ANGEL

Bill Cahill talked to a member of an AC-130E

Spectre crew about the gunship’s unique

method of warfare

March 2018 FLYPAST 35

with

a ‘Black

Crow’

receiver to detect

unshielded emissions from

truck ignition systems. Initially

outfitted with two 20mm and

two 40mm cannons that fired

off the port side, the AC-130Es

were also slowly refitted with a

105mm howitzer in place of the aft

40mm cannon once they arrived in

Thailand.

Truck hunting

Batie was assigned to the 16th

Special Operations Squadron

(SOS) flying AC-130Es from

Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base

in Thailand. Coinciding with

Batie’s arrival at Ubon, the first

AC-130Es joined the dozen 16th

SOS A-models at the end of 1971.

Although

he took part

in a few missions

on AC-130As, most of

Batie’s year-long tour (November

1971 to November 1972) was

spent on E-models.

Arriving in Thailand after three

months of training at Hurlburt

Field in Florida, Batie had flown

just seven missions and had less

than 30 hours on the weapons

system. After a couple of days in

the squadron’s ‘New Guys School’-

on-site training that introduced

recent arrivals to the theatre and

operations – he was soon flying

missions.

By the end of 1971, the air war

and much of the fighting focused

on interdicting North Vietnamese

supply routes. The famous ‘Ho Chi

Minh Trail’ ran from North Vietnam

through Laos into South Vietnam.

While foot traffic and even elephants

were used to move supplies, the

ubiquitous Soviet-built ZIL 157 six-

wheel drive truck was the transport

of choice – and it was also a primary

target for the gunships.

Because the People’s Army of

Vietnam (PAVN) replenishment

efforts coincided with seasonal

weather trends in southern Laos,

the USAF ran ‘campaigns’ against

these patterns. In December’s dry

season, Batie started flying sorties

as a part of Operation ‘Commando

Hunt VII’ – which targeted PAVN’s

large ‘push’ to move supplies south

before the rains came in April.

Computer controlled

EWOs such as Batie worked in a

space known as the ‘booth’. It was

a compartment installed down

the starboard side of the former

cargo bay where they could work