The Don-Englebreston Collection

Zuan, Pham Jim Wold Day 2May15 On the Ramp

The Don Englebreston Collection

On the ramp at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation, veterans, pilots, and volunteers gather around the preserved A-1 Skyraider "Lieutenant America" during the 2 May 2015 Jim Wold Day reunion, including attendees Phil and Lisa Wold, Susan Pham, and pilot Lt. Randy Scott. The photographs capture cockpit portraits, group gatherings, and close friendships among the A-1 Skyraider Association members who honor the aircraft's Vietnam War legacy.

Z RAW SCANS

The Don Englebreston Collection

Unprocessed slide scans from Don Engebretsen's Vietnam-era collection, including two A-1E Skyraiders taxiing circa 1969, a pilot doused with water beside his "AF 39" Skyraider, a serviceman in an embroidered souvenir shirt, and a mountain-ringed bay seen from a screened porch. Straight off the original slides, these frames pair flight-line moments with the off-duty scenes that filled the hours between missions.

Xuan, Pham Jim Wold Day 2May15 Meeting

The Don Englebreston Collection

Veterans and family members gather inside the Tennessee Museum of Aviation for a recorded reunion meeting and discussion session honoring Vietnamese Air Force A-1 Skyraider pilot Xuan Pham and USAF advisor Jim Wold. Photographs show speakers addressing the group, a digital photo archive review, and attendees surrounded by museum exhibits from the World War I, World War II, and Vietnam eras, preserving firsthand wartime recollections.

Xuan, Pham Jim Wold Day 2May15 Lunch

The Don Englebreston Collection

Veterans and guests fill their plates and mingle at a buffet lunch inside the main hangar of the Tennessee Museum of Aviation during the 2015 Jim Wold Day reunion. The candid photographs capture attendees such as Lois Cavender and Don Engebretsen sharing stories, honoring Vietnamese and American A-1 Skyraider veterans decades after their wartime service.

Xuan, Pham Jim Wold Day 2May15 In the Museum

The Don Englebreston Collection

Reunion attendees browse the museum gift shop during the 2015 Jim Wold Day event, including Vietnamese Air Force veteran Xuan Pham, "Sandy" rescue pilot Jim Wold, and retired USAF veteran Mel Swanson. The candid photographs capture friendly reconnections and embraces among American and Vietnamese airmen who once served together flying A-1 Skyraiders during the Vietnam War.

Xuan, Pham Jim Wold Day 2May15 Dinner

The Don Englebreston Collection

Veterans and guests gather for an evening reception and banquet inside a warbird museum hangar during the 2 May 2015 Jim Wold Day reunion, mingling beneath displays like the P-51 Mustang "Frenesi" and an F-104 Starfighter. The images capture warm reunions and portraits, including retired USAF veteran Mel Swanson, honoring the bonds between Vietnamese Air Force A-1 Skyraider pilots and their American advisors.

Xuan, Pham Jim Wold Day 2May15 In the Air

The Don Englebreston Collection

A sequence of air-to-air photographs captures a restored Douglas A-1 Skyraider, marked with US insignia and the identifier "TC 665," banking and climbing through the sky during the Jim Wold Day commemorative flying event on 2 May 2015. The images highlight the aircraft's wartime configuration and markings, honoring its combat service with American and South Vietnamese Air Force pilots during the Vietnam War.

Xuan, Pham

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow follows VNAF pilot Lieutenant Pham Minh Xuan and his A-1 Skyraider (Tail 014) of the 530th Fighter Squadron "Jupiters" at Pleiku Air Base in 1972. Images include cockpit portraits before and after a sortie and a flight-line scene with ground crew, highlighting the aircraft's ordnance load and the teamwork behind South Vietnamese Air Force combat operations.

Wolf 06

The Don Englebreston Collection

An aerial reconnaissance photo captures the Ban Phanop Valley in Laos, a heavily targeted segment of the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Vietnam War. Bomb craters scarring the hillsides bear witness to repeated U.S. air strikes aimed at cutting North Vietnamese supply lines through the jungle corridor.

Wold Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

A USAF aircrew stands for a formal group portrait in front of their aircraft, numbered "535." Squadron portraits like this one preserved the identities and camaraderie of the men who served together, often taken just before or just after a combat deployment.

Watermarked Maps

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow displays an annotated topographic map from the Joe Parnar Collection marking air support strike coordinates called in during Operation Tailwind, the September 1970 MACV-SOG raid into Laos. Red markings trace the close air support that helped cover the Hatchet Force company's fighting withdrawal and extraction under heavy enemy pressure.

VNAF Classes

The Don Englebreston Collection

A class photograph of South Vietnamese Air Force student pilots standing before the A-1 Skyraider they trained on at Hurlburt Field, Florida. Part of the U.S. Air Force's Vietnamization training programs, these VNAF airmen learned the Skyraider alongside American instructors before returning to fly combat missions in South Vietnam.

Vietnam Sorted Photos 90% Watermarked

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow shows a Vietnam War-era pilot inspecting ordnance beneath the wing of an A-1 Skyraider before a mission, with red "Remove Before Flight" safety streamers visible as a critical pre-flight check. The image reflects the daily routine of Skyraider crews preparing for combat sorties over Vietnam.

Vietnam Slides

The Don Englebreston Collection

Don Fulton's Vietnam slides range across the 6th Special Operations Squadron's hand-painted "Home of the Spads" sign, A-1 Skyraiders banking over jungle mountains, a B-52 clawing for altitude, Cessna O-2 Skymaster FAC aircraft on the ramp beside UH-1 Hueys, a KC-135 tanker in flight, a VF-161 Phantom launching from a carrier deck, and two green-bereted servicemen at a radome installation. The collection assembles the full cast of the Southeast Asian air war, from Arc Light bombers and Yankee Station carrier operations to the low-and-slow Forward Air Controllers who marked targets for the Skyraiders overhead.

Vietnam Proprietary

The Don Englebreston Collection

A blank PACAF Form 20b "General Purpose Worksheet" from November 1967, the standard mission-logging form used by Pacific Air Forces combat units during the Vietnam War. Though unfilled, it illustrates the detailed record-keeping used to track sorties, FAC call signs, flying time, and bomb damage assessment.

Vietnam Patches

The Don Englebreston Collection

Embroidered squadron patches associated with A-1 Skyraider pilots who flew the "Sandy" rescue-escort role during the Vietnam War, providing close air support and protecting downed airmen. Included is a "Spad" patch comparison of a reproduction against a worn original marking 200 completed missions, reflecting the intense operational tempo these pilots endured.

Vietnam lower resolution files A-1

The Don Englebreston Collection

Color photographs of A-1 Skyraiders in Vietnam show shark-mouthed "628" on search-and-rescue alert, air-to-air views framed by rocket pods, a battle-damaged fuselage, and squadron buildings at a Southeast Asia air base. Alongside the aircraft are glimpses of life around the war, from Vietnamese women carrying shoulder-pole baskets in November 1969 to a portable reel-to-reel recorder of the kind families used to send spoken letters home.

Vietnam Files

The Don Englebreston Collection

A memorial roster compiled and shared within the Skyraider veteran community honors the U.S. Navy and Air Force airmen lost during A-1 operations in Southeast Asia. Paired with it is a 1965 view of the bomb storage dump at Qui Nhon Air Base, where rows of aerial ordnance behind sandbag revetments show how quickly American air operations expanded in the early years of the Vietnam War.

Vietnam Documents

The Don Englebreston Collection

A scanned AF Form 1098 Personnel Action Request dated January 1970, assigning 1st Lt John W. Weinig as an Operational Fighter Pilot flying the A-1E Skyraider with the 56th Special Operations Wing. The caption frames it as an example of the administrative bureaucracy behind combat flying duty, marking the start of a Vietnam-era Sandy pilot's assignment.

Vietnam

The Don Englebreston Collection

A Bureau of Aeronautics three-view line drawing of the Douglas AD-4 Skyraider, a carrier-based propeller-driven attack aircraft. Later redesignated the A-1, it became renowned in the Vietnam War for close air support and 'Sandy' combat search-and-rescue escort missions.

VIETNAM

The Don Englebreston Collection

1Lt. Jim Seith of the 1st Special Operations Squadron taxis his shark-mouthed A-1J Skyraider, serial 142053, past F-4 Phantom pilots at Da Nang Air Base. Wearing a vintage leather helmet, goggles, and scarf, Seith gave his Skyraider a touch of old-school warbird flair, a playful nod to the aircraft's WWII lineage in the jet age of Vietnam.

Untitled Export

The Don Englebreston Collection

Four airmen pose together in their barracks quarters during a quiet off-duty moment of the Vietnam War era. A reel-to-reel tape recorder, a stereo receiver, and a unit flag in the background hint at daily life away from the flight line, and at the camaraderie squadron mates built far from home.

Unkn Photog

The Don Englebreston Collection

The shoulder patch of U.S. Air Force Tactical Air Command, the major command behind America's tactical fighter, attack, and reconnaissance forces. Among them were many of the A-1 Skyraider units that flew close air support and rescue-escort missions during the Vietnam War.

Unkn Photog

The Don Englebreston Collection

A close look at the Douglas A-1 Skyraider in Southeast Asia: manual cutaway and ejection-seat diagrams, underwing loads of cluster bomb dispensers and rocket pods, formation shots of the RESCUE-marked 'Miss Aileen,' and a static memorial example wearing tail code 'TC.' Also here are the hazards of the job — a captured Soviet-pattern 37mm anti-aircraft gun and an emergency touchdown on a foam-treated runway — rounding out the story of the 'Spad' and its Sandy rescue-escort crews.

TWD Don Engebretsen

The Don Englebreston Collection

Don Engebretsen's photographs move between warbird fly-ins, where a restored T-28 Trojan taxis the apron and pilot Neal Melton sits in the cockpit of trainer No. 129, and the restaurant tables where Operation Tailwind veterans and families gather for dinner. Together they document the reunion life that has grown up around the 1970 MACV-SOG raid into Laos, honoring the aircraft that flew in support of it and the bonds among those who lived it.

TW docs

The Don Englebreston Collection

Scanned pages of the Operation Tailwind after-action report join an annotated reference map of MACV-SOG's operating area along the Laos/Vietnam border. The typewritten narrative recounts a helicopter shootdown and rescue, a night held off with bamboo clicks and an AC-130 Spectre gunship, and an assault on a fortified enemy base camp, while the map locates the Ho Chi Minh Trail passes, the NVA's "Oscar Eight" headquarters, and the Bolovens Plateau where it all unfolded.

Tom Stump Tailwind Testamony

The Don Englebreston Collection

A Douglas A-1 Skyraider in Vietnam-era camouflage, nose art reading "Charlene" and engine running on the display ramp, paired with a Vietnam veteran seated once again in a Skyraider cockpit, reaching for controls he once knew by feel. The pairing links the aircraft still preserved in flying condition to the men who flew it on "Sandy" rescue escorts and covert cross-border missions, in a moment of the kind captured for oral history work surrounding Operation Tailwind.

Tom Stump JPEGs WM Med

The Don Englebreston Collection

From the personal collection of Tom Stump, these Vietnam War photographs range from a Sikorsky CH-3/HH-3E "Jolly Green Giant" resting on the ramp to the hand-painted "Home of the Spads" sign that marked the 56th Special Operations Wing's revetments at Nakhon Phanom RTAFB in Thailand. Alongside the aircraft and airbase scenes, a street-level view of a South Vietnamese city — storefronts, motorbikes, and a pedestrian-safety banner overhead — captures the civilian daily life that carried on beside the war.

Tom Stump JPEG's

The Don Englebreston Collection

A U.S. Marine Corps A-4 Skyhawk of VMA-311, the "Tomcats," cruises above the clouds over Vietnam in a rare air-to-air view taken from a fellow pilot's cockpit. Flying from bases such as Chu Lai and Da Nang, VMA-311's Skyhawks delivered close air support to Marine and Army ground forces throughout the war.

Tom Stump Final No WM

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two Vietnam War photographs of A-1 Skyraider men and machines: an airman beside the "Home of the Spads" sign marking the 56th Special Operations Wing's revetment area, and a portrait of pilot Tom Stump standing with his aircraft. Details like the underwing gun pod and the yellow "RESCUE" arrow near the cockpit show the propeller-driven "Spad" as its crews knew it, flying close air support and rescue escort well into the jet age.

Tom Stump FINAL JPEG LG w WM

The Don Englebreston Collection

Vietnam War images from the personal collection of Air Force veteran Tom Stump: a remote jungle airstrip seen from the air, an airman perched atop a bomb on a munitions trailer, another geared up beside the nose of an A-1 Skyraider, and a South Vietnamese town street busy with civilian traffic and a passing military truck. Together they move between the operational and the everyday, from airstrips supporting covert resupply and reconnaissance to the lighter moments and local scenes that filled the spaces between missions.

Tom Stump

The Don Englebreston Collection

Photographs by airman Tom Stump follow the A-1 Skyraider "Tiny Tim," tail-coded TT-056, as it banks over the jungles of Southeast Asia with a minigun pod and ordnance slung beneath its wing. Back on the ground, an airman perches atop a loaded munitions trailer — the unguarded, everyday side of wartime service between close air support missions.

TN Museum of Avition Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

A restored P-47 Thunderbolt named 'Wicked Wabbit' on display at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation. One of the most rugged and heavily armed American fighters of World War II, the Thunderbolt's powerful radial engine and legendary ability to absorb battle damage carried it into every theater of the war on bomber escort and ground attack missions.

Tilt thumb drive Copy

The Don Englebreston Collection

A group of servicemen huddles close around a comrade mid-briefing, absorbed in final instructions or an after-action account somewhere in the Vietnam field. This candid, film-captured moment reflects the tight bonds and constant communication that defined life within Special Forces teams during the war.

Tilt Meyer

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow features a MACV-SOG reconnaissance team group portrait near Phu Bai alongside images of veteran Gary "Tilt" Meyer revisiting a preserved UH-34 "Kingbee" helicopter cockpit. It also includes a veterans panel session on Operation Tailwind, reflecting ongoing efforts to preserve firsthand accounts of the 1970 MACV-SOG mission into Laos.

Texas A-1 Trip, Ed, Bob, Dean Jun 2013

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two men pose together during the June 2013 "Texas A-1 Trip," a reunion visit shared by Ed, Bob, and Dean. Decades after their Vietnam War service, gatherings like this one continue to draw veterans and associates of the A-1 Skyraider community back together.

Terry Bolstad Form 5_s No 20b

The Don Englebreston Collection

An official Air Force Form 5, Pilot's Individual Flight Record, documenting Captain Terry Bolstad's flying for June 1970. The record logs 31.1 hours that month against a career total of 1,493.2 flight hours including 449.0 hours of combat time, offering a precise, quantifiable window into the operational tempo of Air Force pilots in Vietnam.

Terry Bolstad Form 5's No 20b

The Don Englebreston Collection

Temp or Discard

The Don Englebreston Collection

Discarded and working-variant files from a Special Operations Association Reunion banner project, including alternate tonal passes of the OLAA mascot pig, a sharpened billet interior, squadron office and formation shots, and heavily upscaled or retouched Skyraider images. Each file was set aside for being duplicate, low-resolution, over-processed, or otherwise unsuitable for the finished banner, though the underlying Vietnam War subject matter is genuine.

Temp JWD for OLAA Email

The Don Englebreston Collection

Scenes from "Jim Wold Day," the May 2, 2015 reunion that filled a hangar and airport ramp with veterans, families, and a restored A-1 Skyraider "Lieutenant America" banking overhead. Between the buffet line, the panel discussion, and the group portrait of unit ballcaps on the ramp, these images capture how Air Commando and special operations veterans keep their history and their friendships alive.

Temp Holding

The Don Englebreston Collection

Ground crew prepare the Douglas A-1 Skyraider "Lieutenant America" (TC-665) with its wing folded, a routine sight at airfields throughout the aircraft's long service life. The Skyraider was the rugged, propeller-driven attack aircraft flown by U.S. Air Force "Sandy" pilots in Vietnam to escort search-and-rescue helicopters and cover downed airmen and special operations teams.

Tailwind Master pics

The Don Englebreston Collection

American servicemen identified as Bustamante, Picone, and Howard gather informally outside barracks at a forward base during the Vietnam War. Their tiger-stripe fatigues and the improvised camp architecture around them reflect the unconventional world of SOG operations along the Laos-Cambodia border, preserving the everyday camaraderie behind Operation Tailwind's covert missions.

Tailwind Documents

The Don Englebreston Collection

A commemorative collage banner titled "SPADS for MACVSOG" pays tribute to the A-1 Skyraider pilots and ground crews of the 56th Special Operations Wing. Their close air support and rescue cover protected MACV-SOG's covert reconnaissance teams throughout the Vietnam War, including during Operation Tailwind.

Tailwind Day Redux

The Don Englebreston Collection

Scenes from the "Tailwind Day Redux" reunion, where veterans including A-1 pilot Roger Youngblood gather beside preserved Skyraiders "America" and a "Sandy"-marked airframe, and engraved "BOB" memorial bracelets are worn in tribute. The gathering honors the men of Operation Tailwind, the classified 1970 MACV-SOG mission into Laos, and the rugged Skyraider that covered search-and-rescue and special operations forces deep in hostile territory.

tailwind

The Don Englebreston Collection

An aerial photograph looks out over the rugged, forested mountains of the Laotian panhandle, likely the Bolovens Plateau region. Captured from a supporting aircraft, the view shows the remote and difficult country MACV-SOG reconnaissance teams crossed during the September 1970 Operation Tailwind mission along the Ho Chi Minh Trail corridor.

T-28

The Don Englebreston Collection

A static-display view of a North American T-28 Trojan at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation, the primary U.S. military flight trainer of the 1950s. The caption notes that armed T-28D variants went on to fly close air support and counterinsurgency missions in Vietnam and Laos.

Symposium Final JPEG Sm

The Don Englebreston Collection

Symposium Final JPEG Med

The Don Englebreston Collection

Symposium Final JPEG Lg

The Don Englebreston Collection

Symposium Final JPEG Ex Lg

The Don Englebreston Collection

Ten extra-large final images from the 2014 SOAR Symposium, showing veterans such as Larry Warren, Levy Rentz, Jackson Roberts, and Dan Wall speaking and interacting during panel sessions. Captions describe unit patches like "SPADS" and "Yankee Air Pirate" that trace the airmen's Vietnam-era special operations service.

Susan Kasbeer Mel SOA Video Audience

The Don Englebreston Collection

Attendees watch a video presentation during the Mel Swanson Day ceremony, seated among the static aircraft displays of a museum hangar. The image captures how gatherings like this one carry the personal stories of veterans forward to new generations of visitors.

Steve Moore RT Vermont

The Don Englebreston Collection

Shows two MACV-SOG recon soldiers, identified as Franklin D. "Doug" Miller and Edward Wolcoff of Recon Team Vermont, photographed together in camp in South Vietnam. Unlike their sterile cross-border fatigues, their in-camp uniforms display full insignia, name tapes, and chevrons, along with hand-lettered team identity items such as a cap stencilled "RECON."

Special Forces Charitable Trust MOH Reception

The Don Englebreston Collection

Scenes from the Special Forces Charitable Trust reception of October 23, 2017 show Captain Gary "Mike" Rose embracing a fellow veteran, addressing the room while wearing the Medal of Honor, guests arriving and posing for group portraits, an officer offering a toast, and a commemorative painting of the mission held up by the men who carried it out. Also on view is Tom Nielsen's signed limited-edition print "The Last Patrol," bearing the signatures of numerous Medal of Honor recipients gathered to mark Rose's long-overdue recognition for Operation Tailwind in Laos.

Spads for Sog Website

The Don Englebreston Collection

Photographs, mission logs, and rescue records trace the A-1 Skyraider pilots who flew close air support and rescue escort for MACV-SOG's covert cross-border operations in Laos. Highlights include a shark-mouthed "Spad" banking under a full bomb load, a handwritten account of a "Blind Bat" crewman who survived a 3,000-foot night fall, the 13 January 1970 sortie log recording his recovery, and a commemorative Prairie Fire SAR patch.

SOAR, Portland, Wold Trip Pictures

The Don Englebreston Collection

Travel photographs from a Special Operations Association Reunion road trip to Portland, spanning snowy mountain passes, high desert highways lined with blooming sagebrush, sweeping Death Valley overlooks, and a fog-shrouded Multnomah Falls. Alongside the scenery is a memorial of three retired T-38 Talons in Thunderbirds colors, and together these images record the personal journeys that ran beside the Air Commando and Special Operations history preserved in this collection.

SOAR XL

The Don Englebreston Collection

Ten photographs from the SOAR XL (40th) Special Operations Association Reunion, held in Las Vegas in October 2016, spanning casino corridor and skyline shots, emotional embraces between veterans, and exhibit hall scenes with unit memorabilia. Highlights include the "SPADS for MACVSOG" signature banner honoring A-1 Skyraider pilots, a "21st Kingbee" cap referencing MACV-SOG helicopter crews, and a panel discussion at The Orleans Hotel & Casino.

