Salute!
@ Sas:
No problem with basic math. The Vee used the two years to move lottsa stuf down south because Nixon had implemented the "Vietnamization" deal. I was BZ those years training the VNAF pilots to fly the Dragonfly.
I ain't gonna quibble about years, but during those years the Vee did a lot of things that made the 1972 spring thing so awful. They did a lot more from early 1973 to early 1975.
On the good side....... We had more than one Dragonfly hoisted and flown back to Bien Hoa by the 'nooks. My own flameout landing jet at Saigon got carried back by one of yours, heh heh.
Keep the faith, brother.
Gums sends...