The Daring Rescue of a Downed Pilot at the Battle of A Shau Valley

Major Bernard Fisher, first USAF Medal of Honor recipient of the Vietnam War

In 1961 the CIA, in cooperation with the US Army Special Forces teams, began to set up a network of surveillance camps along the borders of South Vietnam to monitor North Vietnamese infiltration of South Vietnam. Located primarily in the remote highlands of South Vietnam, the special forces camps were manned by a mixture of US Army special forces personnel, South Vietnamese special forces personnel, and paramilitary units recruited from the indigenous populations of the area like the Montagnards. By 1962 the US Army assumed full responsibility for the special forces camps. In 1966, one of these special forces camps was the scene of one of the most daring rescues of downed American pilot in the Vietnam War. High up in a remote area of the northwest corner of South Vietnam just two miles from the Laotian border was the special forces camp in the A Shau Valley. If there was a more remote camp that was nearly inaccessible elsewhere in South Vietnam, the A Shau Valley would have given them a run for the money. With steep jungle covered mountains ascending to over 7,000 feet and constant storms during monsoon season, the aerial resupply of the A Shau Valley camp was challenging even under the best of conditions. It had an approximately half-mile long dirt airstrip that sat astride the triangular-shaped fort that served as the special forces base camp. But the camp lay astride three major infiltration routes off the Ho Chi Minh Trail into South Vietnam- one route ran westward from the valley towards the main axis of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and two routes ran eastward towards the city of Hue and the heavily populated areas of the South Vietnamese coast. In early March of that year, two regiments of the North Vietnamese Army set up positions in the mountains above the camp in preparation of an assault. A flak trap was set up in the heights over the camp with 37mm anti-aircraft cannons. On 9 March at 0400, the assault began with a mortar bombardment on the camp with NVA sappers punching holes in the camp's defensive perimeter. An estimated 2,000 NVA soldiers squared off against 360 South Vietnamese and Montagnard soldiers led by 17 US Army Special Forces troops.

Due to poor weather with only 400-foot ceilings (in a valley surrounded by 7,000 foot mountains), the first air support didn't arrive until mid-morning when a USAF AC-47 Spooky gunship arrived over the area in poor weather conditions. On its third pass at low altitude, the NVA flak trap caught the gunship and it crashed into a mountainside. The crew of six survived, but three were rescued thanks to the heroic actions of two of the crew to defend the crash site until they could be rescued. Captain Willard Collins and 1st Lt. Delbert Peterson posthumously earned the Air Force Cross for defending the survivors before they were killed by NVA troops. Two Cessna O-1 Bird Dogs attempted to land on the dirt strip to fly out some casualties, but the heavy enemy fire only allowed them to fly out one wounded special forces soldier. Later that afternoon, the Marines sent two Sikorsky UH-34Ds into the area to evacuate the wounded. One helicopter was shot down but managed to crash land inside the camp perimeter. Its crew was picked up by the other helicopter before it had to withdraw under the thick overcast. That night under cover of darkness a USAF Sikorsky CH-3E managed to land in the camp and fly out 26 causalities. The following morning the NVA pressed their attack against the camp again, managing the penetrate the defensive perimeter. In the pre-dawn darkness, a Marine A-4 Skyhawk two-ship responded and one of the pilots managed to make a low level bombing pass before coming around to strafe the area with the Skyhawk's 20mm cannon. Lt. Augusto Xavier failed to pull out of his strafing run in the limited visibility conditions and crashed into one of the mountains around the camp. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star. Nearly 200 close air support sorties were mounted that day despite poor weather to keep the camp from falling into NVA hands.

