Warren A. Trest - Air Commando One: Heinie Aderholt And Americas Secret Air Wars

Smithsonian Books, Washington DC

2000 by Warren A. Trest
All rights reserved

Copy editor: Lise Rodgers
Production editor: Robert A. Poarch
Designer: Janice Wheeler

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Trest, Warren A.

Air Commando One : Heinie Aderholt and Americas secret air wars / Warren A. Trest.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-56098-807-X
eBook ISBN: 978-1-58834-422-9

1. Aderholt, Harry C. 2. United States. Air ForceBiography. 3. GeneralsUnited StatesBiography. 4. Special operations (Military science) I. Title.
UG626.2.A335 T74 2000
358.40092dc21
[B]

99-053643

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data is available

The photographs appearing in this book are from the collection of the author. The Smithsonian Institution Press does not retain reproduction rights for these illustrations individually, or maintain a file of addresses for photo sources.

v3.1

To all those guys who flew away and did not return men who will forever live in our memories.

I first met Brigadier General Heinie Aderholt in 1967 when he was a colonel commanding the 56th Air Commando Wing at Nakhon Phanom, Thailand. The air staff wanted a special report on the wings operations, and I had gone to the remote base with another historian to do the research. We flew there from Udorn in the backseats of two A-1E Skyraiders (known by their call sign as Sandys), which were used as escort aircraft for rescue missions. After a short flight we climbed down from the cockpits at Nakhon Phanom and stepped back into the past. The rows of other propeller-driven warplanes, the pierced steel-planking runway, and the austere wooden-frame buildings still undergoing construction on the friendly side of the Mekong River were vintage Terry and the Pirates. We half expected a young Steve Canyon, Flip Corkin, or the Dragon Lady to come out from the shadows to greet us.

We were met instead by an unforgettable cast of real people: Colonel Heinie Aderholt and his spirited air commandosunsung heroes who were as boldly adventurous and as colorful as any of the timeless characters who fired Milton Caniffs imagination. I never ran into a more proud or more committed force during my two years at Seventh Air Force, while serving on a team of historians with Project CHECO (Contemporary Historical Evaluation of Combat Operations). Whether they were flying missions against the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, making shot-up planes whole again, patrolling the perimeter, paying a voucher, treating a patient, training Thai aircrews, or whatever, the men loved what they were doing and it showed. The camaraderie between the commander and his men was electric. Putting us up in the trailer next to his, Aderholt said with a grin that he was not trying to give us special treatment but wanted to keep an eye on us.

It was not unusual to be roused out of bed after midnight to attend a mission briefing or to debrief returning pilots, because thats the way our host did things. He wanted us to see it all. We were given total access. Going through the well-weeded command section files, I came across a letter that had obviously been crumpled and thrown into the wastebasket, then retrieved, smoothed out, and filed away. The missive was an angry reminder from the Seventh Air Commander that he was running the air war, and that Colonel Aderholt was not to recommend improvements in air operations to anyone else but his headquarters. To avoid intruding upon the story in , The Tigers of Nakhon Phanom, all that needs saying here is that after discussing the crumpled letter with Colonel Aderholt, I knew there was a serious disconnect between the two commanders over how to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail and, indeed, how the war as a whole should be fought.

That crash course in Special Operations 101 gave me a new way of looking at the Vietnam War. Although I studied the U.S. Air Force (USAF) in Southeast Asia for several more years, I never looked at the war or at air operations quite the same way again. This biography of General Aderholt tells why. I left Nakhon Phanom knowing there was far more to the story of this remarkable man and his elite force than was covered in our CHECO report. Thirty years would go by before I had an opportunity to expand on the theme. Renewing my acquaintance with Heinie Aderholt and the brotherhood of air commandos has made the waiting worthwhile.

The legend of Air Commando One could not have been written without the unstinting support of the many Air Commando Association members who gave freely of their time and assistance in piecing together the story of General Aderholts distinctive military career. Their recollections and those of others who served with himconsisting of interviews, audiotapes, and letterswere indispensable to me in writing the biography. Special thanks are due Warren Aderholt, James Baginski, Frank Blum, Lynn Bollinger, Robert Brewer, Robert Cardenas, Jim Cherry, Carlos Christian, Drexel Cochran, John Doonan, Walter Forbes, Robert Gleason, Michael Haas, Lester Hansen, James Hildreth, Joe Holden, Clyde Howard, Jimmy Ifland, Charles Jones, Bill Keeler, Benjamin King, Joseph Kittinger, Roland Lutz, LeRoy Manor, Sid Marshall, Joe Norrell, Arthur Overton, Paul Pettigrew, Lawrence Ropka, Richard Secord, Ed Smith, William Sullivan, Leroy Svendsen, Saras Taverrungsenykl, James Taylor, Tom Temple, William Thomas, William Toomey, Lee Volet, Robert White, James Wilson, Carl Zeigler, and Robert Zimmerman. I would also like to thank Professor William M. Leary, University of Georgia, for the encouragement and help he gave General Aderholt in gathering documentation.

Within General Aderholts office I am indebted to Rose Dykes for her steadfast support and encouragement. A special tribute is owed the staff at the Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama, for their sustained support over the past two years. The tireless and timely responses of Joseph Caver, Edward Cummings, Hugh Ahmann, and Edward Russell to my many requests for assistance were clearly above and beyond the call. I would also like to thank Douglas Bagley, Donna Billingsley, Faye Davis, Archie Difante, Essie Roberts, Hezekiah Smith, and Margaret Tolbert for their help in researching documents and accessioning General Aderholts personal papers into their collection. I am indebted to Lloyd Cornett, Frank Futrell, John Huston, Dan Mortensen, Wayne Thompson, and Jay Wurts for reviewing the draft manuscript. Special thanks to Mark Gatlin and Robert Poarch, Smithsonian Institution Press, and to Lise Rodgers for helping to make Air Commando One a better book.

T he gathering of a rare breed of American fighting men each year at Fort Walton Beach, Florida, keeps alive the spirit and tradition of the United States Air Forces legendary air commandos and their half century of special operations. These highly decorated combat veterans belong to the Air Commando Association, a brotherhood of warriors past and present that was formed at Fort Walton Beach (home to Hurlburt Field and the Air Force Special Operations Command) in the twilight of U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War. The charter members had all fought in the war, most had served more than one combat tour, and some were there to the bitter end. Among those staying the course in the protracted conflict was the Air Commando Associations founder, Brigadier General Harry C. Heinie Aderholta dynamic, fearless, and charismatic leader who had flown and fought in three wars and whose remarkable military career was cloaked in mystery because of his years of clandestine operations with the Central Intelligence Agency. Other members of this elite group know him as Air Commando One. His story is their storyan epic American journey through the perilous skies of the Cold War.