The Don Englebreston Collection
Annotated Modern Map of Savannakhet Province, Laos, Marking the Loss Site of a 'Jolly' Rescue Helicopter South of Ban Tang - Fat Capper 07 SAR
A modern road map of Savannakhet Province, Laos, annotated with a single arrow marking a point approximately one mile south of the village of Ban Tang. The filename identifies the location as the loss site of a 'Jolly' - the standing callsign of US Air Force HH-3E and HH-53 Jolly Green Giant rescue helicopters - during the search and rescue effort for the aircraft callsign Fat Capper 07. The ground shown here, along the Route 9 and Route 23 corridor running east toward the Vietnamese border, lay at the centre of the Ho Chi Minh Trail network in the Laotian panhandle. Rescue crews flying into this heavily defended area to recover downed airmen took losses of their own, and modern maps like this one are used by researchers and recovery organisations to reconcile wartime coordinates with present-day place names. Project: 219850