With the arrival of daylight, USAF Major Bernard Fisher (call sign "HOBO 51") from the 1st Air Commando Squadron led a flight of A-1E Skyraiders in 800-foot overcast ceilings to try and assist the defenders of the A Shau Valley camp. Fisher's wingman took 37mm cannon hits to his engine and had to return to base. A second pair of USAF A-1E Skyraiders arrived on scene, led by Major D.W. "Jump" Myers (call sign "SURF 41") from the 602nd Air Commando Squadron. The Skyraiders pressed their attacks as close to the camp as possible to keep the perimeter from falling. Making strafing passes on the NVA troops pushing on the camp perimeter, Myers was hit on his third pass and his Skyraider caught fire. He elected to crash land on the camp's dirt runway and Major Fisher flew along side to give him steering directions as Myers' windscreen got covered in oil when the engine got hit. Myers successfully crash landed his Skyraider on the dirt strip and immediately got out before his Skyraider exploded and took cover in a ditch next to the runway. A team from the camp tried to get to Myers to bring him inside the camp perimeter, but the NVA fire in the area was too heavy to effect a ground rescue. Orbiting above and dodging enemy fire, Fisher directed the other Skyraider pilots' fire to protect Myers and buy time for the inbound rescue helicopter. When he found out a rescue helicopter would take about 20 minutes to reach the area due to the weather conditions, Major Fisher elected to try and land on the strip to rescue Myers himself. 

With debris from the battle as well as Myers' destroyed Skyraider littering the runway, Fisher had to abort his first landing attempt and swung around to land the other direction on the runway. One of the pilots in the area described the scene as like "Flying into Yankee Stadium with everyone in the bleachers firing at you with machine guns!" Fisher managed to land on the runway and in the midst of the heavy fire, taxied back up the runway searching for Myers. Since his Skyraider was the side-by-side two seat version of the A-1, Fisher spotted Myers who sprinted for the aircraft from his hiding place. Fisher had already unharnessed himself thinking that Myers was wounded and needed help when he found the pilot already scrambling up his wing to the cockpit. Fisher grabbed Myers and quite literally threw him into the cockpit headfirst with Myers yelling "You dumb son-of-a-bitch, now neither of us will get out of here!" With Myers scrambling to get himself seated and harnessed into the cockpit, Fisher wheeled the A-1 around and kept the Skyraider in ground effect until he had the speed climb up through the overcast and over the mountains to safety at their base at Pleiku.

Fisher on the left and Myers on the right after the rescue flight

Remember that group of special forces that got pinned down trying to rescue Major Myers? They were able to escape and get back inside the camp perimeter as all the NVA guns that had them pinned down were focused on trying to shoot down Major Fisher's Skyraider.; When his aircraft landed back at its base, the aircraft had 19 holes from ground fire sustained during the rescue flight. Fisher was unlikely Skyraider pilot- he served in World War II as a sailor and on return to the United States, joined the ROTC while in college. He only finished three years at the University of Utah before he was commissioned to fly for the USAF. He had earned his wings flying Convair F-102 Delta Daggers in Europe and Lockheed F-104 Starfighters for the Air Defense Command stateside. He volunteered for combat duty in Vietnam, getting assigned to fly Skyraiders with the 1st Air Commando Squadron at Pleiku. At the time of his epic rescue flight, he had been flying combat missions in the A-1 for eight months. The day prior to his rescue of Major Myers, he earned a Silver Star flying combat missions over the same special forces camp in the A Shau Valley! 

On 19 January 1967, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his rescue of Major Myers. This is the citation: 

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. On that date, the special forces camp at A Shau was under attack by 2,000 North Vietnamese Army regulars. Hostile troops had positioned themselves between the airstrip and the camp. Other hostile troops had surrounded the camp and were continuously raking it with automatic weapons fire from the surrounding hills. The tops of the 1,500-foot hills were obscured by an 800 foot ceiling, limiting aircraft maneuverability and forcing pilots to operate within range of hostile gun positions, which often were able to fire down on the attacking aircraft. During the battle, Maj. Fisher observed a fellow airman crash land on the battle-torn airstrip. In the belief that the downed pilot was seriously injured and in imminent danger of capture, Maj. Fisher announced his intention to land on the airstrip to effect a rescue. Although aware of the extreme danger and likely failure of such an attempt, he elected to continue. Directing his own air cover, he landed his aircraft and taxied almost the full length of the runway, which was littered with battle debris and parts of an exploded aircraft. While effecting a successful rescue of the downed pilot, heavy ground fire was observed, with 19 bullets striking his aircraft. In the face of the withering ground fire, he applied power and gained enough speed to lift-off at the overrun of the airstrip. Maj. Fisher's profound concern for his fellow airman, and at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in the highest traditions of the U.S. Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.

