Item ID Number 00294
Author
Corporate Author
Report/Article Title Typescript: Pre 65 DFL Spray Operations RUN
Journal/Book Title
000
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Month/Day
Color
Number of Images 9
OeSCriptOU NOtBS Includes data table of number of gallons of military
herbicide procured by the U.S. Department of Defense
and disseminated in South Vietnam during the period
January 1962 - December 1964, source of table listed
as USAF OEHL Report, p. I-9
Monday, January 22, 2001 Page 294 of 341
p re 65 rirL Spray '"'Derations R M M
The first actual test mission in Q outh Vietnam was flown along a road
north of Kontum by a VMA 1 7 H-^-l helicopter equioned with a '1°, Navy
Helicopter Insecticide Dispersal Apparatus L i q u i d (HTn/U,) Sprav system ^
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0 August Q61. Two weeks later, the first fixed-winn: spray mission was
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flown by a V M A ^ C-47 . his mission, flown on ?'» August, a four km
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stretch of route 3 about RO km north of Saigon near the V i l l a g e of Chon
Thanh. Roth of these missions disnersed the herbicide n}.noxol .
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On ? January 9^?, President ^ennedy authorized l i m i t e d n^L operations o
an experimental nature against separate targets which together comprised
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about 6 miles o^ the total distance about ^ miles along route S
between Hien Hoa and Vung T au .
Three C-t?3 equipped with MC-1 spray tanks (1000 g a l l o n caoacity) landed
at Tan Son Mhut on 7 January 1Q6?. Tan Son Mhut remained the headouarte
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for Ranch Hand until December 9^*S when the unit mov^d to Rion
ir
The first Ranch Hand spray mission was flown on the morning of > Januar
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96?. A target north of Route 5 was chosen adjacent to a swath, a "MA17
C-47 had sprayed with herbicide pink on ?9 n^cember 10*>1. At 0«?o and
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0900 on the morning of 0 January one Ranch "and C-1?? sprayed less than
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200 gallons of herbicide purple. wo spray missions were flown on 1 1
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January along Route *•> which inaugurated the ''anch M and program. Swath
width was 500 feet for the first flight and 400 feet for the second
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flight. A g a i n purple was applied. Missions continued along R^ute ^ on
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the following three days. The mission on the 6th completed the
initially authorized spray work which totaled to sorties, used 7,9?0
gallons of herbicide and covered 6,9?0 acres.
During the period January - March 6?, many training missions were also
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flown. On one low level mission, in February 96 9 , a D anch Hand aircraf
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crashed, destroying the aircraft and k i l l i n g the three crew members. h
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plane went down in an inaccessable area off of "oute 5 between Men oa
and Vung Tau.
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Ranch Hand again flew spray missions on 1U-17 February 1Qak TO. resident Kennedy's basic authority for
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Ranch Hand prohibited crop destruction. ron destruction remained an ai
Vietnamese program. On ? Oct 6? President Kennedy allowed restricted
crop destruction operations. Area to be sprayed were portions of a ^ k
square area of Phuoc Long Province. The base for this crop destruction
program was the air strip at Nui ^ara in D huoc Lons D rovince. US
Airforce C- 1 ?3's transported chemicals supplies and equipment to this
base. With advise and assistance of American technicians, the South
Vietnamese installed HTDAT, spray equioment on five VMA 1 7 H-?ii hel icooter,":
Spray operation began on the morning of ? 1 Nov ^"> . A total of ^O
gallons of Herbicide "Rlue" (cacadylic acid") was spraved over about 400
acres of crops. On 9? Nov 6P they again spraved Herbicide " n lue" on a
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total of 375 acres o^ crops in Phuoc Long rovince.
Ranch Hand began a p p l y i n g herbicides along *46 km of canals in the r/\ M(\'r
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penensula in June )63. Fight sorties were flown in this region of TV
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Corns between 6 and P June dispensing 7,?00 gallons of chemicals. ^e
unit flew spray missions along a powerline extending *>om Ha Lat to Rien
Hoa. From 3-?7 July 1
96?, Ranch Hand sprayed m,7?p g a l l o n s of herhici'il
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during 9 sorties along 58 km of transmission l i n e right-of-way.
Ranch Hand spray operations ceased after the July spray missions due to
request by the Thai government to assist in the control of locusts.
