Air Support at Ia Drang

[Pyros]

AIR LIFT

Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).
Captain Ed W. Freeman, flight leader and second in command of a 16 unarmed-helicopter lift unit (UH-1Ds),

Maj. Bruce Crandall, CO of Company A, 229th Combat Aviation Battalion "Snake 6,"
Maj. John Radu, "Tiger 6," who commanded the gun company, "D"/229th,
Maj. Dick Rogers, "Preacher 6," who was the CO of "B"/229th - all old comrades from the 521st Engineer Company (Topo Aviation).
Maj. (later Col.) Willard Bennett, "Cobra 6," was the CO of "C"/229th, another lift company.

228th ASHB was the 1st Cavalry Division's Chinook Battalion. The Bn had three companies of CH-47 aircraft. Each company had 16 "Hooks." The Battalion Headquarters (HHC) had a UH-1D/H "Slick" and one OH-6A "Loach."

B co 114 troops, A co 40 troops, Ground Commanders command group 6 for a total of 160 troops in the 1st lift.

3rd Brigade Aviation Section, 228th Assault Support Helicopter Battalion and 229 Assault Helicopter Battalion flight crews who flew support missions into LZ X-Ray, LZ Albany, LZ Falcon and LZ Columbus 14-18 November.

CLOSE SUPPORT

Here is a nice MATH problem:

1. Number of missions x {[Ax (UH-1B)ARA x 48] + [Bx (UH-1B)Gunships x 14]}= Total Ammo used
2. A (number of ARA) = X x B (number of Gunships)
3. B (number of Gunships = Z x C (Number of UH-1D)
4. A+B (number of UH-1B / C (Number of UH-1D = (Helicopters_Hit_by_Enemy) UH-1B/UH-1D x V (danger variable)

With a little of luck and the following DATA we may be able to determine the number of A, B, C (C=16?)

Total Missions Fired (in support of operations)
3,354 105mm Howitzer
184 ARA

Total Rounds Fired
33,108 by 105 mm
7,356 by 2.75in Rockets

Helicopters Hit by Enemy/Shot down
UH-1B 15/2
UH-1D 21/2

Helicopter Total Sorties/Hours
UH-1B 11,522/7,322.9
UH-1D 33,522/11,904.2

Total Passengers Airlifted
88,221

Airmobile/Assault Helicopter Company

258 personnel, 23 UH-1D [door-mounted MG], 8 UH-1C [6 with 2.75" rockets and MG, 2 with 40mm GL]

Aerial Weapons Company,"D", with twelve (4x UH-1 Gunships?) UH-1B helicopters armed with XM-16 kits (fourteen 2.75" rockets and four 7.62 mm machine guns.
On Gunships: P68, 2nd paragraph:
"...and Crandalls 4 Gunships guarding our flanks."

Aerial Rocket Battalion

39 helicopters with 2.75" rockets
It consisted of three firing batteries, each equipped with twelve Huey helicopters armed with 2.75-inch aerial rockets.

C Battery, 2-20 Field Artillery in actions at LZ X-Ray, LZ Albany and LZ Columbus 14-18 November.

ARA: C bat, 2nd battalion, 20th arty. Commanded by Maj Roger Bartholomew. 6x ARA, possibly another ARA, being flown by the battery commander.
On ARA: P122, 1st Paragraph:
".....and with six helicopter's plus the battery commanders we where going through ammo in a hurry.

Preparatory phase
The aerial artillery came on the heels of the tube artillery fire and worked over the area for 30 seconds expending half their load, then went into a orbit nearby to be on call. The lift battalion gunships took up the fire and were immediately ahead of the troop transport Hueys.

Close Air Support by 7th air force's 1st and 602nd Air Commando Squadrons in support of ground operations in Ia Drang

LtC John J. Knight, 10 May 1965;
The 1st ACS/SOS operated a variety of aircraft during the SEA years. They started with the A-26, and at various times operated T-28's, U-10's, C-47's and RD-26's. The Skyraider arrived in May 1964 and became the major weapons system.

740 CAS sorties were flown, mainly in support of LZ X Ray and Albany.
Air Force tactical air provided continuous support with a fighter bomber on a target run on an average of once every fifteen minutes;
- A-4 Skyhawks
- A-37 Dragonfly
- F-4 Phantoms
- A-1 Skyraider
- AC-47 "Dragonship"
- AC-119 "Stinger"
- AC-130 "Spectre"
- F-100 Super Sabre
- B-52 (Modified for conventional bombs)

.S. Air Force A-1E pilots of the 1st and 602nd Air Commando Squadrons who flew close air support missions at LZ X-Ray, LZ Albany, LZ Mary, LZ Columbus or the 4 November action of 2-8th Cav Northwest of LZ Cavalair.

