PUT THE DOG ON CHARLIE

They were point men of the air war, and wherever they went the hammer of death came down…

American firepower could deliver pure destruction in Charlie's lap, but someone had to find him. That's where the daredevil pilots of the single-engine Cessna 0-1 Bird Dog recon planes made their mark in Vietnam.

Flying unarmed into the enemy's front yard, the Bird Dog pilots shot flares down on Charlie and spotted him for destruction. And every once in a while these hardened flyers took their antiquated prop planes even farther into the heat... like the time a team of sidearm-shooting Bird Doggers fought a personal duel with a die-hard VC unit in Hobo Woods. Using a one-two punch with troop-laden Huey's, the Bird Dog pilots planned to spring an ambush. But in the death and blood of Hobo Woods, it was hard to tell who was out to ambush who...

They were America's elite, battle-hardened flyers... men who came from every service and every corner of the war. They lived with the agony and irony that was Vietnam and flew with courage and commitment. This is their story.