Known as the company bad boys; the Spiders were a crazy mix of some of the best pilots, crew chiefs and door gunners in the 188th. The armed platoon, known as the guns, was the smallest but most lethal; with only 34 men, a platoon leader and platoon sergeant, 16 officers, eight crew chiefs and eight door gunners. They were known by their tactical call sign, Spider and every pilot was assigned a number from 50-69. So when they heard “Spider 68” over the company net; the other pilots in the platoon knew it was CW2 Joe Walker. The crew chiefs and gunners usually had nick-names. They wore their distinct Spiders pocket patch with great pride.

The gunnies were respected by the rest of the company but were believed to be just a little suicidal. Who in there right mind wanted to volunteer to get shot at on purpose? But the gunnies did it on a daily basis; they were adrenaline junkies and that’s what made them different and the elite platoon in the company. These young rotor-heads thought they were bullet proof until they were wounded or shot down. There was never a shortage of volunteers, but it wasn’t easy getting into the guns. Those that volunteered for the guns knew that they were putting their young asses for sure in harms way but for the enlisted guys; they liked the fact that they weren’t on Top’s duty roster, which meant no KP or guard duty. To qualify to volunteer for the guns, slick drivers needed 500 hours of stick time and were only accepted if the Spider pilots, gun platoon leader and the commanding officer thought they were good enough; if not they didn’t get in. Rank was secondary to experience, skill and ability in the guns; that’s the way it was. Because they were always flying or working on their aircraft the gunnies had little time to associate with anyone outside the guns; for the most part they kept to themselves.

Flying in the guns was definitely the most dangerous job in the company. The Spiders motto “Guns Up” was a term used for the worst of combat situations, enemy con tact.  When one of their light fire teams on stand-by saw an officer from the unit they were supporting in the field, running towards them yelling Guns Up, they knew that the shit had hit the fan and they were being scrambled to fly close-in fire support. They had a saying in the guns that, “Slicks Are For Kids.”  But then again everyone knew that flying into and out of a hot LZ or PZ could be as scary and life threatening as flying in the guns. There was a healthy rivalry between the two lift platoons and the guns.

The original Spider door gunners were airborne volunteers that learned their skills in the use of various weapon systems during live fire training in UH-1B model gunships at Fort Rucker, Alabama. After three months of field training exercises with the second and third Brigades of the 101st Airborne Division “Screaming Eagles” the 188th deployed to Vietnam. In March 1967, gun platoon pilots flew eight UH-1C gunships on a six day cross country flight. They flew from Fort Campbell, Kentucky to El Paso, Texas (Fort Bliss) where they spent the night partying across the border in Mexico. The next morning they flew to Yuma, Arizona (El Centro Marine Air Corps station) and then on to Stockton, California (Lathrope Army Depot). At Lathrope the gunships were disassembled, shrink wrapped in plastic and loaded, along with 23 new UH-1H slicks, on board the USS Kula Gulf.

To take the edge off the stress of combat the gunnies liked to drink and raise hell. In view of the fact that the company area was always prone to sniper fire coming from the village of Dau Tieng, the beer tent was relocated away from the perimeter. Liquor was always available for those who needed it. They had another saying in the guns that, “All the drinks in the EM club were free when incoming mortar and rocket rounds were exploding in the company area.”  Black Widow 6, Major Jack O. Johnson, on more than one occasion sent the charge of quarters (CQ) runner with orders for them to shut it down. At the end of the day, when one of the pilots or the guys in back had confirmed kills, the pilot would low level over the company area, while the guy’s in back trailed red smoke; letting the company know that they had confirmed kills that day. Hell, they were in a shooting war and after losing some of their own, when they got confirmed kills everybody in the company fed off of that; in a sick kind of way it was great for morale.

In the fall of 1967, during Operation Diamond Head, the Spiders killed 24 VC soldiers in an all-out assault against an enemy base camp while supporting the 25th Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade working northeast of Tay Ninh. Fire team leader WO1 Charles J. Paddie’s light fire team surprised the VC in an open area and poured heavy concentrations of rocket and minigun fire into large numbers of enemy soldiers. The VC, in a state of confusion, panicked and the Spiders were able to make several passes as the enemy scattered in random attempts to escape. The 188th slicks inserted elements of the 1st Brigade into the area, and were highly successful in directing armed assaults against the VC positions. 188th slicks were called in to medevac two of their wounded during the attack.

North of Dau Tieng in War Zone C the terrain was dense double and triple canopy jungle with clearings of various shapes and sizes dispersed sporadically throughout the area. Most of these clearings were mined and booby trapped by the VC and NVA.

On a typical combat assault, during the artillery prep of the LZ, the last round out of the tube was usually a white phosphorus round unless it was the dry season; it was best not to start a fire in the LZ because no one could see a thing through the heavy smoke and haze. After the artillery prep Spider gunships would soften up the LZ with rocket, grenade and minigun fire prior to the slicks arrival and then cover both flanks of the flight during the insertion. If the LZ or PZ was hot they would engage the enemy positions and if the LZ or PZ was cold they would climb out and cap the area.

Two gunships made up a light fire team (LFT) and three gunships made up a heavy fire team (HFT). Tactically the guns went with four LFT’s. Each of the four fire teams had a Fire Team Leader (FTL). In most cases, but not always, the FTL’s were the best pilots in the platoon. With all the transfers and infusions going on; it seemed like a revolving door in most of the command slots and the Spiders had their share of Fire Team Leader changes.

When the Spiders worked in large open areas along the Cambodian border; places like the Parrot’s Beak and Fish Hook, a heavy LZ prep was needed. During Operation Yellowstone, when they were covering a large insertion of 30 slicks at a time, three companies abreast, HFT’s were used. Spider pilots were given detailed instructions indicating specific orbit areas for the gunships, areas to be capped by the fire teams, and targets to be attacked on preparation runs. The slick drivers made sure they were aware of the location of the gunships at all times and from what direction they were making their gun runs. During a combat assault the gun platoon leader usually led the slicks into the LZ and marked the touch down point with colored smoke. On short final into the LZ the lead gunship would report, 400 meters from the mark…100 meters from the mark…mark is out (a smoke grenade was dropped on the touch down point). Then he would let flight lead know if the LZ was hot or cold. The lead slick would land on the mark, while the rest of the flight, if possible, landed in formation. The guys in back always carried an assortment of purple, yellow, green and red M-18 smoke grenades; kept within close reach. Red smoke was always used to mark enemy fire.

The words “Going hot” over the radio net by a Spider pilot always put a smile on the face of the ground commander; it let him know that the guns were initiating a gun run on the enemy positions that had his ground-pounders pinned down. Light fire teams flew ahead of convoys and patrols to keep an eye out for enemy activity and ambushes; as well as flying cover for American and Vietnamese units sweeping an area. When they received fire or were ambushed the ground commander would throw smoke; contact the fire team leader to confirm the color and then give him the direction and distance to the enemy position. Once they had established where the friendlies were the Spiders would engage the enemy positions. Whenever a Spider gunship or Black Widow slick went down; the unit they were supporting did everything they could to rescue the downed aviators.

