EC-47

[ALR]

I worked on EC-47s at Tan Son Nhut and NKP Thailand in 72.
Anyone else work on these?
I was ground crew in USAF.
It was quite a bird with some awesome duties being unarmed in this configuration.

[rooter]

Welcome Trooper and thank you for your service to our country...When you designate the type aircraft you have....was it the old prop driven C-47? Was it to be equipped with the mulit-barreled guns like PUFF? If so, I had some photos posted in the photo section hereon a few years ago...That was in Danang, 1969....take a look under Chief Wilborn's listing...Chief

[jim brady]

Don't have anything but a vivid mental picture of 6 c-47s that were minty - but piled up with a 'dozer at the end of the Phu Bai Airport runway in 1970. Those birds were complete and looked like they were serviceable to me, except for being heaped up in a pile like that. That brown camo paint looked pretty fresh.

Even back then the thought of such waste was dusgusting.

[ALR]

Originally Posted by rooter

Welcome Trooper and thank you for your service to our country...When you designate the type aircraft you have....was it the old prop driven C-47? Was it to be equipped with the mulit-barreled guns like PUFF? If so, I had some photos posted in the photo section hereon a few years ago...That was in Danang, 1969....take a look under Chief Wilborn's listing...Chief

No, it was equipped with radio equipment and searched for cong radio transmissions around the Ho Chi Min trail and other high activity areas, near Thailand they flew into Laos looking there. No armor or weapon mounted on the birds. Only sidearms with the crew.
Sent data to SAC for B52 carpet bombing.
Yes it was the old prop driven C-47 refurbished and rewired in states and ferried over.
You can find the complete history on EC-47.com web site. Sad to hear about the bulldozed birds, really sad!
I only got to spend 44 days in country TDY, but it felt longer, and I wouldnt trade it for anything. We were all in it together.
I recently developed Prostate cancer in 2009 at 59.5 yrs old which is a trigger age for Agent Orange for some reason. I applied for benefits with VA and they deny I was there because DD214 doesnt say Viet Nam just Indo China. Am in appeals right now.
It sucks going there and then VA says I wasnt there. Gave them original orders that sent me there and they say they arent real. supposed to get cleared up by the appeal my Service Officer from VFW told me.
Any way thanks for the thanks
I have been treated and things look normal except for some residual effects in urinary and digestive tract from radiation which will hopefully pass in time. Its good to hear others experiences there, and sad to think of friends and classmates who didnt come home.
My brother fought in the Tet Offensive and made it home with a Purple Heart, years later while treated for depression by VA, killed himself associated with the drugs we think.
Again, thanks and glad to be here, welcome home to the other Nam vets!

[rooter]

Thanks for the info, Trooper....The B-52 ops there on the Trail achieved much alarm success down at Dong Ha where I was during TET....The shock waves and vibrations from the exploding ordiance would make those wooden legged cots walk right across those old oil soaked decks....There were pucker factors that rated a strong niner!!!! Chief

[Anchor Clanker]

I was stationed at Nah Trang in 1969 and we had AC-47s, AC-119s, AC-130s, O1E and O2s. The last two were forward controller aircraft. We also had C-47s and I can't remember their designation but we called then bull s—t bombers. They had 2,000 watt loud speakers mounted in the cargo door to speak to the ground and were equipped to drop propaganda leaflets. As to the disposition of the C-47 aircraft remember these aircraft were a minimum of 25 years old (none had been made since 1945) and were just worn out. Many were transferred to nations in Southeast Asia.

[rooter]

Possibly the Last DC-3 Pax Operations‏

Two items caught my attention............The parts warehouse
for the A/C welder and the stock room for the C-47 and C-46.
Possibly the Last DC-3 Pax Operations

Video:
Buffalo Airways still operates a daily scheduled DC-3
passenger service for residents in Canada’s Northwest
Territories and is likely the last airline to do so.

They plan to bring two of their "3s" to EAA Air
Venture Oshkosh this summer.

http://www.eaavideo.org/video.aspx?v=110918534001

[Jim Hauff]

