“Our Tactic Was Low And Fast”: Air Force Search And Rescue During The Vietnam War

Don Sutton was born in July 1946 and grew up on the eastern shore of Maryland, in the town of Ridgely. Don’s father and uncle ran a farm supply store that they started in 1945. His father had served in the Maryland National Guard in the 1920s and 30s. His mother had graduated from nursing school in Baltimore and was a private nurse and homemaker. He grew up with two brothers and a sister. As a boy, Don raised hogs and chickens and tended various crops. He was also involved in the 4H program. He enjoyed playing baseball and going to the beach. He attended his first two years of high school at North Caroline High School and his final two at the Randolph-Macon Academy, where he did well, graduating as the Salutatorian. He found time to play football and run track when he was not working on the farm or studying. Since grade school, he had wanted to be an Air Force pilot, and he remembers a segment in the 1950s on the Mickey Mouse Club television show that highlighted aviation careers. This was the time when the Soviets launched Sputnik and a cartoon turtle encouraged children to “duck and cover” if atomic bombs were dropped. He also followed the Mercury and Gemini space programs. As a boy, he had asked for a plane ride as a birthday present. The Air Force Academy was a relatively new institution, having graduated its first class in 1959. He remembers flying from Baltimore to Colorado Springs, Colorado, and getting his first haircut. He tried to show up in shape, but the altitude was a factor and he recalls the cadre “eased us into” the thin air. He describes the military training he conducted at the Academy, touching on Basic Cadet Training as a Doolie (Plebe). He had been told not to let the upperclassmen know that he had gone to a military high school, hoping to fly under the radar. One upperclassman did find out, and he encouraged Don and his roommate, who had also gone to a military high school, to take some of their struggling classmates under their wing and help them get through Basic Cadet Training. Before his sophomore year he conducted survival training, and the 950 Cadets took a field trip to the “Zone of the Interior.” Prior to his junior year, he completed Airborne School at Ft. Benning and served as a “3rd Lieutenant” at Dover Air Force Base. Before his senior year, he was responsible for leading Basic Cadet Training for the Doolies of USAFA 1971. He did well in Math, and even though he thought he was going to flunk out after his first semester, the next seven semesters he was on the Dean’s List. He did well militarily, serving as a Cadet Staff Sergeant, a Squadron First Sergeant, and the 1st Group Operations Officer and Deputy Commander. He participated in intramurals, playing a variety of sports including boxing, soccer, and running cross country. He also served as Team Captain for the skeet shooting team. During his time as a Cadet, he served in both the 24th Squadron and the 2nd Squadron, being the first class to scramble. This was the height of the Vietnam War, and he recalls the Cadets were motivated to serve their country, adding if “you wanted to fly and were qualified, you could fly,” with about 75% of the Cadets realizing that goal. Following graduation, he reported to Craig Air Force Base in Selma, Alabama, for pilot training. He already had his private pilot’s license because his class was the first to have a flight training program at the Academy. The most challenging aspects of learning to fly were the high performance jets, the T-37 and T38s, that they flew to learn instruments, formations, and acrobatics. He found the academic aspects easiest. Later, learning to fly rotary wing, he found using the rudder and coordinating his hands and feet together was challenging. He then learned to fly the C-141 at Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma. In December 1969, he reported to Norton Air Force Base in California, where he was assigned to the 14th MAS (Military Airlift Squadron), flying mostly cargo missions, with 90% of his missions going into Vietnam. He flew into Tan Son Nhut, Cam Ranh Bay, and Da Nang, bringing in ammunition and bringing home caskets. Routine missions in the C-141 consisted of an 18-hour duty day with 7-hour flight legs for the two pilots, two engineers, one navigator, and one or two load masters. He enjoyed flying the C-141, describing it as a “great airplane to fly” on missions around the world, but he really wanted to fly the F4 Phantom. He volunteered for Southeast Asia, primarily in the hopes of receiving a fighter assignment, but instead he was assigned to the rotary wing HH-53 Super Jolly Green Giant as an Air Force Search and Rescue pilot. He trained with the Marines, learning to fly the CH-53 and later transitioned to the HH-53 in country, where he learned Search and Rescue techniques. He also qualified on carrier landings. In August 1971, he was assigned to the 37th AARS (Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron) in Da Nang, Vietnam. In Da Nang, the pilots lived in a one-story barracks that was like a dorm. In their free time, they were able to visit the beach off base. The surrounding area included the famous Marble Mountains and Monkey Mountain projecting into the Da Nang Bay. He enjoyed flying the Super Jolly Green Giant, noting it was “great to fly” and had “lots of pilot assist.” It was a heavy helicopter and well