Early summer 1970-110,000 gals of napalm dropped on Charlie Ridge in one day by HMH-463rd Barrel Bombers. Skip Burns, Charlie Block, Doug Raupp or anyone from the 1st half of that year can tell you more. I have a vcr tape somewhere that was made with an old 16 mm movie camera & converted to vhs.
It happened a couple of months before I got there.
http://www.hmh-463-vietnam.com/reflections/yourstory.html

There's a similar paragraph in 463's Command Chronolgy for 1970.

We continued to improve our tactics and got most of the bumps worked out. One thing that did evolve was the mixture we used in the barrels. In the beginning we used 20 barrels filled with napalm. We found that this was difficult to ignite due to the low flash point of napalm. We then went to 4 barrels of motor gas and 16 barrels of napalm and had better success. The culmination of our efforts was a mission that involved 12 CH-53's on a mission to drop what turned out to be over 400 tons of fuel on Charlie Ridge.

- Charlie Block, 26 AUG 2001

Napalm

I remember about mid-'68 I was on a mission to take observers up to watch a "Daisey Cutter" drop. It was delayed a couple of times but the day it went off was unbelievable. This thing filled up a C-130 and was wired like it was getting an EKG. I have some videos of it somewhere.

It certainly cleared the grid square (S.W. of DaNang, between the river and Hill 22)----We always took sniper fire from there but after the Daisey Cutter we didn't take fire for a long time.

Love the smell of napalm in the morning.....

Semper Fidelis,
Jack Warner

I have still photos of the '70 nap drop and will email mail them to anyone that's interested. S/F. Larry:)

Here is one the pic's of our nap drop. Larry

Napalm

That was alonnnng day laying watching barrels swinging in the wind, But when the sh--t blew it was somthing to see from that h-ll hole>>>>>>>>>

Thanks Larry !!!!!! S/F Jimmy:D :confused: 😀 :confused:

YH08 156671

BLIVOTS

Notes from the Bronco files.

The operation consisted of CH-53 helicopters carrying up to 20 - 55 gallon drums of napalm in cargo nets slung under the helos. The H-53's flew in sections of three with up to 4 sections dropping one behind the other. The operations with the CH-53 began on May 31, 1970 with the first large scale operation 35 miles southwest of Da Nang on June 6, 1970.

I flew one of the first large missions and got to shoot the 5 inch ZUNI rockets to ignite the napalm. This was the first time the wing authorized VMO-2 to carry the ZUNI's. We ended up using the Zuni's because the 2.75's had a problem getting through the double and tripple canopy to ignite the napalm mix. I have a short video copied from my 8mm movies of one of the drop I worked. It was included in the VIETNAM HELICOPTER HEROS Discovery program.

Mike Moriarty, VMO-2 CO at the time, devotes a chapter to the operation in his book GROUND ATTACK VIETNAM. The chapter is titled "The Great Blivot Drop".

Hostage IGOR

And I used to think that I was the cats' meow when I threw out Willie Peter grenades as we left a zone.

Wish I could have seen a bunch of Helos dropping the "juice", even if they were '53s';)

In 1966 we tried the same type of thing up near the DMZ, helos droping the fuel barrels and others trying to set it off. As I remember, we did not have much success igniting the plan.
Lanny

Upon viewing the photos in visions, provided by Larry Groah, I notice the gear is down on the a/c pictured. Did they have any problems with the cargo nets gettting fouled in the gear?

Don't know about any problems with the gear being down but the ramps were removed due to the net pounding on the bottom causing numerous holes and dents.

Napalm drop fro Ch53's

Hello Marines. About that nampam drom from the 53's in 1970, I was the one that mixed alllllll that napalm. I was with H&MS 16 Ordnace shop and we mixed 2000 barrels in just under 48 hours. Because we mixed it we were asked to fly along as "tailgunner" on one of the runs. I have a great picture that I am very proud of. I snapped it just as the net opened and you can count each of the 20 barrels stopped in time just below the chopper with the chopper at the top of the picture. If anyone wants a copy of this picture I would be glad to email it to you. S/F (Sgt) Charles E. Brewer, Marble Mountain, 1969 & 1970. HMM263 1970.