For visual identification on the ground and in the air all helicopters in Vietnam had detailed markings painted on them. For eight and a half months the 188th was assigned to the “Black Barons” of the 269th Combat Aviation Battalion.  Their markings consisted of an18-inch white circle with a six-inch bulls-eye to identify all Black Baron aircraft. Each company in the battalion was given a specific color to use for their bulls-eye; the 188th‘s was red. For the last three and a half months of their existence they were assigned to 308th Combat Aviation Battalion “Black Adler” whose markings consisted of a white diamond shaped configuration which was dissected diagonally in quarters to make four smaller diamonds within that larger diamond; once again the 188th got red. The vertical triangles were white and the horizontal triangles were red. These markings were located on both sides of the tail boom and on the top surface of the port and starboard tailplanes.

When Spider 35, WO1 Bob Sween was at Lai Khe for in-country training with the 173rd AHC Robin Hoods he noticed that the Cross Bows gun platoon wore red scarves. Shortly after his return to the 188th the Spiders started wearing red scarves, their platoon color. The slick crews followed suit; 1st lift platoon wore yellow and 2nd wore white. These scarves were popular with the pilots because they prevented hot shell casings from the crew chief‘s machine gun from going down the back of their fatigue shirts and burning their neck and back. When a crew chief was flying with a new pilot or someone he didn’t particularly like he would maneuver his machine gun so that his spent shell casings would go down the back of the pilots fatigue shirt. Platoon colors were painted on the cockpit step, the outside vertical edge of the port and starboard tailplane and on the upper vertical surface of the tail pylon.

All the door gunners and crew chiefs were issued a Kevlar vest called a chicken plate and a body harnesses called a monkey strap that was secured to an o-ring on the transmission housing compartment. The chicken plate consisted of a vest with an open sleeve on the front and the back of the vest where the Kevlar plates were inserted. The one size fits all vest was secured by adjustable Velcro straps. Because most of the enemy fire came up through the floor, the guys in back removed their back plate and sat on it to protect the family jewels. The monkey straps insured that the crew chief and door gunner didn’t get blown out of the aircraft if they were wounded. During a gun run the monkey straps made it easier for the guys in back to move around the aircraft; but if they did go down they had to make sure that they released the catch on their monkey strap before hitting the ground otherwise they could wind up trapped under the gunship. This happened to Spider Crew Chief Sp/4 Harry Kim, who was killed in action on August 5, 1968 when his gunship crashed and burned after being hit by 37mm anti aircraft fire in the A Shau valley. Caught up in the moment Kim forgot to release the catch on his monkey strap prior to impact and was trapped under his burning gunship.

 All of the gunners and crew chiefs used the M60D light machine gun as their primary weapon and what an excellent weapon it was. The gunners were responsible for two light machine guns, which of course they had to sign for. If the weapons were lost or stolen they had to pay the Army for the cost of each weapon. It was the door gunner’s primary job to make sure that both machine guns were clean and in good working order. The machine gun weighed 23 pounds, had a cyclic rate of 550 rounds per minute, fired NATO 7.62 mm linked ammunition in 100-round belts and had an effective range of 1100 meters. The M60D was suspended from the ceiling of the cargo bay by a rubber bungee cord, which made it easier for the guys in back to maneuver their machine gun in all directions while engaging the enemy. The rubber cord had some bounce to it; the trick was to maneuver the machine gun with your upper body and arms and let the bungee cord do the work The monkey strap and bungee cord made it easy for the guys in back to hang outside the aircraft, stand on the skid and direct their fire where it needed to be. They had to be careful not to hit the rotor blades when the pilot banked to their side. The machine gun was fed from a good sized metal ammo can or wooden box on the floor, usually filled with three or four thousand rounds of linked 7.62. The ammo belt fed straight up into the feed tray and then made an abrupt right-angle turn to the horizontal plane before being drawn into the weapon. When the machine gun was fired, the ammo belt would bind-up and jam, causing the weapon to stop firing. If that happened during a fire fight it could be fatal for everyone on board. Using good old American ingenuity the gunnies made use of the most plentiful material around, a C-ration can, which fit perfectly into the receiver and worked like a charm. Ham and lima beans were far and away the worst tasting of the C-ration meals and the most commonly used can.

Door gunners usually did the refueling, which in most cases was hot, while the engine was running. After each mission the door gunners used a tie down to secure the main rotor blades. The tie down consisted of a long flat nylon braided strap that was attached to a metal hook. Before starting the engine they removed the hook and secured it after shutting down. The hook was inserted into a small hole at the end of the main rotor blade. The door gunner would then pull down on the main rotor blade and secure the strap to the stinger.

The M-23 armament subsystem used on the slicks was attached to the helicopter fuselage to provide a stable mount for the M60D machine gun. Each mount incorporated a pintle for attaching the machine gun to allow elevating, depressing, and traversing the muzzle for aiming and firing. There was a left and right mount marked “LEFT” and “RIGHT” respectively. The term “RIGHT “and “LEFT” were based on the reader facing forward in the helicopter. The M60D on a slick used a butterfly trigger assembly with hand grips. There were stops on the mounts which prevented the guys in back from traversing the machine gun too far inboard and accidentally shooting up the cockpit and the pilots. The crew chiefs and gunners did away with the government issued side mounted 100-round ammo box; the ammunition feed chute and the cartridge case collector bag. During a fire fight one hundred rounds of ammo just didn’t get the job done.

Most of the flight crews carried extra weapons during missions. The pilots were issued Smith & Wesson .38 caliber pistols and the enlisted men were issued Colt M-16’s. These early versions of the M-16 were seldom used by the crew chiefs and door gunners because they had a tendency to jam and besides that; they had the best weapon in the Army inventory, the M60D light machine gun. Other personal weapons carried on board were captured AK-47’s, M-79’s, M-1carbines, Colt .45 pistols, grenades and anything else that would give them an advantage if they went down. Spider 67, WO Robert Mudge liked to use his personal M-79 grenade launcher to pop off rounds on the break. Slick driver Black Widow 47, WO1 Wes Gager carried his trade mark M-79 with him on every flight; strapped to the back of his seat.

All of the crew chiefs and gunner’s had to make sure they followed the Army’s Rules of Engagement before opening up on the enemy. Rule 4c below was the most commonly used rule in the Spiders.

 Rules of Engagement for Armed Helicopters:

Fire only when:

Remember

All flight personnel were issued the APH-5 flight helmet, which was grossly inadequate for ear protection. Everyone that flew or worked on helicopters learned real fast that the noise levels were off the charts; the high-pitched whine of the turbine engine, the whop, whop, whop sound of the rotor blades, the noise from the tail rotor and the high pitched hum coming from the transmission. The guys in back flew day in and day out with their backs up against the transmission housing panels. They sat real close to the rocket and minigun systems. When the pilot fired the miniguns the noise level was deafening. The noise and back blast from the rockets being fired always guaranteed to get their attention. Over a period of time those noise levels caused high-frequency hearing loss and tinnitus. Very few of the Black Widows who put claims in for high-frequency hearting loss and tinnitus ever received a rating % for compensation from the Veterans Administration for their time in Vietnam. A sad fact they all had to except.

