It's Friday and before the weekend, we thought you might like to know what we mean by "working on the next set". Most of these are for the next one. This what we did since Wednesday.

The FM for the C-7A was terrible. Now it's pretty good. All speeds and angles check out.



Parachute cargo for Air Drop at Dak Seang.



And then there is Dak Seang. (I don't remember it looking that way. It was all smoke, low clouds, tracers, helicopters, fires, jungle and fighters...and a muddy blasted-to-hell fort below._



Have to make and test the X-version for the ramp at Pleiku. Put on the right decals.



And get the cargo set right.



Then test out the mission. This is you in trail.



Get off the phone from talking with the men who actually flew the mission. "No. It was just before dark. The defenders needed water and ammunition to make it through the night." Okay. Change everything.



Timing for AI recce bird in Elephant's Ear.



Timing for EB-66 escort mission being jumped by MiG's. Have to paint the EB-66C and change it's FM so they can fly together in AI.

Mission was described in an October 1967 Esquire I read back then. I have talked to a GIB from the flight but I want permission to reprint the illustrations. Been trying to get confirmation from the okay he gave me a year ago.



This is where IronMike starts. Have to build something.



Hinch delivers the USS Mahan for Big Mother...a Coontz Class DD. Order up the next ship, the Turner Joy.



The pilot said they did not land on the Hornet. They landed on the Mahan. Send changes to Hinch.



Test fly SH-3 onto the Mahan. Then it needs paint.



Caribou pilots really want a spotlight from an AC-119 instead of flares from a C-47 to light the drop zone. So we create a spotlight. Only took 20 tries.



And this does not even include the new airplane being finished right now. They always take a lot of time to test and I haven't even contacted Sundowner about paint yet. I was just telling him that we were in good shape yesterday.

This is the 99% sure list.

651026 Elephant's Ear F-4B
660523 Funny Bomb B-57B
660614 Karl's Target F-105D
660629 POL Strike Haiphong RA-5C
660711 Ninh Binh Rail Spur A-4E
661105 Mig Parts F-4C
670317 Ron Ferry A-1H
680112 Bombing of Lima 85 Bell 204
680914 River Traffic A-7A
681214 Last Stop RR A-7A
681220 Bunker Buster A-7A
690221 Bombing Halt A-7B
691019 Darke Patrol A-7B
700329 Night Owl LORAN F-4D
700405 Dak Seang F-4D
700406 Air Drop C-7A
700407 At All Costs C-7A
700408 Dak Seang A-7B
720417 IronMike AH-1G
720715 Di Di Mau F-4B
720718 Rose Garden F-4J


We have to test them and then pack up the Ranger, the C-7A, the RA-5C and Bell 204.

See? That's why it's always "two weeks". If anyone new how long it would take they wouldn't do it.

Have a nice weekend.

zerocinco

Looks great! I'm really looking forward to the side-firing gunships