. Soon it became clear that was too many FACs in the same place at the same time, so the FACs devised a system where only three FACs were simultaneously being used at the same time.

One of each of the FACs would fly down oppsite sides of the the runway while a third FAC flew above the two lower FACs and just below the ABCCC aircraft. As transports began arriving back to Kham Duc the FACs had the fighters suppress ground fire on the routes of the transports, acting like escorts for them.

There was such an abundance of fighters by late morning that the FACs could choose which fighter they needed based upon the ordnance the fighter was carrying. The fighters attacked with varied ordnance depending on which was more suitable for one target than others. 

Cluster bombs and napalm were effective on enemy troops in the open, but when the enemy was partially hidden 750 pound bombs with instantaneous fuses worked best. These gave better coverage and penetrated the jungle canopy  without digging a large hole upon detonation.

FAC Capt Philip R. Smotherman's Ordeal

Another FAC that worked that morning was Capt Smotherman who saw Kham Duc from all vantage points - more, in fact, than he desired.

A photo of Capt. Smotherman standing beside an O-2 aircraft similar to the one he crashed in Kham Duc.

He was knowledgeable about the emergency because he had been working the radios in the TOC (Tactical Operations Center) as the attack on the camp was brewing. He arrived at Kham Duc around 10:30 am and initially was the high altitude FAC. Later, he controlled aircraft on one side of the runway.

He put his first set of F-100 fighters onto a known .50-caliber gun position and they were silenced by the F-100s; however, while directing the strike his O-2 was stuck by enemy gun fire, shooting the right wing tip right off the aircraft!

Smotherman lost control of the aircraft's ailerons, and soon the aircraft elevator was bound up. This left him with just the aircraft rudder and engines for aircraft control.

His first thought was to bail out or crash outside the perimeter of Kham Duc, but upon reflection he felt he could get the aircraft back on the ground at Kham Duc. Soon after he started towards the airport he was almost struck by a departing C-123 climbing out, almost costing him his chance to crash land on the airstrip.

Smotherman made a controlled crash on the runway and was subsequently able to move the remains of the O-2 off the runway so as to not impede further evacuations.

The Fourth C-130 Into Kham Duc

This C-130 was commanded by Lt Col John Delmore, and he was about to land when Lt Col Boyd was taking off. This caused Delmore to make a go around with his C-130 before returning to the airfield. Delmore had witnessed Bucher's crash and didn't like having to make a second landing attempt.

On the next approach his aircraft started to take ground fire hits at about 300-400 feet. The crew described the hits as sounding like a sledgehammer was pounding on the fuselage. Just before touchdown smoke began to curl up throught the floorboards of the cockpit between the pilot's legs.

Seconds later the sides of the cockpit were opened by bullets that made six inch holes in the aluminum skin. The aircraft engineer, TSgt John McCall, saw bullets come up through the floor and through the holes it made in the roof of the cockpit.

Just before touchdown the pilots almost lost control of the aircraft, but they were able to right the aircraft and shut down the engines because they were about to go out of control.

Seconds before impact McCall jettisoned the crew entrance door so the crew had a means to escape. The aircraft struck the CH-47 helicopter that was destroyed earlier in the morning, but was able to turn off the runway so as not to block it.

When the airplane stopped all five of the crew members got out of the aircraft as quickly as possible. All the crew had to defend themselves were .38 caliber pistols while they were subject to heavy enemy ground fire.

Luckily they were only on the ground about 20 minutes before a Marine CH-46 helicopter took them off Kham Duc to safety.

The End Of The Evacuation

Lt Col Franklin Montgomery had seen both Bucher's C-130 go down and Delmore's C-130 crash and burn on the runway. Despite all of this, Montgomery landed in a hail of tracer fire, took on a load of over 150 Vietnamese civilians, a few Army troops and a handful of CIDG (Civilian Irregular Defense Group) forces.

Fortunately Montgomery's C-130 was not hit, and as he took off another C-130 landed taking on another 130 people. When this aircraft departed yet another C-130 landed taking off with another 90 souls on board.

By this time there were only a few people remaining on the ground, including Capt Smotherman, Capt Henderson, some Special Forces Troops and CIDG officers and men. Maj James L Wallace flew his C-130 into Kham Duc to extract them.

While this was going on orders came down to stop using C-130s for the evacuation because of the high losses of aircraft. Wallace's C-130 took no hits and safely removed the remaining forces.

There had been eight C-130's flown into Kham Duc, six were able to get some passengers out, and two C-130s were destroyed. The remaining peope who survived the communist small arms and artillery fire were either rescued by helicopter or died.

The Last Three Men at Kham Duc

After the remaining C-130s had returned to Cam Ranh Bay  the CCT (Combat Control Team) team (which had been flown out of Kham Duc earlier) consisting of Lundie, Freeman and Maj Gallagher were ordered to go to another C-130 under the command of Maj Jay Van Cleeff.

