For those who are not familiar with the “Red Clay”, that is the quarterly magazine of “The KHE SANH VETERANS” Association. The spring issue has a very good article regarding the “MEMOIRS Battle of Khe Sanh”. Page 91 has very good part telling about the “Final Attacks”:
“Westmoreland had already ordered the nascent Igloo White to assist in the Marine defense . On 22 January , the first sensor drops took place (Navy Squadron VO-67) and , by the end the month, 316 acoustic and seismic sensors had been dropped in 44 strings. The Marines at KSCB credited 40 percent of intelligence available to their fire support coordination center to the sensors”
The article does not cover the amount of information of the “intelligence available” to Igloo White.
“By the end of the battle of Khe Sanh, U.S. Air Force assets had flown 9,691 tactical sorties and dropped 14,223 tons of bombs on targets within the Khe Sanh area. Marine Corps aviators had flown 7,098 missions and released 17,015 tons. Naval aircrews, many of whom were redirected from Rolling Thunder strikes against the DRV, flew 5.337 sorties and dropped 7,941 tons of ordnance on the enemy.”
It can be presumed that most intelligence used by these crews came from Igloo White and the sensors dropped by VO-67.
That was interesting to read. I checked my log book to verify facts I now state. I remember being on alert to fly to Khe Sanh for two days before we dropped sensors. It seems that the weather turned bad at Khe Sanh after the Tet offensive started. Crew 1 got up before dawn to prepare to launch. The first day the weather was bad and all we did was standby the airplane all day. The crew stayed with the airplane all day on the ramp, in case the weather cleared, we were to take of immediately to drop sensors. I have pictures of our crew resting on the tarmac under the wing to be in the shade. The second day, May 21, 1968, we briefed before dawn, took off and went to Khe Sanh. The weather was bad and we could not make a drop, so we returned to NKP, and stayed at the airplane the rest of the day in case weather cleared. The third day, May 22, Crew 1 flew to Khe Sanh and dropped sensors. I think a couple of other crews dropped sensors that day also.
