Mekong River

This view is of the Mekong River near Luang Prabang, Laos. The Mekong traverses several SE Asian countries and is of major commercial and agricultural importance.

Much of the terrain in northern Laos is spectacularly beautiful and more mountainous than in the southern regions. Targets were sometimes very hard to find. The Pathet Lao and NVA and Viet Cong forces were masters at disbursing their munitions and hiding their numbers.

In 1973, this was the King's Palace in Luang Prabang, Laos. Constructed as a palace in 1909 during the reign of King Sisavangvong, it's now used as a national museum and it houses the royal throne of the Lan Xang kingdom in it's original splendor, and many other regalia and religious treasures. The structure is located on the bank of the Mekong River, facing Mount Phusi.

Luang Prabang is famous for it's many "Wats" (temples). This view looking southeast, is of a small section of the city, taken from a hilltop temple known as Wat Si Phutthabaat. The river is the Nam Khan, just south of where it joins the Mekong, and the bridge is the main road to the airport.

This airfield near Luang Prabang, Laos was one of many "Lima sites" which saw heavy action against Pathet Lao and Viet Cong positions in northeast Laos. Lao AF pilots sometimes flew 10 to 15 missions in a day.

Mission into Laos

A northbound flight of four crossing from Thailand into Laos enroute rendezvous with a Raven forward air controller (FAC) near the Plaine de Jars region. Mission configuration usually had lead and #3 loaded with forward firing munitions as well as GP bombs. This would allow either to act as a forward air controller in case the Raven was detained. This also gave each flight limited capability to cover a search and rescue effort if necessary.

A few weeks after this photo was taken, aircraft 644 suffered main spar failure during the pull out from a 45 degree dive bomb delivery. The wings folded back and the aircraft impacted the ground just past the target and on attack heading, killing the pilots. Although this particular aircraft was equipped with the extremely capable Yankee Extraction System, escape was near impossible at that moment due to the high sink rate and low pickle (release) altitude associated with 45 degree diving deliveries.