About Us

 Since the Civil War when hot-air balloonists scouted enemy troop  movements from above battlefield treetops, the job of Forward Air  Controllers (FACs) during wartime has been to coordinate air-to-ground  operations for reconnaissance, searches and surveillance.   As helpful  as aerial perspectives may have been, the balloons were always easy  targets and the balloonist’s mission was often his last.

In military conflicts that followed, the fragility of forward air controllers remained unchanged. 

 Even well into the Vietnam War of the 1960s, aircraft employed for U.S.  and allied reconnaissance efforts over enemy territories were slow  moving, piston-and-propeller-driven planes that proved too slow when up  against the formidable Soviet-built anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) and  surface-to-air-missiles (SAMs) employed by the North Vietnamese Army. 

 And as North Vietnamese air defenses increased in number and strength,  casualties to American FAC patrols also increased and, as a result,  the  southbound movements of enemy supply trucks, weaponry and troops became  less observed and constrained.  It became imperative for U.S. military  strategists to implement a new bold method of forward air control and rescue support over Vietnam’s heavily-defended terrain. 

 The Misty Experiment: The Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail  documents that urgent adjustment  in U.S. strategy, and tells of the  psychological and physical challenges faced by the daring airmen who  volunteered to test tactical theories.  Theirs was an uncompromising  trial: To seek out, identify and impede enemy movements of supplies and  artillery throughout the region, and to direct from above searches for,  and rescue of, pilots--from all military branches--that had been shot  down by enemy fire.  The Misty squadron’s reputation as  “courage-under-fire warriors” grew quickly among the military, but the  perilous nature of its mission cost them greatly as it suffered the  War’s second-highest loss rate. 23% of Misty volunteers were shot down,  captured or imprisoned, and/or ultimately declared missing or killed in  action (M.I.A. or K.I.A.).

Although the  service and sacrifice of the Misty pilots remain relatively unknown to  the American people today, these bold aviators performed feats that    were remarkable in the annals of warfare--and did so long before the  advent of laser technology, computerized drones, and precision-guided  targeting.