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Hundred Feet Over Hell, A by Jim Hooper w/ dust jacket
Hundred Feet Over Hell, A by Jim Hooper
Flying with the men of the 220th Recon airplane company over I Corps and the DMZ, Vietnam 1968 - 1969
Hard Cover w/ dust jacket
258 pages
Copyright 2009
CONTENTS
MAPS / viii
PREFACE / xi
CHAPTER 1 / THE MISSION / 1
CHAPTER 2 / THE APPRENTICE / 19
CHAPTER 3 / CATKILLER ON CRUTCHES / 31
CHAPTER 4 / BLACK ACE TO CATKILLER / 35
CHAPTER 5 / THE LIGHTER SIDE / 49
CHAPTER 6 / YELLOW BRICK ROAD / 65
CHAPTER 7 / MY PEOPLE NEED HELP / 81
CHAPTER 8 / CATKILLER DOWN / 121
CHAPTER 9 / BOMBING HALT / 133
CHAPTER 10 / AIR TO AIR / 147
CHAPTER 11 / THANKSGIVING AND CHRISTMAS / 161
CHAPTER 12 / GYPSY ROSE LEE / 171
CHAPTER 13 / NIGHT CONTACT / 187
CHAPTER 14 / TAKING THE EDGE OFF / 201
CHAPTER 15 / LEAN ON ME / 207
CHAPTER 16 / BUSY MONTH OF JUNE / 221
EPILOGUE / 227
APPENDIX / 239
GLOSSARY / 241
INDEX / 249
DUST JACKET INTRODUCTION
A HUNDRED FEET OVER HELL
Forward air controllers in Vietnam were acknowledged as having perhaps the most dangerous aviation role of the war. Flying at speeds well below the top end of most family cars, they spent hours over hostile terrain in flimsy, propeller-driven Cessna 0-1 Bird Dogs. Their work was crucial in finding and stopping the enemy before they could attack American troops, and supporting those troops with artillery and air strikes when battle was joined.
Of the many army Bird Dog units in Southeast Asia, none operated in as hostile an environment as the "Catkillers" of the 220th Reconnaissance Airplane Company. Their tactical area of operations was up against the Demilitarized Zone in I Corps, the northern-most combat zone in South Vietnam.
Unlike the U.S. Army aerial forward observers farther southwho, according to regulations, were only allowed to direct field artillery against enemy targetsCatkillers were authorized and trained to control air strikes, which they did regularly in support of both marine and army ground units. Elsewhere in Vietnam air strikes were supposed to be controlled by U.S. Air Force FACs (but necessity often overrode regulation).
In the DMZ with the 220th RAC's 1st Platoon, it was normal to come under fire on almost every mission. Bullet holes in their aircraft were so common that they were barely worthy of mention. When crossing the Ben Hai River into North Vietnam in search of enemy artillery, flying at 100 miles per hour in the sights of an array of anti-aircraft weapons, only good fortune kept more Catkillers from being lost.
The stories of these valiant men in their small planes have been largely overlooked. A Hundred Feet Over Hell ensures those stories are not forgotten, as the men relive their missions in their own words.
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