A 727 would be easy prey for SAMs and AAA fire. No electronic jammers or other countermeasures aboard, not even detection gear to let them know they were being painted by targeting/tracking radar.
If you wanted to drop stuff Up North, a night helo flight would have a better chance of surviving than a 727. Migs only accounted for a small percentage of US and RVN acft losses over N Vietnam (estimated 321 planes lost in air combat). AAA (anti aircraft artillery) accounted for thousands of US and RVN acft losses. SA-2 SAMs got a few hundred as well.
Aside from Billy Waugh's tale of 727 drops over N Vietnam, no other published accounts corroborate this. The accounts I have read say that the MAC SOG jumps into North Vietnam were made at night from Hercs, helos and other conventional airdrop aircraft. Not a single mention of 727s.
So we have World Airways Capt Sailor and Sgt. Maj. Billy Waugh attesting to the operational use of 727s for air, but nobody else corroborates this. Who is right?
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Captain Sailor and Billy Waugh are wrong. As you point out, it would be senseless to use 727s in North Vietnam. For the record, I am personally not aware of a single case where the black operations people used anything other than former USA military aircraft and helicopters during SEA operations. In other third world countries, the black operations would probably be done with aircraft from the local region if at all possible.
I love it Robert when you speak so authoritatively! It's downright sexy.
You say you're not personally aware of black operations using anything other than "military aircraft and helos..." Okay. How do you know that?
At least we know Everett Johnson, and we can confirm that Tom Sailor was a pilot for World Airways and flew 727s in SE Asia. He was mentioned in the CBS TV clip on take-offs with the aft stairs down in Da Nang, as I recall.
Bruce, You were just complaining about someone not paying attention. You would know the answer to your first sentence, or at least have reasons to suspect why I might know that information, if you had been paying attention over the last eight years or so.
I have been involved with aircraft since my early teens which is probably several decades longer than you have been breathing. My involvement wasn't just reading newspaper clippings and I haven't wasted any of those years harassing Tina.
Note that I am NOT claiming that all black operations used former military aircraft that were routinely used in great numbers in the military services. And some of these aircraft never had military designations in the first place.
To illustrate, if you have ever visited the USAF Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, you may have seen a helicopter that carried only the USA national star symbol. It did not carry any other markings of identification. The sign by that helicopter specifically states (if I remember correctly) that it was not a USAF aircraft but that it was operated by an OGA (Other Government Agency) which was not named.
Finally, I love it when you speak so authoritatively claiming that World Airways was a CIA front airline. Where is your proof?