Shortly after going operational the Spiders started pulling counter mortar standby duty at Camp Rainier. Twice a night a light fire team would fly over specific outlined areas around Camp Rainier, the village of Dau Tieng and the Michelin rubber plantation. After flying long hours during the day, gun crews on flyable gunships usually had to pull counter mortar standby that same night and slept in the uncomfortable counter mortar tent located at the junction of the 06 active and the 03 inactive runways. The 3rd Brigade Tactical Operations Center (TOC) was situated close-by. Every night one of the lift platoon slicks was tasked with pulling counter mortar flare ship standby. When in coming mortar rounds or rockets started impacting inside Camp Rainier the guns and flare ship were scrambled. With the gunships being constantly shot up on missions or down for maintenance, it was difficult to keep all eight flyable with weapons systems in working order. When the Spiders didn’t have any flyable gunships to pull counter mortar, Rat Pack, Stinger or Diamond Back light fire teams would cover for them at the Web and when the rolls were reversed the Spiders filled in at Tay Ninh and Cu Chi. The guns were always given top priority when they needed to refuel, rearm or in need of repairs. If the 188th didn’t have a company size lift scheduled the Spiders still had to provide a heavy fire team for battalion operations. When they weren’t out on an operation flyable gunships were usually on strip alert or standby.

The Spiders arrived in Nam with more armament systems (12) than aircraft, which was a beautiful thing for the company armorer (45J20), Sp/5 Dave Miller, plus he had eight new Charlie model gunships to put those new systems on. Because the Army failed to train officers with a 45J MOS Miller had an enlisted MOS that he could use to his advantage. On his order, when a weapons system didn’t work, he could red-x any gunship without being overruled by an officer.

Ex-recon Marine, Spider 35, WO1 Bob Sween, had a good knowledge of weapons from his time in the Marines was assigned as the first armament officer. He worked with Miller and CW2 Henry Cauthen to keep the weapon systems working. In October 1967 Sween left the company after volunteering for AH-1G cobra school in Bien Hoa and was later assigned to the 235th Armed Helicopter Company “Delta Devils.”

Over a period of 14 months ten Spider gunships were either destroyed or so badly shot up that they had to be sent out to higher echelon maintenance and replaced with different aircraft. Listed below are the original gunships and replacements:

66-00706 - The Hog, 48 rockets.

66-00707 – miniguns, used on a few missions as the smoke ship, mid-air 7/31/67,

                    all on board KIA.                 

66-00708 - miniguns.

66-00709 - miniguns.

66-00710 - miniguns, mid-air 7/31/67, all on board KIA.

66-00711 - “Crap shooter,” The Hog, 48 rockets.

66-00712 - “Nicki II” miniguns, destroyed during 6/24/67 mortar attack.

66-00713 - The Super Frog, 40mm grenade launcher, 38 rockets.

Replacement gunships

64-14170 – miniguns.

66-15089 - miniguns, flown in the states by Geoff Handel; sold to an undisclosed

                   Latin American country.

66-00668 – miniguns.

66-15087 - “Cold Sweat,” The Frog, 40mm grenade launcher, 28 rockets.

66-15680 – miniguns.

66-15173 - miniguns, engine failure, Nha Be River, 11/22/67, Watts KIA..

66-15179 - “Satisfaction,” miniguns, flown in the states by John Soares.

66-15229 – miniguns.

66-15664 – miniguns.

65-09471 -“Climax,” The Hog, 48 rockets, destroyed 9/4/68 during typhoon Bess.

It is unknown which of the above gunships had the names Eradicator, Psycho and Sudden Death painted on the doors. Because of mechanical problems, bullet holes, shrapnel damage and the high demand for mission ready gunships; weapon systems were constantly being switched from one gunship to another. Miller had the responsibility and head ache of making sure that all of the weapon systems were working properly on all the gunships. He spent 80% of his time changing out gun systems for whatever ship was flyable and what the mission called for. Normally miniguns were the first choice and the 48 rocket launcher system second. The 40mm grenade launcher was a royal pain-in-the-ass to change over between gunships because of the chute that ran to the nose; consequently 40mm gunships tended to stay 40mm gunships. The only other change he made was to mount used Air Force 14-shot rocket pods on the 40mm gunships in place of the seven-shot pods.

Sp/4 Gary Toby was Miller’s first assistant. They worked together from their time at Fort Campbell, Sharp Army Depot, Vung Tau, Camp Rainier and Phu Hiep. When Black Baron 6, LTC James Merryman learned that Tobey was a gifted artist he was transferred on July 19, 1967 to the 269th HHC. Because Miller was busting his ass and had no help Major McWhorter had to find another 45J replacement. That’s when Sp/5 A.J. Lagle came over from the 269th. Lagel didn’t like taking orders from another Sp/5 and he really didn’t like the fact that Miller worked his crew all night. Although Lagle was very likeable and had a good sense of humor, he didn’t want to be in Nam. He told Miller that he joined the Army because he wanted to run for political office some day and thought that military service would give him a leg up. After listening to a lot of whining, Miller asked him “Why he had volunteered for a combat unit?”  He said that, “He was there to get a Purple Heart and when he got it he would get out of this chicken shit company.”  Because there were now two 45Js, the CO allowed his armorer’s to fly combat missions. Prior to that Miller was ordered not to fly combat missions. During a mission, Lagle got a blister on his wrist from an expended hot cartridge that got stuck in his flight glove and then had the balls to write himself up for a Purple Heart. He submitted it through the awards section and Major McWhorter signed off on it. On October 20, 1967 he was awarded the Purple Heart. On January 7, 1968 Lagle, with Miller’s blessing, transferred to another unit. Shortly after his departure Miller got two very conscientious helpers in Spider door gunners Stan Moody and Danny Wooley.

All Hueys came with a well on the undercarriage where a lifting hitch for sling loads was located. Charlie models had the well but no hitch, but they did have a switch for the hitch located on the stick. This became Miller’s favorite jury-rig switch and he used this circuit many times. The CO authorized it but they didn’t bother to tell battalion.

The Hog was a gunship equipped with the XM-3 armament system that consisted of two 24-tube launcher pods that held (48) 2.75 inch (70mm) Folding Fin Aircraft Rockets (FFAR). The 2.75 inch rocket was four feet long (fins folded), weighed 20 pounds and had a maximum range of 8,836 yards. The M151 armor-piercing Pearlite Malleable Iron (PMI), the M156 White Phosphorous (WP), and two versions of the six pound Mk43, Mod 1 High Explosive (HE) warhead were the most commonly used. The FFAR was originally developed by the Navy in the late 40’s to use as an air-to-air and air-to-ground weapon to support combat troops. The original intent as a weapon to knock down enemy aircraft failed to work out so the Navy concentrated on developing it as an air-to-ground weapon. Later the Army and Marine Corps adopted the 2.75 inch rocket as a primary weapon system for their gunships. It was an unguided, air launched vehicle that wasn’t very accurate. Until electronic filters were developed, in late 1967, this rocket could be unintentionally ignited by electromagnetic radiation from powerful military radios. They could also be accidentally ignited by battery operated test equipment. This problem was prevalent with Spider gunships. The system could be fired from either seat. Even though the rocket site on all gunships was in the right seat; it was seldom used. Sometimes the pilot in the left seat, using a grease pencil, would mark the spot on the windshield where the rockets were hitting with an X to see where to aim but “Kentucky Windage” was the rule. No one wanted to fly in the left seat of this system because they had no weapons to fire. The peter pilot had to just sit there and usually got the shit scared out of him watching the pilot do his thing.