Read ALR's posting and it brought back memories.
I enlisted in 1967 - left college, wanted to get in "the sh.t". Was assigned to the Army Security Agency and spent a year at Ft. Bliss TX learning Viet Namese language, then 3.5 months at Goodfellow AFB at San Angelo TX, then off to RVN. Got there on May 23, 1969 - was assigned to 335th Radio Research Co. (acronym used in-country for ASA units.) Spent about 4 months in the field with 3rd Brigade 9th Inf. Div. elements doing interpretor/translator and voice intercept duties. Was re-assigned to 1st RR Co (AVN) in August 69 and sent to Cam Rahn Bay - I thought it was paradise. Ended up as a radio voice intercept op. - we flew in former Navy P2V7 patrol bombers. 3 pilots, 1 crew chief, 1 e-tech, 1 radio Op, one flight deck NCO, four voice intercept ops and one "ditty" op. I ended up flying in almost 100 missions during the next 8 months - got Basic Air Medal with 23 Oak leaf clusters. Missions were nearly 16 hours long with a stop on the way home at Da Nang to drop off the black bags and get squirt of avgas. Our AO was the Ho Chi Minh Trail from mid NVN (Ban Krai) through Laos and down to the Parrots Beak where Cambodia sticks its nose into SVN. We flew racetrack orbits at 9000 to 9500 feet and 190 knots around the ARC Light drop zones as well as any missions called in for Fast Movers. I saw over 100 ARC Lights from the air. Very impressive. We got shot at on almost every mission mostly 37s - sometimes 57s.
We were flying so low and slow that the gunners had a hard time setting us up with the radar controlled guns - every body else was too damn fast or too damn high. Also, pilots made those birds do some wonderful gymnatics.
Only almost sh.t my pants one time! But that's another story. We loved our "wing nuts" they kept us in the air. I was only in 9 emergency landings (on one engine), one with complete hydraulic failure (long coast to stop) and we once ran out of gas at 9500 feet over Laos, when the crew chief forgot to turn on the booster pumps before going to back for a nap - main tanks ran dry and both prop engines quick. He got back to front when we were below 2500 feet and flipped the switch - pilots managed to restart one, then the other engine. Real cool, man, real cool. Crew men were all catagorized as "Voluteers" - so about half the guys "dropped" out of the program before their DEROS and went back to ground units - I didn't, and ended up getting more missions, more often, because company was short of ops. Left county on June 2nd, 1970, age 23 - just like what you other guys said - I was the same person - but all my friends had changed.

[AL MOUNT]

Spent Tet 68 right outside Hue, we had a grand time.....

Our Base Camp was LZ Sally.

[rooter]

That was a good story, Jim....Thank you for telling us and thank you for your service to our country. I so wish other troops would tell us more of their stories..So many of us, having been there during those periods, can relate to things we may have seen or heard...this time when you mentioned the
P2V's...my mind clicked back to Bermuda in 1954-55...Our Seabee detachment was installing fire suppression systems in this hanger where the Air-Dales had P2V Neptunes housed. Damn, that was hard work, cutting and threading different sized steel piping (4 inch down to 3/4 inch) used in the sprinkler system, climbing up scaffolding and working high up there in the roof...Fresh water used on the island is all caught and stored in catchment basins so salt water from the bay was used to charge the fire suppressions systems if needed...after installing and flushing out the systems, they were 'laid-up' dry and filled with some inert gas...until a fire and then pumped with the sea water....Do you have pictures of the P2V's you spoke of? Chief

[vetsvette]

EC-47. EC= Electronic Countermeasures. Kind of a small version of the EC-121 which was a converted Super Constellation airliner.

[ALR]

Originally Posted by vetsvette

EC-47. EC= Electronic Countermeasures. Kind of a small version of the EC-121 which was a converted Super Constellation airliner.

The EC-47 carried no electronic countermeasures and was unarmed.
E-Electronic, C-Cargo, it only carried radio consoles.
The information below is from the Aviation Trivia .com site.
They had similar duties yes but no countermeasures as I can find.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star is basically a Lockheed Super Constellation airliner modified for early warning duties. The domes above and beneath the fuselage house a total of 12,000 lbs. of electronics.

The U.S.A.F. awarded Lockheed a contract to build the EC-121 aircraft in 1951. In 1953 EC-121 aircraft were first deployed with the Air Defense Command. They patrolled the coastal areas of the United States in conjunction with the DEW (Distance Early Warning) Line.

During the Vietnam War EC-121 aircraft guided aircraft to downed pilots, directed aircraft to refueling planes, and guided U.S. interceptor aircraft.

On Oct. 24, 1967, while patrolling above the Tonkin Gulf, an EC-121 serial number 53-555, "Triple Nickel" directed an American F-4 Phantom by radar to intercept a MiG-21. This was a first victory ever of one aircraft over another made possible with the guidance of a flying, radar equipped airplane. The "Triple Nickel" aircraft was retired to the USAF Museum, Dayton, Ohio in 1971.

A total of 232 EC-121 aircraft were manufactured. They were retired from duty in 1978.

[Jim Hauff]

ROOTER - thanks for the kind words. I have some b&w pics somewhere - I'll try to find them and take digi pics to post. Nice to see a couple "retired" NAVY planes with ARMY painted on them.

[Jay]

The Nightwatch and Looking Glass aircraft are similar to the EC-47 in function. My father along with Gen Curtis LeMay, developed and introduced the former aircraft in the early 60's

This pic is of Gen LeMay in the left seat of the Nightwatch aircraft...my dad is in the right seat.....



...a couple of pics of the aircraft.... internals



Pic signed by the first sqdn members.....