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accessible by road and that normally were supplied by either air drop or an occasional helicopter. In December 1961, while this aircraft was stationed at Da Nang, the Caribou was requested to support the Army of the Republic of Vietnam 2d Engineer Battalion which was attempting to improve the primitive airfield at A Shau. In view of the rainy season, the Vietnamese Air Force did not consider it suitable for either O-1 or U-6 aircraft; and, because of the constant cloud cover, air drops from C-47's were impossible. The Caribou navigated through the valleys to A Shau and landed on the wet primitive strip for the first time. Resupply parachutes from previous air drops and troops due for rotation were the first load out. The troops crowded to board the aircraft since none of them believed that the Caribou would dare to come back. However, the Caribou did return many times bringing rice, fresh food, and pierced steel planking to improve the runway. The loads of succeeding trips were dictated by priority, the weather always posing a threat. Finally, a complete road grader was moved in, 5,500 pounds at a time.
On December 17th, this Caribou took the President of the Republic of Vietnam and his official retinue into A Shau. Shortly thereafter, on Christmas Day, it landed President Ngo Dinh Diem and 37 additional passengers at a remote Montagnard outpost at Mang Buk in the II Corps Tactical Zone. This strop, not quite 1,000 feet long, was at an altitude of 4,000 feet and hemmed in by mountains. The Caribou had made an enviable reputation in Vietnam long before the first complete company of aircraft arrived in Southeast Asia.
On 23 July 1962, the 1st Aviation Company (Fixed-wing Light Transport) was self-deployed from the Continental United States to Thailand. In December the company was moved to Vung Tau, Republic of Vietnam. A second Caribou company, the 61st Aviation Company, was also self-deployed from the Continental United States in July 1963 and based at Vung Tau first. It was not until early 1963 that Commander in Chief Pacific approved the proposed test plan for the Caribou company, but by that time the Caribous had been integrated into most of the daily planning at the corps level.
The Army Caribou pilots took justifiable pride in their proficiency at bringing this big twin-engine airplane into the shortest possible strip. Even the old Southeast Asia hands of "Air America" were impressed when this lumbering bird made its unbelievably slow, steep approach into some of the primitive airstrips. The two following examples were typical.