Caribou Crews, Vietnam Mid 1960's
 

Old Army Caribou Pilot here. 6 years Active Duty, 6 years Reserve. Caribou TO and IN Vietnam October '64 to October '65. Then 32 years flying for AAL . Last flight was a B-757, New Year's Eve, 1997. Would enjoy sharing Bou Stories. Give me a shout. Dave

Super machine - the Aussies only retired theirs a decade ago.
Lot of people would have liked to see them replaced by a Turbo-prop Bou!

We had them in Oman during the Dhofar 'War'. Great aircraft for short strips.
Rather dirty to work on, especially round the engines. They just seemed to go on forever.
Bit of TLC after the last flight of the day and they were ready for anything.
Sad to to see the last two fly out to their new home in Canada

You might want to check out Vietnam to Western Airlines written by Bruce Cowee. Bruce was a Caribou pilot in the Air Force, He has written four volumes describing individuals that went straight for Nam to Western, Joe great hair raising stories.

Caribou Association

The C-7A Caribou Association

RAAF operated 29 aircraft. 35 Squadron served in Vietnam 08/64 to 02/72. Three aircraft lost.

A4-171 Crashed 30/08/67, An Thoi Vietnam. Into water 300m short of runway.


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....9cce4e6aad.jpg

A4-185 Crashed 18/11/64, A Ro Vietnam. It crashed into a ditch dug across the runway, fuselage converted to a command post following recovery of wings and engines.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....35fdae81bb.jpg


A4-193 Destroyed 29/03/70, That Son Vietnam. Destroyed by a mortar attack when on the ground.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....bdf7a0df83.jpg

One RAAF front seat crew learnt not to throw dross out the cockpit window, remains of lunch tossed out and impacted the autofeather probe, which did what it's supposed to do. Checked serviceable I guess.

ADF Serials - Caribou

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2d4a2925ea.jpg

A US twin-engine transport Caribou crashes after being hit by American artillery near Quang Ngai City, Vietnam. US artillery accidentally shot down the ammunition-laden plane, which crossed a firing zone while trying to land at the US Duc Pho Special Forces camp. All three crewmen died in the crash. Hiromichi Mine made this photo probably during the American military Operation Hood River, a search and destroy mission in the Quang Ngai Province, between 2 and 13 August 1967, conducted by the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. It shows a tragic scene of war casualty, caused by friendly fire. The plane was shot down, while it was trying to land at the Base Area 121, near Ha Thanh, about 15 kilometers west of Quang Ngai City and about 40 kilometers northwest of Duc Pho. Although a cease-fire order had been issued, this command was not received by the battery commander. Subsequently, the Caribou flew into the line of fire of a 155mm howitzer. The shell blew off its entire rear fuselage and tail section. The three crew members, Captain A.E. Hendrickson, Captain J.D. Wiley, and Technical Sergeant Z.A. Carter, died in the crash. Following the accident, the US Army and US Air Force tightened up their coordination procedures for air operations near artillery fire zones. The photograph was posted to every US Caribou briefing room in Vietnam, as a reminder that the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army were not the only problem for pilots in Vietnam. A USAF crew following take over of Caribou assets from the Army under the Johnson-McConnell agreement of 1966.

Receiving arty clearance was part and parcel of all Vietnam low level ops, as you never knew who was shooting what where. One Huey back seat crew had the experience of seeing a dark shape enter one door and exit the other, thankfully both doors were open, as they usually were.

The tragic one is the turboprop conversion crash on its final approval flight where the owner lost his son? It’s on the web but I won’t post it here, they had left the gust locks in.
We had one visit us in the U.K. with mag problems. One of the guys was able to. Sort it for them, very rugged reliable aircraft. The Turboprop conversion would have given them a second life.

Welcome to the forums.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2cbfc4d76a.jpg
Pic is of aa with his second favourite a/c (the C130K is first ). Keep the 'Bou' pics and tales coming please.

Flew into Cape May NJ in 2002 and was surprised to find around 20 Caribou parked up awaiting conversion to turbines by Pen Turbo Aviation. See there are still at least 18 there mostly intact plus another 8 forward fuselages...

Google maps

There are four volumes of -:

Caribou Airlines: A History of USAF C-7A Caribou Operations in Vietnam: Volume II: Tet Offensive - 1968 (Volume 2)

highly recommended.
Four volumes in total in chronological order.
Hope it helps
David

This is the story of one Australian pilot’s tour of duty flying the Caribou in Vietnam.
https://airpower.airforce.gov.au/APD...in-Vietnam.pdf

Not quite the same, but had a flight in one out of Townsville on the Tropical Survival SERE Course in 99. Wasn’t quite sure what to make of it as there was more oil on the floor and stuff dangling than I have seen in any ac - except a ‘53. I think the airframe was due for retirement, but it was without doubt 10,000 rivets flying in formation. Nonetheless, it’s ability to get in and out of tight strips and jungle clearings was pretty impressive!

Re Post 7 and the Malaysian version. At Labuan, the RMAF (TUDM) had a detachment with an RAAF training officer called Don Melvin, who was very helpful to the RAF (1966/7) and a great guy to have around.

Unfortunately, a Caribou was lost after an engine failure and IIRC some issues with fuel management to the live engine. Eventually the aircraft crashed in the jungle and the co-pilot was killed. The captain had had a similar incident in a twin pioneer some years before.

An RAF Wg Cdr on secondment, did the BoI and he asked for details of the loads carried and lost. Inevitably, the opportunity to 'write off' stuff was too good to miss and some fairly extravagant claims were made. The wg cdr announced in the bar one night that the crash was caused by the aircraft being 20000 lbs over its max AUW! - he then got down to the real business, which included the RMAF's own response to the accident when first reported, which might be politely described as: 'initially inadequate'.

(The story of how a Beverley was overloaded by 7000 lbs at Labuan is for another Thread on another day!)

Old Duffer

Surely there WAS a 'turboprop version' of the Caribou, the DHC-5 Buffalo?

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....b64f6f460e.jpg
RMAF 'Bou' strip landing .

pr00ne
When the Buffalo was demonstrated in Oman it was found to be nowhere as good as the Caribou.
Landings into desert strips caused too much damage to the props.
It was only any good at proper airports!

Compass Call, RCAF would likely beg to differ with that comment. They used the Buffalo for SAR Work along with the Twin Otter and both these aircraft went into some very unprepared airstrips with no issues that I'm aware of?

The Caribou became obsolete when the Russians developed an oil-seeking missile.

Any-one got a copy of the 'Fly Slow Land Short' documentary from the 90's (?) they can stick on you tube ?
Used to be there. Disappeared.

If anyone hasn't seen it, "Treasure of the Humboldt Glacier" is a documentary about Darryl Greenamyer's ill-starred attempt to recover the B-29 "The Kee Bird" from somewhere NE of Thule in Greenland. Some great Caribou action in it, used to airlift supplies, B-29 engines and spares and other essential kit into the site, a good illustration of the type's ruggedness.

Here you go Tredi