A monsoon afternoon on the alert ramp, photographed by an A-1 Skyraider pilot in about June 1970. Two armed Skyraiders sit nose-out in steel bin revetments, ready to launch; a red crash and rescue truck waits on the apron, and a stray dog crosses the wet concrete. The stencilled warning on the post at right is the universal flightline injunction against smoking. Aircraft at Southeast Asian bases were parked inside these prefabricated blast walls because rocket and mortar attacks on the airfields were routine. The photographer flew with Operating Location Alpha Alpha at Da Nang, a detachment of the 56th Special Operations Wing whose Skyraiders stood combat search and rescue alert and supported MACV-SOG reconnaissance teams. Project: 219603