9781422277126

SPECIAL FORCES: STORIES Going After Sparky!

Pararescue Jumpers Bring ietnam War Pilot Home

SPECIAL FORCES: STORIES

Captured! Bringing in 9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Going After Sparky! Pararescue Jumpers Bring Vietnam War Pilot Home Rescue from an ISIS Prison! Delta Force in Iraq During the War on Terror Saving Private Lynch! A Rescue Story from Operation Iraqi Freedom Storming the Somali Pirates! Navy SEALs Save Hostages Take Out Bin Laden! Navy SEALs Hit the Most Wanted Man A Terrorist Goes Down! Delta Forces in Syria Take Out an ISIS Leader World War II Prison Breakout! Army Rangers Make Their Mark

Going After Sparky! Pararescue Jumpers Bring Vietnam War Pilot Home

By John Perritano

Mason Crest

Mason Crest 450 Parkway Drive, Suite D Broomall, PA 19008 www.masoncrest.com

© 2019 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Series ISBN: 978-1-4222-4077-9

Hardback ISBN: 978-1-4222-4079-3 EBook ISBN: 978-1-4222-7712-6 First printing 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

Produced by Shoreline Publishing Group LLC Editorial Director: James Buckley Jr. Designer: Bill Madrid Production: Sandy Gordon www.shorelinepublishing.com Cover photograph by AP Images/Consolidated Howard C. Breedlove/picture-alliance/dpa.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Perritano, John, author

Title: Going after Sparky! : pararescue jumpers bring Vietnam War pilot home / by John Perritano. Description: Broomall, PA : Mason Crest, [2018] | Series: Special forces stories | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017053436| ISBN 9781422240793 (hardback) | ISBN 9781422240779 (series) | ISBN 9781422277126 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Search and rescue operations--Vietnam--Juvenile literature. | United States. Air Force--Search and rescue operations--Juvenile literature. | Sparks, Bill, 1934---Juvenile literature. | United States. Air Force--History--Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Juvenile literature. | United States. Air Force--Parachute troops--Juvenile literature. | Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Aerial operations, American-- Juvenile literature. Classification: LCC DS558.8 .P47 2018 | DDC 959.704/348--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017053436 QR Codes disclaimer:

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C ontents

Introduction: Mission Briefing…….…….…….…….…….…….……. 6 1. Sparks’ Flight Into Danger …….…….…….…….…….…….……. 14 2. Mission Report: Inside Pararescue Forces …….26 3. Going After Sparky…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….……38 4. Mission Report: Gear Up … .…….…….…….…….……44 5. Mission Accomplished …….…….…….…….…….…….…….……48 Text-Dependent Questions …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….60 Research Projects …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….… 61 Find Out More …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….62 Series Glossary of Key Terms …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…63 Index… .…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….64 Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to-understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text, while building vocabulary skills. Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Educational Videos: Readers can view videos by scanning our QR codes, providing them with additional educational content to supplement the text. Examples include news coverage, moments in history, speeches, iconic mo- ments, and much more! Text-Dependent Questions: These questions send the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented here. Research Projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains ter- minology used throughout this series. Words found here increase the reader’s ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field. Key Icons to Look For

O n the map, the area was labeled the Tam Dao range, part of a large group of mountains about 70 miles northwest of Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam. But for American fighter pilots who flew bombing missions over those treacherous peaks during the Vietnam War, it went by another term— Thud Ridge. Nearly every morning and afternoon, from 1965 to 1968, a group of Air Force pilots flying the supersonic F-105 Thunderchief, a fighter-bomber com- monly called “Thud” by its crews, raced along this slab of rock to drop their deadly ordnance . M ission B riefing

Words To Understand communist based on the principles of communism, a political philosophy in which the state controls all social, economic, and political aspects of a country ideological based on a system of ideals and ideas, usually concerning economics or politics ordnance explosives, bombs, ammunition sorties attacks Viet Cong communist guerrillas that fought against United States and South Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam War

