Hi Don,

I have a bit to add.  The Pony Express operating out of Udorn RTAFB was an H-3 outfit until four Hueys were sent to Udorn from Nha Trang.  I believe this was in early 1968.  I arrived at Nha Trang in Sept 68 and was immediately assigned to the Huey flight at Udorn.  We had only four UH-1Fs and roughly 10 pilots.  Through 1968 and into 1969 that number of pilots attrited as guys rotated stateside.  In mid-summer 1969 we were down to four pilots and got the word the Hueys were heading back to Nha Trang.  As I had only three weeks to go on my tour, I and two of the other H-1 pilots got to go home a little early.  My roommate had several weeks to go on his tour and he was given a checkout in the H-3's which he flew for the rest of his tour.

The website says the H-3's got .50 cals as door guns in 1968......I have no recollection of that.  We did mount .50 cals in both the H-3's and H-1's involved in a massive evacuation of a place called Muong Suoi in northern Laos in March 1969.  That was the one and only time we had weapons on board other than our AR-15's and handguns.  We took a lot of pride in tweaking the "big boys" and fast-movers at Udorn and Ubon (staged out of there for several weeks keeping TACAN station in southern Laos operational).  Lots of funny stories sprinkled in with the "what were we thinking?" stories.

3,500 hundred feet over Laos and crew chief # 1 hooked up his belt, stepped onto the  skid, closed door and calmly held hose in open fuel tank receptacle while chief #2 hand-cranked 55 gallons so we could make the LZ and return home.  Someplace in northern Laos there's a very dented 55 gallon drum.

One of the Huey pilots was on his last mission before heading stateside so we contacted Udorn Tower and requested a four ship fly-by.  We then trolled through an overhead traffic pattern with smoke flares attached to broomsticks, pitched out and landed.  Unfortunately, we chose to do this when several flights of F-4's and RF-4's were RTB...........nothing like a flight of four Hueys at 90 knots to mess up a fast mover recovery operation!

One particularly blowhard Lt Col Commander of one of the F-4 squadrons ....possibly the Triple Nickel, was holding court in the O Club one night regaling everyone with his personal flying skills while five Huey pilots of the Pony Express lifted his jeep and placed it sideways between two BOQ hooches with exactly six inches to spare between bumpers and walls.  I'm told the jeep sat there for a day until a bunch of the jet jockeys could reverse the process for their colonel.

Sometime during the Pony's TDY to Ubon to keep a TACAN running with the 1st MOB out of Clark in Southern Laos, the words "SAC SUCKS" mysteriously appeared on top of a Laotian plateau.  Rumor has it a returning RF-4 caught the paint job, snapped a pix and it was at Offut by nightfall.  Ah, rumors!

Communcations site at Mukdahan, Thailand south of NKP was noted for the culinary expertise of its cooking staff.  Returning from a mission to NKP, ,my crew inquired if there was anything or anybody who neded a lift to Udorn. The base commander indicated that, due to the rainy season, his troops stationed south at Muckdahan hadn't had mail from home in several weeks and they didn't know when the road would dry out to permit a delivery.  I had the lads load up several sacks of mail and we headed for Udorn via Muckdahan.  Checking in at 11 AM via radio, we first asked if the chow hall was open and were told by Muckdahan radio that the chow hall wouldn't open till 12 noon exactly.  I then inquired if Muckdahan would be interested in trading 400 pounds of mail from the States for lunch?  After a brief pause, a rather exuberant voice told me that "the chow hall is open now"!  The next voice apparently was the head cook who asked our crew for their personal food orders.  We were very well treated upon touchdown!


The Pony Express was a great outfit but it wasn't just equipped with H-3's...for a period of a year to 18 months( 1968-1969), possibly longer, there were four UH-1F's assigned to the Pony's at Udorn and we flew virtually all the same missions as, and frequently with, our squadron mates in the H-3's.  There were a few of the H-3 missions we were not involved with due to the exreme distance and the limited range of the H-1.

Thanks for letting me add the Huey chapter to the Pony Express story.  And thanks for letting this old Pony reminisce with a few stories.

Don Morrissey
USAF Ret.
Pony Express, 1968-69