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Flying Black Ponies: The Navy's Close Air Support Squadron in Vietnam
Publication Date: August 15, 2014
The tragic, the comic, the terrifying, the poignant are all part of the story of the Black Pony pilots who distinguished themselves in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War. Flying their turboprop Broncos down and dirty, low and slow, they killed more of the enemy and saved more allied lives with close-air support than all the other naval squadrons combined during the three years they saw action. Author Kit Lavell was part of this squadron of black sheep given a chance to make something of themselves flying these dangerous missions. The U.S. Navy's only land-based attack squadron, Light Attack Squadron Four (VAL-4) flew support missions for the counter insurgency forces, SEALs, and allied units in borrowed, propeller-driven OV-10s. For fixed-wing aircraft they were dangerous, unorthodox missions, a fact readers quickly come to appreciate.
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..Thank you Sir,,,seeing them lads put in strikes down in the Delta was one awesum action i'm glad to have witnessed...And too,,low level passes down the Song-Ong-Doc river was a real treat for us Det 6 wolves.!!
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In reply to this post by Roger Ek, Seawolf 25
they killed more of the enemy and saved more allied lives with close-air support than(ALL) the other naval squadrons combined during the three years they saw action. (The U.S. Navy's only land-based attack squadron )
SOOOO i guess The Seawolves were not a land based attack Sqd, and i would like to see the stats on How Many of the Enemy they Killed and How many allied lives they saved, HOW MANY Combat Missions did they fly ,
I Never saw them low and slow , I saw them dive in from altitude and pull back up and do it again, and other times Support was too close and they were waved off so the Seawolves could go in and do the Close support job,,,,,some years ago after his first book I met and talked with Lavell at his job in San Diego and called him on the above comments which were in that book also, T.. Compare our stats to theirs and then we will know...Fact or Fiction
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In reply to this post by Roger Ek, Seawolf 25
They saved my life in August 1969. WE were doing a dustoff when things turned very sour and out of no where,(I was too busy doing the winch) in they came with their five inch Zoonies. I got three patients out before things got worse. Thanks Black Ponies
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