After returning from a mission on November 20, 1967 Sp/5 Gary “Pineapple” Cabigon, maintenance staff sergeant William Landwier and CW2 Robert Youngblood were doing some troubleshooting on the left side rocket pod that had mis-fired and failed to launch one of the rockets during a gun run. Sergeant Landwier was standing on the cockpit step with his upper body stretched inside the pilot’s door talking with Youngblood, while Cabigon was out side checking the pod. All of a sudden the rocket fired and came out of the tube dislocating Pineapple’s knee. He fell to the ground and watched as the rocket with fins fully extended sliced through the backside of Landwier’s legs. They never found out what really happened inside the cockpit that made the rocket fire; it could have been a short in one of the circuit breakers, because when they pressed the circuit breakers in and out a few times it finally made contact. The burning rocket was stuck in the sandbagged revetment, but didn’t explode. The rocket had to travel a certain distance before the warhead was armed. Both were taken to the 3rd Brigade hospital where Landwier was medevac’d out and never returned to the company. Cabigon’s folks were notified that he was missing in action.

            On his last mission, before rotating home on April 14, 1968, CW2 Bruce “El Rojo” Wright had just shut down his gunship at LZ Sally. While talking on the aircraft radio he was about to step down from the cockpit when one of the rockets on his side fired; the fins cutting both legs before the smoking rocket wedged itself into the revetment. The detonation was caused by the door gunner’s boom-box or El Rojo’s use of the radio. Miller was about to say don’t use that when…whoosh, there went the rocket between El Rojo’s legs. The rocket detonation scared the shit out of all of them. Rocket pods were always supposed to be grounded to the PSP upon landing, with a length of wire with alligator clips on each end but hardly any of the gunnies ever did it.

            On a combat assault into the Ashau valley the slicks encountered enemy fire on short final and Spider 69, CW2 Ross “Scotty” Scott rolled in with the Hog, hitting the switch and firing all 48 rockets at one time. Scotty couldn’t believe his eyes; those rockets went in all directions. Black Widow 40, WO1 Alex Vieglas, a 2nd lift platoon slick driver, was just touching down when one of the rockets impacted close to his bird. Two of the 101st soldiers riding in the back of the slick were wounded by rocket fragments. The incident was reported as an RPG round hitting near the ship and the grunts were awarded Purple Hearts. Sad to say; but the Army didn’t award Purple Hearts for wounds caused by friendly fire, even though the result is still the same.

            Flying as wing man in a light fire team during Rapid Fire V, Spider 68, WO1 Joe “Rocket” Walker, Crew Chief Sp/5 Greg “Animal” Allen and Door Gunner Sp/4 Dick “Cherry Boy” Detra were crewing on 179, Satisfaction. They were on an armed aerial recon, searching for targets of opportunity along a river that marked the border between Cambodian and Vietnam. They spotted some VC on the Cambodian side of the river and were making gun runs on the enemy position when one of the rockets Walker fired took off in another direction and ended up exploding inside a Cambodian outpost. The Cambodians returned fire. Rocket was ordered to cease fire. The higher-ups didn’t want to have an international incident on their hands.

            When a gun system was changed, Miller would fly left seat with one of the Spider pilots to make sure that the weapon system was working correctly and to site them in. One day they were testing a Hog just outside the perimeter of Dau Tieng, when suddenly two of the rockets shot out of the tube and headed directly towards the company area. Luckily no one was hurt. Miller determined that a loose screw had fallen and shorted out the gating diode. If the system had been set on salvo instead of one pair the Hog might have single-handedly taken out the entire maintenance area! When they were ordered to dump the rockets and return to base, they headed out to a free-fire zone, nosed up and salvoed the pods. They got a secondary explosion on impact but didn’t get the chance to investigate because they had some very angry folks back at base and needed to get back and explain what had happened.

 The Frog, called a thumper or chucker, was a gunship equipped with the XM-5 armament system that featured a nose mounted turret for a single M75 40mm belt fed grenade launcher and two Air Force 14-tube rocket launcher pods (28 rockets). The mount was fully flexible and controlled by the pilot via a hand controlled sight electronically linked to the turret. The ammo trays for the grenade launcher held 300 rounds.

The Super Frog was a gunship equipped with the XM-5 40mm grenade launcher with two 19-tube rocket launcher pods (38 rockets). The grenade launcher was fired from the left seat; no one wanted to fire from the right seat when they had 38 rockets to play with. Although they were in short demand the Spiders used the new 3.5 inch FFAR’s whenever they could get their hands on them.

The most common configuration for Spider gunships was the General Electric XM-21 minigun with two seven-tube rocket launcher pods (14 rockets). The minigun system chutes held 6,000 rounds of linked 7.62; rate of fire was set at 2 or 4,000 rounds a minute but when one of the guns hit an inboard stop while being traversed by the pilot, the inboard gun would stop firing and the outboard gun would increase fire to an optimum rate of 4,000 rounds a minute. The miniguns were normally fired from the left seat; the flex aiming could only be controlled from the left. If the miniguns went to a level stowed position when the aiming trigger on the site was released then the right seat could fire them and aim by positioning the nose. In June 1967 the guns were adjusted to stow in a 45 degree down angle to prevent rearming accidents. They didn’t have bullet catchers at that time. Normally the door gunner would insert a screw driver between the six barrels to keep the weapon from rotating and firing off a round. Staff Sergeant Joe Lane, the gun platoon sergeant, had a round from a minigun discharge in a revetment at the Web but luckily no one was hit. The armament systems were dangerous to work on and had to be respected at all times. The crew chief sat on the left side because it gave him a clear view of the instrument panel. The door gunner sat on the right side. It was considered the most dangerous seat on a Huey. Usually when a helicopter crashed it had a tendency to roll onto the right side because the main rotor blades spun in a clockwise motion.  Screens were installed above the pylon on the right side to prevent the door gunners shell casings from hitting the tail rotor. When the gunner fired, his spent casings would be caught in the slip stream; carried under the tail boom and wind up hitting the tail rotor. The Spiders went through more than their share of tail rotors before the screens were installed.

After a fire mission during Tet ’68 the Spiders were heading back to Camp Rainier. They had expended all of their ordinance during the fire mission and apparently the right side minigun had vibrated loose. At an altitude of 3,000 feet Door Gunner Sp/4 Dick “Cherry Boy” Detra noticed that his right side minigun was hanging several feet below the pylon by the electrical wires and flapping in the slip stream. After relaying that info to the AC, CW2 Joe “Rocket” Walker, he was ordered to climb out on the pylon and retrieve the minigun. While Crew Chief Sp/5 Greg “Animal” Allen held his legs just above his boots, he slowly crawled out onto the pylon. He then extended his body out, over the end of the pylon; leaned over, reached down and carefully retrieved the heavy minigun by pulling it up by the wire harness. Besides the fact that they didn’t want the enemy to get their hands on a minigun; they didn’t want to lose the right side minigun because it always worked; but the left side minigun had a tendency to jam. When fired the minigun sounded like a buzz saw and a flame coming out of the barrels that was six feet long.

