ARRIVING IN A C-7 CARIBOU

28 x 22 inch acrylic on canvas painting by George C. Clark   U.S. Air Force Art Collection

EVERY COUPLE OF DAYS OUR BATTALION'S SEVICE BATTERY WOULD LOAD UP ONE OF THESE AIR FORCE DEHAVILLAND  C-7 CARIBOU TRANSPORT PLANES TO BRING US SUPPLIES, FOOD FOR THE MESS HALL, BEER AND SODA FOR THE CLUB, MAIL AND ALL THE OTHER NECESSITIES.  WE USUALLY RODE THESE FLIGHTS WHEN WE NEEDED TO GO SOUTH FOR AN R&R OR TO SEE A DENTIST OR ANYTHING ELSE.

Comment:
This is Song Be (pronounced "song bay") Airstrip from memory and imagination.  I never really saw it from this point of view.   (We flew belted into inward facing fold-down seats and the planes had very small windows.)  Bravo Battery's compound was located next to the airstrip just out of the picture to the right.  The Air Cav had a fortified encampment, LZ Buttons, about a half mile beyond us, but most of the time I was there we did not have a common perimeter defense.  You would sometimes see Air Cav gunships parked by the airstrip as I've shown, but mostly when not on missions they were parked in special revetments protected by blast walls.