Yellowbird Save
submitted by: Alva Leon Matheson
The call sign was Covey. Some of us flew out of the Marine base at Dong Ha. I became Covey 69. The first Tally Ho FACs flew 100 missions over North Vietnam and went home. We were told that FACs were in short supply so we could only fly 80 missions over North Vietnam and then we would be reassigned in-country. The good news was that for every 20 missions over North Vietnam our tour would be shortened by one month. 7th Air Force later reneged on this promise and cut us back to 40 missions.
My most memorable mission over North Vietnam involved the rescue of an Air Force pilot.I was flying my third Tally Ho mission over North Vietnam on October 6, 1966. I spotted smoke rising from an area that I knew had been struck earlier in the day. Upon arriving over the location I saw that the smoke was coming from a downed airplane. The immediate area was infested with NVA troops. They had several 12.7 mm antiaircraft positions and at least one 37 mm AAA site.
I called the airborne command post for information and was told the crash was a B-57, call sign Yellow Bird. (Note: The Yellow Birds were TDY to DaNang from Clark AB, PI). The wing- man had observed two parachutes. I switched to guard channel, which was effectively blocked by two UHF beepers, and descended to treetop level to try to locate the downed aircrew members.
I heard the sharp crack of .30 caliber automatic weapons and the much louder bang of 12.7 mm. I located a parachute 20 meters into the jungle on the north side of a long clearing and spotted a crewmember 100 meters out in the clearing. I also determined that the ground fire was coming from the tree line around the clearing.
A CH-3 Jolly Green rescue helicopter had been scrambled from DaNang, but it was now apparent that it would not arrive in time. I then heard an Army Huey ‘slick’ on guard channel. He was supporting an ARVN unit across the river in South Vietnam. I directed him to the general vicinity but the chopper pilot could not immediately locate the downed pilot. I briefed the chopper pilot on the safest approach to the area, flew over the clearing and marked the pilot’s position with a smoke grenade.
Ground fire immediately became intense. The chopper pilot saw my smoke and was able to extract the pilot without delay. The NVA troops were within 200 meters of the pilot when he was picked up. The helicopter received six hits as it left the area.
I flew back over the parachute and saw NVA soldiers pulling it down out of the trees. I remained over the area for fifteen to thirty minutes and made repeated low-level passes in a futile attempt to locate the other crewmember.
I soon determined that the remaining UHF beeper was located in one of the areas of intense ground fire so further search and rescue attempts were aborted. I had been on station for about an hour by that time.
I have always wondered if the Huey pilot was recognized for his heroism. I also wish I had learned the name of the Yellow Bird crewmember.