Fisher was the first USAF Medal of Honor recipient of the Vietnam War. He finished his tour in Vietnam on the Skyraider with 200 combat missions. His unit, the 1st Air Commando Squadron, had a 40% casualty rate amongst its pilots as they did a lot of low level close air support flying in support of the special forces camps in some of the most inhospitable parts of South Vietnam. He returned to the Air Defense Command until his retirement as a colonel in 1974, having flown the McDonnell F-101B Voodoo. He took up corn and alfalfa farming with his wife in rural Idaho. Every year since his rescue, each March 10th, D.W. Myers called Bernard Fisher to wish him well until Myers died in 1992. Myers' daughter kept up the ritual for another 22 years, calling Fisher on March 10th herself to wish him well. In 2008, the University of Utah awarded a diploma to Bernard Fisher 57 years after he was last a student there in recognition for his achievements and decorated military career. In 2010, the Boise Rescue Mission was established as a homeless veterans' transitional program with Fisher's help and its motto is Fisher's quote after he rescued Myers: "When a man is down, you don't leave him there." Colonel Bernard Francis Fisher flew west on 16 August 2014.

Fisher's A-1E Skyraider at the USAF Museum

You can see Bernard Fisher's A-1E Skyraider today as it has been restored and wears the colors and markings as it looked on the day of his Medal of Honor Mission at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

As for the fate of the special forces camp in the A Shau Valley after Fisher's rescue flight? By late afternoon on 10 March 1966, the decision was made to evacuate and abandon the A Shau Valley camp. Sixteen UH-34D helicopters along with six UH-1Es, all from the Marine units HMM-163 and VMO-2 respectively, flew into the valley with 200-foot overcast for the evacuation. Two helicopters were shot down but their crews managed to lead groups of camp soldiers out of the area on foot, evading the NVA units that were closing in on the camp. The NVA flak trap was so intense that three Marine F-4B Phantoms, two A-4 Skyhawks, two UH-1s and three more UH-34D sustained damage. The following morning a second evacuation flight managed to get the rest of the personnel out of the camp. The Marine helicopter squadron HMM-163 needed to have 21 of its 24 UH-34Ds replaced. Interestingly, one of the UH-1s involved in the evacuation of the rest of the personnel from the special forces camp was flown by Brigadier General Marion Carl of the US Marine Corps. Carl was the Marines' first ace of the Second World War and before Vietnam he was a decorated test pilot. Despite his rank as the commander of the 1st Marine Brigade in Vietnam, he often flew combat missions in both helicopters and jet fighters much to the chagrin of his superiors!

Sources: Above and Beyond: The Aviation Medals of Honor by Barrett Tillman. Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002, pp 218-221. Assault from the Sky: US Marine Corps Helicopter Operations in Vietnam by Dick Camp. Casemate Publishers, 2013, pp 64-79. Photos: USAF Museum

The First Helicopter Medevac Missions

For a six-week period in the summer of 1945 as fighting raged between American and Japanese forces on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, six helicopter pilots flew the first rotary-wing medical evacuations under enemy fire in history. Although the helicopter had been used in combat in the Burmese theater of operations in April 1944, the Luzon airlift was first to take place under enemy fire. And here's the really crazy part of the story- the six American pilots were there not for medevac flights, but for repair and supply work! Project Ivory Soap began as concept to use Army-owned supply ships as floating repair depots that could move with the US forces during the Pacific island-hopping campaign. Early in the campaign, it could take weeks, even months, for replacement parts to arrive at front-line units from the United States. Under Project Ivory Soap, USAAF aircraft could be turned around more quickly with the floating depot ships nearby. By December 1943, the program had evolved into using six Liberty ships and eighteen smaller vessels. The ships had helipads constructed on them so that Sikorsky R-4s could shuttle between the ships and airfields ashore with critical parts.

