SpecForce

The Raid on the Son Tay

Air Warfare SpecForce 12 Min Read

Reconnaissance photo of Son Tay prison camp near Hanoi, Vietnam. Five ARRS members of the assault force were awarded the Air Force Cross and twenty three other helicopter crewmen received the Silver Star for their actions in the raid. On the night of 20 November 1970 at 2300 hours, five HH-53s and one HH-3 helicopter took off with fifty-six Special…

Newsletter

Get the latest from Weapons and Warfare right to your inbox.

Follow Us

Most Recent

Air Warfare German Units SpecForce 9 Min Read

KG200

Art by Geoffgeoffp Kampfgeschwader 200 was a secret fighting force of World War 2, so secret that individual units within it were unknown to each other; so mysterious that even today, most diaries and documents dealing with it are, according to both Allied and German authorities, either “missing” or “destroyed”.…

SpecForce 18 Min Read

Extortion 17

The moon had set and the sky was black as the insurgents on a corner turret of a compound 200 meters south of the Logar River scanned the darkness for targets. Looking north, they could see the gray outlines of the mud-brick villages dotting the strip of vegetation that in…

SpecForce 9 Min Read

2020 Nigeria Hostage Rescue

Dissecting The U.S. Hostage Rescue Operation In Nigeria: Here Are All The Assets That Took Part In The Raid During the early hours of 31 October 2020, United States Navy SEALs from the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), parachuted from Air Force Special Operations aircraft, and conducted a successful…

SpecForce 23 Min Read

Operation Kingpin: The U.S. Army Raid on Son Tay, 21 November 1970 Part I

Raiders exit a deliberately crashed helicopter at the Son Tay prison camp in North Vietnam. Painting: Mikhail Nikiporenko/USAF BACKGROUND In 1968, 356 American prisoners of war (POWs) were being held in camps north of the Demilitarized Zone in the Republic of North Vietnam. One of these facilities was Camp Hope,…

SpecForce 21 Min Read

Operation Kingpin: The U.S. Army Raid on Son Tay, 21 November 1970 Part II

The CIA built a tabletop replica of the Son Tay camp so it could be studied from all angles. The North Vietnamese air defense system was one of the most extensive in the world. Each known site was mapped by the planners, and the appropriate anti-air defense measures were used.…

SpecForce 18 Min Read

Operation Kingpin: The U.S. Army Raid on Son Tay, 21 November 1970 Part III

The air forces’s training was also divided into four phases and required precision night formation flying at low altitudes. The composition of the force complicated this mission because some of the aircraft were required to perform at the extremes of their capabilities. The Son Tay Report states that “this demanded…

Most Popular

Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) Vehicles

Artist Christophe Camilotte Long Range Desert Group Motto: Non vi sed arte – Not by…

HERBSTNEBEL – Special Forces

Above is one of the rare pictures of this operation. Von Der Heydte is on…

The Assault on Levita

The survivors of the enemy convoy sunk on 7 October 1943 were landed on Stampalia,…

The Brandenburgers

A force of 62 Brandenburgers under the command of Baron Adrian von Fölkersam penetrated far…