Many here do not remember the fall of Saigon in April of 1975. Heck, I barely remember my dad watching the news reports on TV about it as it was going on, with the constant reporting on it. Operation Frequent Wind was the code name for the aerial evacuation of Saigon. Carried out primarily by helicopters of the VNAF, USAF, USMC, USN, and Air America to the US Navy 7th fleet offshore from South Vietnam, fixed wing aircraft were also involved. Some amazing feats of airmanship were recorded during this evacuation, both fixed as well as rotary wing. Examples include a VNAF (South Vietnam Air Force) UH-1H Huey helicopter with 50 persons aboard (normally carries 8-10); a VNAF Cessna O-1 Birddog with 6 persons aboard the 2-person plane which the pilot landed aboard the USS Midway aircraft carrier (that plane now preserved at the USN Aviation museum in Pensacola, FL), and a VNAF C-130A Hercules which departed with 452 persons aboard, including 32 in the cockpit, flown to Thailand from Saigon with just a pilot, an FE and a loadmaster. (that plane reclaimed by the USAF, serving in the ANG, and retired to the front gate display at Little Rock AFB, AR), story below of it.:
As Frequent Wind was primarily rotary-wing centric of an evacuation involving the ships of the US Navy 7th fleet, many stories have been made of the feats of airmanship of the larger ships such as the USS Midway and USS Hancock aircraft carriers, and the USS Blue Ridge command ship. However, smaller ships such as destroyers, cruisers and frigates also had major roles to play in the evacuation. One such frigate (then called destroyer-escorts), the USS Kirk, became swamped with refugees and helicopters, complicated by the fact that the frigate had only a single-spot (one helicopter) flight deck, designed only for smaller helicopters. An excellent documentary on the feat of this ship during that operation is below, including the ditching of a VNAF CH-47 Chinook helo into the ocean next to the ship, after discharging its pax from a hover onto the fantail, it being too large to land on the helo deck of the ship. Also, two more videos of the USS Midway and what was going on on it's flight deck during the evacuation, including the amazing landing of the Cessna O-1 Birddog on the flight deck. Outstanding historical film footage of amazing aviation feats. Even when I was learning helicopters in the military, videos of these VNAF and Air America pilots ditching their Hueys into the Tonkin Gulf, were still used as "real world" training films of what happens in helo ditchings.
As Frequent Wind was primarily rotary-wing centric of an evacuation involving the ships of the US Navy 7th fleet, many stories have been made of the feats of airmanship of the larger ships such as the USS Midway and USS Hancock aircraft carriers, and the USS Blue Ridge command ship. However, smaller ships such as destroyers, cruisers and frigates also had major roles to play in the evacuation. One such frigate (then called destroyer-escorts), the USS Kirk, became swamped with refugees and helicopters, complicated by the fact that the frigate had only a single-spot (one helicopter) flight deck, designed only for smaller helicopters. An excellent documentary on the feat of this ship during that operation is below, including the ditching of a VNAF CH-47 Chinook helo into the ocean next to the ship, after discharging its pax from a hover onto the fantail, it being too large to land on the helo deck of the ship. Also, two more videos of the USS Midway and what was going on on it's flight deck during the evacuation, including the amazing landing of the Cessna O-1 Birddog on the flight deck. Outstanding historical film footage of amazing aviation feats. Even when I was learning helicopters in the military, videos of these VNAF and Air America pilots ditching their Hueys into the Tonkin Gulf, were still used as "real world" training films of what happens in helo ditchings.
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