In June 1945 the campaign to liberate the Philippines from Japanese occupation was underway and three of the Liberty ships were deployed to Luzon with the Fifth Air Force while the other three Liberty ships were deployed to the Marianas to support B-29 Superfortress operations with the Twentieth Air Force. On 15 June, R-4 pilot Louis Carle received a request to pick up two soldiers with head injuries 35 miles east of Manila. With only 25 hours of helicopter time and no medical training, Carle arrived at the designated spot but they couldn't locate the two soldiers needing evacuation. Men at the scene who greeted Carle had him fly out a platoon leader with a hip injury instead but they couldn't fit the stretcher into the R-4. Carle ended up removing the other seat and laying the injured soldier on the floor.

News traveled throughout the area of the successful helicopter evacuation and soon Carle and the other pilots of the repair ships were getting requests for additional medevac flights. Given the primitive state of helicopter technology of the day, the flights into combat zones were grueling and often the six pilots were flying as many as six to seven medevac missions a day. Often the pick up points were near front line areas and the helicopters were attractive targets to Japanese units. Mortar and artillery rounds often impacted near the landing zones as well, and adding to the stresses, the pilots were the only crew aboard and they had to load the injured, make sure they were secured, and then fly their flimsy machines out of the combat zone to a field hospital near Manila. As the American forces pushed into the highlands of Luzon, performance of the R-4 and later R-6 helicopters suffered and often Carle and his men had to overspeed the piston engines to get enough rotor lift to get airborne, all while avoiding enemy gunfire.

Carle and another pilot survived crashes of their respective R-4s after ten days. Both men were escorted out of the jungle highlands by appreciative Army units. With his repair ship heading to Okinawa to support the combat effort there, Carle would be officially credited with 12 saved soldiers though the actual numbers were likely quite higher. To replace the departing ship, another repair depot anchored in Manila Bay on 25 June and the four pilots aboard managed to medevac 40 injured soldiers in just four days. To make the medevac flights more comfortable for the wounded soldiers, the helicopter mechanics welded Stokes litters (steel tube and wire mesh baskets for carrying wounded) to the steel frames of the R-4 helicopters.

Of all the injured servicemen flown out of harm's way by helicopter in the Pacific Theater, 60 percent of those medevac flights took place on Luzon in that six week period. One-hundred fifty men are estimated to have been flown out and while this small number is nearly insignificant compared to the 40,000 saved by medevac flights in Korea and 1 million saved in Vietnam, the history making flights of Louis Carle and his fellow pilots in their flimsy Sikorsky R-4s convinced a skeptical military command of the value of the helicopter.


Source: Air & Space Smithsonian, July 2010, Vol. 25, No.2. "Medevac From Luzon" by Roger Connor, p62-67.

The Story of Los Angeles Airways

On 1 October 1947 Los Angeles Airways inaugurated the world's first scheduled helicopter air mail services on a loop route through the San Fernando Valley followed by additional routes to Newport Beach and San Bernadino within its first six months of operation. LAA was founded on 11 May 1944 by Clarence M. Belinn, the former head engineering superintendent of National Air Lines who was known at the time for having designed the fuel tank crossfeed system used on Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra. Though having established LAA during the Second World War, it wasn't until 1947 that the US Civil Aeronautics Board awarded LAA the route authorities to operate local air mail services in Southern California using the Sikorsky S-51. Before long, LAA was operating a twice-a-day mail service between the main downtown post office and Los Angeles International Airport along with a small package air express service.

With a fleet of five S-51s, LAA's first year of operations resulted in 700 tons of mail being carried with approximately 40,000 landings throughout the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The small operation maintained a 95% reliability rate and by the time it began its small package air express service in 1953, it was annually moving nearly 4,000 tons of mail a year.

In July 1951 the CAB awarded LAA's reliable helicopter operation the rights for passenger services which started in November 1954 with larger Sikorsky S-55 helicopters while the smaller S-51s continued the mail and small package services. While aviation history better has preserved the story of helicopter airline New York Airways, LAA began its passenger services only four months after New York Airways' first helicopter passenger services. In fact, on the inaugural New York Airways' inaugural helicopter service in July 1954 LAA founder and president Clarence M. Belinn was one of the invited guests.

