By Ed Gunter, Raven 72
During the course of American history, there have been
many covert military operations. None, however, reached
the scope or intensity of the war in Laos during the Viet
Nam era. The backbone of this war were the Ravens-Forward
Air Controllers (FACs) who flew small, slow propeller
driven airplanes. The mission of the Ravens was to support
indigenous forces in Laos in their fight against invading
forces from North Vietnam.
The Ravens were all
volunteers who had previous experience as FACs in South
Viet Nam. Due to international treaties, the Ravens were
“divorced” from the USAF. They wore only civilian clothes,
and operated out of generally small fields at different
sites in the Kingdom of Laos. They had cover stories to
explain their presence in Laos, but I don’t think anyone
believed the stories other than USAF headquarters types.
Most Ravens knew little or nothing about what they were
volunteering for, other than it was classified, exciting,
and was far removed from the bureaucratic battles and
political rules of engagement in South Viet Nam.
The Ravens used three
different airplanes to accomplish their mission: the
small, light O-1 observation aircraft, armed only with
white phosphorous smoke rockets; the heavier, slightly
faster U-17 (Cessna 185), with the same armament, but
longer range and loiter time. Some Ravens got to check out
in the “Cadillac”-the T-28. This was heaven for a
Raven-bombs, napalm, high explosive rockets, and 50
caliber machine guns for strafe. Now, you didn’t have to
wait for jets when you had a fast-moving target. The
common denominator was that they all flew low, slow, and
were highly vulnerable to ground fire.
The missions were as
varied as the personalities of the Ravens. Some carried a
“backseater”-a local who translated, talked to ground
troops, and helped locate targets. Others were essentially
deep interdiction missions-aimed at stemming the flow of
troops and supplies into this neutral country. Some were
basic visual reconnaissance looking for targets. Many were
“troops in contact”-providing life-saving tactical air
strikes in support of ground troops being fired upon.
Much has been written
about the Ravens. The definitive work is probably “The
Ravens” by Christopher Robbins, which is described later.
After years of interviews and studies, he has painted a
fairly accurate picture of one part of the Raven story.
Some other comments are listed below. For a detailed story
of the Ravens, order the book!
Comments on the
Ravens:
- The Ravens were a group
of elite pilots who flew the Cessna O-1 Bird Dogs in
Laos during the Southeast Asian Conflict. In slow, low
flying aircraft the Ravens’ job was to find the target,
order up fighter-bombers, mark the target accurately
with smoke rockets, control the operation and stay over
the target to make a bomb damage assessment. The name
Ravens became a symbol of intelligence gathering and
aerial control of ground combat. (Half-time announcement
Raven presentation at USAF Academy, Nov. 4, 1989)
- They went to war in blue
jeans, T-shirts, and sometimes cowboy hats. It was a
symbol of their disdain for the conventional,
“bureaucratic” military. They were the Ravens, fighting
a secret air war in the jungles of Laos, almost
forgotten by everyone… (San Antonio Light, Oct., 1987)
- The pilots, known as
Ravens, are unique because they were among some 130 Air
Force pilots who volunteered to risk their lives to fly
highly dangerous covert missions in unarmed single
engine Cessna O-1s. They were part of what was known as
the Steve Canyon program, which was created in 1966…
Their job as FACs was to locate and call in airstrikes
against the North Vietnamese during its occupation of
Laos… They (the enemy) knew that if they shot down a
fighter there would be more fighters coming. So, they
shot down the air controllers. It was dangerous because
you were flying a prop airplane, low over the jungle,
looking for the enemy. And if you found him and they
didn’t shoot you down, then they were going to get blown
away. Christopher Robbins said some 30% of the unit died
from combat injuries. (San Antonio Express-News, Oct.
26, 1987)
- Locked away in classified
archives until now… They…suffered the highest casualty
rate in the Indochina war. Their deeds were the stuff of
whispered legends. The pilots who flew the
fighter-bombers to enemy targets knew them as the
Ravens. (Crown Publishers, press release)
- On occasion they went
trolling; skimming the treetops above enemy positions in
the hopes of drawing fire… The elite group of men, part
adventurers/ part patriots, who flew some of the most
bizarre missions of the Viet Nam war. They were a small
group (their ranks were never more than 22 at any one
time) performing a hazardous mission. (Military Book
Club review, Jan., 1988)
- The best and the
brightest, the craziest and the bravest Americans served
in Laos, none braver than the men who flew in Combat as
FACs known as Ravens…braving bad weather, tricky
terrain, combat fatigue, poor maintenance, and
occasional assassination teams to get the job done… To
give you some sense of the size of the war in Laos, the
United States dropped 1.6 million tons of bombs there-
more than the 1.36 million tons it dropped on Germany
during World War II. (Book review, Asa Baber, Chicago
Sun-Times, Nov. 22, 1987)
For additional
non-fiction reading on the Ravens, read:
- "The Ravens" by Christopher Robbins available
online at the Ravens
Store.
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