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May 2015 FLYPAST 125

soldiers on the ground, all of our

Mohawks were converted over to

IR, SLAR and photo-recce birds.

“Fortunately, the gun-toting

OV-1s already in Vietnam kept

their weapons for a while longer as

the Pentagon looked upon them

with a blind eye.”

WHISPERING DEATH

In the summer of 1965 the 11th

Air Assault Division became the

1st Cavalry Division and its OV-1s

were loaded aboard the USS Boxer

bound for Vietnam. The Aerial

Surveillance Target Acquisition

Platoon consisted of six Mohawks

based at An Khê in the central

highlands of South Vietnam; two

OV-1B SLAR models and four

infrared-equipped OV-1Cs.

William noted that most missions

“were at night, flying low-level –

500ft or less – IR flights looking

for the cooking fires of the VC/

NVA [Viet Cong/North Vietnamese

Army] lurking below. If we found

the enemy we were not allowed to

attack as we were there to gather

information for our intelligence

‘spooks’ and planners.

“The NVA did not like the

Mohawk and many of them referred

to its quietness as ‘Whispering

Death’. We were shot at a lot by the

NVA, mostly with AK-47 or 30-cal

rounds. Most of the time the tracers

arced harmlessly behind me as the

enemy shot at the sound of the

engines overhead.

“But it was on the daytime photo

missions when we were hit the

most. All I would hear was ‘whap,

whap, whap’ as the rifle rounds

impacted against the Mohawk. The

most holes I ever brought back was

six – but it was a typical Grumman

‘Iron Works’ airplane and those

bullet strikes didn’t hurt it one bit!”

William completed his first tour

in Vietnam in August 1966 with

480 hours’ combat time. He went

on to fly OV-1s in West Germany,

patrolling the Czechoslovakian and

East German borders looking for

unusual Soviet movements with the

help of the SLAR pod.

In April 1969 he returned to

Vietnam as a company commander

in charge of 18 OV-1s and 330

officers and men at Phú Hiêp.

“To my delight I found that the

horsepower of the Lycoming

soldiers on the ground, all of our

Mohawks were converted over to

Platoon consisted of six Mohawks

based at An Khê in the central

Mohawk and many of them referred

to its quietness as ‘Whispering

Death’. We were shot at a lot by the

NVA, mostly with AK-47 or 30-cal

rounds. Most of the time the tracers

Above

A tight formation of three

rocket pod-equipped

Mohawks.

Left

A 19-shot XM 159 rocket

pod mounted on a

Mohawk’s starboard wing.

122-128_Mohawk_fpSBB.indd 125 13/03/2015 11:59