Army Security Agency Aerial Reconnaissance: Mission and Sacrifice

quickly became

the

workhorse

in

ASA

s airborne

direction

finding

effort

in

Vietnam.

In

Vietnam,

there

were twice

as many

RU-8s as

any

other

platform

in ASA

s inventory

and as

such

they

became

the

backbone

of

Army airborne

direction

finding

in

Vietnam,

Laos, and

Thailand.

In

1968,

forty-four

systems

were

scattered

among

three

companies:

l38th

Aviation

Company

(RR),

l44th

Aviation

Company

(RR),

and

the

146th

Aviation

Company

(RR).

By

1971,

unit

drawdowns

were

beginning.

On 30

September

1971

the

IMth

Aviation

company

at

Nha

Trang

was

deactivated.

More

followed

with the

relocation

of the

156th

Aviation Company

from

Can

Tho

to Fort

Bliss,

Texas.

By I

May

1972, this

left the

z24thAviation

Battalion

with

two companies,

the

138th and

146th.

When word

was

received

from

the Commander

USMACV

in

June

1972

that

support

to

Altied

forces

was

still

needed,

the

224th

was

in the

process

of

turning

in its remaining

RU-8s.

For the

next

several

weeks

the

emphasis

was upon

retrieving

planes from

turn-

in and cannibalizing

others

for

spare

parts. But

within

ten

days

the

first

U-8

was back

in the

air, and

within

three

weeks

the

level

of

missions

had

returned

to

normal.

The

RU-8s

continued

operating

until

the

28 January

1973

cease-fire

and

were

among

the

last

platforms to

leave

Vietnam.

Following

Vietnam,

the

RU-Ss

would

remain

as

part

of the

l38th

ASA Company

(Avn)

(USAR)

stationed

in Orlando,

Florida.

AIRCRAFT

LOSSES

Three

Army

crews

made

the

ultimate

sacrifice

while

flying

signals

intelligence

aerial

reconnaissance

missions

under

enemy

fire.

All of

these

were

lost

in the

war

in Southeast

Asia and

were

the

only

ASA

crews

killed

by

hostile

fire

during

the

Cold

War.

Thirteen

U.S.

Army

personnel

were

lost

to

hostile

fire

while

11

performing

the

sensitive

airborne

intelligence

collection

missions.

Of

the thirteen, seven were U"S" Army

Security

Agency intercept

operators

and

six were flight crew

personnel.

Six of these

thirteen

are

still listed as Killed In Action/Body Not Recovered.

One

is

listed

as Died While

Missing/Body Recovered. The

others

are listed

as Killed In Action.

The

first ASA aircraft lost in Vietnam was a LEFT

SANK

EH-

lH

assigned

to

the lst

Cav

Division. The loss took

place

on

29

November

1969 near

Landing

Zone

Buttons in Phuoc Long

Province,

III

Corps.

The mission of this

crew

was airborne intercept

and location of

enemy transmitters directly threatening the 1st

Cav's

area of operations. The aircraft

was shot down by

ground

fire,

and the

crew

was killed

on impact. The

aircraft

was

later

destroyed

by

tactical

airstrikes to

prevent

compromise of

on-board

mission

equipment.

Those lost were:

CW2

Jack K. Knepp from Big Bear

City, California KIA

WO1 Dennis D.

Bogle from

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

KIA

SP4 Henry N. Heide ll

from West Palm

Beach, Florida

KIA

SP4 James R. Smith from Moore.

Oklahoma KIA

A second

LEFT BANK aircraft

lost on

1 March I9lI near

Dambe,

miles inside

Cambodia).

Those lost

from

the

1st

Cav Division was

Cambodia

(approximately

five

were:

WO1 Paul V. Black

from

Central

Valley, California

KIA/BNR

WOI Robert D.

Uhl from San Mateo,

California DWM/BR

SP5

Gary C.

David

from Pottstown, Pennsylvania

KIA

SP4 Frank

A" Sablan from Phenix

Citv. Alabama KIA

These

mission

crews on board the

two

LEFT

BANK aircraft

were assigned to

the 371st Radio Research

Company.

Originally

designated

as the 371st ASA Company,

it

was

formed

by the United

States Army

Security

Agency in

t952 and was

attached

to

the lst

Cavalry Division.

It

was with this division that the

company saw

T2