One qualification I held in the early 1980s while stationed at Yokota AB with the 345 TAS was Flare drop qualified. I think the squadron had the requirement to maintain one or two crews that were trained to drop the LUU-2b illumination flare.
C130s started dropping flares initially in Vietnam. Their main mission was to drop illumination flares along the Ho Chi Minh trail so the for fighters could see the target. They went by the “Lamplight” and “Blind Bat” call signs and had a very interesting and dangerous mission. The Blind Bat mission lasted six years, from mid-1964 to mid-1970. Initially, flights originated at Da Nang, South Vietnam, and routinely overflew the North. In the spring of 1966, the flareship mission moved to Ubon RTAFB, Thailand. By that time, stronger air defenses had forced the USAF to restrict flareship flights to the southern part of North Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. A good history of these operations can be found at the following link:
https://media.defense.gov/2011/Mar/24/2001330120/-1/-1/0/AFD-110324-027.pdf
For us, dropping flares were not so dangerous. All of my missions were training flights out of either Clark AB, Philippines or Kadena AB, Okinawa. The pictures below are of one mission in 1983 from Kadena in which we provided illumination for a Marine A-6 practicing his night bombing on a small target island off the west coast of Okinawa. (Irisuna Island ???) We flew a long left hand racetrack at around 6,000 feet.
The heart and soul for dropping flares was the launcher. I think it is known as the LAU-74 Cargo Aircraft Launcher. (The fighters dropped the same flare using the SUU-25 flare dispenser) The flare that we dropped was the LUU-2B and we could carry a bunch, dont remember how many, but well over 100.
The LLU2s were an illumination flare and should not be confused with the infrared threat countermeasure flares of today. North Vietnam introduced the first infrared surface-to- air missile (SA-7) in South Vietnam in May 1972. The only thing we had to counter it was the signal flare gun. All the aircraft at that time had one flare gun and cartridge, stored on the flight deck. It was the navigator’s responsibility to load the gun into the flare port before takeoff and take it down after landing. At some time, they did away with them, late 1970s I believe. I am really not sure if they were effective anyways, only to give us a sense of security in being able to do something besides die.
LUU-2 Flare
The LUU-2/B visible light flare was initially certified for operational use on
August 5, 1968 and was used extensively in the Vietnam conflict. The LUU-2/B Aircraft Parachute Flare (Fig A-8) is 36 inches long, 4.87 inches in diameter and weighs approximately 30 pounds, about the same size as the Mk 45 flare. It replaced the Mk 24 Mods and Mk 45 Mods aircraft parachute flares. The LUU-19/B is a variant of the LUU2/B that produces near infrared (“NIR”) light so that only those with night-vision equipment, such as goggles and scopes, benefit from it. The LUU-19/B (NSN 1370-01-436-7029) flare was first certified for use on July 11, 1996.
The LUU-2B/B flare has several advantages over the Mk 24 and Mk 45 flares. The most important advantage is that the candle is not ejected from the case on the LUU-2B/B. Only the parachute is removed from the case. This is accomplished by a mechanical timer instead of an explosive fuze, as is done in the Mk 24 and Mk 45. Therefore, if the timer knob should be accidentally pulled during handling when the timer is not on the SAFE setting, the timer and release mechanisms can be forcibly hand-held onto the flare housing to prevent ejection of the timer and release mechanisms. When the timer completes its cycle, the timer mechanism can be taped on the flare housing and marked for disposal. If the timer is ejected from the flare and a portion of the parachute comes out of the housing, the parachute can be stuffed back into the housing, taped, and marked for disposal.
The LUU-2B Flare has a light output rating of 1.8 x 10(6) candlepower and at 1,000 feet altitude illuminates a circle on the ground of 500 meters at 5 lux. The mechanism has a timer on it that deploys the parachute and ignites the flare candle. The flare candle burns magnesium which burns at high temperature emitting an intense bright white light. The consumption of the aluminum cylinder that contains the flare “candle” may add some orange to the light. Flares burn at uneven rates and therefore fluctuate in brightness.
