FIGHTING BIRDDOGS IN THE SKY
Instructions: Prior to your arrival at Fort Rucker on Thursday afternoon, October 17 between 1300-1700 hours. Please complete the exam below and bring it with you . Your exam will be graded and then you will be given an opportunity to explain your answers orally on videotape. Woody has already explored the legal aspects related to the statues of limitations. He has indicated that we should be fine, but did caution that any explanation or negotiations between your current or any former spouses is strictly a personal matter
Part I. Multiple Choice: (5 pts each)
______1. Which of the following is not correct concerning the L-19 Bird Dog.
a. The L-19 had a wingspan of 36 ft.
b. The L-19 engine was a Continental O-470 which generated 213 hp.
c. The L-19 armament included smoke rockets
d. The maximum speed of the L-19 was 150 mph with a cruising speed of 115mph.
e. none of the above.
This completes the objective portion of the exam. The second part of the exam is more subjective, but is far more important for the purposes of the reunion!
Part II. Fill in the Blank
In the blank provided, write the name or nickname of one or more of the original 183rd group. Please do not use call #s because several of the older members in our group have forgotten their call sign ( Seahorse, Headhunter, or Driftwood).
Which member(s) of the original 183rd RAC:
____________1. Wanted to take both a skateboard and a surfboard to RVN.
____________2. Led a booze run from Fort Hood to Laredo, Texas( Neuva Laredo), February1966.
____________3. Designed parachutes for the 82nd Airborne Hamster Battalion, Citadel, SC.
____________4. Was voted “Most Original Dancer “ by the nurses at the West Annex, Fort Hood, TX,
March 1966. Hint: His nickname was a helicopter!
__________ 5 XO who sent Lt. Woods and a detail into VC territory to obtain palm trees for the Co.
area shortly after 183rd arrival in country? No decorations were recommended
for this detail that successfully wrestled palm trees from the VC controlled jungles.
____________6. Finagled a rehab assignment in Japan to meet his wife for a minor foot injury and
didn’t return to RVN for 3 months!.
____________7. Watched Annette Funicello in Beach Blanket Bingo 16 times on board the USN Gordon
enroute to RVN.
____________8. Made the best dead stick landing on Padre Island Beach with a Braniff flight attendant in
the rear seat of an L-19.
____________10. Was affectionately referred to as “OLE Purple Balls “ by the local village Boom Boom Girls.
____________11. Traded Woody's newly purchased 357 Mag. holster and leather belt for a POA in Juarez
Mexico when he was supposed to be holding it until Woody returned from a training mission
with a waitress?
___________ 12. Was spotted flying an L-19 at 100ft along side a train with 60 degrees of flaps, waving to
the passengers and terrorizing water skiers on Lake Mead while ferrying L-19s to California.
___________13. Had the nickname of “Great White Shark Hunter” in RVN.
__________ 14 . Started the procedure of a minimum of 3 condoms per POA copulation in Nam?
___________15. Started rumor of ship off coast of Nam full of soldiers with incurable social diseases who are
still sailing off the coast of Nam(The start of AIDS??)
__________16. Started the procedure of a minimum of 5 condoms per POA copulation in Nam after believing
own rumor!!!
___________17. The 183rd Maintenance Officer who was overheard saying, “Why use safety wire when
you can use duck tape!”.
___________18. Took Philbrick from hospital to Officer’s Club and upon return hit a 4x4 post collapsing the
awning over the entrance to hospital.
__________19. Loaded his 0-1 with elephant dung to prove to MAAC V Col. there were VC pack elephants in
the Phan Rang province by dumping the dung on the Col's desk!
__________20. Officer who made the decision to send Resing, Johnston, and Philbrick to the 219th to separate
them from Woody and the others in the 183rd.
__________21. Got lost over Nevada after leaving Las Vegas and had no map, since he had thrown up on it
the previous day?
__________22. Officers that wrote and sang the unit song: “Fighting Bird Dogs in the Sky” (to the tune
of “The Green Berets” )
__________23. Two 183rd pilots who returned from a week in Bangkok with wrinkled skin after a week in the
Thailand bath houses of ill repute .
__________24. Officer who pulled Gerry Carson's parachute rip cord on Carson's back while in lobby of the
San Francisco Hilton hotel?