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Most of the targets were picked by the president of the United States and his advisors—sometimes over lunch—at the White House. Although the mis- sions varied, the main thrust of the bombing campaign was to crack the spirit of the enemy, the North Vietnamese. They, along with the Viet Cong , had for years been trying to unite South and North Vietnam into a single communist nation. The United States, South Vietnam’s ally, tried to stop them. Dangerous Route The conflict included flying thousands of bombing missions into North Viet- nam and over Thud Ridge, one of two main routes US Air Force and US Navy pilots took into the North. Thud Ridge was by far the most dangerous route because, hidden in its dense forest and among its rocky cliffs, were anti-air- craft guns and Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles, known as SAMs. Soviet-made MiG fighter jets, flown by North Vietnamese pilots from near- by airfields, greatly complicated each mission. In fact, Thud pilots expected The Thunderchief The F-105 Thunderchief was the most sophisticated warplane in America’s arsenal during the Vietnam War. It had a single seat and one engine, the most powerful of its day. Pilots called the plane by a variety of names, including Lead Sled, Super Hog, Iron Butterfly and the most famous of all— Thud. Engineers designed the F-105 to be fast. Its job was to penetrate air defenses quickly and fly fast at very low altitudes, using the geography of the terrain to thwart enemy radar.

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A popular nickname for the F-105 Thun- derchief was “Thud,” after a character on a kids’ TV show.

to be shot down twice and rescued only once by the time they flew their 66th mission. In other words, they had a 66 percent chance of completing the 100 sorties , or raids, they were required to fly. For some pilots, especially those permanently stationed at airbases in nearby Thailand and Laos, it could take six months to complete their assign- ment. For others, especially those coming into Vietnam from Japan, it could take two years. It was the job of Thud pilots to fly their F-105s into North Vietnam at an al- titude of 18,000 to 20,000 feet (5480 to 6090 m), blitzing across Thud Ridge. The planes paralleled the Red River southeast toward Hanoi. Much of the ride was a cakewalk performed on autopilot. There was no threat from the enemy. But once the pilots were in attack mode, they’d often come under heavy fire. When that happened, the pilots grabbed the stick and jinked, rolling one

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way, then another, to avoid the SAMs and anti-aircraft flak. The jets dropped to around 1,000 feet (304 m) when it came time to unload their bombs. When the attack was over, it was every man for himself. Air Force Captain Bill Sparks found that out the hard way on November 5, 1967. The Boy from Hardyville The town of Hardyville is nothing more than a speck on the map of Ken- tucky. Only a handful of people live there now, and even fewer lived there on December 7, 1941, when Billy R. Sparks turned seven years old. As he blew out the last of the candles on his birthday cake, young Billy, and everyone else in his family, were unaware that nearly 4,500 miles (7242 km) away, Japanese fighter-bombers were attacking the US Naval base at Pearl Harbor, catapulting the United States into World War II (1939–1945). Operation Rolling Thunder In March 1965, the United States began a relentless bombing campaign of North Vietnam. For three years, Operation Rolling Thunder, as it was called, resulted in the destruction of various targets, including bridges, ammo depots, and airfields. Lyndon Johnson, president of the United States at that time, along with his military advisors, selected the targets to be bombed. The idea of the campaign was not necessarily to gain a military advantage, but to break the spirit and morale of the North Vietnamese people.

