Life on the Line: True Stories of Vietnam Air Combat Told by the Men Who Lived It

330 Pages·1990·32.22 MB·English

by  Philip D. Chinnery

SHOT DOWN NEAR PLEiKU
Our escorts started a race-track firing pattern into
the area and our door gunners opened fire. All of this
didn't seem to impress the NVA, who continued to
fire straight up as we passed overhead.
As we made—the approach, a new sound added to
the confusion ^bullets passing through aluminum
aircraft skin. One round came through an inch or so
forward of my left foot and passed through the con-
sole and Major Neal's right calf, knocking his right
foot off the right tail rotor pedal.
At this point I was just along for the ride, because
the aircraft yawed hard left and hit the ground near
the LZ, still moving at about 15 knots. I remember
watching the landing zone and tree line do a beauti-
ful slow roll to the tune of ver}' loud crushing
metal
. . .
"There are tales ... of fighter, bomber and
photo reconnaissance missions in which fliers
tell of narrow escapes, of failures as well as suc-
cesses, of ejecting from their craft into the jun-
POW
gle and the sea, and of — camps."
Publishers Weekly
"A valuable addition to the oral histories of the
Vietnam War . . . exceptionally eloq—uent."
Booklist
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DGhimery
Philip
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS/NEW YORK
St. Martin'sPresstitlesareavailableatquantitydiscountsforsalespromo-
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ager. St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
The p)oem on p. vii is reproduced with the kind permission of the New
York Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Commission and was first published in
the book Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam edited by Bernard
Edelman for the New York Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Commission
and published by W. W. Norton & Company (cased) and by Pocket
Bool^ (paperback).
First published in Great Britain by Blandford Press.
LIFE ON THE LINE
©
Copyright 1988 by Philip D. Chinnery.
All rights reserved. Nopartofthisbook maybe used or reproduced in any
mannerwhatsoever without written permission except in the case ofbrief
quotationsembodied in criticalarticlesorreviews. Forinformationaddress
St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 88-29838
ISBN: 0-312-92010-5
Printed in the United States of America
St. Martin's Press hardcover edition published 1988
First St. Martin's Press mass market edition/January 1990
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is dedicated to all the pilots who were
killed in South-East Asia between 1961 and
1972 and to those MIAs who remain unac-
counted for. They are not forgotten.

If you are able,

CONTENTS
Author's note xi
Introduction xiii
PART ONE: EARLY DAYS 1
Farm Gate 4
1.
2. Up the river under the clouds 11
3. First blood .2520
4. Early days
5. Three tales of three tails 37
6. The saving of Bu Dop Camp 49
PART TWO: FIGHTING THE WAR 55
7. Tree strike on the Ho Chi Minh Trail 59
8. The Chi Lang Bird Dog 67
9. Alone, unarmed and unafraid 76
10. Cocktails over Hanoi 90
11. The wrecking of Old 888 101
12. Combat airlift 109
13. Yankee Station 116
14. Marine Crusader 123
15. The rescue of Pintail 2 135
16. Big birds and little birds 149
17. If you fly low-level down a trail, you will die 156
18. The unexpected FAC mission 165
19. Guess you're on fire 171
20. Rapid fire and the Black Widows 182
21. The fiasco at Kham Due 189
Contents
22. An ode to Muleskinner