SOAR Banner Pic Files ATTEMPT 1

The Don Englebreston Collection

Working scans and processed source images gathered for a Special Operations Association Reunion banner, spanning battle damage, armed and loaded A-1 Skyraiders, a hose-down mission celebration, a MACV-SOG ladder extraction, and the OLAA mascot hog. The set also includes cockpit and crew portraits, a munitions trailer photo, and a hand-painted "56 SOW SPADS" emblem, all documenting Skyraider support of MACV-SOG reconnaissance and rescue missions.

SOAR BANNER 2013

The Don Englebreston Collection

A small, low-resolution working copy of a Vietnam-era photograph showing A-1 Skyraider 628, with its sharkmouth nose art, starting its engine on a Southeast Asian ramp. The file is one of several sizing tests made while preparing the image for a Special Operations Association Reunion banner and is too small for display-scale printing.

SOAR 2018

The Don Englebreston Collection

Six photographs, several in sideways or inverted orientation, from the 2018 Special Operations Association Reunion (SOAR), capturing a signing table of wartime photographs, an affectionate reunion embrace, and a formal recognition ceremony before the American flag. Other images show veterans posing with a Tennessee Museum of Aviation A-1 Skyraider banner, a close-up of a wartime photo album being signed, and attendees mingling near vendor tables.

SOAR 2015

The Don Englebreston Collection

Ten photographs from SOAR XXXIX, the 2015 Special Operations Association Reunion in Las Vegas, showing speakers and panelists identified by aviator wings, U.S./Thai flag patches, and A-1 Skyraider caps and shirts. Additional images show a Special Forces Vietnam veteran's cap, POW*MIA and MACV-SOG-style insignia among attendees, and a panel session held beneath the Budweiser-sponsored SOAR XXXIX banner.

SOAR 2014 Symposium

The Don Englebreston Collection

A veterans panel discussion at the 2014 SOAR Symposium, where Air Force Special Operations veterans share stories and answer questions. The reunion preserves firsthand accounts of Vietnam-era special operations missions and honors the units these veterans served with.

SOAR 2014 Pro Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

Ten photographs from SOAR XXXVIII, the 2014 Special Operations Association Reunion in Las Vegas, centered on the SOG/SPAD Symposium panel sessions where A-1 Skyraider aircrew and MACV-SOG reconnaissance veterans compared firsthand accounts. Images capture badge-wearing attendees, open-microphone discussion, and Don Engebretsen's signature orange Skyraider "party suit" amid panelists bearing Yankee Air Pirate, SPAD, and unit insignia.

SOAR 2014 AAR

The Don Englebreston Collection

Ten images from the 2014 Special Operations Association Reunion covering the vendor hall, the "SPADS for MACVSOG" banner display, and the SPAD symposium, alongside informal social gatherings of veterans and guests. Captions identify individuals such as Don and Linda Engebretsen, Neal Melton, Larry Warren, and John Waresh, and describe the orange flight party suits and MACV-SOG insignia worn throughout the reunion.

SOAR 2014

The Don Englebreston Collection

Veterans gather and reminisce at the 2014 SOAR reunion beneath a banner reading "Spads" and "MACVSOG," surrounded by memorabilia from both communities. The display honors the A-1 Skyraider pilots and Studies and Observations Group personnel behind clandestine Vietnam War operations, and reunions like this keep alive the bonds formed between aircrews and the special operations teams they supported.

SOAR 2014

The Don Englebreston Collection

Photographs from the 2014 Special Operations Association Reunion, featuring hotel ballroom panel sessions and the completed "SPADS for MACVSOG" banner honoring A-1 Skyraider crews of the 56th Special Operations Wing. Attendees including John Waresh, Doug Carmichael and Larry Warren are shown in matching Skyraider group shirts, gathered around unit displays that commemorate MACV-SOG's cross-border reconnaissance support.

SOAR 2013 Pictures

The Don Englebreston Collection

Photographs from the 2013 Special Operations Association Reunion in Las Vegas, showing the ballroom floor, registration and merchandise tables, code-name reference sheets, and militaria and archive displays. The images capture veterans of MACV-SOG and allied units researching records, browsing memorabilia, and gathering for panel discussions and conversation.

SOAR 2013

The Don Englebreston Collection

Veterans of Vietnam-era special operations units gather for a group portrait at the 2013 Special Operations Association Reunion. Bringing together former SOG, Air Commando, and Studies and Observations Group personnel, reunions like SOAR are where old comrades reconnect, share memorabilia, and keep the history of their service alive.

SOAR

The Don Englebreston Collection

An advertisement for the Tennessee Museum of Aviation in Sevierville, Tennessee, features a camouflaged A-1 Skyraider named "TC 665" among the museum's collection of historic warbirds. The ad promotes the venue for tours, reunions, and living history events honoring Vietnam-era aviation.

smallcockpit

The Don Englebreston Collection

A close look inside an A-1H Skyraider cockpit at the right-side console and armament panel, densely packed with switches and controls. Skyraider pilots managed an enormous variety of ordnance and systems by hand, and this detail view shows the workload built into one of the most rugged attack aircraft flown over Vietnam.

Skyraider

The Don Englebreston Collection

Close views of a restored A-1 Skyraider on static display at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation, taking in the radial engine cowling, original nose and cockpit stenciling, and the armament selector switch labeled for rockets and bombs. The surviving data blocks and mechanically direct cockpit controls show exactly what pilots and ground crews worked with on close air support and rescue escort missions over Vietnam.

SGT Miller1.el6.Data

The Don Englebreston Collection

A scrapbook page from the SGT Miller Vietnam War photo collection documenting the Dak To/Kontum border region of South Vietnam in 1969, with images of the Dak Blah river, a stretch of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and a captured 12.7mm heavy machine gun. Hand-written captions referencing a "Hatchet Force" seizure near a reconnaissance company's orderly room tie the page to MACV-SOG's covert cross-border operations against North Vietnamese infiltration routes.

SARTapes

The Don Englebreston Collection

A single hand-annotated Search and Rescue planning map of the Hanoi approach corridor in North Vietnam, marking a helicopter "Jolly Green Orbit Point" and terrain feature "Banana Valley." The map reflects the planning behind dangerous missions to recover downed American aircrew from deep within North Vietnam's most heavily defended airspace.

RT Vermont Google Earth Pro

The Don Englebreston Collection

Present-day Google Earth Pro screen captures used by researchers to pinpoint the disputed wartime location of Recon Team Vermont near the Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia tri-border, with placemarks for the team's position and a supporting Hatchet Force. Annotated views trace the international boundary and terrain to reconcile MACV-SOG after-action reports and memory with the ground as it looks today.

Rick Chorlins

The Don Englebreston Collection

A museum exhibit case honoring U.S. Air Force officer Richard D. Chorlins, displaying his Air Force Academy uniform, orange flight suit with Tactical Air Command patch, service cap, and First Lieutenant shoulder boards. His decorations, including the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Air Medal, and Distinguished Flying Cross, sit alongside period photographs documenting a career from the Academy through Vietnam War service.

Rhonda Melton Tailwind Day Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

Decades after their 1970 mission, veterans of Operation Tailwind reunite for a group photo at their "Operating Location Alpha Alpha" gathering on April 30, 2016. The former MACV-SOG comrades stand together before a preserved A-1 Skyraider, the very type of aircraft that once flew cover for their operations.

Reunion Event Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

Restored warbirds gather at a veterans reunion, from the folded-wing A-1 Skyraider "Lieutenant America" and P-47 Thunderbolts "Wicked Wabbit" and "Hun Hunter" to the P-51D Mustang "Ain't Misbehavin'" being readied for flight. Shot largely at the June 2014 fly-in at Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Airport, these images catch the working side of warbird preservation too, with avgas trucks, volunteer maintenance crews, and close details of a radial engine and Hamilton Standard propeller.

Redacted JPEG

The Don Englebreston Collection

A single official USAF Form 5 flight record for 1Lt Donald L. Engebretsen, dated January 1970. The document accounts for his A-1 Skyraider combat sorties and flight hours during the Vietnam War.

PRP Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

A set of images from Skyraider Association reunion and tribute events, featuring veterans and enthusiasts gathered at an airfield, a man posing on a restored warbird's wing, and a Douglas A-1 Skyraider taking off in period camouflage. Also included is an official USAF Brigadier General portrait, tying the collection together through shared Vietnam War-era Air Commando and Special Operations history.

Proud American

The Don Englebreston Collection

A flight-line photograph from Vietnam featuring the Douglas A-1 Skyraider "The Proud American" in the foreground, with a second Skyraider taxiing on perforated steel planking behind it. The caption describes the rugged, propeller-driven A-1's distinguished service in close air support and search-and-rescue escort roles.

Pictures Walgreens

The Don Englebreston Collection

A 6th Special Operations Squadron A-1 Skyraider banks low over mountainous jungle at dusk, a camouflaged Skyraider flies in formation with a full bomb load, and barbed wire and a guard tower stand silhouetted along an airbase perimeter. Taken by pilots from neighboring aircraft and around the base itself, these images offer a firsthand view of Air Commando strike and rescue-support operations during the Vietnam War.

Pictures

The Don Englebreston Collection

A mixed group of images spanning a reunion banquet under a skull-and-wings special operations banner, a "Spad Symposium" panel at the 2014 SOAR reunion, an aerial view of Vietnamese triple-canopy jungle, and a handmade brass "Mech Man" sculpture on a family dining table. Together they trace the long afterlife of Vietnam-era special operations service, from the terrain that made close air support so difficult to the veterans still sharing their recollections decades later.

PHOTOSHOP TEMP

The Don Englebreston Collection

A nature photograph showing a great blue heron, mallard ducks, and basking turtles sharing a log along a riverbank. The image captures everyday wildlife coexisting near a quiet waterway.

Photos from family

The Don Englebreston Collection

Keepsakes from the DeTar family collection: a sepia-toned portrait sketch of Dean DeTar smiling from his cockpit, and nine airmen posed before their aircraft under hand-painted "Iron Horse / Maiden Lane" nose art. Hand-drawn portraits and group photographs taken in front of an assigned aircraft were cherished traditions of wartime service, holding onto both the camaraderie of squadron life and the identity crews gave their machines.

Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

Photographs from Lt. Col. Gene McCarley's MACV-SOG collection: the Operation Tailwind ground commander briefing his team, an indigenous SOG reconnaissance member with a bayoneted rifle at a staging area, candid compound life, and a crate of captured RPG-2 rounds. The images offer a rare look inside the Studies and Observations Group, the classified unit whose Montagnard, Nung, and South Vietnamese irregulars carried out cross-border missions into Laos and Cambodia.

Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

Presents two modern Google Earth screen captures annotated with placemarks proposing locations tied to RT Vermont, including a suspected booby-trap site. The images show how veterans and historians use present-day satellite imagery to relocate wartime MACV-SOG grid coordinates on the ground.

Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

A formal studio portrait captures Air Force officer Glenn R. Manning in service dress uniform, pilot wings and ribbons proudly displayed. Such portraits were a common rite of passage, taken before deployment or upon completing flight training during the Vietnam War era.

Phil Wold 02May15 Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

Phil Wold's photographs from 2 May 2015 follow the "Jim Wold Day" reunion from the museum hangar to the ramp, taking in the A-1 Skyraider "Lieutenant America" (TC 665) in Southeast Asia camouflage, the "Wicked Wabbit" nose art of a restored WWII fighter, luncheon gatherings beneath preserved warbirds, and a flyover overhead. Candid portraits of attendees such as Fred and Dwight, along with a street view from nearby Gatlinburg, round out a personal record of the friendships and travels surrounding the tribute to Brigadier General James W. Wold.

OV-10

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow depicts an OV-10 Bronco awaiting restoration in a museum hangar at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation. It highlights the twin-boom aircraft's Vietnam War role marking targets and coordinating airstrikes as a favored low, slow forward air control plane.

Other

The Don Englebreston Collection

A single image showing eight members in conversation in the reunion display room at the Special Operations Association Reunion XXXVIII, Las Vegas, 2014. The scene features the orange A-1 Skyraider "party suit" and a hall banner marking MACV-SOG's 50th anniversary.

OLAA Slide show WM

The Don Englebreston Collection

Vietnam War photographs of A-1 Skyraiders and the men who flew them — pilots posing beside bomb- and rocket-laden aircraft, air-to-air views of Skyraiders in formation over Southeast Asian terrain, and a busy South Vietnamese town street. Drawn from the Tom Stump, Gary Hawes, and Jax Roberts collections, these aviator-shot images reveal both the firepower of Air Commando close air support and the civilian life that carried on alongside the war.

OLAA Orders

The Don Englebreston Collection

Official 1970 Permanent Change of Station orders reassigning 1st Lt. Charles I. Kasbeer to OL-AA, 56th Special Operations Wing, PACAF. The document reflects the routine paperwork that sent airmen into Vietnam-era special operations assignments.

OLAA Missions

The Don Englebreston Collection

A newspaper clipping titled 'Three Win DFCs For Air Action' reporting on three A-1 Skyraider pilots of the 56th Special Operations Wing at Nakhon Phanom RTAFB. Capt. Richard P. Kent III, 1st Lt. Richard L. Engel, and 1st Lt. Thomas K. Stump were honored with the Distinguished Flying Cross for 1970 combat rescue and close air support missions.

OLAA

The Don Englebreston Collection

Scrapbook and publication pages centered on Operating Location Alpha Alpha, including a composite page from the Don Engebretsen collection pairing A-1 Skyraider "TT 779" in flight with ordnance loading and a squadron reunion. Special Operations Association material rounds out the set, from the 2013-2014 Board of Directors roster to the SOAR XXXVII report cover honoring the shark-mouthed Skyraiders that flew clandestine support for MACV-SOG teams in Laos and Cambodia.

O-1

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow shows a Cessna O-1 Bird Dog, civil registration N10714, undergoing restoration at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation in civilian yellow livery. It highlights the aircraft's Vietnam War role as a forward air control plane prized for its slow-flight ability to mark enemy positions for strike aircraft.

My Pictures UCMC

The Don Englebreston Collection

The tribute graphic "Once a Marine, Always a Marine" shows an elderly veteran whose shadow becomes the young combat Marine he once was. Widely shared as a symbol of the lifelong bond service members carry with their branch and their brothers-in-arms, it was saved here among the collection's Operation Tailwind commemorative materials.

My Pictures D Drive From PS Class

The Don Englebreston Collection

A small collection of striking outdoor scenes, from a whimsical sculpted figure appearing to float on a still garden lake at dawn to a lone gull surveying a wave-battered Pacific coastline. Together these images pair quiet artistry with the raw beauty of the rugged coast.

Museum Newsletter

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two communities mark "Jim Wold Day" on 2 May 2015: a hometown tribute crowd in Hatton, North Dakota, and a Tennessee aviation museum audience gathered for a presentation and veterans panel discussion in the WWII gallery. Between the exhibit cases of flight jackets and uniforms and a relaxed post-event meal, A-1 Skyraider Association members in "We Fly - We Fight" apparel reconnect and keep the stories of the legendary A-1 alive.

MSD from Kasbeer

The Don Englebreston Collection

Friends, family, and fellow veterans gather in a moving group salute during the "last flight" tribute honoring Mel Swanson. Captured at Mel Swanson Day, the image reflects the bonds of service and remembrance shared among those who knew him.

MSD from Jax

The Don Englebreston Collection

A mounted display plaque holding a fragment of original skin from A-1 Skyraider BuNo 139665, photographed at the 'MSD from Jax' gathering on 19 May 2017. Passed among veterans and enthusiasts, small relics like this tie today's reunions directly to an aircraft that flew combat missions in Vietnam.

MSD from Cavender

The Don Englebreston Collection

Scenes from 'Mel Swanson Day': saluting veterans beneath a low Skyraider flyover, warbirds pressing through storm clouds, smoke-trailing formation passes, the restored A-1 'TC 665' taxiing out, and a panel of aircraft skin signed by friends and family in 2017. Together they capture how the aviation community honors its own, from the time-honored formation salute to a daughter's handwritten message reading 'I Love You Daddy Fly High!'

MSD for AAR

The Don Englebreston Collection

A mounted and labeled fragment of original fuselage skin from A-1 Skyraider serial 139665, brought out for display at a veterans' reunion gathering. Small relics like this tie attendees directly to a specific aircraft and the missions it flew, serving as tangible touchstones of squadron history.

Model Pic and Info

The Don Englebreston Collection

A precision-built scale model of the Douglas A-1 Skyraider under a display dome, carrying tail code 'TC 665' and the camouflage worn by U.S. Air Force Skyraiders over Vietnam. The rugged, propeller-driven A-1 could loiter for hours with a heavy ordnance load, making it a mainstay of close air support and Air Commando search-and-rescue escort missions across Southeast Asia.

Misty 50 A and B

The Don Englebreston Collection

Scanned pages 417 and 418 from the "Misty" chapter of a memoir, telling a first-person account of a Vietnam War combat search and rescue mission. The narrative follows the Forward Air Controller, the A-1 Skyraider "Sandy" pilots laying down covering fire, and the "Jolly Green" helicopter crew whose Pararescueman brought the survivor up on a jungle penetrator and hoist.

Misc. Photos from SOG men

The Don Englebreston Collection

A Vietnam War-era aerial photograph capturing smoke and dust boiling up from an airstrike on jungle terrain in Southeast Asia. Shared among MACV-SOG veterans, the image reflects the tactical air strikes SOG reconnaissance teams called in along infiltration routes like the Ho Chi Minh Trail, flown by USAF Air Commando and fighter-bomber crews.

Misc. JPEG's

The Don Englebreston Collection

A U.S. Air Force A-1 Skyraider bearing its distinctive shark's-mouth nose art roars to life on a Vietnam-era flight line as ground crew stand poised to signal the pilot. Preserved in multiple prints within this collection, the image reflects a moment memorable enough to be captured again and again.

Misc. JPEG's

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow offers a close-up view of an aircraft component marked with a red "Remove Before Flight" safety streamer. The image highlights the meticulous ground procedures that kept Vietnam-era combat aircraft safe for takeoff.

Misc. Interesting Shots

The Don Englebreston Collection

A four-engine C-130-family transport skims low over open water in a classic special operations flight profile. Hercules variants like this one supported Air Commando infiltration and airdrop missions during and after the Vietnam War.

MISC

The Don Englebreston Collection

From the Gene McCarley Collection, an indigenous member of a MACV-SOG reconnaissance team packs his gear at a forward operating base before a cross-border mission. Teams like his, drawn largely from Montagnard, Nung, and other indigenous soldiers under American Special Forces advisors, carried out some of the most dangerous reconnaissance operations of the Vietnam War, including Operation Tailwind.

Misc

The Don Englebreston Collection

A Vietnam War-era reference table of TACAN channel data for airfields and remote sites scattered across Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Aircrews — including A-1 Skyraider pilots working the Ho Chi Minh Trail — leaned on beacons like these for en-route navigation, target bearing, and the flight home.

Misc

The Don Englebreston Collection

First Lt. James F. Seith taxis his shark-mouthed A-1 Skyraider along the flight line at Da Nang Air Base, decked out in a vintage leather flying helmet and goggles. The nose art and old-fashioned gear were a good-humored nod to the propeller-driven Skyraider's WWII-era lineage, aimed at the base's F-4 Phantom pilots.

Misc

The Don Englebreston Collection

Pilot Al Dziuba is pictured on the flight line and seated in the cockpit of an F-4 Phantom II, fully suited for flight with helmet in hand. These photographs capture the personal side of fighter aviation, documenting aircrew alongside the aircraft they flew.

Mel USAF

The Don Englebreston Collection

A family photo album page and a set of hand-tinted studio portraits document the Air Force service of Lt. Col. Melvin G. Swanson, from his early days as a young officer in khaki service dress to his 1970 tour with the 56th Special Operations Wing. Newspaper clippings recording his Distinguished Flying Cross sit beside candid snapshots of rescue-marked aircraft and fellow airmen at Nakhon Phanom RTAFB, Thailand, one of the busiest special operations and combat rescue hubs of the Vietnam War.

Mel Swanson Pictures Military

The Don Englebreston Collection

A 1967 portrait of Jerry Grant in the green beret of U.S. Army Special Forces is paired with a jet fighter silhouetted against a blazing sunset sky. Drawn from the Mel Swanson collection, the two images span the personnel and the imagery of Special Operations and reconnaissance units during the early buildup years of American involvement in Vietnam.

Mel Swanson Personal Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

A personal photo from Mel Swanson's collection of a traveler posing at the 'Standin' on the Corner' park in Winslow, Arizona, in October 2014. This Route 66 landmark commemorates the Eagles' song 'Take It Easy' with a bronze statue and trompe l'oeil mural.

Mel Swanson Family Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

Scrapbook pages and contact sheets from the Mel Swanson family collection capture the everyday side of a veteran's life: holiday visits, card games, birthdays, reunions, and portraits spanning several generations. Mounted on stars-and-stripes paper, these snapshots show how military service and civilian family life were woven together in the same personal archive.

Mel Swanson Day from Frances

The Don Englebreston Collection

A great-granddaughter sits in the cockpit of a preserved vintage military aircraft during an event honoring Lt. Col. Mel Swanson. It is a quiet moment of connection, showing how younger generations discover the aviation legacy and service history that these collections keep alive.

