Flying Black Ponies: The Navy's Close Air Support Squadron in Vietnam.

Lavell, Kit. Flying Black Ponies: The Navy's Close Air Support Squadron in Vietnam. Naval Institute Press, 291 Wood Rd., Annapolis, MD 21402. 2000. 376 pp. Ill. $32.95.

Most historians divide the Vietnam War into the Rolling Thunder bombing campaign--which included Air Force F-105s and B-52s and the intense carrier-based war fought by Navy attack and fighter squadrons--and the long, bloody ground conflict fought by the grunts of the Army and Marine Corps. There's little written of the few, in-country squadrons of various aircraft that fought the communists in company with traditional infantry units. However, Naval Aviation established an important presence with two units. the Helicopter Attack Squadron (HAL) 3 Seawolves and the Light Attack Squadron (VAL) 4 Black Ponies.

These squadrons flew the H-1 "Huey" and the unique North American OV-10A Bronco, respectively. Although the Seawolves have received lengthy coverage over the years, the Black Ponies have usually been relegated to only a few sentences in supportive text. This well-written, personal memoir-history changes that.

With a great introduction that puts the reader in the cockpit, the author sets the stage with a short description of what became VAL-4's main arena: the water jungle of the Mekong delta in South Vietnam. The river flotillas reappear constantly in the narrative; after all, supporting their operations was at the heart of the Black Ponies' mission. Tough Viet Cong defense of the meandering waterways of the Rung Sat zone led to the need for close air support for the American and South Vietnamese patrol boats. The narrative is salted with untold stories of combat in the Rung Sat and various sites for the VAL-4 and HAL-3 detachments. It was a tough, unrelenting war over the flooded rice paddies, through which the Viet Cong slipped by at night and fought by day-a different conflict from the more glamorous, well chronicled war flown by carrier crews.

The author describes the design and development of the unique OV-10, at the time one of the so-called counterinsurgency aircraft. It was heavily armed, but underpowered and poorly ventilated (no air conditioning!). He also tells the interesting story of how the first pilots were chosen for one of the Navy's most unusual and short-lived squadrons. The actual aircraft were loaned by the Marine Corps to circumvent the Air Force's control of land-based attack assets.

The Naval Institute has put out several good volumes on the Vietnam War in the last few years--not the regular historical survey, but volumes that focus on a specific area or unusual topic. Flying Black Ponies is a fine addition to this growing list.