armored. A typical day saw four aircraft on alert, consisting of Alpha Low (primary), Alpha High (backup), and Bravo Low and Bravo High. When performing Search and Rescue operations, the Jolly Green Giants flew with Sandys, A-1 Sky Raiders whose pilots were the on-scene commander. Frequently, two Sandys flew a daisy chain around the Jolly Green Giant. The HH-53 crew also included two PJs (Air Force Pararescue Jumpers) who rescued downed pilots and provided medical aid. Frequently, the pilots brought the helicopter to a hover to rescue the downed pilot. He describes several specific rescue missions he flew, including rescuing the crew of a “Stormy” (F4E) off the coast of North Vietnam, but “closer to the coast than we wanted.” He recalls rescuing a friend from the Air Force Academy, a 1967 graduate of 24th Squadron named Mike Francisco (a haze to the freshmen, although he was a great guy after your Doolie year), who was relieved to be picked up by Don. He also discusses his efforts to rescue LTC Iceal “Gene” Hambleton, “Bat 21 Bravo,” a navigator on an EB-66C gathering signals intelligence, who had been shot down near Quang Tri on April 3, 1972. Hambleton had been shot down south of the DMZ during the NVA’s Easter Offensive. The enemy had brought a lot of air defense weapons south with them. Hambleton evaded capture for over 11 days before he was rescued by Navy SEAL Tom Norris and Vietnamese Navy Commando Nguyen Van Kiet. On May 1, 1972, Don was on a mission to extract the last 132 US Advisors from the Quang Tri Citadel as it was surrounded by the North Vietnamese during the Easter Offensive. The Citadel was only big enough for one Jolly at a time, and the flight of four had to approach sequentially with aircraft passing each other, one leaving and one preparing to land. Unfortunately, the NVA were armed with the Soviet SA-7 which represented a grave threat to the HH-53. Scotty Jackson was the lead pilot entering the Citadel, and Don flew aircraft #4. Fortunately, all the US Advisors were able to board the first three aircraft, and when Don landed, there was nobody left, except for the NVA who were attacking from behind. At this point, Don departed. (Mike Hood, USMA 67, was on the #3 helicopter, the last one to pick up passengers, and he describes the escape from Quang Tri in his interview.) In June 1972, Don rescued three survivors of a Spectre gunship (AC-130A from the 16th Special Operations Squadron shot down by an SA-7 on June 18) that was downed near Khe Sanh. He tried to rescue an F4 pilot shot down north of the DMZ. He describes this operation as “heart wrenching” because he tried to get the pilot to move, but he wouldn’t and was subsequently captured by the North Vietnamese. As a result of this mission, he briefed students at the survival school in the Philippines. After returning from Vietnam in August 1972, he was assigned to Detachment 15, 39th ARRS (Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron) at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida, supporting the Eastern Test Range, including Cape Kennedy. This mission included NASA, the Air Force, and the Navy. He was also assigned as the Launch Abort Recovery Team for Apollo 17 and Skylab 1 and 2. In 1973, he was assigned to the 436th Air Base Group at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where he managed the Officer’s Club before becoming a C-5 pilot and instructor pilot. He describes learning to fly the C-5 (at Altus again) and being assigned to the 9th Military Airlift Squadron, where he flew mostly cargo and some troops. He describes aerial refueling and the berths and galley in the C-5. He flew in support of the Berlin Airlift anniversary and airshow at Tempelhof, and discusses the challenge of flying through Soviet-controlled East Germany. He even recalls buzzing the Brandenberg Gate. In 1978, he earned an MBA in Management Science from the Wharton Graduate School at the University of Pennsylvania. He enjoyed grad school and “let my hair grow.” His next assignment was at the Pentagon, where he served as a Cost Analysist. In 1983, he graduated (Distinguished Graduate) from the Air Force Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base before being assigned to the 4950th Test Wing at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, where he was flying an older fleet of C-141s (four of the first five C-141s ever produced). In 1987, he became a program manager in the Electronic Systems Command at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts, where he worked on the Communication Systems Segment Replacement Program. He retired from the Air Force in 1989 and became a senior manager in government operations for Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, before taking positions at GTE Internetworking and Raytheon. Wanting to manage a business on his terms, he operated a small business (Surroundings Art Gallery) in New Hampshire for 15 years. He has also served as an adjunct professor at Plymouth State University and the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, teaching business management. His USAFA Class is involved with the USAFA Class of 2018, their 50-year affiliate, and he visited the Academy during Hell Week in 2014. Reflecting on his service to the nation, he stresses the importance of service before self. He ends the interview describing what the Air Force Academy means to him, noting that it is the foundation for the rest of his life.