Mel Swanson Day

The Don Englebreston Collection

Family portraits taken beneath the nose of the restored Douglas A-1 Skyraider 'Lieutenant America' — tail code TC-665, marked 'AMERICA' with a stars-and-stripes emblem — alongside a ramp view of the aircraft with its wing folded in classic carrier-deck configuration. Flown by Air Force 'Sandy' pilots and Air Commando squadrons for close air support and combat search and rescue in Vietnam, the Skyraider remains a gathering point where veterans' families keep that service in living memory.

Mel Family USAF and Later

The Don Englebreston Collection

A scanned album page from a veterans' reunion at an aviation museum — a group photo before a preserved gull-wing fighter and a panel discussion among displays of flight suits and period uniforms — joined by a birthday portrait of Lt. Col. Mel Swanson in later life. The pairing shows both sides of a service story: the shared remembrance of comrades and the quiet family milestones that followed a USAF career.

Mel CCN Plaques

The Don Englebreston Collection

An engraved brass plaque presented to Lt. Col. Mel Swanson "from the guys on the ground, CCN," praising him in the blunt, admiring language of the MACV-SOG reconnaissance teams. Tokens like this one speak to the deep trust between air support crews and the ground teams they protected during the covert cross-border operations of the Vietnam War.

Mel Before USAF

The Don Englebreston Collection

Hand-tinted studio portraits of Betty and an unidentified young man, taken around 1949 and predating military service. Delicately colored for a lifelike effect, keepsake portraits like these were commonly exchanged among family members in the years surrounding World War II, adding everyday life to the collection's military photographs.

Mechanical Man

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two views of "Mechanical Man," a whimsical trophy figure handcrafted from salvaged hardware, showcase the inventive spirit of a Vietnam-era Air Force squadron. More than a mascot, this personal artifact captures the camaraderie and humor airmen forged in ready-room culture far from home.

McCarley Slides

The Don Englebreston Collection

MACV-SOG personnel gather beneath the tail of a Marine helicopter at a forward staging area supporting Operation Tailwind. Drawn from the Gene McCarley Collection, the photo documents the men and machines behind a secretive 1970 cross-border mission into Laos.

McCarley Finals

The Don Englebreston Collection

Hatchet Force troops in tiger-stripe camouflage file aboard a CH-53 helicopter under a crew member's direction, caught in the moments before a mission launches. Drawn from the Gene McCarley Collection, the image records the men and machines behind MACV-SOG's clandestine ground operations, including the September 1970 raid into Laos known as Operation Tailwind.

Marine Spad Pictures

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two preserved Skyraiders on static display in the markings of Marine Attack Squadron VMA-332: a restored Douglas AD-5 with its wings folded in period paint, and an A-1 lettered "MR-31." Marine Skyraiders, set apart from Air Force examples by their squadron markings and dark blue-grey finish, flew close air support for Marine and allied ground forces in Vietnam, and these warbirds keep that piston-engine attack legacy in front of the public.

Maj. Woody

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two squadron group photos of Vietnam War airmen posed with their A-1 Skyraiders, "Playboy Spad" and "Woody's Express" (aircraft '460'). The images commemorate the crews who flew and maintained these Skyraiders in close air support and combat search-and-rescue missions.

LW Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

A pilot's-eye tour of the Vietnam War air campaign, from A-1 Skyraiders banking over the coastline and parked wingtip-folded on the ramp to cockpit views through the gunsight pipper, a Cobra gunship lifting off, and the control tower at a busy USAF airfield. The Larry Warren A-1 collection pairs these flying images with the texture of squadron life — a hallway at Da Nang in 1969, the 'Zorro' Air Commando hooches, and a Snoopy Flying Ace comic clipping kept as a keepsake.

Lt America A-1 Model Pictures

The Don Englebreston Collection

A modeler's build of the Douglas A-1 Skyraider 'Lt. America,' from unassembled wing, gun bay, and engine components to the finished aircraft bristling with rockets, bombs, and external tanks. The builder's reference photographs document the structural detail behind an accurate recreation of a Skyraider that flew close air support and downed-airman rescue missions with Air Commando and Special Operations squadrons in Vietnam.

Lt America A-1 Model

The Don Englebreston Collection

A finely detailed scale model recreates the Douglas A-1 Skyraider "Lieutenant America," tail code TC-665, in full camouflage markings with underwing ordnance. Built to preserve the look of a Vietnam-era combat aircraft down to its markings, models like this keep the Skyraider available for study and display long after the originals left service.

Lovebug 208 Pictures

The Don Englebreston Collection

Photographs tied to the "Lovebug 208" mission during the Vietnam War, including a celebratory shot marking a pilot's 100th combat mission over North Vietnam. The set also includes a memorial portrait of 1st Lt. Michael Breeding in his flight gear, honoring his service after he was killed in action on 12 February 1970.

Lloyd TN Air Museum Small JPEG

The Don Englebreston Collection

Flight-line and in-flight photography from the Lloyd TN Air Museum air show, where a camouflaged A-1 Skyraider lifts off against the Great Smoky Mountains, P-51 Mustangs and P-47 Thunderbolts carve through the sky, and yellow T-6 Texans break formation trailing smoke. Static and flying displays put WWII fighters and Vietnam-era attack aircraft on the same tarmac, a rare side-by-side look at two generations of American military aviation still airworthy today.

Lloyd TN Air Museum Pics

The Don Englebreston Collection

A full day at the June 7, 2014 Lloyd TN Air Museum air show, from A-1 Skyraiders taxiing with mock underwing ordnance to T-28 Trojans diving in smoke formation and a trio of P-47s and a P-51 holding tight formation overhead. Crowd and ramp views round out the flying, including veterans and visitors gathered beneath the nose of a restored Skyraider, the propeller-driven "Spad" that flew close air support and rescue escort throughout the Vietnam War.

LF Delta Point TIFF Map Scans

The Don Englebreston Collection

Scanned reference materials from a "Misty" Fast FAC pilot's personal papers, including a Vietnam highlands tactical map, a Navy ordnance card, a TACAN rendezvous table, and a hand-annotated "Delta Points" map covering Laos and the Thai border. These were the working tools of forward air controllers who flew high-speed F-100F missions over the Ho Chi Minh Trail, using precomputed rendezvous coordinates and standardized codes to direct airstrikes during Operation Commando Hunt.

LF Delta Point Maps Refined

The Don Englebreston Collection

A refined tactical chart from the Lynn Farnsworth Delta Point collection traces a hand-drawn network of roads and trails through Vietnam's Central Highlands along the North-South border. This working map reveals the meticulous groundwork behind Misty Forward Air Controller missions tracking enemy supply routes on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Larry Warren Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

A unit sign for the 56th Special Operations Wing "SPADS," from the Larry Warren collection, displaying the nickname carried by the wing's A-1 Skyraider crews in Vietnam. The 56th SOW flew close air support, interdiction, and search-and-rescue escort missions across Southeast Asia, and this hand-lettered marker stood as the everyday emblem of that work.

LARRY WARREN FILES

The Don Englebreston Collection

A January 1971 letter from A-1 Skyraider pilot Larry Warren to fellow pilot Don Engebretsen discusses their squadron's award records as the unit stood down from combat. It also somberly notes the loss of three fellow pilots during the squadron's final months flying from Danang, offering a personal window into the costs of the Vietnam War.

Larry Cavender L JPEG WM

The Don Englebreston Collection

The A-1 Skyraider "The Ragin' Cajun" banks low over the river lowlands of South Vietnam in this air-to-air photograph by L. Cavender. Its hand-painted nose art carries on a long tradition among American combat aircrews, giving individual character to the rugged Skyraiders that shouldered close air support throughout the war.

Larry Cavender Awards and Decs

The Don Englebreston Collection

The Distinguished Flying Cross citation honors First Lieutenant Larry L. Cavender for extraordinary heroism near Ben Het, South Vietnam, on 27 February 1970. Leading a flight of two A-1H Skyraiders, he made repeated low-level passes under heavy fire to protect a besieged reconnaissance team after two rescue helicopters had already been downed.

Larry Cavender 20b Forms

The Don Englebreston Collection

A page from Larry Cavender's personal flying log, kept on a standard PACAF Form 20b, recording his missions over the Republic of Vietnam from 3 to 6 July. The "SPAD" call signs mark Cavender as an A-1 Skyraider pilot, and the entries — a ferry flight, a functional check flight, and search-and-rescue sorties flown with a Forward Air Controller — preserve the everyday rhythm of a combat pilot's career in granular detail.

LarrisonPics

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow features a veteran-made tribute graphic honoring the A-1 Skyraider alongside aerial views of Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam, captured in 1965. Together the images highlight both the emotional bond pilots felt for their aircraft and the scale of the bustling wartime airbase that supported them.

LarrisonPics

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two postwar tribute graphics honor the A-1 Skyraider, nicknamed the "Spad," pairing an image of a tail-coded aircraft with an Ernest Hemingway quotation on flying and a humorous "Round Engines" page dedicated to radial-engine warbirds. Both pieces, created by veterans, reflect the lasting affection Vietnam-era pilots and mechanics held for their propeller-driven aircraft.

LANE+4

The Don Englebreston Collection

Helicopters dominate this Operation Tailwind sequence: CH-46 Sea Knights ferrying troops into Laos, a CH-53 hauling a sling load, and UH-1 Hueys crowding a dusty forward airstrip beside transport aircraft. Wrecked aircraft along a cratered runway measure the intensity of the September 1970 MACV-SOG raid, a heavily classified operation later recognized through the Medal of Honor awarded to Captain Gary "Mike" Rose.

LANE+3

The Don Englebreston Collection

Aerial and ground views of the Laotian battlefield show shattered forest clearings, a fortified circular encampment with a helicopter, and NVA artillery positions abandoned on cratered, defoliated hilltops. These photographs record the terrain and aftermath of Operation Tailwind, the September 1970 MACV-SOG raid against North Vietnamese Army logistics along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

LANE+1

The Don Englebreston Collection

A camp dog rests in the sand beside a sandbagged bunker and pallet walkway at a Vietnam-era forward operating base. Part of an album connected to Operation Tailwind material, this quiet scene reveals the daily life and improvised infrastructure of remote camps that rarely appear alongside the era's combat and aviation imagery.

LANE+0

The Don Englebreston Collection

Three Vietnam War images range from a base perimeter of concertina wire, bunkers, and a busy motor pool to a hand-painted H&MS-16 avionics shop sign and an AH-1 Cobra gunship banking through hazy Southeast Asian skies. Drawn from the Operation Tailwind collection, they capture both the logistics infrastructure and the barracks humor behind the cross-border missions into Laos that Cobra gunships and Air Commando aircraft supported.

Lance Sijan Memorial WI 19Aug18

The Don Englebreston Collection

A visit to the Captain Lance P. Sijan Memorial in Wisconsin on 19 August 2018, from the F-4 Phantom II gate guardian and memorial plaza with its American and POW/MIA flags to a replica of the headstone the North Vietnamese Army placed at his gravesite, and wildflowers beside the path. The Milwaukee native and Air Force Academy graduate was shot down over Laos in 1967, evaded capture for six weeks despite severe injuries, and died in captivity in 1968, becoming the first Academy graduate awarded the Medal of Honor.

Ken Brown Pictures

The Don Englebreston Collection

A formal group portrait of an A-1 Skyraider squadron at Nakhon Phanom (NKP), posed beneath one of their aircraft with a printed caption naming all twenty-three airmen. The image preserves the identities and camaraderie of a squadron that flew strike and search-and-rescue escort missions from Southeast Asian bases during the Vietnam War.

Ken Brown 20b OLAA Only No Form5

The Don Englebreston Collection

Handwritten pages from an A-1 Skyraider pilot's personal PACAF Form 20b mission log detail dozens of "Sandy" and search-and-rescue combat sorties flown from Da Nang and Pleiku. Spanning strike missions, bomb damage assessments, and a successful rescue pickup, the log closes with a poignant final entry marking the end of this pilot's Skyraider combat tour.

Ken Brown

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two pieces of personal ephemera from A-1 Skyraider pilot Lt. Kenneth J. Brown Jr., USAF: a squadron Christmas card featuring the nose art of "The Proud American," and a novelty calling card trading on Air Commando gallows humor. The card's "Zorro" and "Sandy" call signs point to the night interdiction and search-and-rescue escort missions A-1 squadrons flew, showing how deployed airmen mixed military pride, holiday warmth, and dark wit to cope with the war.

Kasbeer

The Don Englebreston Collection

Veteran aviators take part in a panel discussion at an aviation museum reunion on May 2, 2015, surrounded by period flight gear and warbird memorabilia. Attendees view projected archival photographs as they recall and share memories of their military service.

JW VIETNAM SCANS JPEG 2

The Don Englebreston Collection

Bomb-laden A-1 Skyraiders on the flight line and taxiing out for strike missions, paired with candid portraits of Air Force personnel off duty and at work in a squadron office. Drawn from the Larry Cavender collection, these Vietnam War images balance the Skyraider's legendary firepower against the everyday camaraderie and paperwork that kept flying operations running.

JW JPEG

The Don Englebreston Collection

Airmen and aircraft of the "Home of the Spads" — Douglas A-1 Skyraiders taxiing out, a radial engine coughing to life amid ground crews and rocket pods, and servicemen posing beside unit signs and base buildings. Likely photographed at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base with the 56th Special Operations Wing, these images capture the close air support and rescue-escort world of the Air Commandos, down to hand-painted nose art and shirtless crews working in Southeast Asian heat.

JW Final JPEG WM Sm

The Don Englebreston Collection

A candid Vietnam War snapshot of servicemen unwinding at a Pleiku party, complete with an improvised drinking gag involving an oversized syringe. Moments like this reveal the human side of life at Pleiku, a forward base that served as a key staging area for MACV-SOG operations into Laos and Cambodia.

JW Final JPEG WM Med

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two USAF airmen, one in OG-107 jungle fatigues and one in Air Commando flight gear, pose beside a hand-lettered sign for Lt. Col. J.W. Wold, a Special Operations Wing commander at a Southeast Asia air base. The photograph documents the people and improvised facilities of USAF special operations bases, where Skyraider and other Air Commando squadrons flew unconventional warfare and rescue missions during the Vietnam War.

JW Final JPEG WM Lg

The Don Englebreston Collection

Images from the John Weinig collection, including the raucous "last Spad party" marking an A-1 Skyraider squadron's farewell at Pleiku Air Base, a pilot portrait in flight suit and survival vest, and an airman crossing the ramp in camouflage fatigues. Taken against the slatted metal revetments that shielded Southeast Asian air bases from mortar and rocket attack, these personal snapshots record both the gear of American aircrew and the bonds forged among the pilots and ground crews who kept the "Spad" flying.

JW Final JPEG Lg

The Don Englebreston Collection

A Vietnam War-era portrait of U.S. Air Force pilot John Weinig, photographed in the flight suit and survival vest worn by aircrew on combat sorties. The vest he wears was a downed airman's lifeline, carrying radios, signaling devices, and first aid supplies to sustain him until rescue arrived.

JW 100% Watermarked

The Don Englebreston Collection

U.S. Air Force personnel pose beneath a hand-painted "Home of the Spads" sign at a Vietnam War-era airbase, its artwork depicting a World War I SPAD fighter biplane. That WWI aircraft lent its name to the nickname aircrews later gave the Douglas A-1 Skyraider, and squadron signage like this reinforced unit pride and identity for men serving far from home.

JW

The Don Englebreston Collection

Spectators photograph a bare-metal A-1 Skyraider taxiing on the ramp at a 2015 warbird reunion, and veterans pose for a group portrait before a beautifully restored Skyraider at the Jim Wold Day gathering. Among them are "Spad/Sandy" pilot John Weinig and fellow veteran Chuck Koehler in a "Save the A-10" shirt, a reminder that the Vietnam-era attack aircraft found a spiritual successor in the A-10 Thunderbolt II.

JPG w WM

The Don Englebreston Collection

Six watermarked photographs, credited to S. Kasbeer, from SOAR XLII, the 2018 Special Operations Association Reunion in Las Vegas, showing veterans signing photo books beside Tennessee Museum of Aviation Skyraider "Lieutenant America" prints and posing with the restored aircraft's banner. Additional images show attendees at the registration table, a leadership group portrait before the American flag, and socializing in the hospitality room.

JPEG WM

The Don Englebreston Collection

Three Vietnam War photographs from the Doc Blanchard Collection: airmen unwinding on a Vietnamese beach, a USAF pilot strapping into his cockpit before a mission, and a flier soaked with water in the traditional "fini-flight" celebration beside an A-1 Skyraider. Together they trace the rhythm of an Air Commando tour, from hard-won rest and pre-mission ritual to the squadron milestone that marked a final combat sortie.

JPEG WM

The Don Englebreston Collection

A restored radial-engine helicopter of the H-19/S-55 type on display at an aviation museum, its nose cowling opened to show the engine. The rotorcraft is shown alongside a vintage military support truck and other warbirds, highlighting mid-20th-century military aviation.

JPEG WM

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow presents a striking image of a burned helicopter wreckage lying in the highlands, tied to Operation Tailwind, a covert 1970 incursion into Laos during the Vietnam War. The photograph documents the harsh realities faced by U.S. forces during this clandestine military operation.

JPEG w WM

The Don Englebreston Collection

Close details of a preserved Sikorsky CH-34 helicopter at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation, from its tail rotor assembly to a bullet hole still ringed with stress fractures in a cabin window. The CH-34 flew transport and search-and-rescue missions in the 1950s and 60s and into the early Vietnam War, including VNAF "Kingbee" variants that carried MACV-SOG reconnaissance teams in and out of hostile territory.

JPEG SM WM

The Don Englebreston Collection

Scenes from forward bases in Southeast Asia during the Operation Tailwind era: a C-123 Provider taxiing past staged UH-1 Hueys, a row of rocket-armed AH-1 Cobra gunships on a dirt airstrip, a pilot beside the hand-lettered "Dak To Officers Club" ammo-crate bunker, and reconnaissance soldier Sorsby holding a python. From the Barry Pencek collection, the set pairs the aircraft that sustained covert MACV-SOG missions along the Ho Chi Minh Trail with the improvised humor and moments of levity that got airmen through the days between them.