The LUU-2 has a burn time of approximately 5 minutes while suspended from a parachute. The pyrotechnic candle consumes the flare housing, reducing flare weight which in turn slows the rate of fall during the last 2 minutes of burn time. At candle burnout an explosive bolt is fired, releasing one parachute support cable which causes the parachute to collapse. While unburned flares falling from high altitude could be dangerous, burned flares are much less dangerous since they are designed to burn up during the fall (even the aluminum casing is burned).
The LUU-2B/B flare is the latest in a series of illuminating flares introduced by Thiokol for nighttime target illumination and rescue missions. Designated as a multi service flare by United States military forces, the LUU-2B/B incorporates improvements and modifications that further enhance its performance and reliability. The LUU-2B/B has been selected by over 30 foreign countries for aircraft-deployed illumination.
The LUU-2B/B flare is compatible with all standard flare launching systems used on helicopter, cargo, and fighter aircraft. It can be deployed from LAU-74 cargo aircraft launchers, aircraft wing-mounted racks, and the SUU-25, 42, and 44 series launchers. It can also be hand launched from aircraft.
The flare consists of four major subassemblies:
- Timer-end cap assembly: The timer-end cap assembly consists of a timer and related hardware enclosed in a lexan plastic housing. The setting dial knob and calibrated markings (from 500 to 14500 feet of fall) are coated with a luminous paint which has an after glow from 8 to 10 hours after being exposed to light. The timer consists of a simple clock mechanism in which the main spring is wound tighter, if more than a 500 foot free fall is desired, as the timer dial knob is set to the desired drop distance. The timer is kept at a 500 foot setting during storage.
- the parachute suspension system
- the ignition system
- the case assembly with the tamped candle.
MACR 55-130 was our guidance for flare drop. Separate checklists were provided from a kit kept by the squadron I believe.
Our aircraft were not equipped with the Infrared Countermeasure flares but the -1 did contain information on them (ALE20)
C-130 Blindbat Operations – A good history of flare operations in Vietnam can be found at the following web site.
https://media.defense.gov/2011/Mar/24/2001330120/-1/-1/0/AFD-110324-027.pdf
This is interesting. My father was a C -130 pilot stationed in Tachikawa,Japan.During the war he would fly to Vietnam doing several month rotations there. Flew medievac flights to Clark AFB also. Flew out of Thailand.He did fly flare missions with B 57s.They just pushed the flares out of the back of the plane, this is 1964-1968. On one mission they had tracer rounds hit a flare, magnesium flare, on a pallet in the plane. It began burning and the pallet was stuck. Hr had to fly to the ocean in anticipation of a forced landing on the water.Finally the crew got the pallet loose , dumped it in the ocean, everyone lived. Got the air medal for that.
Thanks for the excellent article and for your service, sir. For anyone who has read this far, check out the story by former Blind Bat pilot, the late Fred Nyc III.
Blind Bat by Fred Nyc III ’51 (aggienetwork.com)
As a loadmaster I remember dropping these flares over Ho Chi trail by hand. Set the timers and out the troop door.
We were a 15th SOS crew from Nhatrang, we did a lot of missions up north.
I think we came out of “Naked Phanny” (Nakhon Phanom)Thailand.
On some missions we had borrowed from some of our “friends” a hand held night telescope. After a couple of drop’s we used it to look down on the lit up Ho Chi trail .
We could see some older WW2 fighter planes flying below, the lead plane was flying lights on to draw ground fire and right behind him were 4 more fighters with lights out I assume using the light from the flares to take out the AAA gun trucks on the trail.
I could see a gunner sitting on the gun seat with a pith helmet on looking up then came the AAA fire on us maybe meant for the Fighters but there were shells exploding off our wings, puffs of black smoke from the shell bursting. Just like in the war movies about WW2.
I am not sure of our altitude maybe a pilot would recall
Thats very interesting, no fun to be shot at for sure. Thanks