In the summer of 1955 LAA added the new Disneyland resort and amusement park to its route network, using a dedicated Disney heliport in Anaheim. In that summer LAA had five passenger Sikorsky S-55s flying scheduled services between 25 destinations in the Los Angeles Basin from Hollywood in the north, Long Beach and Orange County in the south, and San Bernadino in the west. LAA even had interline agreements with major airlines at LAX, offering passengers connecting services on United Air Lines and later on, American Airlines. On 1 March 1962 Los Angeles Airways became the world's first scheduled operator of the turbine-powered Sikorsky S-61L with a 28-passenger capacity, having originally ordered four of the large helicopters derived from the Sikorsky Sea King for $650,00o each.

Despite having earned a permanent certificate from the Civil Aeronautics Board in July 1965, the CAB decided to end its subsidies of approximately $4.3 million/year to LAA having ruled that scheduled helicopter passenger services were not commercially viable. Though the loss of the federal subsidy was a significant blow to LAA, it was offset by investment by American and United for 23.8% control of LAA that allowed the airline to continue operations.

Tragedy struck LAA for the first time on 22 May 1968 when a main rotor blade separation from one of LAA's S-61Ls operating as Flight 841 caused a crash at Paramount City with the loss of all onboard. Then again, this time on 14 August 1968 another S-61L operating as Flight 417 was lost again due to a main rotor blade separation at Compton with the loss of all onboard including the 13-year old grandson of the founder of LAA, Clarence M. Belinn. The losses resulted in the grounding of the profitable Sikorsky S-61Ls and the temporary cessation of passenger services to Disneyland. With two helicopters lost, LAA had lost 1/3 of its S-61L fleet at that time in just the space of several months and the disruption even without the grounding would have been tremendous to LAA's services.

As a temporary stopgap, LAA ordered four De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters in late 1968 and leased two further Twin Otters for use on routes to Riverside and San Bernadino from LAX Airport. The leased Twin Otters came from a small commuter airline based in Long Beach, Aero Commuter. In the following year, Aero Commuter rebranded itself as Golden West and took at 54% controlling interest in Los Angeles Airways. A year later, a pilots' strike lasting six months hit LAA further crippled its finances and a rescue deal was arranged with the Hughes Tool Company (Hughes Toolco) with Howard Hughes himself providing bridging financing pending the final deal. However, Hughes would pull the plug on the deal before it would be signed. As a result, on 26 September 1970, Los Angeles Airways ceased operations.

On July 1971 Golden West acquired LAA's operating certificate and two Sikorsky S-61Ls to restart helicopter services between Disneyland and LAX. The first services were flown by Golden West on 15 March 1972 but only lasted six months due to Golden West's own financial problems. The only reminder of LAA's historical legacy in Southern California is a memorial plaque near Gate 74 at Terminal 7 (United's terminal) of LAX where in its heyday, LAA's helicopters connected passengers from all over the metropolitan area with United's flights.

Source: Aviation News & Global Aerospace, May 2010. "US Airlines" feature by Maurice Wickstead, p53-54.

While the long rivalry between British Airways and British Caledonian Airways is well-known, from 1978 to 1986 the two bitter rivals actually partnered together with the British Airports Authority to operate a helicopter shuttle service to connect interline passengers between London Heathrow and London Gatwick. Initially utilizing a Sikorsky S-61N registered as G-LINK and "Gatwick Heathrow Airlink" titles, later on both British Airways Helicopters and BCal Helicopters provided back up helicopters.

At the time of the service launch on 9 June 1978, the helicopter flight took 25 minutes to connect the two airports with 28 passengers on each run. The first flight left Gatwick at 0710 and the last flight returned at 2010 hours- uniquely, G-LINK was owned by the British Airports Authority, based at Gatwick with British Caledonian flight and cabin crews, administration and ticketing but the helicopter was maintained at British Airways Helicopters' base at Gatwick.

