Could FLIR-Equipped Modern Jets Beat The Ho Chi Minh Trail, Vietnam At Night? (WarGames 15) | DCS

0:00 Overview
2:52 Details
7:15 Prep
10:02 Take Off
14:25 Attacking
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#WarGames #GRWarGames #DCSQuestioned #GR #DCSWorld #Aviation #AviationGaming #FlightSimulators #Military

[@unfortunate3256]

Video idea: could a squadron of a10 warthogs stop the channel dash?

[@grimreapers]

I personally think they will be chased down by the 109's but can try: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYK4ZpyJYtihbKc

[@unfortunate3256]

@@grimreapers I didn't think about that.. I forgot the Germans had the luftwaffe lol

[@charlietheunicorn5383]

My Uncle was part of a deep recon unit that worked in and around this region. They would go out in 3 man teams and were told, "we assume you are dead" until you turn up at the LZ at the assigned day and time 3-6 months down range. They would perform recon, demolitions and sabotage while in the area. They were fluent in Vietnamese and were confusingly similar to any indigenous personnel up to perhaps 15 feet or less. In some missions, they were essentially performing FAC for bombing runs made by F4s and B52s on targets. He was awarded silver and bronze stars for his efforts. Thanks for highlighting this important part of the Vietnam war.

[@Professori2]

That's very interesting man! Were those deep recon units known as the long range reconnaissance patrols (LRRP)? Those guys were badass and they did what you are describing below! Respect to your uncle!

[@charlietheunicorn5383]

@@Professori2 He has not talked about it almost at all. His wife (they married after he served) stumbled upon a small box filled with ribbons and medals. She asked him about it, he told her the story only one time. He suffered from PTSD to this day, but I believe he is now at peace with his time in Vietnam. I have another older friend who was a SF operator in Vietnam/Laos, working with the indigenous groups, but that is a story for another day. Thanks to all who served.

[@grimreapers]

Awesome

[@lohrtom]

The bicycles were ingenious. They didn’t ride them, they attached a sort of broom stick that suck out the side near the handlebars. They would grasp the handlebar and the stick and push it. The bicycle was loaded with supplies and that setup allowed one person to push much much more weight than he could carry.

[@jettsetter7]

C-47 “Puff the Magin Dragon. Then “Spooky” then Spectre. My grandfather actually died in an F-4D in Laos while bombing trucks. 03/21/68. Call sign “Gunfighter 04.” 66-8767. Makes me wish he had this tech so he could have pickled from 20,000ft and not below 8,000 and eat a 37mm round -which he did. He and his frontseater both died.

[@yzdatabase4175]

yeah committing war crimes should be safe and easy

[@jettsetter7]

@@yzdatabase4175 lol you wouldn’t know two shits about being a part of something greater than yourself, pussy.

[@ghostiewhostie238]

@@yzdatabase4175 should change your name to yz dumbass

[@pixelpatter01]

A friend of mine flew an AC47 Spooky and his plane and crew were featured in LIFE magazine. He is 84 years old now. He and his crew discovered a line of trucks on the HCM Trail and planned to come back the following night. My friend had a family emergency and was sent back to the States after returning to base. The next night his whole crew was lost after returning to the spot on the HCM Trail.His kill ratio is astronomically high but he still asks why he was spared.

[@CMDRSweeper]

I love the answer that the old Modesty Blaise movie had to say about that. Some people use their luck sparingly, some spend all of it in one go to achieve the craziest things. In other words, he shouldn't waste money gambling, because at that time, he cashed all of his luck to dodge that situation, and he is out of it most likely.

[@Mariner311]

Night Vision was RARE in Vietnam - hell, our helicopter crew for Desert Storm went to the sports store to buy a Garmin GPS because our helicopter didn't HAVE the system, and we bought commercial NVGs that were STILL miles ahead of the issued "Night Vision CANNON" (AN/PVS-4 (Night Vision Sight) we were issued and hung in the crew door by bungee cords. When we GOT to the Gulf, a group of civilian techs slapped on a Night-Owl FLIR system - that was an improvement

[@NuclearFalcon146]

"I'm not doing this in an F-4 Phantom"... You 100% are as soon as it goes early access! Everyone is going to demand it!

