Project Ford Drum was an aerial reconnaissance project run by SOG's OPS-32, Air Operations branch during Vietnam War.
The goal was to get eyes on any number of target areas surrounding the Ho Chi Minh Trail and provide photos for upcoming MAC V operations.
A pilot and the SOG Recon team leader of the upcoming mission would fly together over the fence and gather as many photos as possible prior to launch.
The old 0-1 Cessnas were ideal planes for VR missions as the pilot and backseater sat inline as opposed to beside each other. This was critical for being able to observe enemy activity from the air.
They would frequently come under ground fire, so oftentimes, backseaters and pilots alike would lean out of the cockpit with their XM carbines, dive on the NVA, and fire them up or drop frag grenades.
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Pictured is Recon Team leader Mike Buckland of RT Maine after coming back from an FD mission.
In one operation, he was being inserted by helicopter along the trail and shortly after, they found themselves surrounded by NVA. He decided to stand up with an AK-47 overhead and called out in Russian: “Which way to Moscow comrades?” After a brief meeting with the surrounding forces, acting as Russian operatives, they were allowed to pass.
Another story involved psychological disruption of convoys along the trail, they would locate a convoy, set an ambush point and target only the driver of the third truck and then leave the area. They did this consistently and often enough that the drivers of the third vehicle had to be forcibly restrained in the cab of the vehicle. The sole objective was fear and demoralization. #stayzero #zerofoxtrot #macvsog