_________ 25. Two pilots who tried to steal an AF Fac's 0-1 and ferry it to DBT to take it apart piece by piece
and mail it home! Almost succeeded and set back US Army/USAF relations a little bit . __________26. Organized Wichita's Hertz Rent-A-Girl program while picking up refurbished 0-1's at Cessna
plant?
_________ 27. Finally left Las Vegas after the threat of court marital while ferrying 0-1's to San Francisco in
spite of daily messages to headquarters of terrible weather in Las Vegas dictated lengthy stay
. _________28. Designed a fight song to woo the Beldon College girls…” Beldon, Beldon, B..E..L..D..O..N”.
_________ 29. Crew Chief who, after complaining of Viet observers continuously throwing up in rear seat from
Observation flight sickness, suggested and implemented program where Viet observers would
only be accepted in pairs so that they threw up on each other instead of the aircraft (they
were afraid to hang their heads out the window and looked like Siamese twins in the rear seat
when taxiing for take off).
________ 30 1st Lt who formally requested a battlefield "demotion" to WO since WO's did not have to pay
US Fed Taxes and therefore WO's had higher take home pay for same 0-1 driver duties.
Pentagon dispatched an Army Psychiatrist to interview this Lt in the field who obviously in the
eyes of the Pentagon was suffering from Battle fatigue.
________ 31. Recently promoted Captain who quickly figured his take home pay was higher now
than that of a Warrant Officer, withdrew his request for a Battlefield Demotion!.
_______ 32 Lt who lightly armed his 0-1 with an M-60 Machine Gun on right wing with can of .60 Cal
ammo, added sheet metal attachments to both wings to insert M-60 machine guns while firing
from the cockpit out the windows, carried two bags of smoke and HE grenades along with an M-
79 in cockpit, and carried 357 Magnum with dum dum rounds in holster??? This same pilot shot
his own strut with 357 while shooting at water buffaloes in VC territory. No commendation
recommended .
________ 33.. As the VC approached, this 183rd hero jumped off a balcony of a Viet Whorehouse and was
cut from the barbed wire. While obviously qualifying for a purple heart , he ceremoniously
requested it not be submitted to the DOD.
_______34. This officer cut out pictures of 100’s boobs and snatches from Playboys and decorated his
hut. It became know as the “The Snatch Hut”.
______35. This officer made the lowest 45 pistol qualifying score of 32 pilots in the 183rd pistol at
Fort Hood. This same officer deterred an attack on Camp Holloway at Plieku using his 45!
The VC gave the order to “Retreat, “they are throwing 45 pistols”. No commendation recommended.
Part III.
This part of the exam is short answer. Write a sentence or two concerning each of the proposed activities at the reunion at Fort Rucker.
Tea with the Dean
This activity requires shirt and tie. Members of the 183rd will attend a formal tea with Dr. Shelia Goodbody, Dean of Women, Beldon College. Dr. Goodbody has invited women from of the Delta Dolls and Omega Keg Tappers to host this event. Ms Goodbody is a alumni, class of 1967, of Beldon College. Ms Goodbody has fond memories of the 183rd and feels that it is her civic duty to support the Fighting Bird Dogs. She will share pictures taken at the West Annex, Fort Hood, Texas.
Coffee with the Mayor
Casual Attire. Mr. Bobby Joe Don Tyler, Mayor(retired), Killeen, Texas will host a coffee for members of the 183rd at the Roadhouse Café. He will share police archives from January, 1965 to May, 1965. He definitely remembers the 183rd.
He stated, “ I hope they could fly better than they could drive!”. As a footnote, he
noted this was before the portable breath analyzer was available to local police forces.
Vietnam Brunch
Casual Attire. A brunch will be served in an Army tent adjacent to dusty dirt road in Artillery Firing Range. A portable latrine will be constructed less than 25 meters from the tent and latrine waste(doused with aviation fuel) will be burned on the up wind side of the tent so that fumes drift into the tent. The menu will include mystery eggs (made with powdered eggs), diarrhea special -local fruits and veggies (in season), C-rations(your choice of main course, does not include fruit cocktail or peaches-these are still popular black market items) You all remember C-rations. After the war, there were tons of C-rations left in Vietnam which were given to the starving refugees, who gave them back! Today they are being used primarily in road construction. Aviation gas and #303 cans will be available to use as stereo heaters those who wish to heat their C-rations.
(to be continued)