page_title: Vance Drummond
section_title: Vietnam War
hierarchical_section_title: Vance Drummond / Vietnam War
caption_attribution_description: Vietnam: Vung Tau Special Zone, Vung Tau. 33624 Wing Commander (Wing Cdr) Vance Drummond, of Hamilton, New Zealand, and more recently of Hackett, ACT, was snapped by the RAAF News Camera, sliding into the cockpit of his Cessna 01 'Bird Dog' nick named 'Snoopy' at Vung Tau airfield, South Vietnam. For the past eight months, Wing Cdr Drummond has been on exchange duty with the United States Air Force (USAF) in Vietnam. Wing Cdr Drummond's first months in Vietnam were at Tan Son Nhut Airfield, Saigon, with the Tactical Air Control Centre. Now Wing Cdr Drummond flies 'Snoopy', snooping along in the air just high enough to clear the tall Vietnamese trees growing out of the jungle, looking for Viet Cong (VC). He is the only RAAF officer in Vietnam flying a Forward Air Control (FAC) for the USAF. He only sees other RAAF members when he calls into the base at Vung Tau on a monthly basis to collect his mail and pay. His job as FAC is to search for columns of VC moving through the jungle and when spotted he calls up the strike aircraft and directs them to the target. When the strike aircraft is finished, Wing Cdr Drummond flies in and fires the four, two inch rockets carried on his wing pods. Wing Cdr Drummond has also been an interpreter in Japan; a fighter pilot in Korea, where he was shot down and held prisoner for 14 months; the leader of one of the RAAF's best known aerobatic teams 'The Black Diamonds' flying sabres a subsonic aircraft. In comparison his Cessna 01 'Bird Dog' buzzes along at only 90 miles an hour. Note the Snoopy nose art painted on the aircraft.
context_page_description: Vance Drummond, DFC, AFC was a New Zealand–born Australian pilot who fought in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He initially saw service in the New Zealand military, but joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1949 and graduated as a sergeant pilot in 1951. Posted to No. 77 Squadron in Korea, he flew Gloster Meteor jet fighters and earned the US Air Medal for his combat skills. He was shot down by a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 in December 1951 and imprisoned for almost two years. After returning to Australia he converted to CAC Sabre jets and in December 1961 became a flight commander with No. 75 Squadron; he subsequently led the squadron's Black Diamonds aerobatic team, and was awarded the Air Force Cross in 1965.
  Drummond was promoted to acting wing commander in December 1965 and posted to South Vietnam on staff duties with the United States Air Force. He joined the US Air Force's 19th Tactical Air Support Squadron, operating Cessna Bird Dog aircraft, as a forward air controller in July 1966. That month he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for his part in rescuing a company of soldiers surrounded by Viet Cong forces.
context_section_description: Drummond was promoted to acting wing commander on 16 December 1965 and posted to South Vietnam on the staff of the Second Air Division, United States Air Force (USAF). Based in Saigon, he was to observe US methods of air transport, reconnaissance, ground attack, and air defence. In July 1966—apparently at his own behest, according to the official history of the RAAF in the Vietnam War—he joined the 19th Tactical Air Support Squadron as a forward air controller (FAC); he flew in a two-seat Cessna Bird Dog aircraft called "Snoopy". Drummond was the first of several RAAF FACs attached to the USAF during the war. The FAC posting was highly prized by RAAF fighter pilots as they otherwise had little opportunity to serve in Vietnam. Their role was to fly low over enemy territory, spotting for ground-attack missions and checking the outcome. The nature of the work meant that, according to the official history of the post-war air force, "the FACs had probably the most hazardous job of any RAAF aircrew in the war".
  On the evening of 24 July 1966, having already flown that day, Drummond and his US pilot were called out to assist a company of soldiers besieged by Viet Cong troops. Throughout the night and into the early hours of the next morning, in the face of heavy anti-aircraft fire, they marked enemy positions and directed air support until friendly troops arrived by helicopter to relieve the surrounded company. By the end of the mission, the Bird Dog crew had flown for eleven hours in multiple sorties. Drummond was recommended for the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for his "outstanding courage and unselfish devotion to duty". On a mission in September, Drummond guided a US patrol into action with a Viet Cong force; the Americans captured the enemy's flag and subsequently gave it to Drummond, who sent it to Australia where his wife and a representative of the Chief of the Air Staff presented it to the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. Drummond was awarded the South Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star for a mission on 27 October. He finished his tour of duty with the USAF in Vietnam the following month, having flown 381 sorties.
caption: Drummond with "Snoopy", the USAF Cessna Bird Dog he flew as a forward air controller in Vietnam, August 1966
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