Another armament system Miller installed but never used was the S-11 wire guided anti-tank missile system which consisted of three missiles on each side on racks.

While the company was at Phu Hiep Miller scrounged a 20mm rotary fed dual canon system, which he dubbed the XM188 system, off a dx’d F100 from the Tuy Hoa Air Force Base and mounted them on slick 66-16155 but because of vibration problems, was never used. When fired the canon caused the slick to loose air speed; to the point of nearly stalling out and stopping forward motion.

During Tet ‘68, Miller and Wooley designed the first ground mounted minigun built in-country and named it Super Gun. The minigun was mounted upside down on an M-60 tripod with the front leg sand bagged to keep the weapon from rising up during firing. Powered by a 24 volt battery the weapon traversed smoothly from right to left and was mounted to buffers that raised the elevation. A butterfly trigger assembly activated a spring loaded toggle switch that worked a relay under an aluminum channel. The system would fire a short burst for five seconds and then spit out live rounds to cool the six barrels, otherwise they would overheat causing a cook-off. Super Gun was used to beef up the company perimeter at Dau Tieng and LZ Sally. A General Electric rep told Miller that his prototype was the first he had seen and that he should submit the design to General Electric, who would pay him $20,000 just for the idea. Miller was too young and dumb to understand and did nothing. He usually set up the miniguns to fire two thousand rounds, but on the ground mount there was only one speed, 4,000 rounds a minute. Miller liked to set up Super Gun with the grunts for what they called the “mad minute” along the perimeter just before dark, when everyone opened up. The first night he used Super Gun Miller set it up in loose gravel, on the southeast corner of Camp Rainier, in front of a 40mm Duster. He almost lost his family jewels and hearing that night! During Tet ’68 Black Widow 6, Major Jack O. Johnson called Miller in and explained that there was intelligence that suggested that the 188th company perimeter was going to be hit on the ground that night. He put Wooley and Miller at the weakest point on the perimeter, near the motor pool and southwest main gate. He gave Miller a thermite grenade and ordered him to let them start through the barbed wire, then spray all 2,000 rounds, put the thermite grenade on the gun, pull the pin and run like hell! Fortunately for Wooley and Miller they didn’t show up that night but it still made for a very long and unpleasant evening. They produced one more Super Gun at LZ Sally. In April 1968 when Miller rotated back to the states, grunts from the 1/501, 101st tried to buy Super Gun, but it wasn’t for sale. A short time later Super Gun was stolen by one of their Screaming Eagle neighbors at LZ Sally.

Captain Frank Kerbl, who came up through the ranks as an enlisted man prior to becoming an officer, was the first Spider gun platoon leader. He was dual rated for fixed wing and rotary winged aircraft. Kerbl was well respected by the enlisted men because he stood up for them when there were issues between officers and the enlisted men. On several occasions Kerbl had some very animated exchanges with Black Widow 6, Major James McWhorter. The CO wasn’t comfortable with anyone questioning his authority plus the fact that Kerbl was a former enlisted man himself; who had the balls to stick up for them. Kerbl knew he was on his way out and was glad to be going. The night before he was transferred out of the company 1st Sergeant Ramon De Palm Sr. invited Kerbl over to the senior NCO tent where he had him stand on top of one of the bunks and presented him with his treasured pearl handled .44 magnum revolver, along with a custom made quick draw holster. Top respected Kerbl for standing up to the old man and figured it took a real man to carry a .44 magnum. On the morning of July 22, 1967 when Kerbl left for the 73rd SAC, an OV-1 Mohawk unit in Vung Tau, he had his new pearl handled .44 magnum strapped on.

Kerbl enjoyed flying the Grumman OV-1 Mohawk. These aircraft were used for aerial reconnaissance. It was so quiet that the VC and NVA called them, “Whispering Death.” On the evening of October 7, 1967 Kerbl made an IFR (instrument flight rules) approach to Tan Son Nhut airport but because of the heavy monsoon rain and absolutely zero visibility he tried to make a short take off landing (STOL). When he reversed the pitch of the propellers for the twin T-53 gas turbine engines after touch down, only one engine reversed. The Mohawk started a ground loop; spinning on its axis, like a dog chasing its tail, until the aircraft crashed and killed Kerbl. You can bet he had an unlit cigar in his mouth and was wearing his pearl handled .44 magnum pistol.

Second lift platoon leader Captain Walt Addy and Kerbl were close friends. Kerbl was a lighthearted, gregarious, cigar chewing (he never lit up) extrovert who was always eager to participate in any mission the 188th was assigned. Addy discovered one trick of navigation that Kerbl used to pull. On one combat assault mission, he was leading the mission with the slicks and Kerbl was leading the Spiders in support and was to provide the navigation for the flight. When he couldn’t raise Kerbl on the radio, he started switching channels and found him talking to Paris Control, the air traffic controller for III Corps, to get a radar vector to the LZ. Addy found out later that Kerbl usually did this on combat assaults that were some distance from Dau Tieng because it saved a lot of time over the manual lap top navigation which was the alternative. Addy made sure he gave him a ration of shit about that and they both shared a good laugh.

On July 22, 1967, Captain Floyd Wilson, the assistant gun platoon leader, became the second gun platoon leader. He was not respected by many of gun platoon warrant officers. Wilson was promoted to major in late September, shortly after becoming the 188th operations officer and on January 11, 1968 was transferred to the 214th CAB.

 Captain Emmet D. Arp Jr. volunteered to go to the 188th from the 9th Aviation Battalion, 9th Infantry Division after hearing that the 188th had been hit hard at Dau Tieng and needed replacements. On September 11, 1967 Arp was assigned to the 188th and in late September became the third gun platoon leader. Arp liked Wilson and thought he was an outstanding gun platoon leader, who got along OK with the enlisted men but not always with his warrant officers. Arp felt that when Wilson was promoted to Major; he was happy to give up flying in the guns and to have a desk job that insured his personal safety. LTC McWhorter wasn’t liked by many in the company and Arp didn’t agree with his commander on a lot of things, especially tactics and personnel associations. Arp always tried to keep Wilson between him and McWhorter.

One day LTC McWhorter, who was getting short, approached Arp and asked if he would have one of his gunnies fly in his place on a troop lift to the top of Nui Ba Den, the Black Virgin Mountain. Arp told Black Widow 6 that he wouldn’t make one of his pilots fly slicks but that he would do it. Arp was flying chaulk two when they came out of the LZ with a load of ARVN’s. When they reached about 800 feet he caught a couple of rounds in the compressor and went down. They took some sporadic enemy fire while they waited by the downed slick until the guns and a Chinook came in and rescued them. He never flew slicks again. Arp returned to the states on January 7, 1968, anxious to see his “Play Boy bunny” wife and baby girl who was born just prior to his deployment to Nam with the 9th Infantry Division.

