"LCDR Forsman, the skipper wants to see you pronto!" - Came the voice of the Chief Test Pilot, CDR Bill Murphy, over the squawk boxes. It was early fall 1966. I remember I was preparing for a P-3 test flight. My, how life can change. As I trudged across the tarmac to the Weapons Systems Test Hangar on the Naval Air Test Center (NATC), Patuxent River, MD. I wondered what prompted the "right now" summons? When I arrived at the skipper’s office I was surprised to see all the brass at Weapons System Test. I knew something important was up. CAPT Len Reinhart, the skipper, asked me to sit down and proceeded to tell me about a project that he was going to ask me to lead at the Test Center.

WOW! Little did I realize how the program over the next two years would shape my life, the lives of almost 100 other officers and men and build a foundation for significant weapons systems sensor technology advancement for the navy. The program was to form a detachment at NATC and accept for the navy four P-2Vs, which were being modified with the newest night-oriented technology at Lockheed in Burbank, CA. We would devise and conduct an exhaustive and comprehensive test program on the heavily modified P-2s, and take the four aircraft, redesignated as AP-2H, and the detachment to Vietnam for a "Limited Combat Operational Evaluation".

The term "Limited" turned out to be "Full". The mission was low level, night attack. This Navy gunship program had the highest national priority and was classified at the secret level with some of the program top secret. Wayne Mutza’s book "Lockheed P2V Neptune, An Illustrated History" very accurately describes the weapons system we took to Vietnam and operated within country and in Laos and Cambodia for the next couple of years. I must say we succeeded only because of the dedication and perseverance of the people in the detachment and later in the squadron and the technical representatives from Lockheed and other companies that supported us. Collectively they enabled us to write another chapter in the history of naval aviation advancing technology in the crucible of combat.

After accepting the responsibility for what was soon named Trails, Roads, Interdiction Multisensor or TRIM I made the rounds in Washington to meet the sponsors. CAPT Jack Davis, USN was the OPNAV sponsor. LCDR (later CAPT) Dick Brecken, USN, and LTC (later General) Phil Schutler, USMC, were our Naval Air Systems Command sponsors. Later CDR Wally Born arrived at NATC as onsite liaison with NAVAIR. Mr. R. D. "Tommy" Thompson was our NATC engineer. Tommy was later joined by Mr. Lou Koeniger who became our Infrared and LLTV specialist to round out the test team. Tommy and I with help from many created and devised the shell of the test program. We left room for many changes without sacrificing the main goals of the program. The program included both aerodynamic tests as well as weapons systems evaluation. Without Tommy’s vast knowledge of the intricacies at the Test Center and his unparalleled knowledge of electronics testing I am convinced we would not have navigated through the test program and deployed successfully.

In the mean time the detachment people started to arrive at NATC. Among the first were ADR1 Sam Gore, a top mechanic, and LT O.P. Burch, who had an RA5C background. They were immediately assigned to Crew 1, Sam as crew chief and O.P. as bombardier/navigator (BN). The Navy really supported the project as we were assigned an exceptionally well qualified cadre of officers and men.

As time went on each assumed a vital role in the development of the detachment and the execution of the test plan leading to deployment. LCDR John Vermillion and LCDR Perry Winn became the Ops boss and admin boss, respectively. LT Burch led the tactics development team. LCDR Ed Dorsey, USN, was the maintenance officer for the detachment. His experience was invaluable in overcoming the unusual challenges thrust upon him and the detachment. For me there were many challenges but only two showstoppers early in the development program. These were to get air conditioning "for the equipment" and a tail turret to protect our backside.

I had fired a tail turret in VAH(M)-10 a P-2 squadron I had served in the 50’s. I remember telling CAPT Davis that I would not take the guys in harms way without the turret. It was a survivability issue. HUZZA! it became part of the modification. At Burbank we had to cut a deal with the union so our guys could help with the installation and learn the ropes of maintenance of the turret. Air conditioning just happened, somehow, after all of the early arrivals griped loudly. Along the way Lockheed began development of maintenance vans to support the special equipment. LTJG Gerry Giordano worked closely with Lockheed and other contractors under Ed Dorsey’s direction to insure the vans were ready.

The acceptance of TRIM 1 at Burbank was another milestone. We moved the detachment to Burbank in the late spring/early summer of 1967 to commence the test program. I flew the first flight of the AP-2H with John Christianson, the Lockheed chief test pilot, on June 7, 1967. He checked me out on the flight characteristics of the airplane, which were considerably different from the fleet SP-2H. I had flown with John as a LT when I was stationed at Whidbey Island. He taught me, among other things, how to make a short field landing and how to use single engine reverse. Both of these skills had come in handy before and definitely came in handy later in Vietnam. I believe that every P-2 pilot who flew the airplane had to make considerable adjustments in technique because of the unique drag characteristics, center of gravity location and power/weight characteristics of the airplane.