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“That made a big impression on him,” Billy’s son Allen Reid Sparks would later tell a writer for the US Air Force. “That was a time when we had a lot of pride in our nation, and I believe that what happened made him determined to serve his country from an early age.” Cold War Warrior As Billy grew up, he became fascinated with military history. He devoured books on the US Civil War (1861–1865) and other conflicts. After graduating from Indiana University in 1957, Sparks became a commissioned officer in the Air Force and began training as a fighter pilot. When he finally got his wings, Sparks spent four years as a pilot at Spang- dahlem Air Base in West Germany. It was the height of the Cold War, an ideological battle between the communist world, led by the Soviet Union, and the Western democracies, led by the United States. At that time, the United States found itself becoming more involved in Vietnam, a former French colony that turned communist in 1954. At that time, international officials divided Vietnam to block a total takeover by the com- munists. The split allowed a communist government to rule the North, while a non-communist government held power in the South. Unwilling to accept the split, the communists began a campaign to con- quer South Vietnam and turn Vietnam into one communist state. The war was fully underway when Sparks arrived in 1967. He had spent four years learning to fly the Thunderchief, eventually graduating in 1966 as a Top Gun pilot.

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A New Type of War Vietnam was unlike any other war in US history. There were no front lines. The enemy often hid in the dense jungle attacking at will, mainly at night. Many, es- pecially the Viet Cong, did not wear uniforms. The enemy could be a woman, a child, or an old man. Moreover, the Soviet Union gave the North Vietnamese military many different types of weapons, including SAMs. As a result, the Air Force tried to develop new tactics to combat the effectiveness of these surface-to-air missile systems.

Surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) were one of the most deadly weapons the US pilots faced in Vietnam.

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Billy Sparks (left) was a veteran Wild Weasel pilot on his second tour when he was shot down in 1967.

War planners studying the problem eventually came up with the so-called “Wild Weasel” concept, which used specialized aircraft to fend off SAM at- tacks. Engineers outfitted these planes with special electronic devices that could detect and defend against SAM launches. The mission of the Wild Wea- sels was to bait the enemy into firing SAMs and then destroying the missiles and launch sites. During bombing missions over North Vietnam, these specialized aircraft flew with more conventional aircraft, such as the Thunderchief, scanning the sky for inbound missiles. The Wild Weasel used two-man crews in each plane. Sitting up front was the pilot and in the rear was the Electronic Warfare Officer,

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or EWO. If the EWO detected a SAM launch with the plane’s radar, the aircraft would unleash air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, rockets, and other munitions to neutralize the threat. The EWO could also jam the SAM’s electronic signals to make the missile miss the plane. The Wild Weasels were often sitting ducks as they cleared a path for other aircraft, including the F-105, to complete their bombing mis- sions. Sparks was a Wild Weasel. He graduated “Wild Weasel School” at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, and on March 15, 1967, arrived at Takhli Royal Air Force Base in Thailand to begin his first tour in Vietnam. Sparks had flown 82 missions as a Wild Weasel. His service earned Sparks seven Distinguished Flying Crosses and three Silver Stars. When his EWO, Carlo Lombardo, was reassigned, Sparks took a new assignment. He was no longer a Wild Weasel, but a Strike Pilot, a captain piloting an F-105 in the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing, 357th Tactical Fighter Squadron. It was Sparks’ second tour of duty in Vietnam.

When November 5, 1967, dawned, Sparks had flown only four missions on his second tour. The November 5 sortie over Thud Ridge would be his fifth, and last.

Wild Weasels

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S parks ’ F light I nto D anger

1.:

B ill Sparks would rather have stayed a Wild Weasel, but orders are orders and if nothing else, Sparks was a good soldier. If his superiors wanted him to be a Strike Leader, then a Strike Leader he would be. On November 5, mission planners briefed Sparks and the rest of his squad- ron on that day’s attack. They were to fly a raid against the Phuc Yen airbase, the largest in North Vietnam. It was located 18 miles northwest of Hanoi. Air Force, Navy, and Marine planes had attacked the airfield on October 25, re- sulting in significant damage. Still, the raid planned for November 5 was not going to be a milk run (a nickname for an easy mission). The base was home to at least 1,000 MiGs, many anti-aircraft guns, and more than a dozen SAM sites. In addition, there

Words To Understand afterburners components of military plane engines that provide a burst of speed usually for supersonic flights lethal deadly logistics detailed plans involving moving many people, machines, and goods torrent a fast-moving flow

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