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Ranch Hand resumed spray operations in October 963. between the period
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U Oct 963 and 1? Jan 1QM they dispensed 7 i f ^ f t n g a l l o n s of herbicide o
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six separate target complexes. hree of* these i n v o l v e d h i g h w a y s , one wa
a railroad, one was a canal on the Ca M au Peninsula and the southern tio
o r the peninsula which connected directly with the Gulf of Thailand.
This target required 1^ sorties and uijO^O g a l l o n s of defoMant. During
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March & April 954 targets were sprayed on the Ha Mau Peninsula.
In January 1 Q6iJ, authority was delegated to the senior Mc; Advisors
serving with Vietnemise d i v i s i o n for hand-spray operations. This great!
reduced log time that has existed from proposal to completion of small
defoliation projects; i.e., around depots, airfields and outnosts.
Locations and tvpes of herbicides unknown at this time
A mission flown by D anch ^and along a canal in the Me v.or\e rielta on ??
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April 96M accidently caused crop destruction near the model strategic
hamlet of Cha La.
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During a mission on 30 April 9*>U in the Helta, "anch "and aircraft
received considerable ground fire. One of the two r _ i ? V s received a hi
in one of its engines at this time the pilot feathered the engine and
dumped his herbicide load.
After encountering this intense ground fire on 30 A p r i l , Ranch Hand
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discontinued operations until 9 May. Spraying resumed on that date
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against a canal "0 miles south east of Saigon. his target was spraved
for two days, however, spraying was discontinued d u r i n g their mission on
the third day due to increased ground fire and damage to the aircraft an
spray equipment.
Twice during May & June iQfiU Ranch Hand shifted its base of operations
north to Da Nang. Targets sprayed were m a i n l y w i n d i n g mountain roads
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which connected South Vietnemese outposts along the Laotion border. he
flew a total of 26 sorties from DA Nans.
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During July 964 Ranch Hand resprayed areas of the d e l t a that had been
discontinued on 30 Apr. Ranch Hand completed the re-soray of these area
on ?? July
New spray equipment was received by Ranch Hand in August of 1Q(S'J. T
his
equipment, known as A/A^Y- 1 , incorporated snray booms under each wins,
boom under the tail and a new 2R horse power pump which increased the
pump presure from 3^ to ^0 psi and boosted the herbicide pl.ow rate
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70 to ?80 gallons per minute. rior to the arrival of this new
equipment MC-1 spray tanks were used for spray mission. After the
a r r i v a l of this equipment the unit flew 3 1 defoliation sorties along Rt
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4 and also did more spraying in the northern part of South Vietnam
before the end of "'P'SH.
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On 3 October 96iJ, Ranch Hand flew its first croc destruction sorties,
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one of 9 flown between 3 and 3 October against a complex of ^ields nea
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War Zone D. During November and December 1Q^U, Ranch Hand planes flew
croo destruction sorties in Phuoc Long Province. During iQ^n the unit
destroyed 76?0 acres of Viet riong croos. Prior to 3 Oct iQ^4 the
Vietnemese destroyed crops by VM/\^ H-34's and hand delivered spray on th
ground .
A test program was conducted in T hailand in 1Q^ ^ 1f
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effectiveness of acre applications of Purple, Organe and other c a n d i d a t e
chemical agents in defoliation of u p l a n d jungle vegetation reoresentive
o-p Southeast Asia on duplicate 1 0 acre plots.
Agent Organe was first tested Thailand in ^eb
Attached is a breakdown of g a l l o n s of herbicide disseminated in South
Vietnam by the US during the period January 1Q^P- December'
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here is no e v i d e n c e o*" A g e n t Orange bein? soraved durin!? the neriod
- 1964.
• ,'ur.ber of gallons of military h e r b i c i d e procured by the U.S.
Department of Defense and disseminated in South Vietnam during
the period January 1962 - December 1964.
Military Gallons of Pounds A c t i v e
Herbicide Formulation Ingredient
Blue 5,200 10,000
*
Green 8,208 66,980
Pink 122,792 1,001,980
Purple 145 ,_0_00 1 , 1 80_, 300_
Total 281 ,200 2,259,260
Source of table: USAF OKHL Report, p. 1-9