Vietm Gun Trucks

SasquatchSanta said:

Hello JT.

Yes, Red Horse was/is indeed an engineering outfit. I didn't know they were an Air Force outfit though. .

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Yes, Red Horse is an Air Force unit. I know of only one unit, located at Eglin AFB, Florida. They travel to 'bare base' locations and construct airfields from scratch. Lots of construction and M-series vehicles, along with engineers. I almost joined them while I was on active duty twenty years ago.

vietnam vetrans day in england with the huey... 509 slick.. gun truck and my duce n m715... we were all in nam kit all day for this event...

Thanks to everyone who has chimed in. I am about ot start a new job earning about 3x what I was making. That will allow me to purchase a 5ton even faster than I thought. I will post pics when I have bought one. I think I may do a quad .50 or 20mm AA gun. What do ya'll think? I really want something different. Maybe something like a mobile AA setup.
Please shoot me some ideas (no pun intended).

USAF RED HORSE is a civil engineering squadron that goes into different places to build bases or do other heavy engineering projects. RED HORSE stands for Rapid Engineering Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron, Engineer

It doesn't surprise me at all that they built a gun truck, they were often deployed in front line situations building bases and facilities. Most likely they were the 555th 'Triple Nickel' Red Horse Squadron or the 554th 'Penny Short' RHS.

Some history on the two squadrons:
The 554th RED HORSE Squadron was constituted as the 554th Civil Engineering Squadron,
Heavy Repair, on 1 October 1965, and assigned to Pacific Air Forces for organization. The unit
was organized 12 October 1965 with station at Phan Rang Air Base, Vietnam. Members of the
554th and 555th, the first two RED HORSE squadrons, received training at Cannon AFB prior to
their deployment to Vietnam, and the 554th was the first to arrive in country in February 1966. Its
first major project was repair of the AM-2 runway at Phan Rang AB. In 1967, it became the first
RED HORSE unit to own and operate a concrete batch plant, constructing parking aprons. The
unit also completed numerous dormitories, dining halls, and other facilities at several bases. It was
reassigned to the 1st Civil Engineering Group in May 1967.

The 554th moved to Cam Ranh Bay AB on 15 February 1970 and then to Da Nang AB on 30
November 1971. By the end of 1971, the 554th was the only squadron remaining in the Republic
of Vietnam. It moved to U Tapao AB, Thailand, on 30 June 1972 to remove modular facilities
there. On 5 January 1976, the unit moved to its current location at Osan AB, Korea, and was
assigned to Pacific Air Forces.

The 555th, one of the original RED HORSE units and the second squadron to arrive in Vietnam,
was headquartered at Cam Ranh Bay from February 1966 to early 1970. The unit completed
much of the troop housing, roads, and utilities on the base. The 555th constructed hundreds of
buildings, maintained AM-2 runways, taxiways, and parking aprons, and sent deployed units to
several other locations to construct facilities. An 18-man unit constructed radar site facilities on Phu
Quoc Island, and the unit deployed a 50-man detachment to Nha Trang to accomplish major
construction projects at the direction of the 1st Civil Engineering Group.

The 555th was inactivated at Cam Ranh Bay on 15 December 1969.

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I would be very interested to find out more information about 'No Slack' and if I were going to build a gun truck, a USAF Civil Engineering gun truck would be just perfect since that's what I was during my AF time.

Later,
Joe

A little more information I dug up, there were 5 Red Horse Squadrons in RVN... 554, 555, 819, 820, 823

The 819th Civil Engineering Squadron (Heavy Repair) organized at Ban Sattahip Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand on 8 March 1966 and deployed to Phu Cat AB, South Vietnam in May 1966. It eventually completed much of the facility construction and a large percentage of the earth moving and paving required at Phu Cat. The unit placed more than 2 million square feet of AM-2 mat and erected more than 5,000 linear feet of aircraft revetment. The 819th deployed briefly to Tuy Hoa AB from January to April 1970 to help close the base. The 819th redeployed from Vietnam in April 1970

The 820th Civil Engineer Squadron, Heavy Repair was organized on 8 April, and began training in July for deployment to Tuy Hoa AB, Vietnam, and deployed in October, assigned to Seventh Air Force, PACAF. The unit was reassigned to the 1st Civil Engineering Group on 15 May 1967.
This unit completed nearly 50 percent of all construction at Tuy Hoa, including 170 aircraft
protective revetments, 120,000 square feet of wooden buildings, and 175,000 square yards of
AM-2 mat. The unit moved to Da Nang AB on 28 February 1969. It was reassigned to Seventh
Air Force on 16 March 1970. The 820th returned to the United States on 15 April 1970.

