Many moons ago…
We had this ‘thing’ called the ‘Circuit’. Deployment site to Utapao, Thailand, to Diego Garcia, to Bandar Abbas, Iran, and ‘other places as directed’, then back…
With flights from each location on what were known as MAP (Maritime Air Patrol) tracks. They were usually 8-12 hour flights, making for some long days!
And this was what Utapao looked like back then!
Our ‘det’ site was off the far end of the runway to the right.
And this was what our ‘hooches’ looked like. These were the officer’s (note the AC unit). Ours were open bay with a head (bathroom) on one end, and a Mamasan who took care of the place and did our laundry (for a price)…
When Vietnam fell, our ramp and the grass was packed with RVAF airplanes including C-47s, C-119s, AD-1 Skyraiders, including one VIP Lockheed Loadstar (beautiful little airplane), Vietnamese Airline C-47s, and a bunch of cats and dogs airplanes…
We were also involved in the rescue of the SS Mayaguez, a cargo ship taken by the Khmer Rouge.
I ‘think’ this might have been one of our FLIR pics of the Mayaguez when we were trying to see if her engines were running…
And yes, those were two ‘former’ Swift boats tied up alongside… and they shot at us!!!
Since we had the prototype FLIR system, we got all the night flights… sigh
This is the picture taken by another P-3, I think from VP-17 of the fishing boat with the Mayaguez crew on board.
Helluva busy couple of weeks!!!
Oh yeah, and because USAF Utapao was processing all of the film/pictures, everything was stamped USAF, not USN… Grrrrr…
Sadly, the abortive raid on Koh Tang cost ten Marines, two Navy corpsmen, and an Air Force crewman killed in the crash of Knife 31; an Air Force crewman killed in the crash of Knife 21; one Marine killed in action on the West Beach; and three Marines missing in action and presumed dead. A total of fifty were wounded including thirty-five Marines and six airmen.
Additionally, eighteen USAF Security Police and five flight crew were killed in the CH-53 crash on the way from NKP to U-Tapao prior to the operation.
Hey Old NFO;
I remember you telling me about that one. I recall from what I read about the raid, it wasn’t the best planned operation(Goat screw)
and leaving 3 marines unaccounted for( I personally believe that they were left behind) because the planning was subpar. Maybe I’m wrong…but that has been my opinion for many decades, and as I recall that was basically the last combat operation of the Vietnam War. Now your pictures are bada$$ though.
We had a 3-plane det there on our ’69 Iwakuni deployment. I remember walking into the cockpit and almost crapping myself because of the stuffed cobra on the center console.