By the time of the route's last flight on 6 February 1986, flight times were only 12 minutes and 24 passengers were taken on each flight, a reduction of four seats due to the need for baggage space. A one way flight cost £21. The flights would be boarded with the rotors already turning and as such, the "Caledonian Girls" that were part of the cabin crew had lead weights sewn into the hemlines of their skirts to keep them from flying up in the rotor downwash.

The end of the unique service came at the instruction of the British government once the M25 freeway was completed.

Source: Aircraft, December 2009. "Gone But Not Forgotten...British Caledonian" by Bruce Hales-Dutton. Box feature "The Airlink Service", p41.

It wasn't until summer of 1965 that the USAF's Air Rescue Service finally had a helicopter capable of sustained combat search and rescue operations in the expanding war in Vietnam. Previous helicopter rescue efforts relied on either the short-ranged Kaman HH-43 Husky or Air America's Sikorsky UH-34s, both of which weren't well-suited to the role demanded by the ARS. The transport version of the Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King, the CH-3C, had an aft loading ramp and boasted significantly better performance and load-carrying capability than anything else in-theater for CSAR. Due to their green and tan camouflage, the CH-3Cs got the nickname "Jolly Green Giant" which became their radio callsign, JOLLY GREEN.

But the Air Rescue Service wanted more out of the CH-3C despite the leap it presented. The USAF and Sikorsky developed a modified CH-3C version custom-tailored to combat search and rescue designated the HH-3E that had more powerful engines, titanium armor plating, gun mounts for M60s or GAU-2B Miniguns, and most importantly, more fuel. Not only did the HH-3E carry 200 more gallons of fuel over the CH-3C, but the landing gear sponsons were also plumbed to carry 200-gallon drop tanks. But the great technological and operational leap would be the ARS's desire to be able to refuel the HH-3E in midair.

No helicopter had been refueled in midair- the USAF had standardized on the Boeing flying boom which would have been impossible to use on a helicopter in addition to the speed mismatch between the KC-135 Stratotanker and the HH-3E. It was decided to use the Navy's probe and drogue method, but the slipstream of the tanker and rotor downwash made airborne refueling still tricky.

Sikorsky's engineers developed a telescoping refueling probe that when fully extended, put the tip of the probe just outside the rotor downwash. The USAF borrowed a US Marine Corps KC-130 Hercules for flight trials at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio. Pilots found that the boat-like hull of the HH-3E could in effect "float" on the Hercules' slipstream. Tests were completed in 1966 and Lockheed was contracted to convert 11 C-13oHs into HC-130 aerial tankers that also functioned as airborne controllers for any rescue operation. The first HC-130Ps arrived in SE Asia in November 1966 to join up with the HH-3Es already in theater since late 1965 (with the CH-3Cs being phased out by January 1966).

The Sikorsky HH-3E "Jolly Green Giant" would be the world's first helicopter equipped for aerial refueling, giving USAF combat search and rescue a quantum leap in capability at a time when the war effort in Vietnam was expanding daily.

Source: Wings of Fame, Volume 14. AIRtime Publishing, 1999, "'That others may live': USAF Search and Rescue, Part Two, 1958-1975 - The war in Southeast Asia" by Larry Davis, p22-25.

In terms of revenue, the current helicopter industry leader is Eurocopter with over $6 billion in revenue in 2008. The number two spot is surprising given their past labor and financial problems- Sikorsky with over $5 billion in revenue. The remaining three spots in descending order based on revenue for 2008:

#3: AgustaWestland (previously the #2 leader until passed by Sikorsky in 2006)- over $4 billion.

#4: Boeing - over $3 billion in revenue.

#5: Bell Helicopter - just under $3 billion.

Since 2003 all of the above companies have experienced a growth in revenue. The companies' rankings in 2003 in descending order were Eurocopter, AgustaWestland, Boeing, Sikorsky, and Bell.

Source: Aviation Week and Space Technology, May 4, 2009. "Worst to First" by Joseph Anselmo, p49.