The AC-130 plane first emerged in 1967. GEN William Momeyer, commander of 7th US Air Force Vietnam, said "... I was quite skeptical about the advertised capability of the aircraft to kill trucks... however, the results more than confirmed the advertised potential." At different times in the war, their armament varied. The initial ships, used in Operation Tiger Hound, were armed with two 7.62mm and four 20mm guns. The Pave Aegis carried a 105 mm gun. Onboard sensors included Low Level TV (LLTV), infrared (IR), and radar. Later sensors included laser designators to pinpoint targets and direct bombs towards those targets. By Commando Hunt V, in late 1970, AC-130s were knocking out 4 times as many trucks... as the B-57 (Corona Harvest Reports). This state of the art plane dictated several things. First, because of the state of the art electronic, a command policy of bombing crash sites with enough plane left that it was possible for enemy troops to find secret electronic gear. Second, plane crews were prime targets for shipment to and exploitation by USSR counterintelligence personnel.
The Shootdown
Ok, let's look at the case of the AC-130 shot down over Laos on December 21, 1972. A Pathet Lao political officer heard the in air explosion, and the subsequent ground impact explosion. He sent his men to investigate. They found and retrieved 5 fully deployed parachutes. They found and retrieved either bloody bandages or parts of other parachutes. Two of the deployed parachutes were charred, consistent with flames in a plane. On scene players the night of the shootdown say men were getting ready to evacuate the plane when the first explosion took place. One man was blown out the door and another exited voluntarily. They were rescued and would not know the rest of the story. The plane held steadily coming in towards a forced landing. Others were not hurt in the explosion. They likewise had orders to evacuate. Not everyone got out.
An examination of the crash site the next day by indigenous friendly forces finds the arm of one man. He is identified by fingerprints. Hostile fire causes the team to retire early. The site is not examined again until February 1985. Then, the government finds small pieces of bones and identifies the remains of the rest of the crew from those. In the case of Hart, it was determined to be "scientifically impossible to identify said bone fragments as the mortal remains of any individual... the findings of the" Army identification laboratory are "highly speculative and unreliable. It is impossible to determine whether these fragments are from LTC Hart or... whether they are even from any of the crew members of the AC-130A aircraft in question." To this day, the military dismisses the finding of the parachutes or the evader symbol found.
However, on the night of the shootdown, several things happened that support the theory that more than two men survived. As the planes were deploying for the pickup of the two that ultimately were rescued, there were several strobe lights deployed that were seen with IR filters. These lights have attempted to be written off as fire or flames from the crashed AC-130. This does not hold water as the trained operator would be able to tell the difference between a strobe light seen with an IR filter and flames visible without any filters. Several times during that rescue deployment, pilots or crews mentioned seeing the deployed strobe lights. They also saw deployed potential enemy and friendly troops. Attempts have been made to say that since only two men came up on the radio frequency of the rescue planes, and or helicopters, they were the only survivors. However, any number of reasons are plausible including the fact that survivors on the ground may have been close enough to enemy troops that they did not risk talking on the radio until they were sure they had been seen. They wanted to be seen by rescue planes and not heard by enemy troops. The several strobe lights seen would be consistent with the Pathet Lao cadre report and the five deployed chutes found.
Let's examine that Pathet Lao report once more. Five chutes are found deployed. That is consistent with strobe lights seen and ordered for pickup on the night of the shootdown. Charred parachutes are consistent with encroaching flames in a plane that has suffered an in air explosion, but, according to all physical evidence, continues in on a relatively steady course until it hits the ground and explodes. Not being able to examine the site that night is consistent with the flames, described as being able to be seen for miles, and the presence of "enemy" (ie our rescue planes and helicopters) in the area. The two explosions are consistent with what happened that night. Finally, our Assistant Secretary of Defense, Dr. Shields, felt it highly credible enough to send it to families and a Congressional Investigating Committee with a further caveat - The Pathet Lao cadre said, "Those who were alive must have bailed out prior to the impact..." Shields added, "Although the source stated that the items located were bloody bandages, ... this was merely the opinion of this man. The possibility exists that the items were part of the parachutes of clothing of some of the crew-members who were involved in the incident." It goes without saying that for fully deployed chutes to have been on the ground, crew members must have bailed out and were on the ground, probably alive.
The Evader Symbol
On October 15, 1992, Assistant Secretary of Defense Duane P. Andrews testified before the Senate Select Committee on POWs. He discussed Evader symbols. He said that two were of importance and were at that time yet unconfirmed as to what they meant. The first symbol is a 1973 TH. This symbol was imaged on May 20, 1973 and again on July 10, 1973 on the Plain of Jars in Laos. Lao General Vang Pao and his Hmong soldiers fought for control of this vital area which contains the key lines of communication for central Laos.
This imagery was obtained using an unmanned airborne reconnaissance system. It has been interpreted as either a 1573 or 1973 and either TA or TH. Secretary Andrews said, "the symbols remains of interest to the Defense Department because they have not been explained."
