Sunday, October 29, 2023

Da Nang AFB 1969 Jeffery Kerr

 Somme great photo from Jeffery Kerr collection. Some rare insight into 1969.




 C-130 belonging to VMGR 352. Home base was USMC Air Station, El Toro, CA. This aircraft rotated in and out of DaNang from Futenma, Okinawa.







I have been researching the 6th SOS for several years and it's a rare treat to see an image that I've never seen before. This is the alert pad at Da Nang and I would estimate the date as mid-1969. The "6T" tail code has been said to be applied to airplanes assigned to the 6th's Da Nang detachment in lieu of the squadron's standard "ET". The airplanes are armed with the standard SAR loadout, but with the common 6th convention of having a second 7.62mm minigun on the right stub pylon in place of a 150 gal fuel tank. At left is A-1H 137552 "Spad Dad" and at right is (best guess based on known assigned aircraft) A-1J 142065, which was previously named "777 Jackpot". '552 would be lost in Dec 69, her pilot rescued. '065 would be lost in March 70 with her pilot KIA. A little-known tidbit is that the  is that the 6th did not use the SANDY callsign; they went by SPAD.


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