The 823d Civil Engineering Squadron (Heavy Repair) was activated on 6 April 1966 and organized on 15 May 1966. When the 823rd arrived at Bien Hoa AB, Vietnam, in 1966 it reorganized into four self-sufficient units to complete urgently needed construction. By January 1967, deployed units were in place at Tan Son Nhut, Vung Tau, Da Nang, and Pleiku, while a unit remained at Bien Hoa.

The 823rd, inactivated in 1971.

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I figured I'd be complete in case someone remembered when and where they saw No Slack during Vietnam.

Later,
Joe

When in Vietnam I had seen some 5 tons with 55 gallon barrels of sand all around a quad 50 set in the back and a single 50 over the cab!
Hilbilly armor....

The Proud America Guntruck is just Aw-some Thanks for all the work

Hey Shooter1 if your in Columbus, GA...you have GOT to come play with us some Saturday!!
Have we met??

I normally do ,but not alot here lately,but with me you will always know what to wear.

PapaBear you do wear CAMO on your hat sometimes right/ see you Sat. a CC
First There (USAF) Combat Control Team----- Shooter1

I'll start posting some gun trucks of VietNam---These photos are from Roger Williams, he was NCOIC of the Outlaw--Here's Cold Sweat, with weapons (more and less)-----Driver

Here's a couple more of Rogers photos of great trucks--------Driver

Here's the Outlaw as the APC truck (it was tailended by a 5 ton cargo that lost its brakes) and rebuilt as the typical armored box, both with gun crews-Roger is to the left in the APC truck photo and in the box in the Outlaw II photo, Outlaw II was built from the Satisfaction truck-----Driver

How IRONIC is that??? I JUST got home from the Ft. Eustis transportation museum and this thread is on here. I hadnt even heard of a gun truck prior to today and they had 2 of them. One of them was used in Iraq and the other was the "Eve Of Destruction" the only surviving gun truck to come back from Vietnam.

Hey tires--Thanks for the photos--Eve was in my unit in Nam and the sister truck to it in Nam was Ace--both built mid 68 and looked the same, Ace later was changed some---now with the Livermore box it was with the 1073rd and we arranged for it to come back to the museum at Fort Eustis---kinda like cousens I guess---I seen the Ace box on display when I was there but it wasn't on a truck yet----again---Thanks for sharing-----its looking real good--------Driver

Here's some more of Rogers photos when he was with the 541st trans--you duce guys will love this----Driver

Hey tires---more pics of the Ace in Iraq under gun trucks of Iraq------Driver

Driver523 said:

Hey tires--Thanks for the photos--Eve was in my unit in Nam and the sister truck to it in Nam was Ace--both built mid 68 and looked the same, Ace later was changed some---now with the Livermore box it was with the 1073rd and we arranged for it to come back to the museum at Fort Eustis---kinda like cousens I guess---I seen the Ace box on display when I was there but it wasn't on a truck yet----again---Thanks for sharing-----its looking real good--------Driver

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Yeah, they had quite a bit of history on the storyboard of the Ace. Absolutely incredible. It talked about how the new Ace was named after the old one and where it had been. If you looked really close, you could see several little spots where it had been hit. Its an overwhelming experience to have seen these two trucks today and now be talking to somebody that served with both. Thank YOU for sharing Driver.

Tires--I never served on the Ace in Nam even though the story board says I did, I was on a truck called the Match Box and later I had a 3/4 ton gun truck Malfunction, A friend of mine Warrent Lofts was on a truck called Highland Raiders and Satan's Chariot in Nam and is now in the 1073rd that was in Iraq--I had the honor of working on the Livermore box and when the 1073rd was being deployed it was a perfect deal---I explained to W-4 Lofts how there had always been a Ace of Spades in all our conflicks and there should be one in Iraq--He told me to get him some boxes and he would get the paint------so there's the story-------If you would like to see some VietNam replica gun trucks come to the Gathering in Pigeon Forge in Aug.------Driver

Here's some photos from the album of Mike Hunter, Mike was KIA when the road washed out from under the Ace and it tumbled down over a ledge----RIP Mike Hunter-----------------------------------Driver