On 15 November the moment of the "broken arrow" the air support was 29 air mission available:
We had aircraft stacked at
1,000 foot intervals from 7,000 feet to 35,000 feet, each waiting to receive a target and deliver
their ordnance.

B-52 missions

Five B-52 missions with 96 sorties were flown.
The most devastating support was provided by B-52 bombers which struck without warning six kilometers west of X-RAY. Though the bombers had been employed initially in Vietnam some six months earlier, this was their first use in direct support of U.S. troops on a tactical operation. For the next five days, the big bombers systematically bombed large areas of the Chu Pong Massif.

Quantity of Air and Arty support in the final stage of the battle

Then, after his soldiers marked their units’ positions, he ordered strikes by over two dozen aircraft and called on the fires of four batteries of artillery.

General notes

In his after action report, Colonel Moore noted that aerial rocket artillery had been extremely effective. His commanders had confidence in bringing such fires extremely close to their own positions. He also had noted that tube artillery, aerial rocket artillery, and tactical air can be used at the same time without seriously downgrading the effectiveness of the fire or endangering the aircraft. The aerial rocket artillery and Tactical Air flew perpendicular to the artillery gun-target line in those cases when they were making a simultaneous attack on the same target areas. This technique was possible by close teamwork between the forward air controller and the artillery liaison officer.

The 227th (AHB), along with the 228th (ASHB), 229th (AHB) and the 11th General
Support Aviation Company operated under the command of the 11th Aviation Group. Initially the Assault Helicopter Battalions (AHB) had three companies,"A", "B" and "C", of twenty UH-1D helicopters plus one Aerial Weapons Company,"D", with twelve UH-1B helicopters armed with XM-16 kits (fourteen 2.75" rockets and four 7.62 mm machine guns. "D" Company flew support for the other three companies, as well as special missions, such as "Nighthawk". Later in the war, the -1D helicopters were replaced with model -1Hs and the weapons company was upgraded to AH-1G Huey Cobras which carried a mixed armament of XM-157 or XM-159 rockets, XM-18 gun pods and XM-28 minigun and 40 mm in the chin turret. The effective range was about 100 miles, roughly the same as the division "front". In most part, the 227th supported the 3rd Brigade and the 229th supported the 1st Brigade and both battalions were assigned the responsibility of supporting the 2nd Brigade.

Throughout such operations as the Pleiku Campaign, Nathan Hale, Paul Revere,Thayer and Byrd, the 227th proved that air mobility was a vital factor in the success of the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam. In the fall of 1965, the
battalion participated in the Pleiku Campaign, airlifting troops into the rugged province near Cambodia, often in the face of heavy enemy resistance.
During the campaign, the 227th airlifted the equivalent of 65 infantry companies, flying a total of 6,066 sorties. With the rest of the division, the battalion received a Presidential Unit Citation for this campaign. Throughout
1965 and 1966, the battalion provided integral support and transportation for the division, developing new techniques to meet the challenging battle and weather conditions in the Republic of Vietnam.

105mm Towed Howitzer Battalion

HQ and Service Battery and four batteries (each with 6 105mm howitzers)
These originally had three batteries 641 personnel

C Battery, 2-17th Field Artillery at LZ Columbus 15-17 November.
A, B and C Batteries and elements of Headquarters Battery, 1-21st Field Artillery at LZ Falcon, LZ Columbus 14-18 November.

Before the attack began Batteries A and C, 1st Battalion, 21st Artillery, were deployed at LZ FALCON.
These Batteries fired over 4,000 rounds of high-explosive ammunition during the night of 14/11 in close support of X-RAY.

To provide additional artillery support, Landing Zone COLUMBUS was established 4 1/2 kilometers to the northeast of X-RAY. This landing zone was midway between X-RAY and FALCON, where Batteries A and C of the 1st Battalion, 21st Artillery, were located. Battery B of the 1st Battalion, 21st Artillery, and Battery C of the 2d Battalion, 17th Artillery, were now moved into COLUMBUS.

The enemy broke contact and filtered back into the mountains after suffering tremendous losses. He was pursued with heavy firepower: cannon artillery continually pounded the area;

The division fired 40,464 artillery rounds and rockets during the campaign.

8" artillery
also participated during the 3 hours battle of "broken arrow" 15/11

Elements of 8th Engineer Battalion that supported Infantry, Cavalry or Artillery units at LZ X-Ray, LZ Albany, LZ Columbus and LZ Falcon 14-18 Nov, or 2-8 Cavalry during the action 2-1/2 km NW of LZ Cavalair 4 November, or 1-9 Cavalry during the ambush vicinity of LZ Mary 3-4 November