Things were getting ‘hot’ in South Vietnam during the spring of 1972. The North Vietnamese invasion across the demilitarized zone (DMZ) caught the American and South Vietnamese militaries off guard. For its part, the US Air Force needed to come up with a response quickly. Its name was ‘Chico’…
DURING THE INFAMOUS Easter Invasion of South Vietnam in 1972, the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) ‘Gunfighters’ used a single F-4E Phantom II in a unique configuration that had devastating effects on North Vietnamese troops and equipment that were moving through the DMZ. The 366th’s director of operations, Col J. D. Pewitt, conceived the idea of operating one F-4E as a free-roaming and heavily armed strike-reconnaissance aircraft that would be known as ‘Chico the Gunfighter’.
The F-4E had an internal gun that made it an excellent close-in fighter against the fast-moving MiG-21 and agile MiG-17. Combine this quality with the jet’s capacity to carry a heavy bomb load and the fact that it was an expert close air support platform, and the result was a fighter that was ready for almost anything it might encounter. But since most of the North Vietnamese movements were during the hours of darkness, it would be very …
