Air Cav Pilots Ride Again

By Stephen Chapis

For quite a while now, I’ve wanted to start telling the stories of our Vietnam-era aviators.  Our World War II and Korean War veterans are rapidly fading, but veterans of Vietnam are thankful to us in great numbers.  And unlike those who fought in America’s “Last Good War”, when our Vietnam vets returned from the hostile, steamy jungles of Southeast Asia, they did not get the recognition they deserved and to some extent, they still haven’t.

As a prelude to AirVenture marking the 50^th anniversary of the Peace Accords in Vietnam, I traveled to Florida to meet with a pair of Vietnam veterans, Loach pilot Doug Hicks and Cobra pilot Jet Jackson at the American Honor Foundation at Jumbolair Aviation Estates.   Hicks joined the Army on March 4, 1969, and immediately headed for flight school.  Upon graduation he shipped off to Vietnam, arriving in-country on May 8, 1970.  He requested an assignment to an air cavalry unit with the intent of flying Loaches.  While he did get his air cav assignment he ended up flying Hueys and logged over 600 hours of flight time, including missions into Cambodia.  In November 1970, he finally got his coveted assignment to a Loach unit and would log nearly 430 hours in the diminutive helicopter until he rotated home in the spring of 1971.

Upon graduation from flight school in November 1971, James “Jet” Jackson went through Cobra transition training at Hunter AAF, Georgia, and arrived in Vietnam in February 1972, where he was assigned to the 1st Air Cavalry’s F/79 Aerial Rocket Artillery (ARA) famously known as “Blue Max”.  As he neared the end of his tour he served in several other units throughout South Vietnam.  Once the Peace Accords were signed, Jet was quickly sent home on January 27, 1973.

After the interviews, the museum pilots took the veterans up in their respective helicopters.  The Loach that Hicks flew, serial number 67-16435, was one of his favorite Loaches he flew during his tour.  While Jet did not fly in one of “his” Cobras, the museum’s AH-1G is finished in “Blue Max” markings. Expect full interview videos after AirVenture.