In a message to Jim Cole  David Kirschbaum wrote:
 DK> That Flying Tigers 707 that mistakenly landed on an Army chopper
 DK> strip just south of the DaNang main runway probably holds the record
 DK> for short field work :-)  Anyone remember that?  1969, I believe.  I
 DK> understand the Huey that was hovering over the little strip at the
 DK> time got quite a shock when the door gunner cleared to the rear and
 DK> reported a 707 on short final :-)
Dave,
That was the airfield our sister platoon used.  It was Marble Mountain.  I 
recall it being East of DaNang main, but it could have been North-East.  I 
also recall it was a stretch DC-8.  I didn't get to see it, but according to 
the folks from the other platoon they just pushed it backward and it took off 
from there.  The passengers and baggage were unloaded, but no fuel was 
removed.  The aircraft came in at night.  DaNang main and Marble Mountain 
both had North South runways.  I'm going to venture a guess that they were 
maybe 2 miles from each other, possibly 3.  At any rate, the plane took off 
the next day.  Everyone was gathered at the end of the runway with their 
cameras so they could record the crash they knew was going to occur.  They 
were relieved or disappointed depending on their orientation when the 
airplane lifted about 2/3 of the way down the runway.  They said it was very 
unexciting.  --  Marble Mountain wasn't just a helicopter field.  I don't 
know what the biggest aircraft that went in there was, but it was home to an 
OV-1 unit.
Going into the wrong place wasn't unheard of in Vietnam.  I didn't have any 
personal connection, but I understand some Air Force plane got shot up pretty 
good when he mistook a field in Cambodia for a different on in Viet Nam.  -- 
On my initial flight to my unit from Marble Mountain (DaNang) we were flying 
at night.  The instructor warned me to not mistake the basket boats with 
lanterns that fished off the coast for a runway.
I hope that helped.  My memory is getting fuzzy on a lot of the detail from 
then, so I hope I didn't give you too much bad information.  Funny.  Things I 
thought I would never forget are starting to fade.
Best regards, ... Bob Linenweber
,
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