BBB....
I think you are reading the Col. out of context. The Communists, specifically the PAVN, Soviet Union and PRC didn?t seriously challenge the air over South Vietnam but they were active above the 17th parallel if they thought they had the edge. I saw them on radar all the time while cruising north of the 17th, and we tried to pick a fight and have them challenge our AAA or AA missile batteries. Our smallest AAA battery was the twin 3 inch-50 cal rapid-fire mount (four of those). And our largest was the 125-mile range Talos twin rail missile launcher (two of those) between those two, there were five 5 inch 38 cal twin mounts. And of course everything was radar fire controlled and calibrated as fine as frogs hair. My guess is that they didn?t want to end up as sizzling raspberry jam mixed in with scraps of hot aluminum so they declined the invitation.
But anyway, AAA and AA missile batteries could be seen in many places in South Vietnam but either went un fired or were put to other purposes because the Communists never seriously challenged the air superiority.
It?s my understanding that the Col. was SF during the VN war and in all probability was well aware of what was up, who was who in the zoo and what to be seriously concerned with.
Scamp
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