[@grimreapers]

:)

[@nimrodquimbus912]

Phantom is an extremely manly machine

[@rubiconnn]

Cap, it's a lot easier at night to see what is going on everywhere if you turn the brightness way down on your hud and panel lights and turn off the interior flood lights.

[@Scott-qq9jd]

Funnily enough, the tactical aircraft during the Vietnam War had that exact same issue when attempting night attacks on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The Fast FACs like Misty could see long lines of trucks with their headlights on, but the attack craft couldn't see them because their internal lights and reflections off their canopies.

[@grimreapers]

Problem is I get panicky when I can't see my cockpit well.

[@garywall3389]

Back in 72 the squadron I was with was flying the a-6 intruder flying roughly two hour missions all were single flight sorties the normal load out was 20000 pounds of fuel 20 500 pound my 82s some with snake eyes for fusing and 6 cbu s on centerline sadly we lost three of our aircraft and of those air crew only had one make it back we launched out ofThailand basicly we flew sorties every two hr from dusk to dawn

[@CombatWombat7.62mm]

Teamwork makes the Dreamwork

[@markstott6689]

Another good one. Great teamwork. Damp and his lasing was a great example. It's always good to see co-operation working out. Even better to see no one trying to win the battle single handed. Next time maybe try splitting the trail into say 4 sectors and clearing one out at a time. It might prevent the bunching of missed northern targets like happened in this mission? In terms of extra long missions; throwing in an extra long +2hour mission every so often isn't a bad thing. I enjoy the long ones whilst cooking or baking. Maybe others do too?

[@FenrisSulfr]

Nice vid Cap!! Loved the teamwork with FAC and Laser operators^^ hope more vids like that will be coming ^^

[@voradfils]

> lands short and digs heels into the blast pad at -900 fpm > "yes I flared"

[@jeffs7573]

I've been watching your videos over the last few days and they are quite cool looking and the ideas behind them are pretty slick. keep up the good and entertaining work. I just love the sound of the warthog.

[@danh6720]

Tack on a few kills for the runway threshold lights cap smoked on that landing.

[@grimreapers]

lol agree

[@danh6720]

@@grimreapers Got photos of the results of an F-15E doing the same. I learned that day the Mud Hen is so powerful it doesn't even need weapons for A2G.

[@Swordthrower77]

Truly an apex predator

[@mikesmith-wk7vy]

we did use thermal IR on the trail later on . the AC-130 was equipped with thermals

[@grimreapers]

thx

[@seanportgee2002]

The older AC-130s didn't have the same thermals for target detection as the modern gunships. Night vision has come a long way, modern targeting systems on gunships would have wrecked the trail.

[@newsieboys1171]

This is a good scenario. Use of advanced modern tech that is closer to the tech back then. In fact, tech like FLIR was developed back then in its early stages while planes like the F-15 was just coming into service.

[@stretchka111]

Great video cap, great GR team work

[@superflyguy4488]

Would have been more efficient to have designated Ops boxes before the start so as to minimise duplication of effort on targets.

[@lostsoul4680]

There was quite a bit of use of intelligence, both humint in the form of scouts and sensors dropped from aircraft. There were seismic and sonic devices that were basically on spikes that were dropped into the ground near the trail and transmitti g to nearby aircraft, which would call in strikes.

[@grimreapers]

thx

[@Power5]

Those laser markers are so cool. Did not know this was a thing.

[@Mariner311]

An excellent video - a Naval Aviator neighbor in the 1960s had flown P-2 Neptunes along the trail for Operation Igloo White/DyeMarker before returning to the Anti-Submarine world.

[@timkirby5179]

17:25. While in Afghanistan 617 squadron where on patrol when a guy in the mountains was spotted setting up an ambush. They used a Brimstone missile to kill him.

[@cshader2488]

Cap, much easier to use your radar elevation dial to zoom in/out and your FLIR/POV button to switch between wide and narrow. Also if you ever get lost you can hit the MK1 button on your HSI screen to set a mark point to where it's currently pointed, so you can WPDSG to it.