JPEG SM for OLAA GROUP EMAIL WM

The Don Englebreston Collection

A Douglas A-1 Skyraider "Lieutenant America" fires up its engine on the flight line at an OLAA reunion. This Vietnam-era warbird, once flown on search-and-rescue and close air support missions, remains a beloved performer at veteran reunions and air shows today.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Three moments from "Jim Wold Day" on 2 May 2015: conversation among guests outdoors, a museum gallery presentation surrounded by WWII Army Air Forces flight jackets, a parachute, and a period helmet, and a volunteer seated in the cockpit of a preserved A-1 Skyraider. The Skyraider's nose stencil crediting Pilot Lt Randy Scott and Crew Chief Sgt Mike Long reflects the wartime practice of naming both pilot and maintainer on single-seat combat aircraft, tying the day's remembrance to the Air Commando service history it honors.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Ten reduced-size renditions of professional event photographs from the 2014 SOAR reunion symposium, featuring named veterans including Doug Carmichael, Levy Rentz, Don Engebretsen, and Larry Warren in Skyraider party suits and unit patches. Captions also note guests such as Linda Chapman-Henry taking part in the question-and-answer sessions.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Ten photographs from SOAR XXXIX, the 2015 Special Operations Association Reunion, capturing panelist Q&A exchanges, floor-microphone questions, and a wide view of the banquet hall. Personalized caps and patches, including one nicknamed "GIBBER" and a portrait of "Doc Blanchard," reflect the camaraderie among Air Commando and special operations aviation veterans.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Personal Vietnam War photographs pairing A-1 Skyraiders on the flight line, fully armed engine run-ups, low takeoffs past parked C-130s, and an HH-3E "Jolly Green Giant" rescue helicopter with candid squadron parties, cockpit preparations, and champagne celebrations. Drawn from the Doc Blanchard and Bob Karre collections, these snapshots show both the strike and rescue missions flown by Air Commando squadrons and the off-duty camaraderie that sustained the men who flew them.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Helicopter photographs from Operation Tailwind, the September 1970 MACV-SOG operation into Laos: a haze-shrouded formation crossing open water, an AH-1 Cobra escorting Hueys over mountainous jungle along the Laotian border, and a row of Cobra gunships staged at a forward airfield. Shot from within the formations themselves by participants in the Barry Pencek collection, these images convey the scale and coordination needed to insert, protect, and extract reconnaissance teams deep in contested territory.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A perpetual Julian date calendar served as a standard U.S. Air Force reference chart during the Vietnam War era. It was used to convert calendar dates into three-digit day-of-year codes for logistics, maintenance, and message records.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

An aerial look down on Pleiku Air Base in Vietnam's Central Highlands, home to Air Commando and Special Operations squadrons during the war. Revetments line the runway to shield aircraft from rocket and mortar attack, while a nearby salvage yard holds the wreckage of those lost to enemy action or accident — photographed by Don Dineen.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Ten reduced-size images of symposium speakers and audience members at the 38th Special Operations Association Reunion in Las Vegas, 2014, held to mark MACV-SOG's 50th anniversary. Don Engebretsen appears repeatedly in his orange A-1 Skyraider party suit alongside other named attendees such as Doug Carmichael, Dan Wall, and Larry Warren.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Ten photographs from SOAR XXXIX, the 2015 Special Operations Association Reunion, documenting the general session ballroom, breakout gatherings, and podium remarks beneath the Association's skull-and-green-beret emblem. Close-up insignia details include a Skyraider cap, a shirt referencing "Spad," and a sleeve patch combining an American flag, Thai flag ribbon, and Air America horse emblem.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A USAF ground crewman poses beside an A-1 Skyraider loaded with 2.75-inch rocket pods on a South Vietnam flight line, paired with two servicemen in tiger-stripe camouflage and berets before a large radome installation. The Skyraider was prized by Air Commando and 'Sandy' rescue-escort squadrons for its heavy ordnance load and long loiter time, while the taped rifle magazines in the second image reveal a field-expedient technique common among Special Forces and reconnaissance troops.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Three USAF reference and record documents include a cause-of-loss code sheet, a status/movement card tracking A-1H Skyraider serial 52-139665 across Southeast Asian air bases, and a Julian Date Calendar used to decode military date codes. Together they illustrate the administrative systems the Air Force used to track aircraft fate, basing history, and record-keeping during the Vietnam War.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A USAF pilot poses proudly before a mission with his A-1 Skyraider, personalized with the nose art name "Sweet Betty Lou," during the Vietnam War. The image reflects the tradition of personalized nose art common among Air Commando aircrews, tying squadron identity to personal connections back home.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Personal Vietnam War snapshots including a RECON-hatted Army Staff Sergeant named Sorsby holding a python at his forward operating base, a candid moment between two young servicemen, and a Cobra gunship pilot posing on the skid of "VT 25" at a Central Highlands airfield. From the Barry Pencek collection tied to Operation Tailwind, the September 1970 MACV-SOG raid into Laos, these images capture both the camaraderie of camp life and the aviation muscle behind a high-risk cross-border mission.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A Montagnard soldier of a MACV-SOG force walks to safety laughing despite a fresh head wound, photographed during or just after Operation Tailwind. Part of the Gene McCarley Collection assembled for the historical record of the September 1970 cross-border raid into Laos, it stands as a striking testament to the courage and human cost borne by the indigenous troops who fought alongside American Special Forces.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A contact sheet of Kodak prints dated June 1970 and processed in Thailand, documenting daily life around A-1 Skyraider attack aircraft during the Vietnam War. Frame by frame it shows ground crews servicing the planes, aircrew in flight suits, and a lei-and-fire-hose celebration marking a pilot's completed combat tour, a tradition common to Southeast Asia-based squadrons.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

From a pilot training class posed before a North American T-28 Trojan to a triumphant "fini flight" hose-down, these photographs trace the Air Force career of Major Mel Swanson. A family portrait of Swanson in service dress holding his young daughter Frances rounds out the set, placing the traditions and milestones of military aviation alongside the family life that continued beside them.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Three Special Orders issued by Headquarters 7th Air Force in 1970 and 1971, awarding and amending Air Medals, Oak Leaf Clusters, and Distinguished Flying Crosses for airmen serving in Southeast Asia. Preserved in the Mel Swanson collection, including the order crediting Major Melvin G. Swanson with a 1st Oak Leaf Cluster to his Air Medal, these papers are primary-source proof of the recognition earned mission after mission.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

From the Byron Hukee Collection, a U.S. Air Force A-1 Skyraider -- affectionately nicknamed the "Spad" -- banks through the sky laden with fuel tanks and ordnance during a Vietnam-era sortie. The photograph captures the enduring toughness of an aircraft prized by Air Commando and Special Operations squadrons for close air support and rescue-escort missions.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A close-up photograph from the Jax Roberts Collection showing severe structural damage to a military aircraft. The damage likely resulted from combat or a crash landing during the Vietnam War and was documented for maintenance and investigative purposes.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow features a close air support aircraft banking low over the jungle canopy, photographed from the ground during Operation Tailwind. Aircraft such as the A-1 Skyraider provided vital protective fire for MACV-SOG reconnaissance teams operating deep in hostile territory.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Four Vietnam War Air Commando veterans sign books and photographs for visitors at a June 2014 reunion event at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation, with a banner referencing the 56th Special Operations Wing's covert Operating Location Alpha Alpha. A second, unrelated snapshot shows a handmade folk-art figure crafted from repurposed brass hardware, photographed in a home dining room.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A veteran climbs into the cockpit of a lovingly restored A-1 Skyraider named "Marlene," its nose art proudly declaring it "Uncle Ho's Nightmare." Reunion events like this one give former Skyraider pilots a rare chance to sit again in the aircraft that carried them through some of the most demanding combat missions of the Vietnam War.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A restored A-1 Skyraider banks low across the airfield with the Great Smoky Mountains rising behind it, its unmistakable silhouette recalling the close air support missions that defined the type in Vietnam. Jim Wold's photograph keeps the sound and spectacle of these historic warbirds alive for a new generation.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Two pages of a September 1970 commendation letter honor Forward Air Controllers of the 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron for a perilous three-day rescue under enemy fire and severe weather, tied to the classified Operation Tailwind incursion into Laos. Signed by unit commanders, the documents highlight the dangerous, often under-recognized missions FACs flew directing close air support over the Pleiku Highlands.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Airmen unwind in a wood-paneled barracks day room decorated with squadron mementos, a framed helicopter citation, a guitar, and a reel-to-reel tape recorder. From the Larry Cavender collection, this Vietnam War-era view reveals the personal spaces servicemen built for themselves far from home.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

From the Bob Karre personal collection, this slideshow documents leisure travel through the British countryside, featuring sheep and cattle at English agricultural shows, an ornately iced celebration cake, and moorland landscapes. It also includes scenes from a British showground military field display, with spectators watching a field gun towed past the grandstand, sitting alongside the collection's broader military and rural travel photography.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A close detail photograph from the Jax Roberts collection documenting severe damage to a combat aircraft's wing spar structure, likely inflicted by flak or ground fire during a mission over Vietnam. Images like this one served maintenance crews assessing whether an airframe could be repaired, and they remain a stark illustration of the punishment military aircraft absorbed while still bringing their crews home.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A restored Douglas A-1 Skyraider makes a low pass during a reunion flyover event on 2 May 2015. The flight carries on the legacy of the aircraft's service as a rugged, heavily-armed close air support platform during the Vietnam War.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

"Mechanical Man," a handmade Vietnam-era squadron trophy assembled from repurposed metal fittings, a leather flying helmet, a playful wig, and a playing card. Improvised keepsakes like this one served as informal mascots and presentation trophies, evidence of the humor and morale-building traditions that bound Air Force aircrews together.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Family photographs from the years before Mel Swanson's Air Force career: a 1930s-era portrait outside a modest frame house, the boy and his brother Earnie on the running board of the family car and posing with the family dog, formal studio sittings of the two brothers, and portraits believed to show their parents from the late 1920s or early 1930s. Long before he flew A-1 Skyraiders as a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, this was the small-town family life that shaped him, and these images ground the collection's military record in the ordinary childhood that came first.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Restored A-1 Skyraiders take center stage at a May 2019 aviation heritage event, from "TC 665" on the ramp in its Vietnam-era camouflage to a pair of the aircraft being repositioned by volunteers inside a museum hangar. A veteran seated in a Skyraider cockpit and a visitor studying a warbird's reflector gunsight show why these reunions matter, reconnecting former Air Commandos and their families with the aircraft that carried them through the Vietnam War.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

An official U.S. Air Force Form 5 flight record logging Lt. Col. Melvin G. Swanson's A-1 Skyraider combat sorties in September 1970. Part of a career exceeding 3,500 flying hours and over 354 hours of combat time, this document offers precise, verifiable evidence of the pace and intensity of Skyraider operations in Vietnam.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Douglas A-1 Skyraiders dominate this Tailwind Day Redux gallery — wings folded on the Museum of Aviation ramp, engines running with rocket pods slung underwing, climbing head-on under a full ordnance load, and flying formation in a commemorative flyover — alongside a camouflaged T-28-type Trojan, the quiet event airfield, and a veterans' reunion dinner from April 2018. The "Spad" and its Air Commando crews flew the close air support that shielded the ground force during the 1970 MACV-SOG raid into Laos, and these restored survivors let veterans and enthusiasts honor that mission in the air decades later.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Air Force combat search-and-rescue airmen share a lighthearted off-duty moment, their 'Jolly Green Giant' and skull-and-crossbones 'Air Pirate' patches on full display. Those patches mark the crews of the HH-3E and HH-53 rescue helicopters and the irreverent squadron culture that helped them cope with recovering downed airmen from deep in hostile territory.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Vietnam War-era snapshots of two USAF airmen posing beneath a Special Operations Wing sign bearing the name of their commander, Lt. Col. J.W. Wold, and a pilot standing beside his A-1 Skyraider and its underwing ordnance. Keepsake photographs like these, taken between missions, give a rare human glimpse of the Air Commando airmen who flew unconventional warfare and close air support sorties over Southeast Asia.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

An aerial photograph by Cobra gunship pilot Robert Denlinger captures smoke rising from a coordinated air strike across a jungle valley in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. The strike targeted enemy infiltration routes, supply caches, and troop concentrations along the Laos-Cambodia border, part of MACV-SOG operations.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Three Vietnam-era images from the Jax Roberts collection: battle damage inspection on an aircraft, a decoration ceremony for pilot Roberts, and an indoor portrait of a young serviceman in a flight suit. Together they portray the risks, honors, and personal moments of Air Commando and Special Operations aircrews during the war.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Images from the Gene McCarley Collection document the Operation Tailwind area of operations in Laos, with aerial views of airstrike smoke rising along a jungle river, a soldier crossing a bomb-scarred clearing, a MACV-SOG ground team pausing in the jungle, and reconnaissance troops posing with a captured portrait of Ho Chi Minh. Preserved by the officer who led the September 1970 raid, these photographs give a rare, unfiltered view of the terrain and daily risk of one of the Vietnam War's most highly classified ground operations.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A formal studio portrait of Mel Swanson in civilian attire, alongside a golf-outing snapshot of Mel with former NFL star Darrell Green beside a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Both images document the life and personal connections Swanson built after his U.S. Air Force service, complementing the military history preserved elsewhere in the archive.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A restored Douglas A-1 Skyraider, tail code "TC," sweeps low over a wooded hillside during a commemorative flying display. Once flown in close air support of ground troops in Vietnam, surviving Skyraiders like this one still take to the skies at airshows and memorial events to honor that legacy.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A pilot drenched in the traditional mission-completion hose-down, paired with an A-1 Skyraider banking against a wall of towering cumulus. Side by side, the images capture both the 'fini-flight' rituals that marked milestones like a 100th mission and the propeller-driven attack aircraft that anchored Air Commando close air support throughout the war.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A single air-to-air photograph from the Rufe Harris Collection captures an A-1 Skyraider banking over dense jungle mountains in Southeast Asia, shot from a wingman's cockpit. The image reflects the formation flying and mutual visual coverage tactics used by Air Commando and Special Operations Squadron pilots over hostile Vietnam War terrain.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Two photographs from the personal collection of Jax Roberts: an aircrew member in flight suit and survival harness beside tiered steel racks of ordnance and external fuel tanks, and the shredded outer wing panel of an A-1 Skyraider hit by enemy ground fire. Together they show both sides of the Vietnam air war in Southeast Asia, the logistics yard that armed daily combat sorties and the battle damage a Skyraider could absorb on low-altitude close air support and "Sandy" rescue escort missions and still bring its pilot home.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Veterans connected to Operation Tailwind gather for a group portrait beneath an American flag and ceremonial unit colors in a military headquarters setting, an image preserved in the Gene McCarley Collection. Tailwind was a 1970 MACV-SOG cross-border reconnaissance mission in Laos, later the subject of a widely publicized and ultimately retracted 1998 media controversy, and photographs like this one mark the reunions and official proceedings that brought its participants back together decades afterward.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A commemorative insignia set — decal, pins, and patch — honors the Douglas A-1H Skyraider pilots known as "Spads," who flew search-and-rescue and close air support for MACV-SOG's classified Prairie Fire operations in Laos. Worn and displayed by veterans and their associations, emblems like these keep the memory of those dangerous missions in circulation.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Scenes from "Jim Wold Day" at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation in May 2015, where attendees line the ramp fence to watch the restored A-1 Skyraider "TC 665" taxi out for a demonstration flight. Commemorative "Lieutenant America" shirts, "A-1H Skyraider" caps, and SPAD apparel identify the veterans, volunteers, and warbird enthusiasts who gathered to honor the aircraft that flew thousands of close air support and rescue missions in Vietnam.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A Warbird Digest magazine feature spotlights the restored A-1H Skyraider "Lieutenant America," owned and flown by Neal Melton of the Tennessee Museum of Aviation. Meticulously refurbished by WestPac Restorations while preserving its authentic Vietnam War-era paint scheme, the aircraft keeps alive the legacy of its combat service and 1972 nose art tradition.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow preserves multiple frames and versions of USAF Photo 99805, showing Colonel Gene Deatrick smiling from the cockpit of rebuilt A-1 Skyraider #649 at Pleiku Air Base. The images document his final 40-minute test flight in Vietnam, verifying the aircraft's airworthiness after a major rebuild and crediting the stenciled-on crew chiefs who kept it combat-ready.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A finely detailed scale model of the Douglas A-1 Skyraider 'Lieutenant America,' finished in Vietnam-era camouflage and displayed beneath a glass dome. Models like this preserve the liveries and personal nose-art markings of historic combat aircraft for collectors and researchers.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

An operational reference map of the Laos-Cambodia-South Vietnam tri-border region, laying out the rugged terrain and remote road network that shaped every cross-border mission. It is the ground MACV-SOG reconnaissance and Hatchet Force teams moved through on operations such as Tailwind, launched from South Vietnam into Laos in September 1970.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Six photographs from SOAR XLII, the 2018 Special Operations Association Reunion in Las Vegas, showing veterans signing photo books, conferring near the registration table, and posing with a Tennessee Museum of Aviation A-1 Skyraider "Lieutenant America" banner. Additional images document a leadership group portrait before the American flag and attendees socializing in the hospitality room.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A photographic sweep of A-1 Skyraider operations from the Jax Roberts collection, with combat-loaded aircraft banking hard over Southeast Asia, tail codes "T S" and "TT" on the runway, a barrier cable engagement after landing, and a silhouetted Spad heavy with ordnance shot from a companion aircraft. Between the air-to-air frames are the quieter details of aircrew life, a flight helmet and oxygen mask resting on a cockpit harness, pilots climbing down with ground crewmen assisting, and a weathered family graduation portrait that anchors the collection in the world these airmen came from.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Gene McCarley and fellow servicemen display a captured enemy pennant during the classified Operation Tailwind incursion into Laos. Conducted in September 1970 by MACV-SOG forces, the mission remains one of the Vietnam War's most daring and controversial covert operations.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

An embroidered patch set on a flight suit reading "Sandy," "Super Spad," and "Firefly," the mission nicknames earned by A-1 Skyraider pilots in Vietnam. Each name marks a different job: "Sandy" for the rescue escorts who shielded downed airmen, "Firefly" for night flare-illumination sorties, a small piece of cloth that captures how much was asked of Skyraider crews.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Three images of the "SPADS for MACVSOG" exhibit stand and its volunteers, plus a wide view of a symposium session seen from the back of the hall, at the 38th Special Operations Association Reunion in Las Vegas, 2014. Captions describe the Da Nang Skyraider detachment's support of MACV-SOG reconnaissance teams and the orange party suits worn by attending veterans.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

An aerial reconnaissance photograph of Highway 110 in Laos, paired with a historical account of MACV-SOG 'Hatchet Force' operations along that stretch of road. These company-sized, Special Forces-led units ran SLAM missions, Search, Locate, Annihilate, Monitor, to disrupt enemy movement on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Decades after flying combat missions from Danang Air Base, a group of A-1 Skyraider veterans reunites for a group photo beside a lovingly restored example of their old aircraft. The image serves as a testament to the enduring bonds forged among Vietnam War aviators.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Features four watermarked images from the Edward Blyth collection: a MACV-SOG reconnaissance team at a launch site, a field portrait of Blyth, a soldier and crewman aboard an in-flight UH-1, and wounded servicemen at the 71st Evacuation Hospital in Pleiku, January 1970. The photos document the sterile, unmarked appearance of cross-border reconnaissance personnel and include Medal of Honor recipient Franklin D. "Doug" Miller among the wounded pictured.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

