Why was the CIA so heavily involved in the Vietnam War?
Former Retired Army Air Cavalry CSM 1974 – 2005 Author has 14.6K answers and 5M answer viewsNov 19
1968-0112, War, Secret, CIA Aircrew in a Huey Shoots Down Fixed wing, Video.
Air America Bell 205 vs. Attacking North Vietnamese AF An-2 Colt CPT Theodore H. Moore and Flight Mechanic Glenn R. Woods 12 January 1968 at Lima Site 85, Phou Pha Thi, Laos. Air America Won.
During the Vietnam War, the Americans operated a secret radar station; Site 85, situated 15 miles from the North Vietnamese border atop one of the highest mountains in Laos. Crucially it gave American bombers the ability to attack in all weather, a critical capability during the Rolling Thunder bombing campaign. The North Vietnamese got wise!
CPT Theodore H. Moore and Flight Mechanic Glenn R. Woods had been recruited to fly for Air America; a CIA owned and operated proprietary that was used to support intelligence agents and military personnel in Asia. On 12 Jan 1968, Moore, and Woods, who were on a mission delivering artillery ammunition in the area, watched in amazement as a formation of North Vietnamese AF AN-2 Colt biplanes attacked the base. The two Russian built biplanes dropped mortars, fired rockets, and strafed the radar station with machine gun fire. Moore radioed a warning to the agents on the ground; however, the attack killed several Hmong guerrillas defending the base.
Moore’s helicopter, a civilian version of the UH-1 Huey was supposed to be unarmed, but Woods had packed an AK-47, officially contraband, but in their defense, Moore explained; if you go down and don’t have a weapon, you’re Toast. They decided to; make chase Moore said. The Colts, first flown in 1947, were faster than the helicopter, which was able to gain on them when they flew low and then tried to climb the mountainous terrain. Woods fired from the door of the Huey. One of the planes crashed immediately, while the second plane, also hit, flew on for several miles before crashing into a ridge.
The shooting down of fixed wing aircraft from a helicopter was a Singular aerial victory in the entire history of the Vietnam War, according to the author of One Day Too Long: Top Secret Site 85 and the Bombing of North Vietnam.
CPT Moore was initially hauled before his superiors under threat of Court Marshal, I was a little out of line in what I did’ he recalled. However, after initial consternations his actions were finally commended.
Two months later Site 85 was destroyed by North Vietnamese Commandos, 12 US AF personnel were killed, the largest single loss of USAF personnel during the war.
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