Operation Pony Express - Mission

Mission

The flight at Da Nang performed several missions in the six months they were located there. One of the missions was to support the Forward Air Controller units at the Kham Duc and Khe Sahn Green Beret bases, which involved carrying 500 gallon fuel cells and Conex boxes of supplies on the cargo sling. The flight performed many general support missions such as retrieving downed Marine H-34 and Huey helicopters from remote sites, slinging fully equipped radio jeeps to hilltop reconnaissance sites; and ferrying wounded soldiers to the hospital at Da Nang or to the Hospital Ship USS Repose which was stationed off the coast of Da Nang. One major mission was to work with the Marines to support Operation Double Eagle by emplacing 105 mm Howitzers at forward firing positions by carrying them on the cargo sling under the aircraft and placing them in position at the forward firing site. One of the Pony pilots was awarded the Silver Star when he was diverted on the way back from Dong Ha to evacuate wounded soldiers from the A Shau Valley which was under attack by heavy mortar and machine gun fire. He escaped ground fire after takeoff by immediately pulling up into the low lying clouds.

In late spring of 1966, the flights at Cam Ranh Bay and Da Nang were reassigned to Udorn RTAFB in Thailand under headquarters 14th Command Support Group, Nha Trang, South Vietnam. The designated radio call sign was "Pony Express". There they again performed a number of missions including support of anti-terrorist operations of the Thai Army. During the monsoon season the CH-3C helicopters were used to fly critical supplies and medical personnel to outlying villages which were cut off from road supply by the muddy roads. The Ponies also had the mission of engaging in classified Counterinsurgency flights into Laos and North Vietnam. In 1968 the unit was PCS to Udorn.