Vung Tau Army Airfield (VTAAF) airstrip - Mohawk taking off on a "Night Mission" - heading out over "Back Beach"
The 73rd SAC Flight Line Hanger
VTAAF premiter - adjacent to 73d SAC Orderly Room & Motor Pool
VTAAF premiter - adjacent to 73d SAC Orderly Room & Motor Pool
Hawk #3, an "A" model, in hanger... getting ready for next day's
mission.
Hawk #2 "Super Snoopy II", an "A" model, on flight line. Sid Price
looks like he is reading mail from home.
Hawk number 4... an "A" model
Well, the B's and C's must be gone for a while. Now it's time to get some
work done on the A models. All daily maintenance was done on the A models at
night (by the flight line night shift). If the maintenance was of a more
serious nature... the aircraft would be sent down to the other hanger in the
morning. We would do light repairs on the flight line, such as fuel boost
pumps, etc.
This one is a "C" model
Here's a "C" model in the hanger at night... it probably didn't make it's
mission, due to a mechanical problem on start-up. The problem is fixed here by
night flight line mechanics and returned to it's bay on the flight line for
a later mission that night.
Here we are, working on 2 at a time...
From the looks of things... I couldn't tell you which is which model. This
is just another part of our night time routine. The C's and B's are probably
out on their missions. The one I'm working on is probably an "A" model.
Taking a break...
During the course of working 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week... there is
always a need for a breather. This was probably a moment between launching
aircraft and retrieving aircraft. This could have also been during a monsoon
rain storm. The line shack was our "home" of sorts. It was a place to read
your mail from home, swap stories about our life back in the States, tell
jokes, do the paper work, or learn of a lost aircraft.
Flight line - "night crew"
Welcome to the night crew. These are the guys that I spent a year of my life
with. This is in the morning (somewhere around 7-9am) as the flight line "night
crew" was just getting off duty. The normal hours for the night crew were from
5:30 p.m. til 5:30 a.m., 7 days a week. Notice a couple of the "day crew"
people in the background heading for work.
73rd Surveillance Airplane Company (SAC) -
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