Word: treetops
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Midway and the Saratoga, were en route. As low clouds and drizzle kept U.S. Phantoms on the ground, South Viet Nam's own 700-plane air force took on an important role in the fighting; its ancient but effective Skyraiders, flown with daring by South Vietnamese pilots at treetop level, have accounted for a large portion of the more than 100 Communist tanks knocked out in the fighting...
...doubtless the safest choppers, primarily because the expensive machines ($1.3 million to $2.1 million) are rarely risked in "hot" areas. Perhaps most dangerous are the bulb-shaped $106,000 10Hs (for light observation helicopters). Flown by pilots whom even other pilots describe as "crazy," they buzz along at treetop level to draw fire and expose enemy positions. For protection, the lOHs rely mainly on their 150 m.p.h. speed. In Laos, that has not been enough; six have been lost and the U.S. command has limited 10H flights across the border...
Landing, yes; invasion, no?although the confusion and panic engendered by the illusion of invasion was precisely the aim of the U.S. planners. In one of the most daring and meticulously rehearsed operations of the long war, a fleet of U.S. helicopters was skimming into North Viet Nam at treetop level, slipping through the narrow "windows" or gaps in Hanoi's radar system frantically preoccupied with the fighter-bombers high in the Vietnamese sky. Aboard the choppers were about 40 Green Beret and Ranger troops led by Army Colonel Arthur ("The Bull") Simons, 52, a near-legendary veteran of World...