The bronze plaque at Wisconsin's Lance P. Sijan Memorial, reproducing the Medal of Honor citation awarded posthumously to the Air Force captain. Sijan evaded capture for six weeks after ejecting over North Vietnam and died a prisoner of war without giving his captors information, heroism recognized by President Gerald Ford.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A feature page from Warbird Digest #51 (Nov/Dec 2013) spotlighting the A-1H Skyraider "Lieutenant America," serial number 139665. The spread documents the warbird's restored Vietnam-era paint scheme, its ownership by Neal Melton and the Tennessee Museum of Aviation, and the nickname bestowed by Lt. Randy Scott in 1972.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A tongue-in-cheek graphic showing a pig draped in an "OLAA" banner, created for a 2013 reunion of A-1 Skyraider veterans of the 56th Special Operations Wing. The mascot nods to the wing's classified Operating Locations, run from Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, in support of Air Commando and MACV-SOG missions, and to the humor its veterans carried forward for decades.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Two versions of the same 1969 photograph show a heavy-lift helicopter carrying a recovered A-1 Skyraider slung beneath it after a successful salvage operation. One image is the original vintage print scan and the other a cleaned, cropped edit prepared for publication, both tied to the photo's appearance in Air Force Magazine.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Images from the Gene McCarley Collection follow a MACV-SOG Hatchet Force through Operation Tailwind: Marine CH-53 Sea Stallions with ramps down, Montagnard fighters at rest, captured ordnance on the jungle floor, and team members holding a Ho Chi Minh portrait taken from an overrun enemy headquarters. Assembled by the captain who commanded the ground force during the September 1970 raid into Laos, the set documents the insertions, extractions, and tiger-stripe-clad partnerships at the heart of SOG's covert war along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A commemorative banner titled "SPADS for MACVSOG" honors the A-1 Skyraider pilots and crews of the 56th Special Operations Wing who flew close air support for MACV-SOG's clandestine reconnaissance teams. Centered on a photo of a shark-mouthed Skyraider with smoking engine, it is surrounded by a collage of period photos documenting the unit's aircraft, personnel, and operating locations.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A U.S. Air Force officer known as "Wylie" holds up a bent aircraft component marked "6 Dec 69, A/C 734" outside squadron living quarters at a Southeast Asia air base in 1970. Salvaged parts like this one were common keepsakes among Vietnam-era aircrew, each bent barrel or shrapnel-scarred fitting standing in for a memorable mission or a close call survived.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Two candid snapshots from the Mel Swanson family album, circa 1960 — a lighthearted moment at home and a young woman reclining on the living room sofa with her Siamese cat in March of that year. These domestic images open a window onto everyday American home life at the dawn of the 1960s, complementing the military material held elsewhere in the collection.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Visitors pose among vintage warbirds, aircraft engines, and open restoration bays during a tour of an aviation heritage hangar. Taken on a veterans' reunion trip connected to the Operation Tailwind archive, these photographs record the people — veterans, families, and volunteers — who keep the era's aircraft and stories alive alongside the machines themselves.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Maintenance views from the John Kiland collection: a military aircraft's forward equipment bay opened to reveal its wiring, hydraulic lines, and gauges, and a radial engine stripped of its cowling in a hangar. Together they show the mechanical complexity behind keeping Vietnam-era combat aircraft such as the A-1 Skyraider mission-ready.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A candid snapshot from the Jax Roberts collection showing Air Force personnel in off-duty camaraderie beside a vehicle in Vietnam. The central figure's flight suit, pilot wings, and captain's bars identify him as a pilot, with the name tape "Engebretsen" linking the photo to other squadron members in the archive.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Pages from the unit history and reunion books of Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 "Pegasus" sit alongside combat photographs of a tandem-rotor helicopter recovering another aircraft by sling and a MACV-SOG team extracted "on the string" beneath a helicopter during Operation Tailwind in 1970. Officer rosters, call signs, the embossed "Heavy Haulers" cover, and irreverent squadron cartoons trace the CH-53 crews who flew heavy-lift and extraction missions for MACV-SOG in Vietnam and Laos.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Ten images from the 38th Special Operations Association Reunion in Las Vegas, October 2014, many of them blurred or alternate-rendition frames of vendor-hall and ballroom scenes. Recurring figures include Don and Linda Engebretsen, Melvin Swanson, and James Yu-B, photographed among unit merchandise tables, casino restaurant gatherings, and symposium head tables.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A USAF A-1H Skyraider carrying tail code '6T' and serial 139821 cruises above the clouds on a Vietnam War-era mission with the 633rd Special Operations Wing. Rugged, heavily armed, and able to absorb serious battle damage, the Skyraider was the mainstay of Air Commando close air support and rescue-escort operations throughout the conflict.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Presents three versions of the same briefing notebook spread kept by Capt. Vaughn Bobby Ross for 1, 3 and 5 January 1970: an alternate higher-resolution scan, a duplicate copy, and a full-size original. The entries record radio frequencies and recon teams on the ground, including the 5 January "Wolf Girl" operation annotated for RT Vermont and RT Delaware.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Visitors fill a museum hangar beneath a restored WWII-era fighter, gathered to hear veterans tell their stories firsthand as part of a Veterans History Project presentation. Moments like this one preserve the personal narratives of the men who served while honoring the aircraft that carried them into history.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Reunion attendees gather on an airport ramp beside vintage aircraft, including the preserved Douglas A-1 Skyraider "Lieutenant America," during the 2 May 2015 Jim Wold Day event. The group portraits and candid greetings commemorate the wartime cooperation between American servicemen and their Vietnamese Air Force counterparts who once flew the Skyraider together.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A modern Google Earth satellite image, annotated to mark the operational area of MACV-SOG Recon Team Vermont near the Laos/Vietnam border. It reflects postwar research by veteran Joe Parnar and others to map and document the covert reconnaissance missions of the Studies and Observations Group during the Vietnam War.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A restored A-1 Skyraider nicknamed "TC 685" climbs into the sky after takeoff at a veterans appreciation airshow. The caption notes the Skyraider's Vietnam War roles in close air support, armed reconnaissance, and "Sandy" search-and-rescue escort missions.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Two 1969 group portraits of the 6th Special Operations Squadron at Pleiku Air Base, Vietnam, one showing airmen posed with squadron ordnance. The captions note the squadron flew the A-1 Skyraider, providing close air support and combat rescue escort during demanding wartime missions.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A-1 Skyraider veterans reunite at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation for "General James W. 'Jim' Wold Day" on 2 May 2015, as the restored Skyraider "Lieutenant America" (TC-665) taxis before the crowd with its propeller turning. Caps and name tags reading "SPAD" and "Sandy" mark the close-knit community of airmen who flew close air support and rescue-escort missions over Vietnam, captured here in candid reunion moments from the Don Engebretsen photo collection.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A U.S. Air Force AFTO Form 5 flight record logging the combat hours flown by 1Lt Donald L. Engebretsen in the A-1H Skyraider during late 1969. Kept to the tenth of an hour, ledgers like this one preserve a precise account of a Vietnam-era attack pilot's sortie tempo, day, night and instrument proficiency, and cumulative combat exposure.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow captures a 2016 reunion of veterans from Operation Tailwind, a 1970 MACV-SOG covert cross-border operation into Laos, gathered at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation. The group poses together before a preserved Douglas A-1 Skyraider, the attack aircraft that once provided close air support to special operations forces in Vietnam.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Two unit newspaper clippings from early 1970 reporting on A-1 Skyraider combat operations: Captain Karre's flight covering a downed Army helicopter so an unarmed "Dustoff" medevac could extract five survivors, and a 56th Special Operations Wing strike near Chu Lai flown by "Spad" pilots Maj. Timothy L. Buttermore and 1st Lt. James F. Seith. Written for the servicemembers who flew these missions, these contemporary accounts offer a rare first-person window into the Skyraider's rescue-escort and close air support work in Vietnam.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A member of a MACV-SOG reconnaissance team packs his rucksack at a fortified forward compound, readying for a clandestine crossing into Laos or Cambodia. From the Gene McCarley Collection, the photograph records the gear, dress, and daily routine of the indigenous and American soldiers behind the Vietnam War's most dangerous reconnaissance missions, Operation Tailwind among them.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Excerpted memoir pages from Misty FAC pilot E. Lynn Farnsworth trace his second combat shootdown over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, from the crippled F-100F and ejection through tense hours evading capture in the jungle. The narrative closes with his dramatic rescue, as A-1 Skyraiders suppress enemy fire and a Pararescue Jumper helps hoist him aboard a Jolly Green Giant helicopter.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Two Vietnam War images of A-1 Skyraider operations: pilots Reeves and Ford sprinting across the flight line on a scramble alert, and a ground crewman marshaling Skyraider "ET-570" during a transfer flight from Nha Trang to Phu Cat. Together they capture the rapid-response rhythm of Air Commando and Special Operations squadrons flying close air support and rescue escort.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Ten photographs from SOAR XXXIX, the 2015 Special Operations Association Reunion, showing podium speeches, panel discussions, and audience moments beneath the Association's shield banner and a Budweiser sponsorship sign. Subjects include Doc Blanchard, a veteran linked to the 20th Special Operations Squadron "Green Hornets," and attendees displaying SOG-style patches and POW-MIA insignia.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Two images documenting the SOG/SPAD Symposium as reported in the Special Operations Association's SOAR XXXVIII After Action Report of January 2015. Included are a photo montage of ground reconnaissance veterans and Air Force pilots sharing the floor, and a printed AAR page in which organizer Don Engebretsen describes the symposium's purpose of reuniting Skyraider pilots with the MACV-SOG men they supported.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow presents pages from an Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training class yearbook featuring student pilot Rick Chorlins with his wife Nancy, and honoring 1/Lt Richard D. Chorlins, an Air Force Academy graduate assigned to fly the A-1E Skyraider. These yearbook pages captured the personal lives, personalities, and camaraderie of pilot training classes before graduates went on to fly combat missions during the Vietnam War.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A twin-engine attack aircraft banks overhead in sharp silhouette, caught against the sun during a memorial flyover. The pass honors Vietnam-era aircrew, and the image turns a moment of remembrance into something close to a monument.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A Vietnam War photo set centered on the A-1 Skyraider "Peregrine" and its crews, ranging from air-to-air views above tropical clouds and an F-4 Phantom II on the runway to squadron parties, base mascot dogs, a scorched flight helmet kept as a memento, and 12.7mm armor-piercing fragments recovered from a battle-damaged A-1H. The mix of combat records and personal snapshots shows both the hazards Skyraider pilots faced on close air support and rescue-escort missions and the daily life they built between them.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Candid snapshots of Air Force personnel off duty during the Vietnam War, including airmen relaxing near a 'SPADS' sign referencing the A-1 Skyraider. Also pictured are four servicemen in mixed uniforms pausing for a photo outside their billeting quarters in Southeast Asia.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A warm family snapshot shows Jim and Joanne Wold seated with their Irish Setter at their rural home. This personal moment adds a human dimension alongside the military records and service photographs preserved elsewhere in the collection.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

An A-1 Skyraider pilot grins for the camera on the flight line, standing before his 'RESCUE'-marked aircraft. Skyraiders like this one flew as 'Sandy' escorts in Vietnam, laying down covering fire and guiding the helicopters that pulled downed aircrew out of hostile territory.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Scanned book pages present first-person combat narratives from Vietnam War aviators, including a "Misty" Fast FAC account of an F-100 Super Sabre being hit over the Ho Chi Minh Trail and its crew ejecting. Another excerpt describes a downed airman's rescue, coordinated by Covey and Sandy forward air controllers and completed by a Jolly Green helicopter crew and pararescueman under fire.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Two period newspaper clippings tell the rescue story from the ground up: a November 1969 account of four 56th Special Operations Wing A-1 pilots, among them 1Lt Albert J. 'Jax' Roberts III, who covered Navy Commander Lloyd W. Richards after he ejected over enemy territory, and Richards' own letter of thanks. The second, from Air Force Times in April 1970, follows Capt. Laurence C. Johnson, pulled accidentally from a C-130 over Southeast Asia and found at dawn near enemy troops by a Skyraider before a Jolly Green Giant hoisted him out.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A restored Douglas A-1 Skyraider climbs away after takeoff, shown from the rear three-quarter view in its authentic Vietnam-era camouflage and tail code. The caption highlights the Skyraider's rugged, heavily armed design and its valued role in close air support and "Sandy" rescue-escort missions.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Air-to-air views of A-1 Skyraiders banking above the clouds and in formation, a Navy F-4 Phantom of VF-114 refueling by probe-and-drogue, a battle-scarred hangar on a Vietnam flight line, and a comparative display of ammunition from 37mm anti-aircraft rounds to a .38 pistol cartridge. Drawn largely from the Don Fulton collection, these candid frames shot from cockpits and flight lines capture the everyday reality of Air Commando Skyraider flying and the constant threat under which Vietnam air bases operated.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Captured air-to-air by a fellow aviator, an A-1 Skyraider banks against a wall of towering monsoon-season clouds somewhere over Vietnam. It is a rare look at the beautiful, unforgiving sky that framed the Skyraider's demanding low-and-slow combat missions.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A preserved piece of history: an original skin fragment from A-1 Skyraider 139665, mounted as a memorial plaque and photographed at a personal gathering held in tribute. This quiet keepsake honors the aircraft's Vietnam War service, including its role in covert MACV-SOG operations, as part of the remembrance known as "Mel Swanson Day."

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Two off-duty scenes from a Southeast Asia air base: squadron members celebrating before a decorated clubhouse facade, and a close look at the patches on a pilot's custom 'party suit' at the officers' club. One patch reads 'SANDY,' the call sign of the A-1 Skyraider pilots who flew rescue escort over Vietnam and Laos, shielding downed airmen until helicopters could reach them.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A-1 Skyraiders on the Vietnam-era flight line: one under tow, another bristling with rockets and bombs, and "Magnet Ass" No. 618 with ground crew tending its pilot, alongside four servicemen relaxing with beers on a covered porch. Together the images pair the propeller-driven "Spad" -- prized for its heavy ordnance load, long loiter time, and battle-damage survivability on close air support and "Sandy" rescue-escort missions -- with the maintenance, support, and aircrew personnel who kept it flying.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A mannequin dressed in period flight gear and survival equipment was displayed at a squadron reunion in 1973. The exhibit preserved and showcased the specialized equipment worn by Air Force pilots during their Vietnam-era combat tours.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Pages from the Highland Air Times, the 633rd Special Operations Wing's newspaper at Pleiku Air Base, mix Silver Star citations for A-1 Skyraider "SPAD" pilots near Quang Ngai City with the announcement of the 6th Special Operations Squadron's inactivation, alongside a flight surgeon's health advisory and a chaplain's reflection. Joining them is a declassified Project CHECO report on the Rules of Engagement for Operating Location Alpha Alpha, the covert Air Commando base at Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, once Top Secret and released to the public in 2006.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Photographs from the Gene McCarley Collection show the ground force commander of Operation Tailwind in tiger-stripe camouflage at a Special Forces base camp, posed with a comrade identified as Koch. Alongside him, Hatchet Force troops — indigenous soldiers and American Special Forces advisors together — climb aboard a transport truck, capturing the staging and logistics behind MACV-SOG's covert cross-border missions.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Photographs from the Bob Karre collection ranging across Vietnam War flying life: an A-1 Skyraider between steel revetments, an HH-3E "Jolly Green Giant" rescue helicopter banking in flight, the MAC-banded tail of a C-141 Starlifter, and cockpit views of marking rockets and jungle highlands. Between the mission shots are the quieter frames — a serviceman resting in his bunk, aircrew at a formal squadron dining-in, dusk over coastal waters — that round out the record of a combat flying career.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Camouflaged A-1 Skyraiders on the ramp, blast revetments and perforated steel planking, engineers laying interlocking matting for a new runway: these photographs capture the working infrastructure of Vietnam War-era airbases. Between the flight-line scenes are the human ones — a pilot garlanded with flowers after a milestone, airmen grilling at night in March 1970, and servicemen sharing cold drinks outside their barracks in September 1973 — a candid record of daily life in Southeast Asia from the Mel Swanson collection.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A striking air-to-air photograph from Warbird Digest captures two Douglas Skyraiders in formation over Troy, Alabama: Neal Melton's Vietnam-era "Lieutenant America" and a Navy-marked AD-4N once assigned to USS Intrepid. Shot by Brian Silcox during a calendar photo flight, the image celebrates the enduring legacy of the Skyraider among today's warbird owners and pilots.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Life around the A-1 Skyraider in Southeast Asia, from a patched party suit in the officers' club to 'Wabash Cannonball' roaring to life on the flight line under a ground crewman's signal. Sandy Pirate and Jolly Green Giant patches in these Bob Karre collection photographs mark the two communities — rescue-escort pilots and combat helicopter crews — who flew together to recover downed airmen behind enemy lines.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

An AF Form 1098 Personnel Action Request from January 1970 assigning 1st Lt. John W. Weinig as a Tactical Fighter Pilot flying the A-1E Skyraider with OLAA, 56th Special Operations Wing. Behind the form's boxes and signatures is the human side of Vietnam-era special operations, one officer routed to one cockpit by a single sheet of paper.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Two flight line scenes from the Vietnam War: ground crew servicing an A-1 Skyraider named "Jayne Etta" in its revetment, loaded with bombs, fuel tanks, and rocket pods, and crewmen hosing down a large multi-engine aircraft at dusk. Both capture the unglamorous work behind every sortie, from the personal nose art crews painted on their aircraft to the routine washdowns that kept airframes free of corrosion.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A single commemorative image: the "These Good Men" banner created for the 2014 Special Operations Association reunion, pairing tributes to wartime brotherhood with an air-to-air photograph of an A-1 Skyraider flying close air support along the Vietnamese coast. The banner honors the Skyraider pilots who supported MACV-SOG operations during the Vietnam War.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A row of U.S. Army AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters lines a dirt forward airstrip in Vietnam's central highlands, ground crews keeping them mission-ready under harsh field conditions. These gunships provided close air support and armed escort for helicopter assault and extraction missions, including covert MACV-SOG operations like Operation Tailwind in 1970.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

The A-1 Skyraider "Lieutenant America" fires up its radial engine on the ramp during the Jim Wold Day warbird tribute on May 2, 2015, one wing folded to reveal the ordnance stations beneath. That fold-wing design kept the aircraft compact for carrier and ramp storage while still carrying the formidable underwing weaponry the Skyraider was known for.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Vietnam-era photographs and slides scanned for a Special Operations Association Reunion banner project, featuring A-1 Skyraider 628 and other loaded Skyraiders, ground crews arming and inspecting ordnance, and candid squadron life. Included are the 56th SOW's mascot pig "OLAA," a billet interior with a pin-up poster, and a close-up of a minigun pod muzzle, all tied to MACV-SOG close air support and rescue operations.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Two in-flight photos of Republic F-105 Thunderchief ("Thud") aircraft cruising in formation above the clouds during the Vietnam War. The captions describe the F-105's role as the primary strike aircraft of the Rolling Thunder campaign, noting its heavy bomb load and among the war's highest loss rates.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

An official Air Force portrait of Lieutenant Colonel Swanson, senior pilot wings and ribbon rack on display, opens a set that turns quickly to candid off-duty scenes from Southeast Asia. Officers raise an informal toast and airmen unwind at squadron gatherings, offering a rare look at the social life that sustained aircrews between missions during the Vietnam War.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A panoramic look at a Central Highlands airfield lined with light liaison aircraft, paired with a candid moment between two U.S. Army soldiers at rest. Drawn from the Larry Groah photographs, the pairing sets the forward airstrips that supported reconnaissance and special operations against the everyday faces of the men who took part in the covert 1970 MACV-SOG raid into Laos.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Two restored Skyraiders fly in formation over Troy, Alabama, one in original Vietnam-era USAF camouflage and the other in US Navy colors representing a USS Intrepid aircraft. The image illustrates the Skyraider's long service history across both the Air Force and Navy.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Vietnam War-era images of Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base from the Doug Carmichael collection, from an HH-3E "Jolly Green Giant" rescue crew and a taxiing A-1 Skyraider to an F-4 Phantom II on the ramp, the 602nd Special Operations Squadron unit sign, and a tower panorama of the sprawling base. Between the flight-line views are the human moments that defined "NKP" life, including airmen relaxing outside their barracks, a boat outing on the river, and dusk over the housing area, alongside a preserved overexposed frame kept as part of the complete archival record.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A hand-tinted studio portrait of Airman Jim Wold at age 19, photographed around 1951 in the early years of the independent U.S. Air Force. Keepsake portraits like this were commonly given to family when a young serviceman entered the military, marking the start of a career that would later connect him to a broader community of Air Force veterans.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A thatched structure along a Laotian waterway and a 1998 newspaper clipping, both preserved in the Gene McCarley Collection from Operation Tailwind. Together they span the 1970 MACV-SOG raid along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and the media firestorm that followed, including Lt. Col. Eugene McCarley's rebuttal of the CNN/Time "Valley of Death" nerve gas allegations that the network later retracted.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A young Air Force pilot stands soaked from head to toe on the flight line, doused with champagne in the traditional celebration of a training milestone, likely his first solo. Behind him sits a T-28 Trojan, the trainer that prepared Air Commando pilots for combat flying in the Vietnam War era.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A C-130 Hercules transport climbing low over the Thai countryside near Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, paired with a candid snapshot of a child cradling a duckling from the Doug Carmichael collection. Together they bridge two worlds of the Vietnam War era: "NKP" as a vital hub for USAF special operations, search-and-rescue, and airlift missions over Laos and North Vietnam, and the quiet family life waiting back home.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

USAF Form 5 flight records for Major Dean E. DeTar of the 6th Special Operations Squadron, logging his A-1 Skyraider sorties from mid-1969 into January 1970. The forms track day, night, and instrument hours, landings, and combat missions — one month alone shows 49.7 hours over 21 combat sorties — building a precise picture of an Air Commando pilot's operational tempo in Southeast Asia.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Paper records from the Gene McCarley Collection, including a handwritten contact list that hints at the quiet correspondence among veterans, families, and researchers who pieced Operation Tailwind's history back together. At its center is Ted Turner's July 1998 letter of apology to Colonel McCarley for CNN's retracted "Valley of Death" report, a document that marks the veterans' long fight to see their 1970 raid into Laos recorded honestly.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Images from Bob Karre's personal Vietnam War-era collection range from the propeller-marked "SPAD" sign on Building 719 and an air-to-air view of a striped A-1 Skyraider in flight to a C-119 taxiing at dusk and a C-133 Cargomaster on the MATS-era ramp. Between the aircraft are the quieter textures of service: an off-duty squadron gathering marked with Air Pirate and Jolly Green patches, an airman sheltering from monsoon rain under a wing, a cockpit crowded with gauges, and twilight over the Vietnamese coast.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A Vietnam War rescue mission seen from the ground up: a "Sandy" A-1 Skyraider on SAR alert, a camouflaged Sikorsky HH-3E "Jolly Green Giant" on the flight line, remote dirt airstrips carved through jungle, and a quiet South Vietnamese city street. Drawn from the Tom Stump collection, the images pair the aircraft and forward strips that made combat search and rescue possible with the everyday civilian scenes American servicemen encountered in-country.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Aircrews and maintenance personnel of the 56th Special Operations Wing's Operating Location Alpha Alpha pose together beside one of their A-1 Skyraiders at Danang Air Base, Vietnam, in December 1970. An accompanying caption card lists the pilots and ground crew by name, preserving a rare individually identified record of the men who flew and maintained Skyraiders in Southeast Asia.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

An aerial view over remote Vietnam War-era jungle terrain shows smoke and impact bursts rising from a ridgeline as a helicopter waits below in a nearby clearing. The scene evokes the critical role of aerial fire support in cross-border reconnaissance missions such as Operation Tailwind, conducted into Laos in 1970.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A veteran and a fellow visitor pose at the "Standin' on the Corner" Park in Winslow, Arizona, the Route 66 landmark inspired by the Eagles' 1972 hit "Take It Easy." Taken decades after the Vietnam War, these travel snapshots document the later journeys and lighter moments in the lives of the servicemen represented in this collection.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow presents the handwritten reverse of a photograph documenting combat damage to A-1H Skyraider serial number 137618, struck by AK-47 fire at Da Nang Air Base in April 1970. Crew chief Ed Huett's notes identify the pilot as Major Williams of the 602nd Special Operations Squadron, capturing the everyday risks faced by Skyraider crews flying close air support.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A Vietnamese Air Force A-1 Skyraider pilot sits in his cockpit with visor lowered, pictured moments before or after a combat sortie. The Skyraider, a propeller-driven attack aircraft originally developed by the U.S. Navy, was a mainstay of VNAF close air support during the Vietnam War.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

An archived forum page documents the 1998 CNN/Time controversy, in which the network falsely alleged that U.S. forces used nerve gas during Operation Tailwind. The claims were retracted after independent investigation, making this a pivotal chapter in the vindication of the 1970 MACV-SOG raid into Laos.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Vietnam War veterans and guests pose together in front of the restored A-1 Skyraider "Lieutenant America" during the May 2015 Jim Wold Day tribute event. The gathering reflects a reunion of former aircrews and support personnel honoring their shared wartime service alongside the historic aircraft.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Candid photographs from SOAR XXXVII, the 2013 Special Operations Association Reunion in Las Vegas, capturing the ballroom floor, banquet tables, vendor and merchandise stands, and attendees including Larry Cavender, Don Engebretsen and Bob Hammond. The images document veterans of MACV-SOG and allied units gathering, reconnecting, and marking their service through banners, apparel, and informal conversation.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

The nose art of A-1 Skyraider "The Proud American" is captured as a sister aircraft taxis by in the background. The image reflects the pride crews and pilots took in their planes during Vietnam War flight-line operations.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A composited image of a heavily armed A-1 Skyraider, marked with shark-mouth nose art, banking over a jungle canopy background. It highlights the aircraft's role as the primary close-air-support and rescue-escort platform for USAF Air Commando squadrons in the Vietnam War.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

A composite American and indigenous MACV-SOG reconnaissance team gathers for a group portrait at the Phu Bai firing range, home of Forward Operating Base 1. Teams like this one ran classified cross-border missions into Laos and Cambodia, with Montagnard and other indigenous soldiers sharing the same extreme risks as their American counterparts.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Ground crew and aircrew pause for a break beside a doorway stenciled "Spads" at a Vietnam War-era ordnance loading area. The nickname honored the propeller-driven A-1 Skyraider in the jet age, and teams like this one worked around the clock to keep those aircraft armed for close air support and rescue-escort missions.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Vietnam War photographs of A-1 Skyraiders at work in Southeast Asia, from "TS" rolling down a Southeast Asian runway and a taxiing Skyraider with bombs and fuel on its pylons to air-to-air views of "TT 593" and a wingman held in tight formation. Assembled in the Jax Roberts collection for a Special Operations Association Reunion, the set also includes a runway arresting barrier, a Cold War jet pilot strapped into his ejection seat, and an aerial strike frame catching ordnance impact on a suspected enemy compound.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

An A-1 Skyraider banks low in silhouette over the jungle canopy in this photograph from the Gene McCarley Collection. Skyraiders flew dangerously low to deliver close air support for reconnaissance teams deep in hostile territory during Operation Tailwind, the September 1970 MACV-SOG cross-border operation into Laos.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

Two Vietnam War aircraft photographs from the Barry Pencek collection: AH-1G Cobra gunships staged with loaded rocket pods along a remote dirt airstrip near the Laotian border, and a C-123 Provider transport taxiing at a forward airbase. Both aircraft types were mainstays of MACV-SOG special operations such as Operation Tailwind, supplying the close air support and airlift that kept reconnaissance teams working behind enemy lines in one of the war's most secretive campaigns.

