Lucky Langton -A Hero of Our Forgotten War

The North Vietnamese possessed radar directed anti air craft guns in considerable quantities which, although only of machine gun calibre, proved highly effective against the helicopters and prop driven FAC aircraft operating out of Dau Tieng. In only one month of flying in late 1969 no less than nine aviators were killed and there were many more ‘close shaves’. On one occasion, an Australian FAC watched helplessly as US Army Chinook helicopter disintegrated under the impact of radar directed 50 calibre gunfire. About 30 bodies fell into the jungle along with the burning remains of the large helicopter. Chris Langton directed some unusual air strikes which at times included ‘Arc Light’ B-52 strikes and a number of AC-47 ‘spooky’ gunship attacks.

Despite working with such a diverse range of aircraft, one of his most significant actions occurred on the night of December 4 1969, while working with a pair of Cessna A-37 Dragonfly fighter bombers. The A-37 was not a spectacular aircraft, however it did carry a respectable load of ordnance. On the night in question Fire Support Base ‘Apollo’ had been partially overrun by the North Vietnamese. When Chris arrived in his Rockwell OV-10 Bronco the situation was clearly desperate. With the concurrence of the ground force commander, as soon as the fighter bombers arrived overhead, the American infantry retired to the protection of their bunkers while the A-37s, under the direction of Chris, made repeated napalm and gunnery attacks on the beleaguered base.

The North Vietnamese troops, caught in the open by this unexpected turn of events, suffered heavy casualties and those who survived fled back into the jungle. By this irregular form of defence the Americans maintained control of their somewhat charred base.

The Australian FAC also had the somewhat unusual (and unpleasant) experience of having an F-5 fighter bomber crash on target after being hit by ground fire while under his direction. In another incident an LOH-6 helicopter which was cooperating with Chris’ Bronco was shot down over the jungle while conducting a bomb damage assessment. In both instances the aircrews were killed.

Chris’ very active tour of duty reached its climax on February 8, 1970. On this date at about 2pm an American two man special forces Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) which had been operating close to the Cambodian border requested immediate extraction. This was not in accordance with the plan for the operation, and indicated that an unexpected situation had arisen.

The agreed plan was for the team, which had been inserted two days previously, to observe enemy troop movements and to remain concealed until any enemy had passed. On this occasion the pair inadvertently found themselves in the midst of an entire North Vietnamese regiment which was withdrawing into the security of its Cambodian sanctuary. It seemed that discovery was inevitable and under the circumstances, the local American commander agreed that an urgent extraction attempt should be made.

Chris knew of the LRRP activities and suspected that the patrol might run into trouble. Consequently, he was not surprised when called upon to support their extraction attempt. Shortly after the alarm was raised he took off from Dau Tieng’s small airstrip in his Bronco with Capt Tom Coker, a US Army officer, in the back seat. For several months the Australian had promised his soldier friend a ride in his aircraft but up until now, the opportunity had not arisen. Later, Tom would ruefully wish that he had never gone along ‘just for the ride’.

The callsign for the mission was “Slugger One Three’. Due to the large concentration of enemy troops in the area it was imperative not to disclose the ‘friendlies’ location until the last possible moment. Accordingly, the Bronco remained at an altitude of 8200ft and some kilometres away from the extraction point while the pilot arranged artillery support and for a ‘stack’ of four F-100 and four A-37 fighter bombers to be on hand. A LOH-6 helicopter was airborne to support the FAC, as were a team of Iroquois troop helicopters which were to make the actual extraction.

Under Chris’ directions, the artillery commenced firing, its barrage forming a partial box around the LRRP’s men. After the Australian placed smoke the F-100s attacked with high explosive bombs and napalm, sealing the friendlies within a ring of fire.

The extraction helicopters were on their final approach and Chris was in the process of guiding the first pair of A-37s onto the target when, without warning, the Bronco’s controls ‘froze at an altitude of 1400ft. The aircraft started spinning earthwards and frantic attempts to regain control proved futile. After radioing ‘we’re ejecting’ the pilot ‘command ejected’ his passenger and then ejected himself. Both officers leaving the aircraft at below 1000ft, Tom’s ejection occurring while the An OV-10 Bronco takes off from Dau Tieng in Vietnam. It was this aircraft that Chris Langton flew on the mission which resulted in him surviving several crashes in the one day. Chris Langton today – a captain flying for Air Niugini out of Port Moresby.

