DVIDS – News – CRAZY CAT Flies Last Mission in Vietnam (31 MAR 1972)

by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian

CRAZY CAT FLIES LAST MISSION IN VIETNAM

On 31 March 1972, a crew from the first Radio Research (RR) Company, 224th RR Battalion, flew the ultimate mission of the RP-2E CRAZY CAT in South Vietnam. Deployed to Vietnam in 1967, this distinctive firm and its distinctive plane had supplied communications intelligence assist to the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) for 5 years.

By the mid-Sixties, the Army had a number of fixed-wing indicators intelligence plane working in Vietnam. These plane belonged to the Army Security Agency (ASA), which had accountability for each communications intelligence and digital warfare. Instead of jamming enemy communications, nevertheless, the ASA favored the intelligence advantages of intercepting and exploiting these communications. When, in 1965, the U.S. Pacific Command beneficial the Army deploy an digital warfare plane to disrupt enemy communications, notably alongside the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the ASA realized it had no plane giant sufficient to maintain the dimensions and weight of the countermeasures methods wanted for the mission nor one with the vary to fly alongside the Laos and Cambodian borders. Project CRAZY CAT was initiated to search out the appropriate platform for these missions.

Already in battle with the U.S. Air Force over aerial roles and missions, the Army turned to the Navy for an answer. In 1966, the Navy transferred to the Army six P2V Neptunes from storage at Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. Used for maritime patrol since 1947, the Neptunes had been nonetheless being utilized by the Navy for land and sea reconnaissance out of Cam Ranh Bay Naval Air Station in South Vietnam. The giant plane had a variety of two,200 miles and will stay aloft for greater than fourteen hours with out refueling. Co-locating with the Navy at Cam Ranh Bay would make sure the Army had upkeep assist and access to spare elements for the plane.

After being extensively modified and refitted with the right digital tools, 5 of the plane, formally named the CEFLIEN LION however with the radio name signal CRAZY CAT, arrived at Cam Ranh Bay in late June 1967. Meanwhile, the air and floor crews had been educated and arranged into the first ASA Company at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. Upon their arrival at Cam Ranh Bay, they turned the first RR Company assigned to the 224th RR Battalion, 509th RR Group. Unlike the 224th’s different 4 battalions, every of which supported one of many corps tactical areas in Vietnam, the first RR Company supplied direct assist to MACV.

Once in nation, the RP-2Es had been by no means used within the digital warfare function for which they had been developed. The MACV J-6 argued jamming enemy communications may intervene with American communications and would possibly set off retaliatory strikes towards U.S. communications websites. Thus, the RP-2Es as an alternative turned a prolific airborne assortment system in Vietnam. From their first flight on 12 July 1967 till their final on 31 March 1972, they intercepted each excessive frequency and really excessive frequency enemy Morse and voice communications, often alongside the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Flights sometimes lasted fourteen hours, eight of which had been on station, whereas as much as 5 onboard intercept operators recorded and transcribed enemy communications.

The CRAZY CATS flew 46,000 mission hours in Vietnam and not using a single plane loss. By late 1971, as operations in Vietnam started to attract down, the 509th RR Group reduce half of its personnel, resulting in the inactivation, on 30 April 1972, of the first RR Company, then underneath the command of Maj. Joshua Kaiser. Reportedly, throughout 5 years of operations, unit members obtained one Distinguished Flying Cross, 140 Bronze Star Medals, 200 Army Commendation Medals, and 5,100 Air Medals. The unit itself obtained two Meritorious Unit Citations and a Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm. The final RP-2E is on show on the U.S. Army Aviation Museum at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

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