John Weinig Vietnam Pics to PhotoShop and Watermark

The Don Englebreston Collection

Vietnam War photographs from airman John Weinig's collection, showing a pilot beside his armed A-1 Skyraider, tail number 242, and USAF aircrew in flight suits and survival vests on the ramp and in a squadron office. Shot at Southeast Asian air bases ringed by corrugated-steel revetments, these candid images capture both the workhorse Skyraider's close air support role and the everyday camaraderie of airmen between combat sorties.

John Weinig Vietnam Pic's Large Watermarked 1

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two airmen pose beneath the "Home of the Spads" sign marking their squadron area during the Vietnam War. "Spad" was the aircrews' nickname for the A-1 Skyraider, a nod to the propeller-driven design that recalled the WWI-era SPAD fighter even as it flew alongside modern jets.

John Weinig Vietnam Pic's 90% Watermarked

The Don Englebreston Collection

American airmen cut loose at a squadron party during the Vietnam War, a scene from the John Weinig collection repeated at forward bases across Southeast Asia. Part celebration and part initiation for new arrivals, informal rituals like this built the tight-knit camaraderie that carried units through the stresses of combat deployment.

John Waresh

The Don Englebreston Collection

A close-up study of the Douglas A-1 Skyraider "AMERICA" on museum display, framing its four-bladed propeller, massive radial engine, and underwing stores. The detail view shows exactly what made the Skyraider formidable: pylons built to carry heavy bomb and rocket loads for close air support and rescue escort over Vietnam.

John Kiland

The Don Englebreston Collection

From the John Kiland Collection, a close look at Skyraider maintenance: a Wright R-3350 radial stripped of its propeller, its eighteen cylinders laid bare, the engine that gave the A-1 its remarkable load-carrying ability and reliability. A second frame opens the accessory section during overhaul, revealing the tangle of hoses, wiring, and components behind every hour a warbird spends in the air.

Joel Documents

The Don Englebreston Collection

An official AF Form 5 Pilot's Individual Flight Record logging 2Lt Joel T. Morrison's flying hours for November 1969, including 27.7 combat hours in that single month. Paperwork like this offers precise, verifiable evidence of the punishing operational tempo carried by Forward Air Controllers and pilots during the Vietnam War.

Joe Parnar Maps, etc

The Don Englebreston Collection

A topographic map of Laos from a 1970 U.S. military survey, annotated by Joe Parnar in 2016 to mark the extraction landing zone used during Operation Tailwind. The hand-drawn notations turn a Series L7015 sheet into a firsthand key to one of the most storied special operations missions of the Vietnam War.

Joe Parnar

The Don Englebreston Collection

Contains a 1968 topographic map sheet of the tri-border area of western Kontum Province and a hazy aerial photograph of forested mountain terrain, from the Joe Parnar collection. Both items relate to the rugged jungle terrain near Kontum into which MACV-SOG reconnaissance teams were helicopter-inserted during the Vietnam War.

Joe Parnar

The Don Englebreston Collection

Annotated Google Earth imagery of the forested Vietnam-Laos border highlands, marked with military grid references pinpointing helicopter pickup zones and aircraft and personnel loss sites. Cross-referencing wartime after-action reports against modern satellite views, MACV-SOG veterans and researchers used work like this to relocate mission sites and support the accounting of servicemen still missing in Southeast Asia.

Joe Driscoll Scarface

The Don Englebreston Collection

A line of UH-1 helicopters sits staged for a mission, part of the air support network tied to Operation Tailwind. The 1970 MACV-SOG raid into Laos leaned on rotary-wing assets like these, covered by the Marine Corps "Scarface" gunships of VMO-2, to carry reconnaissance teams deep into contested territory and bring them out again.

Jim Wold Vintage Photos from Phil Wold

The Don Englebreston Collection

Vintage family photographs from Phil Wold tracing Jim Wold's life beyond the cockpit, from a multigenerational gathering around the dining table in Hatton, North Dakota and a sunlit porch portrait believed to mark his mother's final birthday to a formal later-life portrait before an American flag backdrop. Church pews filled for a family occasion, a winter memorial service attended by a uniformed airman, the Wold Law Office monument sign, and a reunion with longtime friend Dan Stenoin round out a collection that gives the human story behind the military records preserved alongside it.

Jim Wold JPEG

The Don Englebreston Collection

The end-of-tour reports of Lt Col James W. Wold detail a year commanding an A-1H Skyraider special operations unit at Pleiku and Da Nang, flying 241 combat missions in support of classified "Prairie Fire" reconnaissance patrols, alongside his candid analysis of rescue tactics and the case for a dedicated close air support aircraft that led to the A-10. A later 1989 letter shows his continued advocacy for fellow airmen's recognition long after the war.

Jim Wold End of Tour Report

The Don Englebreston Collection

Lt Col James W. Wold's End of Tour Report chronicles a year commanding an A-1 Skyraider squadron at Pleiku and Da Nang, logging 241 combat sorties in support of Special Forces reconnaissance along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. His critique of high-risk 'fast mover' FAC tactics and case for continued close air support aircraft foreshadows the operational debates that led to the A-10 Thunderbolt II.

Jim Wold Day Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

Scenes from the 'Jim Wold Day' tribute event at a Tennessee airfield, where veterans and families gathered on the ramp alongside a Douglas A-1 Skyraider, the restored P-47 Thunderbolt 'Hun Hunter XVI,' and the preserved nose section of a vintage warbird. Close-up views of the Tennessee Museum of Aviation's Skyraider and its 'Lieutenant America' nose art sit beside group portraits of the Air Commando and Special Operations airmen who flew and depended on these aircraft in Vietnam.

Jim Wold Day flyer

The Don Englebreston Collection

The promotional flyer for "General James W. 'Jim' Wold Day," held 2 May 2015 at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation in Sevierville, Tennessee. The event honored Wold, first commander of Operating Location Alpha Alpha, and brought Vietnam veteran A-1 Skyraider pilots together for panel discussions and flight demonstrations celebrating the propeller-driven attack aircraft that flew close air support and rescue-escort missions throughout the war.

Jim Wold Day 2May15

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two scenes from a May 2015 fly-in: an early-generation military helicopter on static display beside a jeep, and a Douglas A-1 Skyraider silhouetted against a blazing sun during a flyby. Together they trace the arc from the pioneering rescue and reconnaissance rotorcraft of the 1940s to the warbirds still flying today at airshows and remembrance events.

Jim Wold 20b's

The Don Englebreston Collection

A handwritten PACAF General Purpose Worksheet from the Jim Wold collection, logging combat sorties flown across three weeks in May and June 1970. Each line records mission numbers, controlling Forward Air Controllers such as "Covey," flying time, and bomb damage assessment, a pilot's own ledger of the pace of combat flying in Vietnam.

Jim Wold

The Don Englebreston Collection

An official U.S. Air Force portrait of a Brigadier General, wearing the Command Pilot badge above a ribbon rack earned across a long career of service. Formal portraits like this marked promotion to general officer rank, capping decades of flying and leadership in the Air Force.

Jim Seith Reworked Pictures

The Don Englebreston Collection

A-1 Skyraider pilots unwind in their squadron ready room during the Vietnam War, gathered beneath a hand-lettered sign laying out the "Spad House Rules" in tribute to their aircraft's beloved nickname. Informal spaces like this gave aircrews somewhere to relax, joke, and decompress between missions, and this reworked image from the Jim Seith pictures preserves that off-duty side of squadron life.

Jax Roberts Photo Scans

The Don Englebreston Collection

Scanned photographs from the Jax Roberts collection following A-1 Skyraiders through the Vietnam War, including cockpit views of rocket pods and a wingman over jungle mountains, air-to-air formation shots of the aircraft crews called the "Spad," and a close-up of combat damage torn through an aircraft's skin. The camera turns just as often to the people, with shirtless squadron personnel gathered at a Skyraider's nose in the tropical heat, Don, George, and Jax together at Da Nang Air Base, and a USAF colonel pinning a medal on pilot Roberts at an outdoor flight-line ceremony.

Jax Misc

The Don Englebreston Collection

A candid off-duty snapshot from the Jax Roberts Collection, showing a serviceman posed with a pin-up photograph during the Vietnam War. Personal pictures like this one preserve the humor and downtime of barracks life for young men a long way from home.

Jax for 2017 A-1 Reunion

The Don Englebreston Collection

Flight-line and mission photographs of Vietnam War A-1 Skyraiders, from ground crews servicing a minigun pod and tending "TS 242" beside a crash rescue truck to strike camera frames catching ordnance detonating on a hillside target. Alongside the combat imagery are the human moments of squadron life: a pilot climbing down from his cockpit after a sortie, a young airman doused in a traditional dunking ritual, and a candid scene at a forward base camp preserved in the collection of A-1 pilot A. Jackson "Jax" Roberts.

Jax Documents

The Don Englebreston Collection

An April 1, 1970 Air Force Times clipping recounting how Capt. Laurence C. Johnson survived being accidentally pulled from a C-130 Hercules when his parachute deployed prematurely over hostile territory in Southeast Asia. Injured and evading enemy search parties through the night, Johnson was spotted by an A-1 Skyraider and lifted out by a Jolly Green Giant helicopter crew, making this newsprint account a vivid record of the search-and-rescue teamwork that defined USAF combat operations in Vietnam.

HurlburtClassPics

The Don Englebreston Collection

Group portraits of Air Commando pilot training classes at Hurlburt Field, Florida — the "Express" flights and classes 69-01, 69-12, and 71-10 — posed before their T-28 Trojan and A-1 Skyraider trainers. Later annotated by veterans and historians, the photographs name each airman and mark those killed in action in Vietnam, making them at once training records and memorials to the men who trained together before deploying to Southeast Asia.

Hobson

The Don Englebreston Collection

A 2011 letter from aviation historian Chris Hobson to the A-1 Skyraider Association introduces his research manuscript on Vietnam air losses. The correspondence highlights the collaboration between historians and veterans to preserve the record of American air operations in Southeast Asia.

Good Resolution 1

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two Vietnam War images from the Doc Blanchard Collection: an Air Force pilot pausing beside the open cockpit of his A-1 Skyraider on a Southeast Asian flight line, and pilots sharing a laugh at an off-duty squadron gathering, one in the distinctive blue "party suit." The pairing captures both sides of a Skyraider aviator's deployment, the routine between combat sorties and the camaraderie that relieved its pressure.

GM pixs

The Don Englebreston Collection

Wartime photographs from the personal collection of Gene McCarley show Special Forces advisors, indigenous allied soldiers, and tiger-stripe-clad MACV-SOG personnel at forward airstrips and base camps in Vietnam. McCarley led the ground element during Operation Tailwind in September 1970, and these original 35mm slides offer a rare, unedited look at the elite reconnaissance teams who operated in denied territory along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Gene McCarley Tailwind Slide Show JPEG WM

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two photographs from the Gene McCarley Collection show personnel gathered beside a heavy-lift helicopter at a forward landing zone and indigenous MACV-SOG Hatchet Force troops loading onto a cargo truck with rucksacks, ammunition, and weapons as an American Special Forces advisor looks on. McCarley commanded the ground force during Operation Tailwind, the September 1970 covert raid into Laos, and these images capture the helicopter-borne insertions and troop movements that defined operations along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Gene McCarley Photos on same CD

The Don Englebreston Collection

A MACV-SOG reconnaissance team pushes cautiously through dense Laotian jungle near an enemy installation during Operation Tailwind, September 1970. The team's route carried it through and around enemy base camps and supply depots along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in one of the deepest and most audacious cross-border operations of the Vietnam War.

Gene Finamore Scans

The Don Englebreston Collection

USAF armament specialists load a minigun-equipped A-1 Skyraider with ammunition before a combat sortie. This scanned newspaper clipping documents the essential ground crew work that kept Skyraiders mission-ready.

Gene Finamore Scans

The Don Englebreston Collection

From the Gene Finamore collection, A-1 Skyraiders turn their engines in steel revetments on the OL-AA flight line, exhaust smoke drifting as ground crews ready them for another mission. A companion newspaper clipping, "Can't Keep a Good Plane Down," catches 1st Lt. James F. Seith of the 56th Special Operations Wing taxiing his shark-mouthed Skyraider past F-4 crews at Da Nang in leather helmet, goggles, and scarf.

Gene Deatrick

The Don Englebreston Collection

Lt. Col. Gene Deatrick poses in the cockpit of a newly rebuilt A-1 Skyraider at Pleiku Air Base, marking what is recorded as his final flight in the rugged aircraft. The image honors the Skyraider's storied role as a mainstay of Air Commando and Special Operations close air support and rescue missions throughout the Vietnam War.

Gary Hawes Raw Scans

The Don Englebreston Collection

Candid November 1970 snapshots of A-1 Skyraider life at Da Nang Air Base, from a "Spad Party" and Lt. Larry Warren mid-celebration at the DOOM Club to pilots Mel Swanson and Bob Donaldson in their off-duty quarters and munitions troops Tom Brown and Dan Neubert over a card game. Handwritten labels name the men in frame, and a separate portrait of pilot Jim Winans being fitted into a full-pressure suit, displayed beneath a "Reunion '73" sign, shows how long these bonds outlasted the war.

Gary Hawes JPEG WM Sm

The Don Englebreston Collection

Air-to-air views of armed A-1 Skyraiders from the Gary Hawes collection, including tail-coded "C-02" banking with a full load of external ordnance and a pair of A-1H "Spads" in formation above the clouds over Vietnam in November 1970. Ground-level frames complete the picture with aircrew gathered on a perforated-steel-plank ramp and flight-suited airmen at a squadron club, capturing the camaraderie between the close air support and rescue-escort missions these Air Commando and Sandy pilots flew.

Gary Hawes JPEG WM Med

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two November 1970 photographs from Da Nang Air Base: A-1 Skyraider pilots Mel Swanson and Bob Donaldson in an off-duty moment, and the inside of a "SPAD Ops" hut with airmen Levi Rentz, Chris Tateishi, and Sgt. Dieter Rapske between missions. Field telephones, radios, and status boards fill the operations room where Skyraider combat sorties were coordinated, while the nickname "Spad" itself speaks to the affection crews held for the rugged, WWII-era-designed aircraft they flew.

Gary Hawes JPEG WM Lg

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two A-1 Skyraiders in formation over the rice paddies of South Vietnam, bracketed by off-duty scenes at Da Nang Air Base in November 1970: munitions troops Tom Brown and Dan Neubert over a card game, and a "Spad Party" at the DOOM Club. The pairing shows both halves of Skyraider life, the heavily armed propeller-driven aircraft prized for loitering over targets far longer than jets, and the ground crews and aircrew whose camaraderie kept them flying.

Gary Hawes Final

The Don Englebreston Collection

Air-to-air photographs of armed A-1 Skyraiders in flight over Vietnam, including tail-coded "C-02" banking with rockets and bombs beneath its wings and a hand-labeled November 1970 view of A-1H Skyraiders en route to a combat mission. Rounding out the set is a candid officers' club portrait of Col. Walseh, commander of the 56th Special Operations Wing at Nakhon Phanom, the unit that directed the Air Commando squadrons flying these rugged, propeller-driven "Spads" on close air support and rescue escort.

Gary Hawes 20b 2013-11-23

The Don Englebreston Collection

Pages from the personal flight logbook of A-1 Skyraider pilot Gary T. Hawes, recording combat sorties flown from Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, and Da Nang Air Base, Vietnam, in September and October 1970. Entry by entry, the logbook names call signs and mission types from CBU strikes and infiltration support to SOG orbits and search-and-rescue alerts, offering a rare day-by-day account of what "Spad" pilots actually flew in support of special operations forces in Southeast Asia.

Gary Hawes

The Don Englebreston Collection

A U.S. Air Force pilot stands beside his A-1 Skyraider on the flight line, poised before a Vietnam War-era mission. The image evokes the legendary "Sandy" close air support and combat rescue escort role flown by squadrons like the 1st and 6th Special Operations Squadrons out of Pleiku.

Gary Bain Stuff

The Don Englebreston Collection

A tribute banner honoring Marine Corps aviators Capt. Gary L. Bain and 1st Lt. William C. Ryan, Jr., who flew F-4 Phantom II combat missions together as radar intercept team "Boomslang" with VMFA-323 and VMFA-115 out of Chu Lai, South Vietnam, 1968-1969. The collage captures squadron life and camaraderie while memorializing Lt. Ryan, who was killed in action on the same May 1969 mission that left Bain wounded and evacuated.

Gary Bain Scans

The Don Englebreston Collection

A man at the helm of a boat during a sunset outing, likely in the Cayman Islands, in this personal photograph from the collection. Non-military images like this one round out the archive, showing the civilian lives that collection contributors built after their military service.

From Frank Greco

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow shows two servicemen displaying a captured red star pennant taken as a trophy during MACV-SOG operations in Southeast Asia. The photograph belongs to the Gene McCarley Collection, tied to Operation Tailwind, the 1970 cross-border mission into Laos led in part by McCarley's Hatchet Force company.

Frank Greco

The Don Englebreston Collection

A wartime aerial reconnaissance photograph and its accompanying narrative document the covert Hatchet Force units of MACV-SOG's Studies and Observations Group along Laos's Highway 110. This rare record captures how these teams dug in to interdict North Vietnamese Army supply lines feeding the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Form 5's and Orders

The Don Englebreston Collection

A USAF Individual Flight Record, AF Form 5, tallying one pilot's flying hours through December 1970 across day, night, instrument, and combat time. Routine paperwork in its day, records like this now carry the detail historians need to reconstruct a pilot's operational tempo during the Vietnam War.

Form 5's No 20b

The Don Englebreston Collection

Form 5's

The Don Englebreston Collection

A redacted Air Force Form 5, the "Pilots Individual Flight Record," logging Major Peter D. Williams' flying time for January 1970. Official records like this tracked every sortie by aircraft type, duration, day/night and instrument conditions, and combat time, and this entry documents a Vietnam-era career totaling more than 4,000 flight hours, over 400 of them in combat.

Form 5's

The Don Englebreston Collection

An official AF Form 5 Pilot's Individual Flight Record for 1Lt Donald L. Engebretsen, logging his January 1970 sorties flown largely in the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog. Tallying flight hours, landings, and combat time, this forward air controller's log is the bureaucratic backbone of the air war and a precise, dated account of one pilot's service.

Fatcapper07

The Don Englebreston Collection

Modern road maps of Savannakhet Province, Laos, one annotated and one plain, pinpointing the loss site of a "Jolly" rescue helicopter south of Ban Tang during the search and rescue effort for aircraft callsign Fat Capper 07. The maps document the heavily defended Route 9/Route 23 corridor along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, used by researchers to match wartime coordinates to present-day place names.

Ed Homan

The Don Englebreston Collection

The Distinguished Flying Cross citation awarded to First Lieutenant Edward L. Homan, USAF, for heroism on 6 October 1969. Flying an A-1 Skyraider in Southeast Asia, Homan laid down close-in covering fire during a Search and Rescue mission after two transport helicopters were shot down, shielding the survivors until they could be recovered.

