A Pair of Cricket FACs
Outbound
This shows most of the
southern end of the original parking ramp at NKP.
The four A-1s sit fueled and
armed and ready to be launched on a moment’s notice in response to a call
for air rescue assistance. The
two alert HH-3s Jolly Greens would be sitting just to the left of these four
Sandies. In the earliest months,
I believe the rescue force deployed each day from Udorn, sat alert during the
time of the main strikes, then flew back to Udorn for the night.
The lead Bird Dog is in the
upper left corner of the picture and has just left the parking ramp onto the
taxiway that connects directly to the south end of Runway 33.
The second Bird Dog is more obvious ahead of the Sandies.
Both O-1s would stop at the run-up area just short of the runway.
After making final engine checks, the FACs would hold position while
armament personnel made a final check of the marking rockets, then pulled the
safing pins, and gave the pins and streamers to the pilots. Once those final
items were completed, the FACs would be cleared for takeoff by the tower and
head east into Steel Tiger for the next three hours.
The graininess of the picture serves as kind of a
metaphor for how rugged and unfinished the airfield was in 1966.
I believe this picture was provided to me in about 1980 by Lt. Col.
Johnston, the first commander of the 23rd TASS.