"Possible explanations for the appearance of these symbols are many, though none seem particularly convincing," said Andrews. Although not "particularly convincing," the chief, self-proclaimed "myth exploder" uses this next explanation as one to show that no POWs could survive. A CIA-operated Air America crew was downed May 7, 1973 approximately 8 kilometers from the area where this symbol was either tramped, cut, cleared or etched into the elephant grass. (Emmet Kay returned to the U.S. in September 1974.) Some have surmised one of Emmet Kay's Hmong crew might have made the symbol during the few hours they were free before capture. The leader of the Hmong was a Major Thao. We can speculate that he may have been trying to signal their location by abbreviating his name. We may never know the answer to this as Major Thao died in captivity. Thus, the chief myth exploder (maker?) loses credibility once again.
Andrews said that others surmised that the symbol could have been placed on the ground by a group of Thai personnel that were also captured during this period by the Pathet Lao. TH, of course, is the two character U.S. country code for Thailand. We know that these three Thai individuals were held in captivity with Emmet Kay and his Hmong crew members. "But at this point, we have no way of knowing if the symbol was or was not made by either the Thai individuals or the Hmong." We do not know if the Hmong or Thai personnel were knowledgeable about TH meaning Thailand.No one has said that TH was even in use in 1973. You now see why this story is also not "particularly convincing." Not even the myth exploder bit on this explanation - and he falls for some doozies at times.
When Andrews relates the Hart story, calling it "less likely," he incorrectly relates several things. Correctly, he says, "only two crew members were known to have survived." Without a shred of proof, he next states "one of the crew members that stayed with the plane down to its impact on the jungle floor was Captain Thomas Hart. Captain Hart is the only downed aviator whose initials and loss circumstances could possible correlate with the initials TH. While Captain Hart's remains were recovered in 1985 by the JCRC..." Cleverly, they put in the fact that Thomas Hart "is the only downed aviator whose initials and loss circumstances could possible correlate with the initials TH" and then try to say a dead man can't leave an evader symbol. Yet, we know that was "scientifically impossible to identify said bone fragments as the mortal remains of any individual... the findings of the" Army identification laboratory are "highly speculative and unreliable. It is impossible to determine whether these fragments are from LTC Hart or... whether they are even from any of the crew members of the AC-130A aircraft in question."
What do we have then?
Andrews can only testify that "All we know for sure at this point in time in 1992 is that the symbol remains unexplained despite having been analyzed in depth on at least four separate occasions: by the Pacific Command in 1973: by the JCRC and DIA in 1976: by DIA in 1986/87: and by the DIA, CIA and JSSA in 1992. Neither the DIA, JSSA, or the JTF-FA have been able to make a correlation to any individual. While positive results may have been hoped for in 1973-75, it is not likely that 19 years later we will be able to pick up the trail in Laos. In short, the origin and meaning of this symbol is unexplained and probably will remain so."
So where did the Thomas Hart story begin? A July 1973 report concerning this evader symbol stated "It was believed that the numbers (1973 or 1573) could be the year or an authentication number, while the letters (TH) could indicate a person's initials. This was thought to be Captain Hart!" This obviously came from the 1973 "in depth" analyzation described by Andrews. This biographic report on Hart remained hidden in government computers in the files of James Ray Fuller! Contrary to government publicly declared policy of furnishing the families all information, Mrs. Hart was not made aware of the report until 1983! No one has tried to debunk the Lao cadre report and the chief myth exploder studiously avoids it. Further, when Dr. Shields testified or presented evidence in 1976, he said, "there have been several others that related to the spectre 17 downing..." These have never been presented to Congress, investigators, and particulary not the families involved. Presumably, Dr. Shields meant other reports, since the context clearly previously referred to reports.
How credible was the Lao cadre?
Dr. Shields said, "On October 11, 1973, a former Pathet Lao political cadre witnessed the explosion and crash of an aircraft... (which) correlated well to the loss of a C-130 (Spectre 17)... This source provided very detailed accounting of his inspection of the crashsite and disposition of the charred remains found in the crashsite area... he had sent a security squad to the area to locate any survivors... The squad ... reported... it could not enter the actual crashsite area because of the large burning fires. The squad did bring back two partially charred and three uncharred parachutes, all five with canopies opened. The following morning, the source and nine other individuals personally inspected the crashsite area... 'two small piles of bloody bandages' were located in the vicinity... because of the impact and that 'those who were alive must have bailed out prior'... it did not appear that anyone could have survived the impact. He (the source) had not seen any parachutes following the initial explosion" (including those who were picked up). One comment on the "other reports." Only "unclassified" materials were ever presented to the Montgomery Committee, from which this synopsis originates.
However, one more item stands out, the source also said, "the crashsite contained various heavily charred human remains... no remains of entire bodies... at least five or six bodies which... (we) found and subsequently buried in the immediate vicinity... (I) directed a trench to be dug in a rocky area northwest of the burned area... one meter long, one to two meters deep, and 60 centimeters wide. All the remains were placed in the trench and covered with dirt and rocks..." Thus, the number estimated found "heavily charred" plus the two men rescued leaves plenty of room for the five fully deployed and opened canopies - ie - survivors which fits the other strobe lights seen the night of the crash. No wonder no one comments on this source.
For further information
For further information on this crash, I urge you to go down a little further and check out the wonderful site of CPT George MacDonald, kept and researched by Jennifer Martinez, a crack analyst who has turned up many interesting items which I will not duplicate here. However, I will say that her probing has caused considerable consternation with intelligence personnel who continually probe how she does find the material. You will find the E & E photo in question and many other items of a documentary, rather than a "speculative" nature. Remember to return to the forum.
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