Ed Hlavaty Pictures

The Don Englebreston Collection

Ed Hlavaty's photographs record two sides of the Vietnam War: a U.S. serviceman handing out relief supplies to villagers as children look on, part of the MEDCAP civic action programs that paired combat operations with food, clothing, and medical care. Alongside it, three Air Force aircrew members pose beside a white Sikorsky H-3 helicopter, the versatile twin-turbine workhorse flown on search and rescue, transport, and support missions.

Ed Hlavaty

The Don Englebreston Collection

A Vietnam-era slide shows a battle-damaged U.S. Air Force HH-3/CH-3 "Jolly Green Giant"-type rescue helicopter resting on maintenance jacks, its fuselage bearing severe combat damage. Aircraft like this flew dangerous combat search-and-rescue missions over Vietnam and Laos, often returning battered by ground fire.

Dyrud

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two views from "Jim Wold Day" on 2 May 2015: attendees Levy Rentz and a companion at the veterans reunion, and a restored Douglas A-1 Skyraider standing wings-folded at an aviation museum hangar entrance. Together they pair the people with the machine, linking Vietnam-era veterans and their families to the rugged single-engine attack aircraft prized in Korea and Vietnam for its heavy ordnance load and long loiter over the battlefield.

Drop Tank Baggage

The Don Englebreston Collection

A period aircraft drop tank is hoisted by boom lift and loaded onto a pickup truck at a desert airfield. Behind every restored warbird is a logistics story, and this image documents the ongoing work of collectors and restorers to locate, move, and preserve original components for historic aircraft.

Doug Miller

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two U.S. Army soldiers, identified as Doug Miller and Ed Wolcoff, pose together at a base camp in Vietnam. Their patches and "RECON" lettered hat mark them as MACV-SOG, the highly classified special operations command that ran covert reconnaissance across the borders of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

Doug Charmichle Photo

The Don Englebreston Collection

Vietnam-era Air Commando veterans at a squadron reunion — group portraits beneath the propeller of a restored A-1 Skyraider, a banquet under hanging aircraft, panel discussions, memento presentations, and visits to the Tennessee Museum of Aviation's Warbird Collection in Sevierville. Decades after their service, these airmen gather among preserved uniforms, patches, and wartime photographs, including a projected air-to-air shot of Skyraider tail code TT 779, keeping firsthand memory and camaraderie alive.

Don's Pic for Ed

The Don Englebreston Collection

An A-1 Skyraider marked "TT-779" climbs above the clouds of Southeast Asia, fully loaded with bombs and rockets beneath a dramatic dusk sky. Able to carry more ordnance than many contemporary jets and loiter far longer over the battlefield, the Skyraider became indispensable for close air support and combat rescue escort throughout the Vietnam War.

Don TN Air Museum Small JPEG's

The Don Englebreston Collection

Don's snapshots from the Tennessee Museum of Aviation catch the anticipation of an airshow morning on June 7, 2014, as a visitor arrives for the day's flying display. Beyond the museum fence, a vintage military trainer waits on the flight line.

Don TN Air Museum Pics

The Don Englebreston Collection

A June 2014 visit to a Tennessee air museum air show, with P-47 Thunderbolts "Wicked Wabbit" and a red-cowled sister ship on static display, the bare-metal P-51 Mustang "Ain't Misbehavin'" taxiing out, and A-1 Skyraiders wearing "AMERICA" and "Lieutenant America" nose art. Alongside the aircraft are the people who make such days possible and memorable, from a pilot wiping down his canopy before flight to visitors wandering the ramp on a family outing.

Don Jay 1st and 6th Group Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two squadron group portraits taken with Douglas A-1 Skyraiders: the 6th Air Commando Squadron on its 1968 arrival in Southeast Asia, and the 6th Special Operations Squadron gathered on and around their aircraft at Pleiku Air Base in late 1969. Photographs like these marked the milestones of a combat deployment, preserving the faces of the airmen who flew and maintained the Skyraider through some of the most demanding close air support and rescue missions of the Vietnam War.

Don Jay

The Don Englebreston Collection

An A-1H Skyraider soars above the clouds over Southeast Asia while the 6th Air Commando Squadron's flight-line maintenance crew poses at Pleiku Air Base, circa 1968-1969. Together these images honor both the airmen who flew and the ground crews whose unglamorous, essential labor kept every combat sortie in the air.

Don Fulton pic of Don E 1st Flight

The Don Englebreston Collection

Photographs by Don Fulton spanning carrier flight operations with F-4 Phantoms and an A-4 Skyhawk, aerial refueling seen from a KC-135 boom operator's window, a sandbagged bunker position, underwing minigun and rocket pods, and the muddy forward airstrip where Don Engebretsen took his first Huey flight. Together the images pair personal milestones and everyday moments with the hardware of the air war, from ordnance loads to the rotary-wing airpower that shaped daily life at forward operating bases in Vietnam.

Don Engebretsen Slides

The Don Englebreston Collection

Personal color slides from the Don Engebretsen collection capture A-1 Skyraiders in revetments, on rain-soaked flight lines, and in formation over Southeast Asia, alongside an HH-3E "Jolly Green Giant" rescue helicopter on maintenance jacks. Shot from cockpits and flight lines around 1969 and 1970, these images pair the working details of Air Commando operations with quieter moments, from a squadron scheduling board to a double rainbow arching into the clouds below.

Don Engebretsen Slides

The Don Englebreston Collection

Drawn from the personal slide collection of Don Engebretsen, this image captures an airman pausing for a cigarette break in a squadron ready room. A copy of Stars and Stripes rests nearby, a quiet detail that grounds this everyday moment of military life away from the cockpit during the Vietnam War.

Don Engebretsen Redux Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

Restored A-1 Skyraiders taxi, sit wings-folded on the ramp, and draw crowds at the "Tailwind Day Redux" commemorative gatherings, alongside candid shots of veterans, memorabilia tables, and aircraft maintenance details. Photographed by Don Engebretsen, these images document how the veterans of Operation Tailwind, the September 1970 MACV-SOG raid into Laos, keep the memory of the raid and the "Spads" that supported it alive decades later.

Don Engebretsen Personal High Def Vietnam Scans

The Don Englebreston Collection

High-definition scans of A-1 Skyraiders aloft in towering tropical cumulus and parked on the ramp with bold shark-mouth nose art, photographed from companion aircraft during the Vietnam War. Even the heavily underexposed frame earns its place, showing both the beauty of Southeast Asian skies and the technical limits of shooting film from a single-seat cockpit in combat.

Don Engebretsen OLAA

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two official U.S. Air Force Pilots Individual Flight Records for Lieutenant Colonel James W. Wold, covering October 1969 with the 6th Special Operations Squadron and June 1970. Typewritten entries tally monthly hours, sorties, and cumulative combat time, giving researchers a precise, day-by-day account of an aviator's wartime service and the operational tempo of Air Commando units.

Don Engebretsen JPEG Hook WM Med

The Don Englebreston Collection

Life on a Vietnam War air base built around the A-1 Skyraider: rows of aircraft in steel revetments, rocket pods being serviced on a rain-soaked ramp, a pilot checking his wing ordnance, and a crewman at the cockpit as the engine turns over. Air-to-air views of shark-mouthed and cloud-topping Skyraiders, a "SAR Alert" Sandy waiting to launch, and a helicopter's shattered nose section from February 1970 round out the picture of daily readiness and its cost.

Don Engebretsen JPEG Hook WM Lg

The Don Englebreston Collection

Shark-mouthed A-1 Skyraiders banking over water at dusk with wings full of bombs, rocket pods, and napalm, alongside a "SPAD" flight jacket and survival vest hanging ready for the next mission. The set widens beyond the cockpit to a Huey over the Central Highlands, tile-roofed base billets, a portrait of two Vietnamese girls, close-up flak damage in bare metal, and a champagne "fini flight" toast on the ramp.

Don Engebretsen JPEG Hook No WM

The Don Englebreston Collection

A-1 Skyraiders on "Sandy" search-and-rescue alert, a battle-damaged "303" sitting between revetments, an OV-10 Bronco banking on a forward air control run, and an HH-3E "Jolly Green Giant" up on jacks for maintenance. Between the flight-line and air-to-air frames are aerial views of island reefs and jungle mountains and a quiet souvenir-shop scene, tracing the full range of an Air Commando tour in Southeast Asia.

Don Engebretsen Collection

The Don Englebreston Collection

A preserved newspaper clipping, the continuation of an "Ammo Country" feature article, profiles the Air Force munitions troops who built up ordnance for aircraft such as the AC-130U gunship. It is a look at the vital but rarely celebrated logistics work that kept combat air operations armed and flying.

Don Engebretsen Cell Phone Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

Don Engebretsen's candid photographs follow the October 2017 Medal of Honor weekend for Captain Gary "Mike" Rose, from the White House colonnade and a packed East Room to the Pentagon Hall of Heroes ceremony, a reception banquet, the Special Forces Charitable Trust gala, and green berets riding a tour bus together. Behind the formal events are hotel corridors and hallway reunions of veterans and families, marking recognition that came 47 years after Rose's heroism as a Special Forces medic in the classified 1970 Operation Tailwind raid into Laos.

Don Engebretsen 4800 Hi Res Personal Nam Scans

The Don Englebreston Collection

High-resolution scans of Vietnam War-era A-1 Skyraider photographs, from a squadron group portrait posed on perforated steel planking to a Skyraider rolling out under its drag chute beside a shark-mouth-painted aircraft. Together they capture both the people and the personality of the propeller-driven "Spad" units that flew close air support, interdiction, and rescue escort across Southeast Asia.

Don Engebretsen 02May15 Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

Veterans, families, and friends gather for "Jim Wold Day" on 2 May 2015, watching a restored A-1 Skyraider taxi at a Tennessee airfield and posing for reunion portraits. Members of the A-1 Skyraider Association appear in shirts bearing the motto "We Flew - We Fought," among them Doc Blanchard, John Weinig ("Spad/Sandy"), and Chuck Kassab, men who flew the legendary attack aircraft in combat over Vietnam.

Don E PS Reworked Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow captures two A-1 Skyraiders of the 6th Special Operations Squadron flying in tight formation over jungle-covered mountains along the Laos-Vietnam border. It reflects the low-altitude close air support and rescue escort missions Air Commando squadrons flew in this rugged terrain during the Vietnam War.

Don E Photo Scans Misc

The Don Englebreston Collection

An identification photograph of 1Lt Don Engebretsen at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, holding a hand-lettered card with his rank and date, September 1970. Such cards were a common wartime shorthand for documenting personnel and milestones like a DEROS, the estimated date of return from overseas.

Don E Checklist Cheat Sheets

The Don Englebreston Collection

A pilot's handmade "cheat sheet" from January 1969 lists TACAN navigation channels, GCI call signs, and airfield frequencies across South Vietnam. Small enough to tuck into a flight suit pocket, this compact reference underscores the quick-access tools essential to airmen flying combat missions.

Don E - JPEG 2's

The Don Englebreston Collection

Vietnam War photographs from the Don Engebretsen Collection, including armed A-1 Skyraiders cocked on alert in steel revetments, a Skyraider banking over a coastal river delta at dusk, a forward air control aircraft threading mountain terrain, and an aerial view of bomb-cratered jungle trails. Alongside the flying come ground crews at work, aircrew relaxing in the officers' lounge, a costumed morale shot, and a portrait of two Vietnamese girls, a personal record of one airman's war on and off the flight line.

Don Documents Awards & Decs

The Don Englebreston Collection

The typewritten narrative supporting the Distinguished Flying Cross recommendation for 1Lt Donald L. Engebretsen, USAF, describing his A-1 Skyraider strike of 5 January 1970. It recounts repeated passes flown below 100 feet through heavy enemy fire to shield a wounded reconnaissance team in Southeast Asia, action credited with breaking the enemy assault and saving the team.

Don Dineen 6th SOS Articles

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow presents newspaper clippings from a personal scrapbook chronicling the 6th Special Operations Squadron's A-1 Skyraider "Pappy Yocum's Country Store" and a dramatic combat rescue near a North Vietnamese riverbank. The clippings together document both the aircraft's combat record and the coordinated Sandy, Jolly Green, and jet fighter efforts that saved downed airmen.

Don Dineen 6th SOS

The Don Englebreston Collection

Original papers from Maj. Donald A. Dineen's tour with the 6th Air Commando Squadron: a 1968 AF Form 626 sending A-1 Skyraiders from Pleiku to Da Nang for search-and-rescue support, a personnel roster listing ranks and security clearances, and a pilot's own year-end combat tally. Together they trace the paperwork behind the Air Commandos' "Sandy" missions and the scale of a single tour — more than 1.1 million pounds of ordnance dropped between March 1968 and February 1969.

Don Dineen

The Don Englebreston Collection

Drawn from Don Dineen's collection, this slideshow documents Air Commando and Special Operations Squadron A-1 Skyraider pilots and crews in Vietnam, including unit group portraits, ground crew launches, and battle-damaged aircraft. Highlights include the 6th Air Commando Squadron at Pleiku during the Tet Offensive, imagery tied to the 1968 rescue of Colonel Swain at Kham Duc, and a painting depicting a "Sandy and Jolly Green" combat search-and-rescue mission.

Don Dineen

The Don Englebreston Collection

Skyraider pilots Reeves and Ford race to their aircraft on a scramble call, a flight-line crewman signals a pilot before launch near Nha Trang, and a declassified report recounts a combat rescue near Kham Duc. The 3 December 1968 narrative follows "Spad 11" and "Spad 12" suppressing and marking the crash site of a downed OV-1 Mohawk while two HH-3E "Jolly Green" helicopters dropped into a jungle ravine to hoist both survivors out.

Don Boudreaux Tailwind JPEG

The Don Englebreston Collection

Don Boudreaux's photographs show SOG personnel gathered at a forward position in Laos, two reconnaissance team members posing at a forward airfield, three allied indigenous troops in tiger-stripe camouflage clowning for the camera, and a U.S. soldier standing among Montagnard village children beside a stilted longhouse. Taken by a participant in the 1970 MACV-SOG raid into Laos, these candid images offer a rare, human look at the mixed American and indigenous teams who worked deep behind enemy lines along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Don and Linda

The Don Englebreston Collection

Ten images, largely sequential burst exposures with several blurred or out-of-focus frames, documenting Don and Linda Engebretsen and fellow attendees at the 38th Special Operations Association Reunion in Las Vegas, October 2014. Scenes include the vendor hall, a casino restaurant entrance, the SPADS display, and symposium panel sessions.

Doc Watermarked

The Don Englebreston Collection

A homemade sculpture nicknamed the 'Mechanical Man,' built from spare military gear, standing guard over a serviceman's barracks quarters in Vietnam. Alongside pin-up art and mounted helmets, touches like this reveal the humor and individuality servicemen brought to otherwise austere, regimented living spaces.

Doc Photo Scans High Resoluton

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two images spanning the Skyraider story: the battle-damaged A-1 "Peregrine," side number 258, parked on the ramp with a pilot on its wing, and three veteran aviators in squadron "party suits" at a later reunion. One of the reunion flight suits carries a "Sandy" patch, the call sign of the A-1 pilots who escorted rescue helicopters over Vietnam and Laos, connecting the aircraft to the men who kept flying its legacy alive.

Doc Photo Scans Good Resolution

The Don Englebreston Collection

A group portrait of U.S. Air Force personnel at an informal Vietnam-era gathering, several in flight suits with squadron patches, including one man identified by his name tape as "J.W. Weinig." Preserved on a slide whose colors have faded to deep red and orange with age, the image documents the officers' club camaraderie that bound aircrews serving far from home.

Doc Form 5's No 20b Forms

The Don Englebreston Collection

USAF Form 5 Individual Flight Records belonging to Warren 'Doc' Blanchard Jr., tracing his A-1E Skyraider flying from the summer of 1969 through January 1970. Sortie by sortie — day, night, instrument, and 19.4 combat hours logged as of 30 September 1969 — these administrative pages form a precise paper trail of one Vietnam-era aviator's operational tempo.

Doc Form 5 Edited for size and printing

The Don Englebreston Collection

An official U.S. Air Force Pilot's Individual Flight Record (Form 5) documenting the training flights of 2Lt Warren C. Blanchard Jr. in June and July 1969. Forms like this tracked every sortie, flight hour, and landing type, forming the backbone of a military aviator's official service record in the Vietnam War era.

Doc Final JPEG LG WM

The Don Englebreston Collection

Four scenes from the Doc Blanchard Collection: a champagne celebration on the flight line, an A-1 Skyraider taxiing past revetments marked "Home of the Spads," a 'Sandy' pilot in his party suit in the squadron ready room, and a Skyraider climbing out over a South Vietnam base past a camouflaged C-130. The set moves between the flying and the living, from the steel-and-earth revetments that shielded aircraft from rocket fire to the patch-covered party suits and milestone toasts of Air Commando squadron culture.

Doc Blanchard Slides - Copy

The Don Englebreston Collection

An HH-53 'Super Jolly Green Giant' banks through the sky with its aerial refueling probe extended, from the Bob Karre Vietnam scans in the Doc Blanchard Collection. Built for long over-water and over-jungle reach, helicopters like this one carried out the combat search-and-rescue missions that recovered downed airmen from hostile territory throughout the Vietnam War.

Doc Blanchard Slide Scans

The Don Englebreston Collection

Color slide scans from the Doc Blanchard Collection showing life between missions: a fini-flight handshake beside a rocket-laden attack aircraft, squadron parties and officers' club gatherings, airmen unwinding in the hooch with beer and a newspaper, servicemen sunbathing on a Vietnam beach, and a battle-worn flight helmet kept as a barracks keepsake. Shot on Kodachrome and tied to Lt. Col. Felix 'Doc' Blanchard, the Heisman winner who later flew F-4 Phantom II combat missions, these frames preserve the camaraderie and celebration traditions that sustained aircrew morale in Southeast Asia.

Doc Blanchard Final

The Don Englebreston Collection

Engine smoke pours from the A-1 Skyraider 'Wabash Cannonball,' tail number 619, as it starts up on the flight line with a ground crewman signaling the pilot. The colorful nose art and the airman at the wingtip capture how USAF squadrons personalized these rugged aircraft and kept them flying mission after mission in Vietnam.

Doc B&W Scans

The Don Englebreston Collection

Black-and-white scans from the Doc Blanchard Collection, ranging from a candid portrait of a USAF pilot reading the newspaper to servicemen servicing truck-mounted communications gear and a pilot boarding a shark-mouthed A-1 Skyraider. Together they pair the quiet downtime and unglamorous maintenance work of Vietnam War squadron life with the nose-art tradition that made Skyraider units unmistakable over Vietnam and Laos.

DOC 10_files

The Don Englebreston Collection

A single incidental item from the archive: an American Express logo icon saved among research files during the digitization process. Included here for completeness, it is a web graphic asset rather than part of the historical photographic record.

Doc 8 x 10 B&W Scans

The Don Englebreston Collection

A black-and-white documentation photograph of the punctured engine cowling on A-1H Skyraider 52-139738, hit while flying from Da Nang Air Base on April 22, 1970. Images like this were taken for maintenance and unit records, and they survive as a stark, close-up account of the risk carried on every Skyraider sortie.

Dean Detar Form 5's

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two USAF Pilot's Individual Flight Records for Major Dean E. DeTar of the 6th Special Operations Squadron, covering June and December 1969 in A-1G, A-1H, and A-1J Skyraiders. The typewritten sorties, hours, and landings add up to a career total of more than 3,064 flight hours including 346 in combat, a quantifiable record of Air Commando close air support and special operations flying in Vietnam.

Dean DeTar

The Don Englebreston Collection

Veteran Dean DeTar sits for an informal oral history interview, his service medals — including the Purple Heart — pinned proudly to his vest. Firsthand recollections like his preserve the memories and personal detail that formal service records alone can never capture.

Dean DeTar

The Don Englebreston Collection

Colonel Dean E. DeTar, A.F.C., Ret., photographed early in his Air Force career as he climbs into the cockpit of his aircraft. His Air Force Cross places him among the Legion of Valor, the congressionally chartered organization reserved for recipients of the nation's highest awards for combat valor.

DCIM Walgreens

The Don Englebreston Collection

Scenes from A-1 Skyraider squadron life in Southeast Asia, including a salvaged propeller mounted as a "SPAD" unit display, a wingman's-eye view of a pilot in his cockpit, marking bombs riding over a scorched target, and a Skyraider at rest on the ramp at dusk. Drawn largely from the Rufe Harris 6th Special Operations Squadron collection, the set closes with a towering storm cloud, a reminder of the monsoon weather Air Commando aircrews flew through.

Cpt.. Bob Karre USAF

The Don Englebreston Collection

A USAF Special S.E.A. Operational Navigation Chart, sheet SOC-1, mapping the Vietnamese coastline and the adjoining waters of the Gulf of Tonkin and Gulf of Thailand at 1:1,000,000 scale. Printed with terrain relief, elevation data, and overlaid territorial water and air defense identification boundaries, it was the kind of chart aircrews used for flight planning, target orientation, and search-and-rescue — this example preserved in the collection of Capt. Bob Karre, USAF.