Bob Tyler was the Lockheed engineer responsible for all engineering aspects of the modifications. His knowledge and dedication I will always remember. The test program at Burbank consisted mainly of getting used to the airplane, its sensors, which were new to everyone, and flying the airplane safely at night at low level against targets in the desert at NWC China Lake to get data points for the test program. We hosted a parade of flag officers and other dignitaries who wanted to see first hand the new technology in the airplane. One of my personal challenges was to get comfortable with the terrain following/terrain avoidance radar. This radar was adapted from the A-7 Corsair program for the P-2.

When we returned from Burbank to Patuxent River I checked out in an A-7 and flew several flights through the Shenandoah Mountains to gain familiarity and share it with the pilots. We all learned from that experience and it later saved crew one from catastrophe in Elephant Valley in Vietnam. We picked some vegetation from the underside of the airplane one night from the mission as the terrain rose faster than expected and Sam yelled "J– C– That was close" from the nose observation post. After a successful test program the detachment returned to Patuxent River for the next phase of pre-deployment activities. O.P. Burch led many discussions on initial tactics development that included both pilots and BNs during our Burbank vacation. These discussions drew on his combat experience in the RA5C as well as the Burbank test flights.

The next phase of the test program was conducted at Eglin AFB, Florida. We flew against the Vietnam village that was set up there for other reasons. Our bombardiers and navigators had a chance to hone skills that would later serve them well. We used the Burbank experience and exercised our weapons release systems fully without releasing ordnance. The bow observer (usually the plane captain) and the tail gunner had the opportunity to use their starlight scopes on real targets. These skills were honed and turned out to be enormously valuable in the later combat missions flown in country. In fact, I can say with confidence that both contributed substantially to the success we enjoyed in later combat missions. I remember this was when we all began to really see the benefits of real time infrared imagery. Up to that point the LLLTV was the favorite of the bombardiers. However, the scale began to tilt. The Hughes Infrared in TRIM 3 and 4 had higher resolution than the one supplied by Texas Instruments installed in TRIM 1 and 2 and was used more effectively. Even though the LLLTV worked better with the bombing system the potential of infrared targeting became more and more apparent as we progressed through the test program. The down looking infrared (DLIR) imagery on film also proved valuable for post flight evaluation and later proved its worth in Vietnam by recording and confirming bomb damage assessment.

On the lighter side we hosted the NATOPS standardization team from the COMNAVAIRLANT Staff. Their mission was to determine if we were standardized enough to deploy. I remember suggesting to the chief evaluator that the standardization flights be conducted at night since that when we were going to be operating. "AT NIGHT?!" He said. "I have never conducted one at night before." I insisted, so we went at night with his team on board. I explained the unique flight characteristics of the airplane before we took off. On takeoff I had Sam cut an engine. We went through the emergency procedures and continued the flight at low level against the village with the whole crew involved and the standardization people looking over their shoulders. The senior evaluator never said a word. After the flight asked me if all crews were trained as well as crew 1. I said OF COURSE! With that they left and didn’t return to give full standardization rides to the other crews. They did give day standardization rides to the other pilots. Another milestone passed! We dutifully reported our success to OPNAV the day they left and had a whopping good happy hour that evening.

After the Eglin evolution the detachment returned to Patuxent River to prepare to deploy. It was late 1967. The maintenance vans were completed and left with LCDR Dorsey and a part of the detachment after Christmas. We went to Burbank for final tune up. It was during that time we had a hiccup in the program when one of the airplanes operating at night out of the airfield at Hughes Aircraft taxied across a ramp area and broke through a wood reinforced hole in the taxiway. We had done the same thing many times. That hole, which was used for missile drop tests, had had a metal plate covering until that day. See the web site for pictures. Murphy’s law was at work! This delayed the arrival of Crew 4 to Cam Ranh Bay for over three months.

Crew 1 left Alameda, CA in Buno 138353, later named "Deuces Wild", on January 8, 1967 and arrived at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, on January 14, 1968. An enthusiastic crew met us. We soon got about the business of maintenance and preparation for flying combat missions against the Viet Cong. First, however, came the tasks of checking in personally with the chain of command, with the Air Force and Army and with the South Vietnamese forces we were going to initially support. And then there was Tet. I was in Saigon at the Brinks hotel the morning before the Tet offensive began. I flew down to IV Corps headquarters and met with the South Vietnamese army for the day and retired to the riverine patrol headquarters for the night planning to ‘chopper out the next day. Because of the offensive it took me three additional days to arrange for transportation to get back to Can Ranh. My introduction to war consisted of watching mortars fly over our base into the Ben Thuy airfield.

After gaining clearance from headquarters we commenced orientation around South Vietnam offshore on February 3, 1968. We were fired on repeatedly by Viet Cong gunners who could hear us but not see us. After a month of orientation and getting frustrated with not receiving clearance we flew our first overland combat sortie on March 1, 1968. The difficulty was the USAF who granted clearance for all sorties. They apparently did not believe we could navigate, hunt and strike targets as we had advertised. We quickly proved them wrong quickly.

