Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 20, 2024 21:12:22 GMT 12
Air chief loops loop
(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) SAIGON, Aug. 8.
The Chief of the New Zealand Air Staff (Air Vice-Marshal D. F. St George) surprised a young American air spotter by putting his two-engined propeller aircraft into a snappy loop the loop and several barrel rolls over the Mekong Delta yesterday.
“He asked me if I could fly,” the Air Vice-Marshal said. “So I showed him.” The New Zealander flew a “forward air control” mission with the United States 7th Air Force because, he said, he wanted to experience what the air war over Vietnam was all about. His aircraft directed United States bomb strikes in the Delta south-west of Saigon.
Air Vice-Marshal St George’s request, according to military sources in Saigon, was met reluctantly by the United States 7th Air Force, which had never before been asked to take a chief of staff on active missions. Final approval was given two days ago by General John Vogt, commander of the air force and Deputy United States Commander in Vietnam.
The New Zealander’s flight in an OV-10 aircraft was assigned to a “low risk” area in the populous and rice-rich lowlands. During his two-hour mission several bombing raids were called in by the spotter pilot, circling between 2000 and 3000 feet.
The OV-10, the most common light aircraft used by the Americans to direct bombing raids, shoots smoke flares at Communist targets, pin-pointing them for dive-bombers flying overhead. The aircraft is armed with a high-speed mini-gun and several rockets for its own protection.
When the mission was completed the American pilot asked his passenger if he could fly. It was then that Air Vice-Marshal St George did his aerobatics, before returning to land at Tan Son Nhut air base, Saigon. Air Vice-Marshal St George will leave Saigon today for New Zealand after touring South-East Asia and inspecting New Zealand and Allied military installations.
The Press, 9 August 1972
(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) SAIGON, Aug. 8.
The Chief of the New Zealand Air Staff (Air Vice-Marshal D. F. St George) surprised a young American air spotter by putting his two-engined propeller aircraft into a snappy loop the loop and several barrel rolls over the Mekong Delta yesterday.
“He asked me if I could fly,” the Air Vice-Marshal said. “So I showed him.” The New Zealander flew a “forward air control” mission with the United States 7th Air Force because, he said, he wanted to experience what the air war over Vietnam was all about. His aircraft directed United States bomb strikes in the Delta south-west of Saigon.
Air Vice-Marshal St George’s request, according to military sources in Saigon, was met reluctantly by the United States 7th Air Force, which had never before been asked to take a chief of staff on active missions. Final approval was given two days ago by General John Vogt, commander of the air force and Deputy United States Commander in Vietnam.
The New Zealander’s flight in an OV-10 aircraft was assigned to a “low risk” area in the populous and rice-rich lowlands. During his two-hour mission several bombing raids were called in by the spotter pilot, circling between 2000 and 3000 feet.
The OV-10, the most common light aircraft used by the Americans to direct bombing raids, shoots smoke flares at Communist targets, pin-pointing them for dive-bombers flying overhead. The aircraft is armed with a high-speed mini-gun and several rockets for its own protection.
When the mission was completed the American pilot asked his passenger if he could fly. It was then that Air Vice-Marshal St George did his aerobatics, before returning to land at Tan Son Nhut air base, Saigon. Air Vice-Marshal St George will leave Saigon today for New Zealand after touring South-East Asia and inspecting New Zealand and Allied military installations.
The Press, 9 August 1972
