Mosquitoes to Wolves: The Evolution of the Airborne Forward Air

296 Pages·2003·1.55 MB·English

by  Gary Robert Lester

Mosquitoes to Wolves
The Evolution of the
Airborne Forward Air Controller
GARY ROBERT LESTER
Air University Press
Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama
August 1997
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lester, Gary Robert, 1947–
Mosquitoes to wolves : the evolution of the airborne forward air controller / Gary
Robert Lester.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
1. Close air support—History. 2. Close air support—Case studies. 3. Air war-
fare—United States—History. I. Title.
UG703.L47 1997
358.4¢142—dc21 97-18377
CIP
Disclaimer
Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely those of the
author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of Air University, the United States Air Force,
the Department of Defense, or any other US government agency. Cleared for public release:
distribution unlimited.
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Contents
Chapter Page
DISCLAIMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii
ABOUT THE AUTHOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
1 EVOLUTION OF CLOSE AIR SUPPORT . . . . . . . . 1
World War I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Between the Wars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The American Experience, 1918–42 . . . . . . . . . 7
World War II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2 CLOSE AIR SUPPORT DOCTRINE . . . . . . . . . . 15
Early Navy-Marine Close Air Support . . . . . . . 15
Close Air Support in Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Air Force Philosophy in Korea . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Navy/Marine Air in Vietnam . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3 KOREA: FORWARD AIR CONTROLLERS
EMERGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
The Fight for Air Superiority . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Phase One—Retreat to Pusan . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Phase Two—Advance to the Yalu . . . . . . . . . 29
Phase Three—Second Retreat . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Phase Four—Main Line of Resistance
Stabilized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Phase Five—Air Pressure for Peace . . . . . . . . 30
A Substitute for Artillery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Close Air Support in Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
The Extemporized Air War . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
The Need for Airborne FACs . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
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Chapter Page
Command and Control Support . . . . . . . . . . 37
6132d Tactical Air Control Group . . . . . . . . . 38
6147th Squadron Organized . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Immediate Air Requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Mosquitoes Assigned to Divisions . . . . . . . . . 40
Mosquito Mission Expands . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
The 502d Tactical Control Group . . . . . . . . . 41
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4 MOSQUITO OPERATIONS IN KOREA . . . . . . . . 45
The Role of the Mosquito . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Forward Air Controller Equipment . . . . . . . . 47
Visual Reconnaissance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
The Tactical Air Control System . . . . . . . . . . 50
Mosquito Mellow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Strike Control Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Problems Encountered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Forward Air Controller Training . . . . . . . . . . 60
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
5 KOREA: THE STAGNANT WAR . . . . . . . . . . . 65
The Argument for Interdiction . . . . . . . . . . 65
CAS along a Stabilized Front . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Radar-Controlled Air Strikes . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Communications Upgrades . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
T-6 Upgrades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Operation Thunderbolt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Operation Ripper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Communist Losses in the First Year . . . . . . . 70
Strategy Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Pathfinder Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
The Truce Ceremony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6147th TCG Deactivated . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Joint Air-Ground Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Post Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
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Chapter Page
6 VIETNAM: THE ADVISORY YEARS . . . . . . . . . 81
Wars of National Liberation . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Developing the Counterinsurgency Force . . . . . 82
Farm Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Command Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Air Operations in 1962 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Air Operations in 1963 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Air Operations in 1964 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
The Gulf of Tonkin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
New Demands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
7 VIETNAM: SLOW FAC OPERATIONS . . . . . . . 109
FACs Come of Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
FAC Aircraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Personnel Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Seventh Air Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
504th Tactical Air Support Group . . . . . . . . 116
Increased Manning Requirements . . . . . . . 117
Qualifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Rules of Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Locating the Enemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Visual Reconnaissance Process . . . . . . . . . 122
In-Country Operations, 1965–72 . . . . . . . . 125
Employing the FAC Force . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Navy Participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
The Battle of Khe Sanh . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
The Tet Offensive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Cleared in Wet! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
8 EXPANDING MISSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Night Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Air Operations in Laos . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
USAF Controllers in Cambodia . . . . . . . . . 160
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
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Chapter Page
9 THE FAST FORWARD AIR CONTROLLERS . . . . 167
Out-Country Operations, 1964–65 . . . . . . . 167
Commando Sabre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
F-4 “Phantom” FACs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
10 VIETNAMIZATION AND AMERICAN
WITHDRAWAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Vietnamization and Close Air Support . . . . . 202
The South Vietnamese Air Force . . . . . . . . 205
Cambodia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Lam Son 719 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Interdiction in Route Packages I and II . . . . . 212
The 1972 Spring Offensive . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Linebacker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
11 A PERSPECTIVE ON CLOSE AIR SUPPORT . . . . 225
Interservice Cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Airpower in Regional Conflicts . . . . . . . . . 233
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Illustrations
Figure
1 Korean Peninsula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2 Vietnam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
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Photographs
Page
T-6 “Mosquito” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
C-47 “Mosquito Mellow” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Farm Gate Aircraft—T-28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Farm Gate Aircraft—B-26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Farm Gate Aircraft—A-19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Farm Gate Aircraft—C-47 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
O-1 “Bird Dog” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
O-2 “Skymaster” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
OV-10 “Bronco” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
F-100 “Misty” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
F-4D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
F-4E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
RF-4C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
A-10 “Thunderbolt II” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
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About the Author
Lt Col Gary Robert Lester was born in Bristol, Connecticut,
on 3 August 1947. He retired from the US Air Force in 1992
after a 23-year career. He accrued three thousand hours as an
F-4 weapons systems officer flying F-4 Phantom II fighters.
Colonel Lester served two combat tours in Southeast Asia as a
“Fast-FAC.” Beginning in 1981, he flew operational test and
evaluation missions for advanced weapons and aircraft
systems and was an instructor at both of Air Combat
Command’s test centers. He completed his career as director,
Tactics and Test Division, 79th Test and Evaluation Group,
Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.
After retirement, Colonel Lester served as associate
assistant professor of World Civilization at Okaloosa-Walton
Community College and associate assistant professor of
American History and Western Civilization for Troy State
University, Florida Region.
Lester holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Wichita
State University (1969), a Master of Public Administration
degree from Golden Gate University (1985), and a PhD in
history from Florida State University (1994). He is also a
graduate of Air War College, Air University, Maxwell AFB,
Alabama.
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