ver 100 missions in less than four months. Four additional B 26Bs had arrived at Bien Hoa during the summer. The first two, ferried in from Kadena on Okinawa in June, were in very poor shape, and both had to limp in to Clark on one engine for emergency repairs before eventually reaching Bien Hoa.
Farm Gate also received four Helio U 10A (formerly L 28A) Super Couriers during the year, and on New Year's Day 1963 the total unit strength stood at twenty-four aircraft, or almost forty per cent of the total number of USAF aircraft in South Vietnam. This total included seven B 26Bs and one RB 26C. Although the whole of South Vietnam could be covered from the base at Bien Hoa, three B 26s were based further north at Pleiku from that day, to improve the response time. From February 1963, the strength of the detachment increased to six B 26s. On occasion, B 26s were also temporarily based at Da Nang.
The military situation had remained fairly stable during 1962, with neither the Viet Cong nor the South Vietnamese forces achieving any decisive victories. If anything, the Viet Cong forces were somewhat worse off than a year earlier. The resentment of the Diem regime had deepened, however, partly as a result of the 'fortified hamlets' concept. Under this scheme, a large part of the rural population was more or less forcibly relocated to newly constructed villages under stricter government control.
A half hearted attack by a South Vietnamese regiment at Ap Bac on 2 January 1963 resulted in several casualties among the participating US advisors, while the Viet Cong troops escaped under cover of darkness. The incident was seen by many as an example of the low morale and general ineptitude of the South Vietnamese forces, and there were calls for increased US control of the war. But even before this battle, President Kennedy had approved a request for Farm Gate reinforcements made the previous September. General Anthis, the US air component commander in Vietnam, had asked for ten more B 26s and five more T 28s and these arrived from late January 1963 onwards. In fact, it appears that eleven rather than ten new B 26s arrived at this time. Unlike the previous B 26s and RB 26s allocated to Farm Gate, which had all come from other classified projects and had only received limited overhauls, the new arrivals had all been through a complete IRAN at Hill AFB under Project Big Fence. General Anthis later also asked for a further B 26 squadron of twenty-five aircraft, but this never materialized.
Two of the new aircraft reaching Farm Gate in early 1963 were rather special Invaders, known as RB 26Ls. They had been modified by General Dynamics at Fort Worth - with assistance from E-Systems at nearby Greenville - during 1962, under Project Sweet Sue. Apart from the multitude of conventional cameras and associated equipment carried by both aircraft, one of them was also equipped with a Reconofax VI infrared aerial mapping system, which could be used for night time surveillance of suspected Viet Cong lines of march and communication. The two RB 26Ls arrived at Bien Hoa on 3 March 1963 and from 5 March they were flown daily, on a maximum effort basis, virtually replacing the RB-26Cs in the reconnaissance role. At this point they were the only aircraft in South Vietnam with any real night reconnaissance capability, apart from the single RC 97 of Project Brave Bull. Unfortunately, the infrared system was difficult to be made to work properly in the damp and dusty climate, and did not prove as effective as originally hoped for. A third RB 26L was kept at Eglin in Florida, for training. It was also employed on a moose count project in Isle Royale National Park, Michigan!
By 1 April 1963 the Farm Gate strike aircraft strength stood at twelve B 26Bs and thirteen T 28Bs. The number of personnel had more than doubled, to around 350, but there was still only one air crew available for each aircraft. Together with the two VNAF squadrons, which had a total of some fifty Skyraiders and T 28s, these twenty-five aircraft formed the only dedicated air strike capabili