On January 12, 1968 Captain Thomas H. McMillan was infused from the 187th AHC and took over as the fourth gun platoon leader. He was given the nickname “Ding Ding” by the enlisted men in the guns. Just before the Tet offensive, the 188th got their hands on a Charlie model smoke ship. The smoke system was installed at battalion and the company had their own smoke ship,” Black Widow Smokie.”  The word in the hooches was, “Who the hell was going to fly it, a slick pilot or a gun pilot? On the first few practice missions, Spider gun teams flew cover to make sure the smoke dispersant system worked. Spider 68, CW2 Joe “Rocket” Walker didn’t like flying Black Widow Smokie because the only firepower on board was two M60D light machine guns. The system included a huge tank that was secured against the bulkhead in the cargo bay, and contained the oil mixture that was injected into the hot end section of the engine through nozzles that produced a huge plume of smoke. The plan was for one pilot to fly as fast as he could; while the other pilot pressed the button when they were below the tree-tops and parallel with the tree line. The purpose of the smoke screen was to deny the enemy a clear shot at the incoming slicks and to give the grunts a little more time to get set up in the LZ. Some times they had to make a second high speed pass just prior to the slicks lifting out of the LZ.

On the bright morning of February 5, 1968, after flying counter mortar all night and being scrambled a couple of times, Walker was walking back to his hooch to get some badly needed shut eye. Captain Ding Ding approached Walker and wanted him to fly the morning mission because Black Widow Smokie was going to be used and he wanted Walker to give him a check ride in the aircraft at the same time, so he could become an aircraft commander (AC). Walker didn’t want to do it, but there was no one else to fly it; all the other Spider pilots were flying their gunships on this particular mission. Sp/4 Dennis “Point” Pierpoint was his door gunner. They took off and flew the mission. When the LZ was finally identified, they dropped down on the deck for their first run. Well, as any smart human being knows, if there were any VC in the area, a low flying smoke ship would be a great target to bore sight their weapons on. From where Walker was sitting and flying, it looked like the wrong end of a firing range at Fort Ord, California. The green tracers were actually criss-crossing in front of them as the VC tried to lead the smoke ship. Point and the crew chief were firing like crazy, but there were too many targets to engage. Captain Ding Ding had his thumb on the button and was looking over his shoulder at the fire fight as tracers started flying through the open cargo bay as well as through the side of the cockpit.

Walker was jinking and juking through the trees and was just about to start his pull up when he felt something strong hit the ship and saw the caution panel light up. Then he saw a huge tree straight ahead and felt the stiff controls indicating a hydraulic failure as well as a lot of smoke in the cockpit. Rocket  actually thought he was still bullet proof and that he could clear the on coming tree which towered above the rest of the jungle. They suddenly lost power and struck the top of the tree. Everything, including time, seemed to stop for a brief second and then they started flying forward again; although not as fast. The sound of incoming fire had become extremely loud. When he looked over at Captain McMillan, his eyes were closed and he was bleeding from his mouth and nose. The entire cockpit panel on his side was crushed up against him and Walker could see a huge limb from the dead tree sticking into the cockpit between his pedals. Thank God the radios still worked. Even though the entire flight witnessed the fiasco, Walker did the usual may-day thing. A Spider light fire team fell in next to the smoke ship and, sure enough, like all Bell products, Black Widow Smokie continued to fly. With stuck pedals, hydraulic failure, and trailing smoke, they made one hell of a running landing at Cu Chi. Black Widow Smokie I was totaled. Later that afternoon Walker and Black Widow 6, Major Jack O. Johnson were ordered to report to LTC Merryman at battalion; to explain the loss of the smoke ship. During the discussion it came to light that Captain McMillan had put himself down as the AC on the ships log book, which he wasn’t and as a result Walker was off the hook and Captain Ding Ding earned himself a Purple Heart, but never returned to the company. On April 14, 1968 he was transferred to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 308th CAB.

On February 6th, 1968 Captain Harold B. Smith became the fifth gun platoon leader and served in that slot until May 1, 1968 when he went back to flying slicks. He named his slick, the “O.D. Streak.” The handle seemed to fit since he was always streaking from one place to another.

At LZ Sally on May 1, 1968, 1st Lieutenant John Soares, infused from B Company, 101st Aviation Battalion, became the sixth and last gun platoon leader. Soares background in flying gunships started back at Fort Campbell, Kentucky in August 1967 when he had the honor and distinction of being the very first gun platoon leader of B Company, 101st Aviation Battalion. He deployed with the battalion on December 7, 1967 and set up shop on the east side of the Bien Hoa runways. After his two-week in-country orientation flying with The Rebels gun platoon of the 1st Infantry Division he resumed command of the Black Angel gun platoon, his call sign was Black Angel 5. Their area of operation was from Saigon north to Song Be. In February 1968, after the Tet offensive, he flew to Hue with two other Charlie-model gunships to await the 101st Airborne Division’s arrival three weeks later.

CW2 Joe “Rocket” Walker was one of the seasoned Spider aircraft commanders and Soares needed a thorough orientation on how the Spiders worked; so he asked Rocket to show him the ropes. Soares was a Regular Line Officer, commonly referred to by the warrants as a Real Live Officer and dangerous by the nature of his rank. Captain Soares was well liked and respected by all the gunnies and considered a good guy.

The B/101 guns operated differently than the Spiders and Rocket was instrumental in getting Soares up to speed on the tactics and learning the things that made the Spiders so effective. Walker’s training and patience and that of the other pilots and enlisted men in the 188th paid off and enabled him to survive his tour flying in the Annamese mountains of northern I Corps.

Soares didn’t consider lead as the main weapons platform but both gunships would engage the target and cover each others break. Lead would usually do most of the coordinating with the ground unit and mark the target prior to full engagement. Exceptions to this occurred if one gunship had a weapons system incompatible for the target on hand. A typical LFT was the 40mm “chunker” gunship and a wing man flying a minigun gunship. One or the other could have been the main platform. Covering the other gunship during his break was one of the most important considerations in setting up the attack. Cover your wingman’s break and then follow with 2.75 inch rockets. Once you are too close for the rockets to fully arm you re-engage with the miniguns and both door guns to cover your own break, when the gunship was most vulnerable.

Rockets were normally fired from the right seat by the pilot flying. They could be fired from either seat but you had to be on the controls to aim. There was a switch on the weapons control panel to select rockets or miniguns. This was to prevent the miniguns from shooting up the outbound rockets and having them explode in front of the gunship. It also prevented the rocket firing from cutting off the minigun burst prematurely and causing a jam in the ammo belt feed system. In mid 1967 Miller re-wired this switch (not authorized) so they could fire without it.

When a LFT was using a racetrack pattern of attack, the high and low altitude and length of the racetrack had to be planned. A proper racetrack pattern was one in which each of the two gunships are 180 degrees of each other and can cover the other’s break without turning early and shortening the track and lowering its start altitude. Thus if you started the attack at 80 or 90 knots at 1500 feet and started your break at 500 feet your wing man would cover your  break. You then had to climb out and prepare to cover the wing man’s break. If you were able to climb out at the same airspeed and rate of climb as his inbound rate of descent you would be at 1500 feet and at the same distance that you started the attack. If the other gunship flies faster inbound than you fly outbound then you would have to turn inbound early and closer in. This could eventually end up with both gunships flying in a circle and result in a problem covering each other. It was imperative that the inbound gunship maintain his airspeed and rate of descent to allow his wingman to position himself to cover and continue the attack. With a HFT: you could fly inbound at any speed and rate of descent while the other two gunships positioned to cover the other gunships break and attack. Very seldom did the Spiders use a three gunship HFT.