Van Cleeff and crew were confused by their change in mission, and were told to insert the CCT team back into Kham Duc. The CCT team was confused as they had just been flown out of Kham Duc and were now being ordered back.

At 1620 on May 12th Van Cleeff landed his C-130 back at Kham Duc and dropped off the CCT team. Van Cleeff waited about five minutes for the CCT team to return, but as they waited machine gun bullets were striking the ground beside the aircraft. Van Cleeff decided to save the aircraft and departed Kham Duc, leaving the CCT team behind on the ground.

After takeoff the crew heard someone say that the camp was now fully evacuated and could now be destoryed at will. This call was probably made by the C-130 that had taken off while Van Cleeff's C-130 was on final approach.

Van Cleeff immediately called: "Negative, negative," announcing to all who could hear (and apparently with some profanity to add emphasis) stating that he had just delivered a three-man CCT team into Kham Duc.

His message received an "unreal" silence which came over the radios!

By now the CCT team had scoured the compound only to find that there was no one left on the ground, save themselves. Obviously confused, finding themselves alone on the ground, and with the enemy closing in.

They quickly ran back to the ditch they had spent so much time in earlier in the day, and waited for a miracle. Freeman tried to talk to the aircraft overhead with his emergency UHF radio, only to find it no longer worked.

Lundie and Freeman nearly gave up hope, as all they had with them were a few rounds of M-16 amo and their .38 caliber revolvers. They could see the North Vietnamese setting up machine gun posiitions on either side of the runway, one of which was under the wing of Delmore's crashed C-130.

Freeman and Lundie were determined not to surrender and to take as many of the North Vietnamese as possible. Freeman then killed at least one, and possibly both of the men manning the gun under Delmore's wing, silencing that machine gun.

They were both convinced that no one in his right mind would land at the Kham Duc runway now with the enemy already in place. Amunition dumps around them were exploding.

Soon several FACs made several low passes over the field to locate the team, but to no avail. Capt Gatewood, an F-100 pilot aboard the ABCCC aircraft, called on the next aircraft in the stack to land on the runway to see if the men might come out of hiding with an airplane on the ground.

Next up was Lt Col Alfred J. Jeanotte, Jr. who, with his crew, nosed their C-123 over and dove to the runway. Upon landing he taxiied along the runway hoping the missing men would come running to them. Not seeing the men Jeanotte applied full power and took off.

During the takeoff the three CCT men ran out of the ditch but were not seen until the aircraft was airborne, but running low on fuel they did not have enough leftg to make another landing.

The next C-123 was commanded by Lt. Col Joe M. Jackson, the C-123 detachment commander at Da Nang. Jackson had begun his day taking a flight test check ride with Maj Jesse W. Campbell and then returned to Da Nang to be briefed on their new mission.

They arrived over Kham Duc at 1530 hours and waited an hour for their turn, knowing exactly what was going on. Gatewood then called Jackson who immediately pulled his throttles to idle and Jackson ordered Campbell to drop the flaps full down. On the way down Jackson spoke with Jeanotte to find the exact location of the CCT team.

On the descent Jackson briefed the crew on his plan and gave his assignments to the crew. TSgt Edward M. Trjo was to make sure the aircraft was ready for immediate takeoff, while SSgt Manson Gubbs, the loadmaster, was to pull the CCT people into the aircraft.

Jackson pushed the C-123 into a 4,500 feet per minute dive with the throttle advanced on the top wing while the aircraft slipped with full aileron and full opposite rudder planning to round out at 50 feet above the ground, staighten out, and land on the debris littered runway.

When he landed there was only about 2,200 feet of runway left and on rollout the CCT crew came out of the ditch running for the aircraft. Trejo and Grubbs pulled the three men into the aircraft while Jackson turned the aircraft back in the direction he had landed from.

As he did a 122mm rocket came straight at them but struck short of the C-123, bounced, spun around several times, and came to a stop a few feet short of the nosewheel - and the warhead failed to explode!

Jackson firewalled the throttles and ran up the jet engines pulling the aircraft into the air after a run of about 1,100 feet. He then took his passengers to Da Nang. Jackson had been on the ground less than a full minute, Despite the fact that the enemy had fired at the aircraft while it was descending, while on the runway, and while taking off no one could find any bullet holes in the aircraft after landing at Da Nang.

To the CCT and aircrew it was a miraculous escape, and like so much that day the final rescue, like all the others, can only be attributed to the skill, tenacity, and courage of the American aircrews.

A photograph of Joe M. Jackson wearing his Medal of Honor for his rescue of the CCT crew at Kham Duc.

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Until next time, keep your eyes safe and focused on what's ahead of you, Hersch!