Re: CH-53Ds of HMH-463 made two small napalm drops

To: Chuck 22348,

I would really like a copy of that photo and here is the reason why: I stumbled onto this site and read about the Napalm drop in June of 1970. The date of that drop was June 15th (I could be one day off due to the date line thing). I remember it because it was the day that I got dropped off at MAG-16 to report in (my first full day in Viet Nam). A Corporal who was coming back from R&R was assigned to help me check in. After hitting a couple of places, the Corporal asked it I wanted to go and "drop some napalm". I told him "sure", thinking that we were going to watch the CH-53s come and go at the end of the Marble Mountain runway. When we got to the end of the runway, the Corporal approached a Marine with a clipboard who was trying to keep the pages from flying away in the chopper wash. It was very noisy and dusty. The Corporal came back and yelled "Do you have your dog tags?". I told him that I did. He then grabbed me by the shoulder and yelled through the noise that we were getting on the second bird. (There were three CH-53s coming in.) We jumped into the back of the second CH-53 while a net containing barrels of what I was told contained napalm and some "mo gas", was hooked up. The "mo gas" was supposed to set these things off when they hit the ground. Once on the chopper, the crew chief pointed to an M-60 near the ramp and yelled through all of the noise, that if we go down, we would go down ramp first, and I was to "rake the LZ". (That must have been the "tail gunner" position that you mentioned.) The Corporal was assigned to the port side 50 cal. as "a back-up". Away we went. The Corporal came over and assurred me that everything was going to be okay, keeping in mind that I was not even checked in and officially "not here". Over the target, we had a couple of gun birds giving us some cover, cranking off 2.75 rockets, I guess to keep the bad guys in their holes. We dropped our load and banked right and away. Leaving the scene, I saw three gigantic orange half balls of fire (the other halves were below the jungle canopy), slowly rolling down hill through lush green jungle, leaving three black trails. It was really a beautiful sight. The s were so vivid.

As we came back toward Marble Mountain, the Corporal told me that he "got some great shots". He had is 35mm camera and took photos, he said. He promised to get me some copies. After we landed, I finished checking in. (I never mentioned this incident to anybody until I got out the Corps.) I was assigned to MABS-16 Comm Section, then sent TAD to Zulu Company. I never saw the Corporal again, as he was due to rotate out, soon after his R&R. Needless to say, I never got any of his "great shots". So, long story short, that is why I would love to have a copy of your photo.

Also, I often wandered about this particular incident. I never heard anything officially about it (being a lowly LCpl at the time) and I never saw or heard of a like mission ever done again for the year that I was there. Rumor had it that when the infantry checked the hill out, there were a lot of enemy KIAs and it was a successful mission. If that was the case, I often wondered why it was never done again. After all of these years, that is what caused me to do a little internet investigating (I am a 39+ year veteran of the Houston Police Department) to see if there was anything on it. I was pleasently surprised to find this account.

Thanks and Semper Fi,
Richard Rekieta (Cpl) & HPD Lt.