Bronco was banked to one side, while Chris actually left the aircraft when it was inverted.

Both officers’ parachutes worked correctly. However, due to the attitude of the aircraft at the time of his ejection, Chris’ parachute was inverted, with the result that the shroudlines were across his throat, choking him until he managed to clear them. Otherwise, the ejection worked perfectly.

As the two fliers descended, some distance apart, gunfire could be heard coming up through the jungle. At this time Chris noticed that Tom was slumped in his parachute harness and appeared to be dead (in reality he had only been stunned in the ejection). Fearing that the enemy would appear in the Jungle below him, the Australian drew his 9mm Browning pistol before he reached the ground.

After crashing through some small trees, Chris found himself suspended a few metres above the ground in his parachute harness. Wasting no time, he released himself and took cover in the dense scrub where he used his emergency radio transmitter to establish radio contact with the orbiting A-37 crews, who by this time had changed targets and were in the process of laying covering fire around the downed aviator’s position. On the Australian.

ground a lot of small arms fire could be heard, although it appeared that little, if any, of It was being directed at the The LOH-6 Cayuse which had earlier been cooperating with the Bronco, sited Chris in the secondary jungle and descended until it was actually below the treeline. The small helicopter, weaving between the trees under a hail of increasingly accurate gunfire, raced to where Chris lay. The LOH-6 was so low in fact that the Australian was able to grab hold of the helicopter’s skids as it roared past and upwards.

The wreckage of Chris Langton’s OV-10 Bronco after it crashed in the jungle. Airstrikes on the site were ordered due to the presence of sensitive aircraft equipment which may have fallen into enemy hands.

Despite the precarious position outside the small helicopter all seemed set for a brilliant rescue. Unfortunately, at an altitude of just 60ft, the LOH-6 shuddered under the impact of bullets, lost power, and plummeted to the ground.

Chris let go of the doomed helicopter at about 30ft and fell to the ground, his fall being broken by tree branches. The LOH-6 crash landed almost on top of him and the Australian pilot, who miraculously was still uninjured, found himself assisting his would be rescuers from the wreck of their helicopter.

Fortunately the two man American crew was also uninjured and the three aviators set up a defensive position near the remains of the helicopter. After about 20 minutes on the ground, Huey rescue helicopters arrived and the airmen were winched out of the jungle and flown back to Dau Tieng without further incident. In the midst of all this activity, Tom and the LRRP’s team had also been recovered unharmed.

After a quick medical check, Chris was flown out to Bein Hoa for an intensive debrief by American intelligence personnel. It was here that the Australian pilot stated that, owing to the lack of explosion or fire, he felt the loss of the Bronco may have been the result of a control malfunction, not ground fire. The Americans were not pleased to hear that their aircraft may have been defective. Eventually Chris was told most firmly that he had been shot down and that was to the end of the matter.

A check on the Broncos’ wreckage to confirm the pilot’s theory was not possible as the crash site could not be secured from the enemy. Also, the Bronco had been fitted with the top secret Ky 128 decoder, an item of equipment which allowed the

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pilot to use other UHF and VHF radio channels without fear of this device being present on the Bronco, air strikes were made the transmission being intercepted by the enemy. As a result of on the crash site to swiftly ensure that this sensitive piece of equipment did not fall into enemy hands.

that afternoon was airborne, logging two hours and 20 minutes, supporting American troops in a heavy contact with the enemy. At the conclusion of this mission he was grounded for seven days to allow his throat injuries (sustained during his parachute descent and which occurred as a ‘delayed reaction’) to heal properly. Soon afterwards he was transferred south to Lai Kai for the remainder of his tour of duty.

Chris returned to Dau Tieng the day after being shot down and In all, Chris completed 549 hours of operational flying in Vietnam. Within these hours he flew 227 combat missions as a forward air controller.

To this day Chris does not believe that his aircraft was lost to ground fire. He is quite certain that a control defect (later corrected) caused the loss of his aircraft and several others which crashed or disappeared in very unusual circumstances during the Vietnam war.

Chris Langton – who was undoubtedly one of the luckiest allied pilots to survive the Vietnam war – made Australian history by being the first and only RAAF FAC to lose an aircraft during the Vietnam conflict.

Postscript: Chris Langton left the RAAF in the 1970s and has been away from Australia for some years. He would like very much to hear from any of his old air force friends who served with him either in Vietnam or Australia. He is now a captain with Air Niugini and may be contacted through the airline’s head office at Port Moresby.