Starting attacks from 1000 feet and breaking off at 100 feet was the norm. The altitude in which the attacks started depended on many things. Terrain may require a “popup” attack where you would engage after clearing a ridge line and then turn and descend behind the ridge. Open terrain or relatively low hills may allow a higher racetrack pattern. A major consideration in the altitude at which you start your attack and then disengage is the weapons system used. You may start with the minigun to mark the target for both pilots to coordinate who was firing what and when so as not to screw up the minigun feeds. It was a good move as they seldom had a problem and closer crew coordination was a good thing.

In northern I Corps (pronounced eye) the only change in terrain tactics the gunnies made to the gunships was to reduce the angle of the rocket pods to a more level angle to allow a shallower dive angle in steep mountainous terrain. They then had to compensate by aiming a little higher in flat terrain. One other tactical change was the need to lob rockets from below to hit some hilltops that they were unable to climb to due to high density in the mountains altitude. The other changes were due more to terrain avoidance at night when flying.

In November the 188th experienced one of their largest infusion swaps with officers and enlisted men from the 190th AHC “Gladiators” along with a few pilots from other aviation companies in the 12th CAG.

On November 26, 1967, Sp/4 Greg “Animal” Allen stepped off a CH-47 along with a bunch of other enlisted men and officers from the 190th and the first person he saw was his old friend and instructor from Fort Campbell, Sp/5 Tony Goodpastor. He told Allen that he had a job flying in the guns if he wanted it. The next day Animal started crewing on 66-00708, a minigun ship. Because Allen had a short fuse and it didn’t take much to set him off, he was given his nickname “Animal” by his buddies in the 190th AHC.

On the morning of December 11, 1967, at 1015 hours 708 was the wing ship of a light fire team flying close-in fire support for elements of the 3/22 infantry who were making a sweep in the Michelin rubber plantation. Animal’s gunship was hit by enemy fire and crashed through the dense foliage of the rubber trees, landing hard on her skids and leaving the gunship in three pieces. The crew was lucky that their gunship didn’t catch on fire when they crash landed. Despite being badly shaken up, Animal and the rest of the crew walked away unscathed but 708 was history and ended up being cannibalized for parts to keep the other gunships flying.

During late November and early December Captain Arp was assigning permanent crews to all the Spider gunships. On December 18, 1967 when gun platoon staff sergeant Joe Lane was put in charge of running the NCO club, crew chief Sp/5 Tony Goodpastor was promoted to staff sergeant and became the second gun platoon sergeant. When Goodpastor asked Allen if he wanted to take over his minigun ship 66-15179, he replied “shit ya.”

The next day while Animal was working on 179, he was approached by Spider 68, WO1 Joe “Rocket” Walker, who was infused into the 188th on November 24, 1967 from the 162nd AHC Vultures, based at Phouc Vinh. Rocket was a slick driver and looked forward to flying in the guns. He introduced himself to Allen and asked if it would be OK with him if he was assigned as the AC on 179. Allen agreed and Walker became the new aircraft commander.

Slick door gunners who wanted to get into the guns and had proven themselves under fire still needed someone to vouch for them. Sp/5 Dave Miller was a very good source, since he maintained all the weapon systems on the gunships. At the end of each day, PFC’s Dennis “Point” Pierpoint, Dick “Cherry Boy” Detra and Corporal Ron “Carp” Carpenter, always stopped by the armament shed to clean their machine guns and to learn as much as they could from Miller about the weapon systems. They asked him to drop their names when the gun platoon sergeant came looking for volunteers. On November 17, 1967, after being wounded for the second time Goodpastor’s door gunner SP/5 Leroy Lamb was taken off flight status and put in charge of the EM Club. Lamb, Carpenter and Detra were all Minnesota boys and that little detail turned out to be huge. All three had five months flying experience in the slicks and had their shit together. Thanks to Miller and Lamb; Point, Cherry Boy and Carp were asked by Goodpastor if they wanted to volunteer for the guns. They all jumped at the chance. They were the only three out of the original 11 security guards turned slick door gunners, to volunteer for the guns. Point and Cherry Boy had just been promoted to Sp/4 on November 6, 1967 and all three were excited about finally being accepted into the guns.

Cherry Boy asked Goodpastor if he could take over for Lamb on 179. He said “It was OK with him, but he needed to ask Allen.” When Goodpastor asked Animal if he was interested in a slick door gunner from the 2nd lift platoon, he said “Send him over.” Cherry Boy showed up and after a brief conversation he got the OK to be the assigned door gunner on 179. Carp and Point were assigned to other gunships. Around December 15, 1967 the new crew on 179 started flying together. Their first op together was Rapid Fire V, a Top Secret operation in support of Major Bo Gritz and his B-36 Task Force, 5th Special Forces, A-teams 361 and 362 along the Cambodian border. It turned out to be a good mix because they all got along and ended up flying together for six months. During that time they averaged about 100 hours a month. From December 1967 through May 1968 they survived all the way through the heaviest fighting of the war. God knows they were shot at plenty of times and came within inches of being hit numerous times. Ole 179 had more than her share of bullet holes covering the fuselage and tail boom, which the hard working maintenance crews had patched-up and primed with yellow zinc-oxide primer. Thanks to blind luck they were never shot down or forced down because of mechanical problems. First off, you had to factor in Rocket’s great flying skills. Besides being one of the most well-liked pilots in the company; he was also one of the best pilots. Animal’s mechanical skills as a crew chief were off the charts; he was dedicated and always kept his gunship in top shape. Cherry Boy made sure that his machine guns received a lot of tender loving care so that they always worked smoothly. He carried spare parts on board incase he needed to replace a burnt out barrel or a worn out part in flight. The most common problems that caused the weapon to malfunction were; the firing pin breaking; the barrel overheating, causing a cook off or the operating spring would weaken from use or break.

Cherry Boy was a good artist and one day he asked Animal if it was OK with him, if he could paint the name “SATISFACTION” on the doors of their ship after the Rolling Stones 1965 hit single. He liked the idea; so Cherry Boy painted the name on both doors as well as the Spiders logo on the nose. When the right side door got shot up, Animal scrounged a new one and they both painted Satisfaction on the new door. The only other gunship in the platoon that had the Spiders logo painted on her nose was the Hog, 711 (the Crap Shooter).  Unfortunately a nose art stencil with the Spiders logo was never made. Cherry Boy painted the name of Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller Psycho on the doors of another minigun ship; plus James Brown’s 1967 hit single Cold Sweat on the doors of 66-15087 and Climax on the doors of the Hog, 65-09471.

In March 1968 SP/5 Ken Cain took over as the last Spiders gun platoon sergeant. Goodpastor was getting short and Cain was the ranking Sp/5 in the platoon. He was promoted to staff sergeant after the move to LZ Sally.

