Da ist die Tage ein Bericht in der Washington Post (siehe Quelle bzw eingefügten orig. Text und Bild) erschienen wo berichtet wird das am 12 Januar 1968 zwei An-2 der Nordvietnamesichen Luftwaffe eine geheime US Radaranlage angegriffen haben. Ein zufällig in der nähe fliegender UH-1 der Air America hat sich dann über die An-2 gesetzt und ein Bordmitglied hat dann die An-2 mit einem AK-47 !
abgeschossen.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/17/AR2007071701940.html?sub=AR
Finally, Public Honors for a Long-Secret Victory
By Steve Vogel
Thursday, July 19, 2007; Page T20
On Jan. 12, 1968, as helicopter pilot Ted Moore watched in amazement, a
formation of North Vietnamese air force AN-2 Colt biplanes attacked a secret
U.S. Air Force radar base on a mountaintop in Laos.
Two Russian-built biplanes dropped mortars, fired rockets and strafed the
field with machine-gun fire, seeking to destroy a critical outpost in the
U.S. air war against North Vietnam.
A new painting by aviation artist Keith Woodcock, "An Air Combat First,"
depicts a confrontation in 1968 in which two North Vietnamese aircraft
crashed. (Courtesy Of Keith Woodcock) [photo at the url above]
To Moore, who was in the air flying an Air America Bell helicopter -- a
civilian version of the UH-1 Huey -- the scene was reminiscent of a
different time and place.
"It really did look like World War I," Moore, 68, recently recalled. "It was
a Red Baron type of attack."
The remarkable aerial fight that ensued has been memorialized in a new
painting by artist Keith Woodcock. Next week, Moore and other veterans of
Air America will attend the work's unveiling in the new Intelligence Art
Gallery at CIA headquarters in Langley.
Moore was an Army helicopter pilot who had been recruited to fly for Air
America, a CIA-owned and -operated proprietary that supported intelligence
agents and military personnel in Asia for more than 30 years during the Cold
War.
Site 85, a secret radar station 15 miles from the North Vietnamese border
atop one of the highest mountains in Laos, gave American bombers the ability
to attack in all weather, a critical capability during the Rolling Thunder
bombing campaign. Moore and his flight mechanic, Glenn Woods, were on a
mission delivering artillery ammunition in the area when they spotted the
drab-green biplanes attacking the base. Moore radioed a warning to agents on
the ground, but the attack killed several Hmong guerrillas defending the
base.
Moore's helicopter was supposed to be unarmed, but Woods had packed a piece
of contraband -- an AK-47. "When Glenn told me he had an AK-47 with him, I
decided we'd make chase," Moore recalled.
Moore said he never had a chance to ask Woods why he was carrying the
assault rifle, though it was not a huge surprise. "If you go down and don't
have a weapon, you're toast," Moore said. "Some of the crew chiefs packed
heavy."
The Colts -- versatile, Russian-built biplanes first flown in 1947 -- were
faster than the helicopter, Moore said, but he gained on the planes when
they flew low and then tried to climb in the mountainous terrain.
"I closed on them and made a dive," Moore recalled. "I knew I had one chance
to get them, and if I missed, I was a goner."
Woods fired the AK-47 from the door of the Huey. One of the planes
immediately crashed and burned, while a second plane, also hit, flew on for
several miles, then crashed into a ridge.
Moore and Woods thus had shot down fixed-wing aircraft from a helicopter --
"a singular aerial victory in the entire history of the Vietnam war,"
according to historian Timothy N. Castle, author of "One Day Too Long: Top
Secret Site 85 and the Bombing of North Vietnam."
Moore was hauled before superiors and interrogated, but after initial
consternation his actions were commended. "I was a little out of line in
what I did," he recalled.
When Woods made it back to his home in Thailand, his wife, Sawang Reed, knew
something had happened. "He was happy about something, but he'd say, 'Honey,
I can't talk about it,' " she recalled.
Two months after the aerial battle, Site 85 was destroyed and 12 U.S. Air
Force personnel were killed during a raid by North Vietnamese commandos.
Woods died the following year in a helicopter crash, leaving behind his wife
and infant daughter. Reed, who remarried and now lives in California, has
recently reunited with members of the Woods family and will attend the July
27 unveiling with her daughter.
"The painting depicts a singular aerial victory in the Vietnam War and will
soon be on display as a lasting and inspiring reminder of the heroism and
courage of the employees of Air America," said George Little, a CIA
spokesman.
Some 86 Air America personnel were killed in action, beginning with flights
over China, Korea and Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam, and continuing through the
Vietnam War, according to William Merrigan, 72, a McLean resident who served
as legal counsel for Air America from 1962 to 1975.
"A lot of them were killed down there, and they deserve recognition that
they really haven't received," said Merrigan, now a Department of the Army
attorney working in Alexandria. Former employees are seeking civil service
benefits, but courts have ruled they were not federal employees. Efforts to
get Congress to change their status have failed.
Moore said the unveiling of the painting will be a step toward acknowledging
the contributions of Air America veterans. "There's some recognition that we
did exist, a recognition that these guys were in combat," Moore said.