Customer Reviews

Blind Bat: C-130 Night Forward Air Controller Ho Chi Minh Trail

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book takes you to the cockpit of a C-130A flying Blind Bat flare missions. I thought I knew everything there was to know about Blind Bat, but this book proved me wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. If I had to make any complaint I wish it was much longer.

I loved this book. For many years I have looked through every book about Vietnam I could find just to be disappointed that there was no documentation about my "Blind Bat" work. This could have been a story about me. My assignment to Naha AFB, Okinawa and later transfer to the 'Blind Bat' operation in Ubon, and eventual reassignment to Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. This is the book I would have written.

Excellent read and very entertaining.

I remember the "Blind Bat" missions well.

I highly recommend reading this book.

After reading Mr. NYC's book Blind Bat, I came away very disappointed. Having been a flying crew chief on C-130A's from 1966 to 1969 and also a crew chief on a C-130A in AFRES at Selfridge ANGB, MI from 1971 to 1975, I found Mr. NYC's technical information on the C-130A aircraft to be more wrong than right. Although Mr. NYC is quoting cockpit conversations verbatim on his missions, he forgets the name of Lockbourne AFB, Ohio where he was assigned for tactical training, calling it Columbus AFB, Ohio numerous times.

Although I was not with the 374th TAW nor was I at Ubon, some of the things he says are stunning and just flat misleading. Pilots and aircrews since WWI have always praised their crew chief and ground crew. Without these important and professional people, Mr. NYC and his crew could not have been able to fly these dangerous and important missions that he takes so much pride in. It appears that Mr. NYC and his crew ran the whole TAC airlift and FAC operation in SEA.

For example Mr. NYC states:

"We never accepted a dangerous or broken aircraft for a mission. If there was ever any doubt about the reliability of the aircraft, we were able to use some extraordinary "powers" to reassure ourselves. If we felt that some tired maintenance airman-last class has shoved us a plane that was not completely repaired, we were authorized to tell the maintenance man 'Grab your (pre-packed) suitcase, your going with us'. Knowing that he had the possibility of flying on the plane that he had just repaired tended to make the repairs a little more thorough."

I was shocked to read this statement. First of all, it didn't work that way and no pilot could ever force any ground person to fly. Anyone flying had to be on orders, either tdy or flight. The message here to former C-130A maintainers is that Mr NYC and his crew didn't trust the ground crew and once again he had to take charge! The facts were that the crew chief or his alternate signed the preflight off and released the aircraft to the crew. If the flight engineer upon his preflight found the aircraft not acceptable for the mission then the FE rejected the aircraft back to maintenance and he got on the bus back to operations or took the "spare" aircraft. The pilots and navigator at this point would not have gone out to the aircraft, except to quickly drop off their bags if going tdy. End of story.

I have never read a book where an Air Force pilot had such contempt for his crew chief and field maintenance personnel. This is not a normal attitude in the Air Force and indicative of an officer who was ignorant of how his aircraft was being maintained and how the TAC airlift maintenance system worked. Most of the pilots I flew with treated us as part of the crew when flying. After all, it was my aircraft on the ground at home station and cross country. They relied on me and I on them. When the Herk was airborne it was the aircrews. Maybe Mr. NYC didn't like that procedure, but that was how TAC operated in those days. The C-130A was a very difficult aircraft to maintain. In tropical conditions the aircraft was easier to keep going than it was in the cold weather.

Regardless, the C-130A, especially the '55 model, was a bear to keep flying. Mr. NYC failed to understand that when that aircraft was made ready for him to fly, it required many hours of hard work by many people. Obviously, that wasn't appreciated by this officer.

With all the errors and misleading information in the book it makes one ask what else in the book is in error or has misleading information? In that regard, I don't take away the risk and dedication of the missions flown by Mr, NYC and his crew, but it would have been nice to tell ALL the story concerning the Blind Bat mission, what it took to support it, and the maintenance issues involved with the C-130A aircraft which allowed these missions to be flown. Maybe the reason all this was ignored was because some "airman last-class" crew chief failed to empty Mr. NYC ashtray in the cockpit?

This book could have been written much better with some sound editing and better research. It's too bad this happened and the complete account of the Blind Bat mission was never told.

So grateful to have this account of my father's service to our country. He never talked about it, so this is all we have - and what a rich glimpse into the daily life and adventures of these American warriors. Amazing what they did with the crude technology, by today's standards. We are blessed.

Fred did a great job describing our life that year. I can attest to the B-52 foul ups with TFA etc and know of the nav who inadvertently bailed out.I was eager to learn of the "Bat" training methods since ours were very informal.We did have a tactics book, but we were lucky to have very senior aircrew. Bottom line 4 missions and you go!Thanks again for the memories!Candlestick (Head Beagle)