On traditional Memorial Day, May 31, 1968, with ten days left in-country Cherry Boy, for some reason, wasn’t flying with Rocket and Animal. After 11 months in-country he had just recently returned from his only R&R to Singapore (May 15-22). Their mission that day was flying close-in fire support for elements of the 1/501 that were in contact with an NVA company in the mountains just west of LZ Sally. Their light fire team was receiving heavy automatic weapons fire and had made several gun runs on the enemy positions. During the fire fight the gunship that Cherry Boy was on took several AK-47 hits on the break and the instrument panel caution light lit up. Several rounds hit the ship; severing the hydraulic lines. They crew sensed that they were going down but knew that they had to make it out of those damn mountains because there was no place to go down in the 200 foot high triple-canopy jungle. They were loosing hydraulic fluid fast and in a very short time the pilot would loose control of the helicopter. They barely made it out of the mountains before the AC found a spot and put her down in a rice paddie, 40 yards away from a small hamlet. The pilots thought it was best to leave all the landing and navigation lights on, which spooked Cherry Boy, who had only ten days, left in-country. Beside the fact that it was almost dark and they were down in enemy territory, they needed to set up a perimeter. So the crew chief and Cherry Boy grabbed their machine guns and as much linked 7.62 as they could carry and set up on the closest rice paddie dike facing the hamlet. The AC ordered his crew chief and Cherry Boy to remove the miniguns but Cherry Boy refused and told him so, “Sir, you need to turn out those landing lights—we’re lit up like a Christmas tree. If you want those guns taken off do it yourself, I’m too short for this shit. We could be fired on at any second from that hamlet.” Luckily they didn’t receive any enemy fire. It wasn’t long before they heard the whop, whop, whop of an inbound Black Widow slick. They loaded all their weapons, gear and radios on board the slick and lifted off into the darkness. Nothing was ever mentioned about Cherry Boy’s refusing an order. The pilots may have realized that it was a bad move on their part to have all those lights on out in the open, an error that could have cost them their lives; or that his door gunner was suffering big time from short timer’s syndrome. With ten days left in-country Cherry Boy’s luck had finally run out. He had no idea that he would be shot down on what was to be his last combat mission in Vietnam and that a slick; which he was riding in the back of, would deliver him safely back to LZ Sally. It was a bitter-sweet moment.

In 1992 Detra, who was drafted and served for two years in the Army, found Rocket living in Park City, Utah. Walker retired from the Army as a CW5 after 27 years of service: six active and 21 years in the National Guard.  In 1996 he located Animal, who had served for three years in the Army, living in Irving, Texas. Animal and Cherry Boy saw each other for the last time in August 1968 at Fort Hood, Texas where Cherry Boy had been reassigned for his last six months in the Army and Animal was on leave after his tour. They exchanged addresses and phone numbers but never made contact again because being a Vietnam veteran was not a good thing at that time. They felt betrayed by the American people and more importantly by their friends. They felt that their sacrifices, their patriotism, their service, and their belief’s had become irrelevant and detested by much of the country. They were alienated from the day they stepped off that Freedom Bird and told not to wear their uniforms in public. After 34 years the crew of SATISFACTION, finally hooked-up in Las Vegas, Nevada at the 2002 Black Widows/Spiders reunion. They still keep in touch and count their lucky blessings that they made it out alive. Their experiences together in the guns made them older in ways that years couldn’t measure.

            Looking back the author can’t help thinking about how lucky they really were to have survived in the guns. The experiences they shared each day; hearing the words  Guns Up!, being scrambled, running to their gunship, strapping in, being over loaded with extra ammo, trying to take off  while the skids bounced along the runway and finally the thrill of  reaching translational lift. The adrenaline rush they felt during gun runs on enemy positions; being shot at, shot down; or the shear terror of an autorotation. Oh yes, the Spiders were a sight to see, flying on the deck at 120 knots drawing fire away from the slicks on combat assaults. Very few experienced the euphoria and elation of low level, high speed flight. Covering the 269th’s Smokey the Baron smoke ship and the 188th’s Black Widow Smokie during smoke runs was an adrenaline junkie’s wet dream. The rush they felt during a gun run, as the Hog or Super Frog lead ship opened up with rockets or 40mm canon with full door gun suppression. As the lead ship made his break, his wing man opening up with miniguns and rockets and full door gun suppression was an incredible experience to be a part of. The guys in back were always vigilant; watching for enemy movement and muzzle flashes as they raced above the tree tops. The “sphincter factor” was always present during combat; when the ring-like muscle that controls the constriction of their asshole got tight. This always happened when their gunship was receiving a high volume of enemy fire; rounds exploding up through the floor, the Plexiglas windows or the helicopters thin sheet metal skin. Those were the moments when the gunnies questioned if they had made a huge mistake when they volunteered for the Spiders. One thing is for sure, those experiences and the bond they shared would stay with them for the rest of their lives.

On July 1, 1968 when the 188th was deactivated and reflagged as C/101 the Spiders became the 3rd platoon of the newly formed all guns Delta Company, 101st Aviation Battalion Hawk. Soares remained as the platoon leader until he left country on November 29, 1968. Cain stayed on as the platoon sergeant until he rotated back to the stated in October 1968 and Sp/5 Cecil Bobo became the platoon sergeant. Although D/101 was based at Phu Bai on the SW side of the runway the Spiders stayed at LZ Sally to support the C/101 Black Widows until they moved to Phu Bai in April 1969.

Back in the states John Soares did some research on a UH-1C gunship, 66-15179, which was last assigned to the Army National Guard in March 1972. The Unit Identification Code (UIC) was WPFFAA. This UIC appeared familiar and he requested an identification of the unit through the Aviation Logistics Officer at the CT AVCRAD. The tail number should have been familiar to Soares but unfortunately he never realized that he was flying Satisfaction, an old friend from his days with the Spiders at LZ Sally.

            He was informed that 66-15179 belonged to the 43rd Brigade and was assigned to A Company, 2nd Battalion, 126th Aviation, 26th Yankee Division, Connecticut Army National Guard. This company was later redesignated, B Company, 2/126, and flew out of Bradley International Airport, Windsor Locks, CT. Soares was assigned to this unit during his entire time in the National Guard. Satisfaction, along with seven other gunships assigned to this unit had been upgraded and were now UH-1M models with the 1,400 turbo shaft horsepower, L-13. Soares wished that the Spiders had this configuration in Nam. He could recall many times when he would fly to Fort Drum, New York; to fire the weapons systems. “Ole 179”, as they affectionately called her, never ever failed to fire for them. His log book showed many flights in179, both VFR and IFR and she was as good an instrument platform as a gun platform His last flight in Satisfaction was on June 11, 1978, some ten years after his first flight. Spider 65 was the very last Spider pilot to actually fly a Spider gunship stateside. Satisfaction and the other seven UH-1Ms in the company were retired in 1978 and subsequently turned in per National Guard Bureau Directive. They may have been sent to the bone yard or prepared for foreign sales. Spider 65, John Soares retired from the Army in 1994 as a CW4.

 Another Spider gunship 66-15089, equipped with the XM21 minigun system, was flown in the states by Black Widow 26, CW2 Geoff Handel and later sold to an undisclosed Latin American country.

According to the VHPA data base put together by Gary Rousch, 696 UH-1C gunships served in the Vietnam War; 415 were destroyed, 167 pilots and 158 crew members were killed in action. The Spiders added nine names to that list; five pilots and four enlisted men.

On a sad note Spider Crew Chief Bill Sondey and Door Gunner Stan Moody, both recipients of the Silver Star committed suicide in 1987. Gun platoon sergeant Joe Lane took his life in 1995.