The first sorties taught us some good lessons. We removed all tracers from the 20mm gun in tail turret right after the tail gunner, AO-1 (later AOC) Al Doggett, heard the first return fire round hit on an AP-2H occur right above his head on the rudder. He said the sound was like he was inside a barrel and someone hit the barrel with a sledgehammer. All gunners quickly adapted to "walking" their rounds into the targets using the starlight scope sight. It was right after this that someone suggested we go to "San Miguel" debriefs which I enthusiastically endorsed. Another change we made was to the bombing system. The change was to enable the BN to drop a Mk-77 napalm and a MK-82 snake eye with a 36" fuse extender on a run and have them impact simultaneously.

The explosion created a ring-of-fire and shrapnel that was awesome to observe and very effective. During the next few months the nose observers using the starlight scope were gaining confidence in their bomb release skills and target detection skills. This capability came in very handy one night when we lost our primary bombing system. ADR1 Sam Gore directed us for bomb release in the free fire zone in which we were operating. As I recall that night Sam got two secondary explosions with his releases. Things became relatively routine for the next few months as we expanded our field of operations up to Danang. During that time we also supported the Special Forces Company that provided protection for the base on the mainland. It became routine for us to fly where they were going to patrol to give them an idea of where the enemy campfires might be along their patrol route.

Major John Boardman was the C.O. of the company. Also during that time we resolved some ongoing equipment and maintenance problems. We removed the SLAR pods from the airplanes because we weren’t using the sensor and it was creating a problem landing the airplane. The pods created a "flat plate" on the bottom of the airplane causing it to float in ground effect when landing, not a good thing for a short field landing. We also successfully petitioned COMAIRPAC to allow us to use the J-34 jets for their normal life rather, than removing them for overhaul based on the published maintenance cycle. Searching for coolers for the IR presented a challenge for the TECHREPS. That was solved when Jack Syfrig (later Jack Baxter) found a good source at an army base just thirty miles from Cam Ranh Bay. I never did find out what he bartered for the coolers.

I learned in July that TRIM was going to become a squadron. We, therefore, had to start planning for our replacements. It was about that time that we had our first departure. LT Burch was combat limited and had to return to the States. We had had many discussions in the detachment. I had determined that the TRIM squadron impacted on the roles and missions of both the army and the air force. We had also learned that the navy was planning to modify 25 additional P-2s for the very successful gunship role that we had been proving every combat mission. I asked LT Burch to take back my personal recommendation to OPNAV through the chain of command that the dollars slated for TRIM be placed in a carrier-based aircraft. The A-6C resulted as the first with others right behind. TRIM proved the concept! It was now time for us to put this technology to use in the environment the navy was most used to operating.

In the mean time the most destructive weapon we had in our arsenal arrived and was installed in the bombay — the eight battery 40mm grenade launchers. I had fired the 40mm grenade launcher on several helicopter flights with the Special Forces in the hills on the mainland next to Cam Ranh Bay. It was a destructive weapon! The problem with the installation was the launchers were all pointed straight down. After a skull session we did the math and angled the launchers so the lethal range against an exposed person covered a football field with a three-second burst with very few holidays when fired from 1,250ft altitude above ground. I remember one night up around Danang we were giving a demonstration flight to now Col. Phil Schutler when we took out three antiaircraft batteries with a three-second burst. He was impressed with the progress the weapons system enjoyed.

The Detachment was commissioned VAH-21 on September 1, 1968.

The last forays before I left the squadron were our incursions into Laos and Cambodia. We were tasked by COMNAVFORV through OPNAV to investigate flying against the Ho Chi Min trail in southern Laos. This caused consternation within the squadron because of the more hostile environment. This was not "limited combat evaluation" in the views of several. I decided I had better find out about the terrain and the challenge so I arranged to fly with the forward air controllers (FACs) flying O-2As operating out of Pleiku. I flew two daylight missions with the FACs (they never got above 1,000 ft above ground level) in September to see what we would be facing in terms of terrain and the Trail. It was my introduction to karst, rock that rose vertically out of the ground to about 1,500 ft and could easily ruin one’s day if unseen at night.

Operating in Laos offered the opportunity to exercise our ignition detector system, which didn’t work too well. After several flights the tasking was abandoned because of limited success and the increasingly hostile environment. My most rememberable experience was returning from a flight one night after all our ordnance had been expended and seeing a line of truck lights below the fog on the ground which we could not attack. Our flights into Cambodia were less hazardous but more colorful. One night we were operating as a two-plane detachment near the Cambodian border with one plane dropping flares and the other seeking targets with the LLLTV in a no moon environment. I remember the flare dropper (with his rotating beacon on) edging over the border. From my perspective it looked like he was in a wall of tracer bullets. We stopped the Cambodian effort immediately!

The officers and men of the TRIM Detachment and VAH-21 should have enormous pride in their accomplishments. We proved technology concepts that had never been tested and did it under combat conditions. We had no combat casualties. We inflicted many on the enemy. We set the stage for future advancements in infrared and low light level TV technologies for the Navy. All this was done with aging airplanes. We experienced many combat related hits on the airplanes but kept them all in service. The maintenance and ordnance gangs provided the highest continuous level of maintenance possible and did it in a hostile weather environment. We had time for charitable projects very much appreciated by the local population. We had fun and worked hard. I am extremely proud to have been a part of the organization.