n agreed upon:
'To develop and improve tactics and techniques for COIN operations and to train the VNAF in such operations. Fulfillment of this task will greatly enhance the RVN [Republic of Vietnam] in country capability to eliminate the communist threat. Operational tasks in RVN include combat and combat support flights as an extension of the training mission. All FARM GATE operations are limited to within the borders of South Vietnam. Combat missions will only be flown when the VNAF lack the capability to conduct the mission (because of lack of aircraft, pilots, training, equipment, etc.) and then only with a combined USAF/VNAF crew aboard the aircraft. Such missions will be for the purpose of providing training for RVN personnel so that the VNAF can perform the missions required at the earliest possible time.'
In reality, no training of VNAF personnel was ever carried out using the B 26s. To satisfy the call for a 'combined USAF/VNAF crew,' any member of the VNAF with or without flight training, and regardless of whether he understood English or not would be put into the cramped jump seat behind the pilots. These Vietnamese airmen sometimes displayed a definite lack of enthusiasm for the proceedings and they filled no function during flight. However, on many occasions missions would be flown in co operation with strike aircraft of the VNAF.
In the second quarter of 1962, the number of missions increased three fold. The Farm Gate B 26s, like all other USAF strike aircraft in Vietnam, were subject to certain Rules of Engagement. In brief, these rules demanded that all day time strikes were carried out under the control of a Forward Air Controller, except when returning enemy ground fire. The FAC could be either airborne or on the ground. During the Farm Gate period, most airborne FACs belonged to the VNAF, which lead to additional problems. Not only were there relatively few VNAF FACs available, but many of them also had rather poor knowledge of English. This problem was commented upon in a report: 'The almost standard phraseology of the FAC is, "I drop smoke, you hit smoke." If the smoke grenade is dropped too high, i.e. 1,000 to 1,500 ft, the grenade detonates in the air and the smoke blows off with the wind. It is not uncommon for a ten or twenty minute discussion to take place in an attempt to determine just where the target is in relation to the smoke.' The report drily concluded: 'It is at this point in the COIN environment that favorable endurance becomes a desirable factor.'
To supplement the four RF 101Cs of Project Able Mable, two RB 26Cs previously used in Thailand by Project Black Watch were re assigned to South Vietnam in April 1962, arriving at Bien Hoa during the following month. Like most of the CIA's 'sanitized' Invaders, they were devoid of manufacturing plates and documentation, and carried some non-standard, civilian type equipment. The RB 26Cs which, to confuse things, the Farm Gate personnel sometimes called B 26Cs could be used for both strike and reconnaissance missions. They carried up to four internal cameras of different types, as well as an external camera pod. In many cases, the RB 26 was found to be more suitable than the RF 101 for the type of reconnaissance missions undertaken in Vietnam. During their first months in Vietnam, the RB 26s were, among other things, used to map the areas where new airfields were to be built in the years to follow. The former Black Watch aircraft also continued to be employed for reconnaissance missions over Laotian territory, and for this purpose were sometimes temporarily based at the Don Muang Airport just north of Bangkok in Thailand.
But most of the Farm Gate missions involved air strikes, against Viet Cong positions throughout South Vietnam. The following entries are extracts from the personal diary of Colonel Roy Dalton, then a Captain and a B 26 pilot. They give an idea of what the Vietnamese air war was like during the early years of the conflict.
Friday 21 September 1962:
'No scramble last night but up at 0345 for a [C-]123 defoliation escort missio