Re: CH-53Ds of HMH-463 made two small napalm drops

To: Chuck 22348,

I would really like a copy of that photo and here is the reason why: I stumbled onto this site and read about the Napalm drop in June of 1970. The date of that drop was June 15th (I could be one day off due to the date line thing). I remember it because it was the day that I got dropped off at MAG-16 to report in (my first full day in Viet Nam). A Corporal who was coming back from R&R was assigned to help me check in. After hitting a couple of places, the Corporal asked it I wanted to go and "drop some napalm". I told him "sure", thinking that we were going to watch the CH-53s come and go at the end of the Marble Mountain runway. When we got to the end of the runway, the Corporal approached a Marine with a clipboard who was trying to keep the pages from flying away in the chopper wash. It was very noisy and dusty. The Corporal came back and yelled "Do you have your dog tags?". I told him that I did. He then grabbed me by the shoulder and yelled through the noise that we were getting on the second bird. (There were three CH-53s coming in.) We jumped into the back of the second CH-53 while a net containing barrels of what I was told contained napalm and some "mo gas", was hooked up. The "mo gas" was supposed to set these things off when they hit the ground. Once on the chopper, the crew chief pointed to an M-60 near the ramp and yelled through all of the noise, that if we go down, we would go down ramp first, and I was to "rake the LZ". (That must have been the "tail gunner" position that you mentioned.) The Corporal was assigned to the right side 50 cal. as "a back-up". Away we went. The Corporal came over and assurred me that everything was going to be okay, keeping in mind that I was not even checked in and officially "not here". Over the target, we had a couple of gun birds giving us some cover, cranking off 2.75 rockets, I guess to keep the bad guys in their holes. We dropped our load and banked right and away. Leaving the scene, I saw three gigantic orange half balls of fire (the other halves were below the jungle canopy), slowly rolling down hill through lush green jungle, leaving three black trails. It was really a beautiful sight. The colors were so vivid.

As we came back toward Marble Mountain, the Corporal told me that he "got some great shots". He had his 35mm camera and took photos, he said. He promised to get me some copies. After we landed, I finished checking in. (I never mentioned this incident to anybody until I got out the Corps.) I was assigned to MABS-16 Comm Section, then sent TAD to Zulu Company. I never saw the Corporal again, as he was due to rotate out, soon after his R&R. Needless to say, I never got any of his "great shots". So, long story short, that is why I would love to have a copy of your photo.

Also, I often wandered about this particular incident. I never heard anything officially about it (being a lowly LCpl at the time) and I never saw or heard of a like mission ever done again for the year that I was there. Rumor had it that when the infantry checked the hill out, there were a lot of enemy KIAs and it was a successful mission. If that was the case, I often wondered why it was never done again. After all of these years, that is what caused me to do a little internet investigating (I am a 39+ year veteran of the Houston Police Department) to see if there was anything on it. I was pleasently surprised to find this account.

Thanks and Semper Fi,
Richard Rekieta (Cpl) & HPD Lt.

Re: CH-53Ds of HMH-463 made two small napalm drops

Welcome Home and to the Popasmoke Web site. Good to Have you,and hope you will share with those other Marines you know. JJ 69-70 Hmm-262

Re: CH-53Ds of HMH-463 made two small napalm drops

richard rekieta;33478 wrote: To: Chuck 22348,

I would really like a copy of that photo and here is the reason why: I stumbled onto this site and read about the Napalm drop in June of 1970. The date of that drop was June 15th (I could be one day off due to the date line thing). I remember it because it was the day that I got dropped off at MAG-16 to report in (my first full day in Viet Nam). A Corporal who was coming back from R&R was assigned to help me check in. After hitting a couple of places, the Corporal asked it I wanted to go and "drop some napalm". I told him "sure", thinking that we were going to watch the CH-53s come and go at the end of the Marble Mountain runway. When we got to the end of the runway, the Corporal approached a Marine with a clipboard who was trying to keep the pages from flying away in the chopper wash. It was very noisy and dusty. The Corporal came back and yelled "Do you have your dog tags?". I told him that I did. He then grabbed me by the shoulder and yelled through the noise that we were getting on the second bird. (There were three CH-53s coming in.) We jumped into the back of the second CH-53 while a net containing barrels of what I was told contained napalm and some "mo gas", was hooked up. The "mo gas" was supposed to set these things off when they hit the ground. Once on the chopper, the crew chief pointed to an M-60 near the ramp and yelled through all of the noise, that if we go down, we would go down ramp first, and I was to "rake the LZ". (That must have been the "tail gunner" position that you mentioned.) The Corporal was assigned to the right side 50 cal. as "a back-up". Away we went. The Corporal came over and assurred me that everything was going to be okay, keeping in mind that I was not even checked in and officially "not here". Over the target, we had a couple of gun birds giving us some cover, cranking off 2.75 rockets, I guess to keep the bad guys in their holes. We dropped our load and banked right and away. Leaving the scene, I saw three gigantic orange half balls of fire (the other halves were below the jungle canopy), slowly rolling down hill through lush green jungle, leaving three black trails. It was really a beautiful sight. The s were so vivid.

