to friendly air operations supporting
ground troops in the area.
In August 1966, the North Vietnamese
placed a Soviet or Chinese-built ‘Cross
Slot’ long-range radar — normally used
for coastal surface search — inland, just
north of the DMZ. An investigation of the
site, which was only switched on at night,
was ordered and 1st Lt H. Wayne ‘Flash’
Whitten was one of the ECMOs to ly the
sortie. Looking back at the operation, hesaid, ‘It became a topic of speculation
as to [the radar’s] purpose and threat
potential. As a result, the 1st MAW EWO,
Capt Clif Jackson, was directed to task
us to get a targetable location, and
according to the record we delivered it
less than four hours later.
‘That night, two EF-10Bs were assigned
to co-operatively get a good ix [on the
site]. CWO [Chief Warrant Oicer] Daryl
Cook and I were the ECMOs on thatmission. Arriving on station we found
our adversary was on the air and the
challenge was on.
‘We did some homing runs with our
position marked by the USAF ‘Sky Spot’
tracking radar located south of the DMZ.
We created a bit of radio chatter and a
USAF Phantom section lead came by and
asked what we were doing. Hearing it was
a [enemy] radar contact, he got our best
co-ordinates [for the ‘Cross Slot’] and made
a pass, dropping a string of the new CBUs
[cluster bomb units] that resulted in a
spectacular irework show underneath us.
At that time, the radar abruptly went of
the air and everyone was ecstatic, and we
posted it as probably being knocked out.
‘Alas, as often was the case, our roll-back
was short-lived due to a quick repair job,
or more likely we believed the radar was
ordered to be shut down by the outraged
mayor of a nearby village that had come
under attack from the F-4s. In any event,
two nights later, I found it was back up
and running.
‘The commanding general of the 1st
MAW declared it was a threat to his
aircraft and must be dealt with. It was
decided to send in an EF-10B on a stealthAbove: A flight
line of VMCJ-1
Skyknights
waiting for
assignments at
Da Nang. This
shot was taken
during the last
weeks of their
involvement in the
w a r.
Jerry Westphal
via author
Left: EF-10B
crews were all
given automatic
weapons
to defend
themselves with
if they were shot
down. Most of
these crews
logged a lot of
time over Hanoi.
Richard Kuci
via author
Right: VMCJ-1
was equipped
in Vietnam with
two front-line
types — the RF-4B
Phantom II and
EF-10B. Sam Gill
via authorGLORY DAYS // EF-10B IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA
64 October 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net