Comments on: The Vietnam War Revisited- Part XV – No Way Out https://rlawsonauthor.com/the-vietnam-war-revisited-part-xv-no-way-out/ Intelligent Thrillers Wed, 27 Nov 2019 22:56:23 +0000 hourly 1 By: R Lawson https://rlawsonauthor.com/the-vietnam-war-revisited-part-xv-no-way-out/#comment-5112 Wed, 27 Nov 2019 22:56:23 +0000 http://rlawsonauthor.com/?p=1046#comment-5112 In reply to Ronald Olson.

Ronald -I was out of South Vietnam by then and missed meeting Ramsey. Thank you for sharing the satellite recon info. I visited our tracking stations periodically in Singapore, Perth, Sydney, Samoa and Hawaii/ Got me out of Vietnam for awhile to perform flight physicals.
You might be interested in reading my blog on “Birddogs” -Cessna O-1s recon and coordination of CAS in Vietnam to avoid friendly fire. We didn’t have GPS targeting capability them, these guys got the job done.

]]> By: Ronald Olson https://rlawsonauthor.com/the-vietnam-war-revisited-part-xv-no-way-out/#comment-5103 Wed, 27 Nov 2019 02:36:11 +0000 http://rlawsonauthor.com/?p=1046#comment-5103 Wondering if You may have known my cousin, Dr Jim Ramsay, may have been in Thailand around the same time and, I believe, involved in similar missions. Not sure what Hisis rank would have been at that time. I made my first trip in ‘63 and the last in ‘70 and ‘71 with a few short stops in between as an Intell. Officer. The growth of air reconn was essential and there was no recce photo processing available until the self contained facility was transferred in ‘63. High altitude’s start was complicated as satellite orbits were stationary and U 2s had to be moved a couple times but was necessary for compiling targeting info in the North early on and weather conditions were usually a question mark until the pilot could visually see the amount of cloud cover. Tactical reconnaissance was eventually moved into the area and made quick response much easier especially for the Quick Reaction Program started in early ‘71, somewhat earlier than advertised.

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