A Yellowbirds Tale

submitted by: Alva Leon Matheson


I don’t remember a whole lot about things that took place 30+ years ago, but some things do stick out in my mind. One was a night mission on which we worked a single Yellowbird, not a flight but a single airplane. We were working in Foxtrot (the area south of Techepone). We had spotted some trucks and were given a Yellowbird (B-57) to work. After clearing the Yellowbird in hot we got the “in hot” call, “off” call and saw the nape (napalm) hit. Almost immediately, it seemed, Yellowbird was telling us he was ready for his next pass and asking where we wanted the next one put. We told him and got an immediate “in hot” call. This went on and on until he was dry, “in hot” – “off” – “in hot” – “off,” just that fast. We had worked a lot of Yellowbirds at night and were familiar with how they worked, but we couldn’t figure out how this guy was making his passes so fast. And he was hitting the target each time too; he got two trucks destroyed for sure and damaged two others.
For some reason he RTBd (Returned To Base) to NKP to refuel. When we finished with him, our station time was up and we also RTBd to our home at NKP. I told him I’d like to meet him and shake his hand for the good work he did.
We found two vertically challenged, dried- up, senior looking types getting something to eat at the club. One of the two had eyes as big around as dinner plates. After the introductions I asked them how they managed to get on and off target so fast. The guy with the normal sized eyes said, “I fly vertical patterns.” And then he demonstrated with his hands, a half-loop, roll level at the top, and then split-s into another half loop. Kind of like a series of loops or immelmans. The GIB (Guy In Back), with the big eyes, just vigorously nodded his head. I suspected I was being had, but they did get on and off target real quick.
Makes a good story anyhow.
The Zorros, Nimrods, and Yellowbirds were the best night fighters we had at the time. They did do good work.