As we came back toward Marble Mountain, the Corporal told me that he "got some great shots". He had his 35mm camera and took photos, he said. He promised to get me some copies. After we landed, I finished checking in. (I never mentioned this incident to anybody until I got out the Corps.) I was assigned to MABS-16 Comm Section, then sent TAD to Zulu Company. I never saw the Corporal again, as he was due to rotate out, soon after his R&R. Needless to say, I never got any of his "great shots". So, long story short, that is why I would love to have a copy of your photo.

Also, I often wandered about this particular incident. I never heard anything officially about it (being a lowly LCpl at the time) and I never saw or heard of a like mission ever done again for the year that I was there. Rumor had it that when the infantry checked the hill out, there were a lot of enemy KIAs and it was a successful mission. If that was the case, I often wondered why it was never done again. After all of these years, that is what caused me to do a little internet investigating (I am a 39+ year veteran of the Houston Police Department) to see if there was anything on it. I was pleasently surprised to find this account.

Thanks and Semper Fi,
Richard Rekieta (Cpl) & HPD Lt.

To Cpc Rekieta and all Popasmoke Marines out in computerland. I will try to fix the dates of Operation Thrash Light. Not being able to remember the dates myself, I will submit a copy of the Meritorious Mast I received for the job I and my fellow Ordnancemen did mixing all that stuff. If I can figure out how to do it, I will include the photo I took at the second the net opened and the barrels were forever frozen right beneath the CH-53. It was a memorable flight for me, the "tail-gunner." Now, how to do this... Semper Fi, Sgt. Chuck Brewer IYAOYAS HEY GUYS!!! I think I got it right!!! Damn! I love this stuff!!! Thank God for the Marine Corps. Where else could I feel as "at home" than with my brothers and sisters in the Corps!!!

Re: CH-53Ds of HMH-463 made two small napalm drops

Here're some more shots of the operation.

The second pic appears to have been taken from a 46 photo bird. Note
the blades at the top of the pic.

Of note: The original 4 bird HMH-463 Detachment that went in country in
late December of '66 or January of '67 was fondly known as "Beeler's
Bombers", not because of this operation, but due to a casting anomaly
in the cargo hook.

There were numerous hook fractures that caused the dropping of external
loads.

Re: CH-53Ds of HMH-463 made two small napalm drops

Why are the landing gear down? Lanny

Re: CH-53Ds of HMH-463 made two small napalm drops

Mike Amtower;33590 wrote: Here're some more shots of the operation.

The second pic appears to have been taken from a 46 photo bird. Note
the blades at the top of the pic.

Of note: The original 4 bird HMH-463 Detachment that went in country in
late December of '66 or January of '67 was fondly known as "Beeler's
Bombers", not because of this operation, but due to a casting anomaly
in the cargo hook.

There were numerous hook fractures that caused the dropping of external
loads.

Mike, is there some repository where all of the photos of Operation Thrash Light are kept? I would love to have a complete set of these photos. I have a couple more slides of the smoke on Charlie Ridge, but they are from a distance. I would love to see photos of the fires we caused.

Re: CH-53Ds of HMH-463 made two small napalm drops

Not that I know of Chuck.

In cruising the web, I have found a few shots over the years.

Unless someone that was there in the 70s has them, I don't know of a
repository.

Our website: http://www.hmh-463-vietnam.com/index.shtml has no pics
of the nape drops.

Re: CH-53Ds of HMH-463 made two small napalm drops

To Chuck and Mike,

Thanks for the photos. They are out flipping standing! I am going to get one of these photos printed on some "good" paper and put it up in my study. Chuck, your Meritorious Mast letter indicates that you guys finished "cooking" up the stuff at 0630 on June 15th which means that the date of the drop must have been June 15th. My memory did not fail me!

Thanks again and Simper Fi,
Richard Rekieta