Complete Disk of Photos FH01

The Don Englebreston Collection

Photographs from the Operation Tailwind era capture indigenous troops in tiger-stripe camouflage filling canteens at a U.S. Army water tanker, an AH-1 Cobra gunship waiting at a forward staging area, helicopters in formation at dusk, and a USMC CH-53 Sea Stallion taxiing on a Southeast Asian airfield. Together they show the aircraft, allied troops, and support machinery behind MACV-SOG's cross-border missions into Laos in September 1970, including one severely faded slide preserved as a reminder of how fragile photographic memory can be.

Complete Disk of Photos FH

The Don Englebreston Collection

A fortified MACV-SOG forward operating base ringed by barbed wire beneath its guard tower and antenna array, paired with a Cobra gunship crewman standing beside his shark-face-painted aircraft at a 1970 staging area. Both images come from the Barry Pencek collection and show the ground and air sides of Operation Tailwind, the September 1970 MACV-SOG cross-border operation into Laos.

cnn

The Don Englebreston Collection

Newspaper clippings and an editorial cartoon from June and July 1998 tracking the CNN and Time "Valley of Death" report, which alleged that U.S. forces used sarin nerve gas during Operation Tailwind, a 1970 covert MACV-SOG mission into Laos. Washington Times columns, an ex-Army medic's rebuttal that the drops were tear gas, and Chuck Asay's cartoon on the retraction preserve how veterans fought back against a story the network was ultimately forced to withdraw.

Chris Dyrud Redux Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

Group portraits from a "Tailwind Day" Redux reunion, with attendees gathered in a museum hangar full of vintage warbirds and posed before a USAF combat rescue helicopter. The aircraft is the same type once used to pull special operations teams out of Laos and Vietnam, and the gatherings themselves sustain the bonds forged during MACV-SOG's covert 1970 cross-border operation.

CH-34

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow showcases Sikorsky CH-34/HH-34G helicopters at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation, including a preserved rescue helicopter, an exposed engine bay, and a fully restored Choctaw. Together the images trace the H-34 family's Vietnam-era service in search-and-rescue, transport, and medevac roles.

Byron Hukee Provided Information

The Don Englebreston Collection

A handwritten roster from the Byron Hukee collection tracks A-1H and A-1J Skyraider aircraft assigned to Da Nang in 1969, cross-referenced with numeric tracking codes. This single page of unit-level record keeping offers a rare firsthand glimpse into how the Skyraider fleet was organized during the Vietnam War.

Byron Hukee

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow features an A-1 Skyraider nicknamed "Spad Dad II," tail code TC 665, banking in flight while carrying a heavy load of bombs and rocket pods. It showcases the aircraft's rugged airframe and enduring value in the close air support role, even under ordnance loads far exceeding its WWII-era design specs.

Byron Hukee

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow shows a pair of A-1 Skyraiders, or "Spads," escorting an HH-53 "Jolly Green Giant" rescue helicopter above the clouds over Vietnam. It illustrates the close partnership between Sandy and Jolly Green crews that formed the core of Air Force combat search-and-rescue missions.

Boxer 22 SAR

The Don Englebreston Collection

A hand-drafted briefing map for the combat search-and-rescue operation code-named "Boxer 22," charting the terrain along the Laos–North Vietnam border where a downed navigator and pilot came down near the Nam Ngo River. An inset marks the two separate survivor locations ringed by North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun positions, showing exactly what rescue coordinators and A-1 Skyraider RESCORT pilots faced when planning an extraction from the war's most heavily defended ground.

Bobby Ross Running Recon Scans

The Don Englebreston Collection

Features seven scanned spreads from the published briefing notebook of Capt. Vaughn "Bobby" Ross, a UH-1 pilot with the 57th Assault Helicopter Company supporting MACV-SOG's Command and Control Central from late 1969 into early 1970. The entries record survival letters, radio frequencies, recon team positions, and Covey forward air controllers, along with details such as Hatchet Force operations and state-named reconnaissance teams like RT Vermont.

Bob Karre EX LG WM JPEG

The Don Englebreston Collection

A Douglas Skyraider rests with its wings folded on a carrier flight deck, hand-painted nose art reading "SuNanSam" and a ground support cart alongside. Flown by the U.S. Navy from carriers off the Vietnamese coast, the rugged Skyraider carried out strike and rescue-escort missions throughout the war.

Bob Karre Awards and Decs

The Don Englebreston Collection

Official citations and Seventh Air Force special orders documenting the combat decorations awarded to Captain Robert H. Karre, an A-1H Skyraider pilot in Vietnam, from 1969 to 1970. Together they trace repeated Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal awards, along with a Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Silver Star, for missions over Duc Pho, Dak To, Kontum, and Tam Ky, including a rescue that brought five downed Army helicopter crewmen home.

Bob Karre 20b Forms

The Don Englebreston Collection

A handwritten PACAF Form 20b worksheet from the Bob Karre collection served as a personal combat mission log, recording sorties, flying hours, and bomb damage assessments for missions flown over Southeast Asia. Working documents like this one give a rare, unfiltered measure of the pace and scope of combat flying during the Vietnam War.

Bill

The Don Englebreston Collection

A U.S. Army soldier poses beside a self-propelled 155mm gun motor carriage on a mountain roadside, and again alongside a rugged Army dump truck marked "0819670." Both Korean War-era images spotlight the heavy vehicles — mobile long-range artillery and the engineering equipment that built the roads — that made operations possible in punishing mountainous terrain.

Barry Pencek JPEG WM Slide Show

The Don Englebreston Collection

Images from Barry Pencek's Operation Tailwind materials: a portrait of aircrewman "Sexton" in flight suit and parachute harness, an AH-1 Cobra escorting UH-1 Hueys over the rugged Laotian highlands, and an aircrewman in survival vest and sidearm beside his aircraft marked "VT10." Together they document the September 1970 MACV-SOG raid along the Ho Chi Minh Trail from the aircrews' own vantage point — the helicopter support that sustained SOG teams deep in enemy territory, and the men who accepted the risk of a shoot-down to provide it.

Barry Pencek

The Don Englebreston Collection

A U.S. serviceman poses beside the hand-painted entrance to an improvised "Dak To Officers Club," a bunker built from stacked rocket-ammunition crates. Signs like this one reveal the dark humor and camaraderie that sustained troops at forward bases in Vietnam's Central Highlands.

A_1HCockpit

The Don Englebreston Collection

A close study of the Douglas A-1H Skyraider cockpit, showing the left-side console with its throttle quadrant, fuel selector, canopy jettison mechanism, and oxygen system placard. Little changed from its late-1940s design, this dense array of mechanical controls served pilots flying close air support and rescue escort missions throughout the Vietnam War.

ANA Tailwind

The Don Englebreston Collection

Rare wartime images from Operation Tailwind, the September 1970 MACV-SOG raid into Laos, include a U.S. Marine Corps CH-53 Sea Stallion lifting personnel out by rope when the jungle allowed no landing. A second view of camouflaged troops filing through a fortified compound gate documents the forward bases behind these clandestine cross-border missions.

AllNewsletters

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow displays the masthead of the A-1 Skyraider Association newsletter, a veterans' publication based at Randolph AFB in San Antonio, Texas. It represents how such newsletters helped sustain camaraderie and shared memory among former Skyraider pilots and Air Commando aircrew.

album-d148972718-downloads-pt2

The Don Englebreston Collection

Continuing the record of Captain Gary M. "Mike" Rose's Medal of Honor events, these photographs center on his October 24, 2017 induction into the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes, with senior Army and Marine Corps leaders, family, motorcycle escorts, and an exhibit panel. Together they trace the formal honors given a Special Forces medic whose Operation Tailwind valor stayed classified for decades.

album-d148972718-downloads-pt1

The Don Englebreston Collection

Images from October 2017 record the White House ceremony, Pentagon events, receptions, and banquet surrounding the Medal of Honor awarded to retired Special Forces medic Captain Gary "Mike" Rose. Fellow recipients, MACV-SOG veterans, family, and musicians gather to mark long-delayed recognition of his heroism during the covert 1970 Operation Tailwind in Laos.

AJ Roberts the Col

The Don Englebreston Collection

A close look inside a restored Douglas A-1 Skyraider reveals the dense array of gun, bomb, and rocket switches its pilots worked during Vietnam-era close air support and rescue-escort missions, with a modern GPS unit showing the airframe still flies. A companion museum display pairs a disassembled radial engine with an original nose-art panel, joining the aircraft's mechanical heart to the personalized markings crews painted on their machines.

AAR Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

Three images selected for the reunion's After Action Report, depicting symposium panelists in Skyraider party suits and Air Force caps at the 38th Special Operations Association Reunion, Las Vegas, 2014. One frame highlights Larry Warren of the 22nd Special Operations Squadron "Zorros" displaying a SPADS medallion.

A1 Mission Logs from Original Pencil Copies

The Don Englebreston Collection

A page from an A-1 Skyraider pilot's handwritten mission log, kept on a standard PACAF General Purpose Worksheet, records combat sorties flown during May of the Vietnam War. Entries under the call sign "SPAD" note search-and-rescue escort, close air support, and armed reconnaissance work with Forward Air Controllers Covey and Nail, along with flight times and ordnance expended.

A1 and Related Pictures

The Don Englebreston Collection

Featured in Warbird Digest, this air-to-air portrait shows A-1H Skyraider serial 139665, "Lieutenant America," owned and flown by Neal Melton. Meticulously restored by WestPac Restorations with its original Vietnam War-era paint preserved, the aircraft carries forward the naming legacy of Lt. Randy Scott, who christened it in 1972.

A1 and Related Pictures

The Don Englebreston Collection

Aircraft of the Southeast Asian air war are gathered here, from a VNAF A-1 Skyraider banking over the Mekong Delta and a folded-wing Skyraider on the flight line to an F-105 Thunderchief and a Cessna O-1 Bird Dog marking targets for strike aircraft. A museum panel tallying 2,257 U.S. aircraft lost between 1966 and 1973 sets the cost of those campaigns alongside the machines that flew them.

A1 #665 at the TN Museum 2011

The Don Englebreston Collection

Douglas A-1 Skyraider tail number 665 stands on display in a Tennessee aviation museum hangar in 2011, preserved with its wings folded. That folding wing, inherited from the type's carrier-based Navy origins, marks an aircraft that became a rugged workhorse of Air Commando and Navy squadrons during the Vietnam War.

A-1 Small JPEG Pictures

The Don Englebreston Collection

A wartime image captures U.S. Air Force Douglas A-1 Skyraider S/N 33882 banking low over the Southeast Asian countryside, heavily loaded with external ordnance and fuel tanks. It documents the rugged workhorse of close air support and rescue escort, valued in Vietnam for its endurance over the battlefield and its ability to absorb damage.

A-1 Skyraider Reunion Oct 2013 Pictures

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow captures candid moments from the October 2013 A-1 Skyraider Association reunion in San Antonio, Texas, including hospitality suite gatherings, a Tex-Mex buffet banquet, and a quilt fundraiser. Throughout, veterans and their families mingle, laugh, and pose for group portraits, many wearing squadron patches and Skyraider-emblem apparel that reflect lasting pride in their Vietnam War service.

A-1 #665 Tennessee Air Museum

The Don Englebreston Collection

Photographed at the Tennessee Air Museum in April 2011, these views document Douglas A-1 Skyraider #665, the "Lieutenant America," from its stars-and-stripes nose art and stenciled crew names to its folded wing and densely packed instrument panel. Visitors, volunteers, and a restored P-47 Thunderbolt round out a record of how Vietnam-era warbirds are preserved and interpreted for the public.

7 Rescue

The Don Englebreston Collection

An aerial view records the remote, mountainous jungle of Laos along the Ho Chi Minh Trail corridor, the operational area for Operation Tailwind, the September 1970 MACV-SOG cross-border reconnaissance-in-force mission. Air Commando A-1 Skyraiders and other aircraft flew close air support and rescue missions over canopy and steep ridgelines that made ground operations extraordinarily dangerous.

6 Mission

The Don Englebreston Collection

Rare in-country photographs from the Joe Driscoll "Scarface" collection show MACV-SOG reconnaissance team members pausing in jungle clearings and bomb-scarred ground deep inside Laos during Operation Tailwind. A combat image made in flight, with smoke rising as an AH-1 Cobra gunship supports the team below, offers a firsthand view of covert cross-border operations.

5 insert

The Don Englebreston Collection

Taken during the September 1970 MACV-SOG mission into Laos, these photographs move from the cabin of an extraction helicopter, where a team member tends a wounded comrade, to aerial views of smoke marking targets above the jungle canopy. The rivers, ridgelines, and dense forest below convey the terrain that defined Operation Tailwind.

4 Dak To Prep

The Don Englebreston Collection

Photographs taken at Dak To, the forward base in Vietnam's Central Highlands, show vehicles and equipment staged along the runway, soldiers assembling beside a UH-1, and Cobra gunships ready on a muddy monsoon-season airfield. Together they document the logistical preparation behind MACV-SOG's Operation Tailwind, the September 1970 cross-border mission into Laos.

30Jun SAR Pete & Ken

The Don Englebreston Collection

A page from "Pararescue 50 Years Plus" recounts the loss of HH-53 'Jolly 54' and its five-man crew, shot down over Laos on 30 June 1970 while attempting to rescue a downed OV-10 pilot. It also traces the decades-long postwar search that ultimately located and recovered the crew's remains in the early 1990s.

3 and 4May19 Event Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

Photographs from a warbird event at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation in May 2019 follow the restored A-1 Skyraiders "Wiley Coyote" and "Lieutenant America" through smoky radial engine start-ups, taxi runs, hangar displays, and flight. Close views of nose art and folded wings show how these Vietnam-era attack aircraft are kept alive for new audiences.

2016 4-30 Tailwind

The Don Englebreston Collection

On April 30, 2016, veterans, families, and friends gathered at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation for a reunion tied to Operation Tailwind, the 1970 MACV-SOG operation into Laos. Photographs of attendees beneath an A-1 Skyraider wing, seated in vintage cockpits, and posing beside a T-28 Trojan record the enduring bonds among the men who carried out these classified missions.

2014_01_31

The Don Englebreston Collection

Features the restored Douglas A-1H Skyraider "Lieutenant America" (S/N 139665), banking for a Warbird Digest magazine photo feature. Owned and flown by Neal Melton and based at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation, the aircraft retains its authentic Vietnam War-era paint and squadron markings following restoration by WestPac Restorations.

2014_01_31

The Don Englebreston Collection

A Warbird Digest magazine feature spotlights the A-1H Skyraider "Lieutenant America," serial number 139665, owned and flown by Neal Melton and based at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation. Its original Vietnam War-era paint and nose art, named by Lt. Randy Scott in 1972, were deliberately preserved during restoration for their historical significance.

2013_11_23

The Don Englebreston Collection

Squadron humor survives in "Spads with a Load," a 1970 parody of Roger Miller's "King of the Road" written by 1st Lt. Warren Blanchard. Its verses celebrate the A-1 Skyraider's heavy ordnance loads, long loiter times, and search-and-rescue escort work over Vietnam and Laos, preserving the voice of the pilots who flew it.

2013_09_29

The Don Englebreston Collection

Presents a blank PACAF Form 20b "General Purpose Worksheet," dated November 1967, used to log combat mission details. The form illustrates how Vietnam War-era Air Force squadrons tracked call signs, flying time, and bomb damage assessment.

2013_08_18

The Don Englebreston Collection

An official valor award narrative recounts the combat action of 1st Lt. Donald L. Engebretsen on 5 January 1970, when he made repeated low-altitude passes in an A-1 Skyraider to relieve a reconnaissance team pinned down by a company-sized enemy force. Documents like this preserve, in the military's own words, the moments that decided whether men on the ground came home.

2013_08_05

The Don Englebreston Collection

Consists of a scanned administrative document, a 2013 Advice of Deposit from State Street for the FedEx Corporation Retirement Plan. It is a misfiled personal financial record rather than a photograph, retained only for archival note-keeping.

2013_08_04

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow features a August 1970 Letter of Commendation praising A-1 Skyraider pilots 1st Lt Thomas K. Stump and Capt Edwin A. Gullion for strafing within five meters of a surrounded reconnaissance team under intense fire. It also includes the closing page of a commendation letter signed by Lt. Col. Edward P. Cullivan, with a handwritten 2013 note reflecting on the pride felt by veterans of the Danang-based unit it honored.

2013_06_27

The Don Englebreston Collection

Contains a scanned personal receipt from Sam's Club and a Vizio TV label dated January 2013. The item is a personal financial document unrelated to military or historical subject matter.

2013_06_26

The Don Englebreston Collection

A 2013 preliminary construction drawing and liner order form document an in-ground 'Lazy L' swimming pool built for customer Donald L. Engebretsen by Latham Pools. Unrelated to wartime service, these documents were preserved alongside military records, offering a glimpse into the family's later civilian life and home projects.

2013_06_20

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow contains a scanned Latham International pool liner warranty document. It is an unrelated item inadvertently included among the historical military and aviation photographs in this collection.

2013-10-15 Larry Cavender 20b Original Document Scanned

The Don Englebreston Collection

Handwritten mission sheets kept by A-1 Skyraider pilot Larry Cavender log his combat sorties from late 1969 through the spring of 1970, flown under call signs including "SPAD," "Zorro," and "Raven." Entries covering rescue escorts, truck interdiction strikes, and the successful recovery of downed airman "Boxer 22" give a day-by-day account of the air war over Vietnam and Laos.

2012_09_19

The Don Englebreston Collection

A U.S. Air Force squadron stands assembled in front of their radial-engine trainer aircraft in this mid-20th century group photograph. Formal lineups like this one were a long-standing tradition, marking the graduation of a training class or the stand-up of a newly formed operational squadron.

2012_04_25

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow presents the Distinguished Flying Cross citation (First Oak Leaf Cluster) awarded to 1st Lt. Donald L. Engebretsen for heroism on 5 January 1970. Flying an A-1H Skyraider, Engebretsen pressed repeated low-altitude attacks against enemy forces surrounding a reconnaissance team, enabling its safe helicopter evacuation under fire.

2012_03_28

The Don Englebreston Collection

This slideshow presents a 1968 photograph of Vietnamese reconnaissance team leader "LT. Vinh" posing with his American counterpart. It highlights how Vietnamese personnel served alongside U.S. advisors on cross-border reconnaissance teams, contributing local knowledge and leadership to high-risk missions.

2011_11_12

The Don Englebreston Collection

Pages from a U.S. Air Force pilot's personal flight logbook trace the path from A-1E training sorties to first combat missions out of Pleiku Air Base in September 1969 and on through the spring of 1970. Handwritten remarks noting search-and-rescue scrambles, troops-in-contact support, and flights along the tri-border and DMZ areas give a mission-by-mission account of Skyraider flying in Southeast Asia.

200 Mis A-1 Photos

The Don Englebreston Collection

Drawn from an Air Commando pilot's service in Southeast Asia, these Vietnam War images follow the A-1 Skyraider from Da Nang revetments and armed Navy ramps to flight above the jungle. Alongside them are Misty Fast FAC pilots, a VNAF Kingbee helicopter, a bunkered airfield perimeter at Qui Nhon, and a champagne flight marking a mission milestone.

2 LG Photo Scans Mike- Gary Rose + Koch

The Don Englebreston Collection

Two candid wartime photographs from the Mike Gary Rose and Koch collection capture raw human moments amid Vietnam's Special Forces reconnaissance operations, from an exhausted soldier's helicopter extraction to a bandaged allied fighter's triumphant laugh. Together they illuminate the physical toll and fierce camaraderie shared by U.S. Special Forces and their indigenous CIDG and Montagnard partners deep behind enemy lines.

2 367

The Don Englebreston Collection

An aerial photograph looks down on a major American coastal airbase in Vietnam, its runway, tent cities, and Quonset huts spread between a lagoon and the South China Sea. Bases such as this launched MACV-SOG reconnaissance and raid missions, including the September 1970 Operation Tailwind supported by Marine helicopter gunship squadron HML-367 "Scarface."

105NIKON

The Don Englebreston Collection

Restored A-1 Skyraiders take to the air during a "Tailwind Day" commemorative gathering honoring the veterans of Operation Tailwind, the 1970 MACV-SOG operation into Laos. Approach passes, low flyovers, and a close look at "Lieutenant America" nose art keep the legacy of Skyraider aircrews and ground crews visible decades later.

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The Don Englebreston Collection

At a staging area near Dak To, South Vietnam, soldiers pose before an improvised bunker built from stacked ammunition crates ahead of Operation Tailwind in September 1970. Hand-lettered signs welcoming "U.S. Maureens" to the "Dak To Officers Club" reveal the wry humor troops leaned on to keep spirits up before heading into the field.

.picasaoriginals

The Don Englebreston Collection

A propeller-driven A-1 Skyraider banks low over dense jungle canopy, its silhouette framed against the treetops in a striking moment of aerial support. Aircraft like this flew close air support and escort for MACV-SOG reconnaissance teams along the Laos border during operations such as Operation Tailwind in 1970.