[@grimreapers]

nice

[@aztec0112]

WW2 B-17s in the high box occasionally dropped bombs on lower box B-17s. There is a famous sequence of this, where a 500 lb bomb takes off a rear stabilizer of a lower box bomber.

[@nimrodquimbus912]

The Ho Chi Minh Trail, Was dynamic. There was a new one whenever the old one got wiped out

[@tonicarrera9647]

So cool seeing the markers at long range

[@shmevan_]

13:33 the proper travel song for this mission is Fortunate Son by CCR

[@kenhelmers2603]

Good mission! Congrats GR :)

[@TheEvertw]

Awesome video, mates! Got me riveted the whole time.

[@shanepregler9865]

Awesome, fun to watch

[@AnthonyTuff]

I love your channel. I watch it every day I can't get enough of the war games. you guys are great. I try not to miss a day keep up the good work.

[@grimreapers]

Thanks Sir

[@mrkeogh]

There were some very interesting US projects aimed at reducing infrared and noise signatures of small aircraft so they could monitor troop movements at night with the early night vision scopes back then. Think it was called Quiet Star, based on a Schweizer glider with a muffled engine and slow-moving prop. It's like 1st generation stealth!

[@alexthebassist23]

these new mission videos are great, more of them please!

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

Great mission and yes it was the powwer of freindship that won the day... Can't wait for the next one!

[@s3viking214]

I enjoyed every minute of this

[@johnzengerle7576]

My uncle was in the Seabees and during the early 70s, his family moved to Thailand. My aunt did charity work in Laos. One day she drove into the mountains to visit the villages. She got a flat tire coming home and was late. That night the area was designated a free-fire zone. My uncle panicked and tried to get it delayed, but could not. Fortunately, she made it home safely.

[@osuna3525]

More night stuff please! Woooo!

[@tando6266]

The citizens of Saipan "The reapers are coming, the reapers are coming"

[@grimreapers]

run!

[@Bolz4321]

ya, the A-10 has everything lol, a kitchen sink and a titanium bathtub to boot!

[@comis03]

This was great! more More MORE! next time try coming from both ends and meeting at the middle? or what about all being in ww2 bombers or napalm?

[@FenixVRG]

This is awesome! Out of curiosity, any way you can share the mission?? Kind regards :)

[@Psychobolic77]

Can't quit Vietnam until you do a mission wild weaseling SAM sites, and that's an hors d'oeuvre!

[@grimreapers]

Yup that vid shows this Saturday.

[@Dieselbuilder]

There was at least one case in WWII where a lower flight of bombers got out of position under a higher level flight and was hit by the bombs of the higher group.

[@voradfils]

Cobagiorne had a hot start but things seemed to coolbyurne towards the end. Based on the scores, I suspect that Simba concentrated on killing static map objects like trees, lamp posts, schools, and orphanages.

[@adamlairsey6700]

I expected several air to air crashes! Good piloting! 👍

[@The340king]

Nice work ole chaps!

[@angelarch5352]

Love these videos! Looking forward to the next one YA! :D

[@grimreapers]

You'll like the next one :)

[@dirkaminimo4836]

What great effects! Watching the bomb on ur A-10 vid screen!!! Where is RC or Cortana? Dem my fav! Besides you cap, of course

[@lukew811]

B-57G's were specially equipped with FLIR, LLTV and laser designator for night missions, however only 16 were built... Night vision and flir was also used on other aircraft mainly gunships and some helicopters...

[@doublebackagain4311]

RIP A-10's getting wacked by friendlies. Would be interested to see scores by plane type.

[@kevinkocher9347]

The most heavily air denied area’s in Vietnam was not north Vietnam it was the trails they were lined with batteries of sams and artillery

[@Biyobi.]

Your channel just showed up in my feed a few days ago and I'm loving the content!! Does your team have a list of hardware everyone is running? I'm curious to know if my rig could keep up with what I'm seeing in the videos.

[@grimreapers]

No but that's a great idea!

[@theafro]

Methinks a test of Air-to-air bombing should be forthcoming.

[@montys420-]

Cap and the Gr guys will need to practice on how they stacked the bombers and strike aircraft back then and they would do a race track. The fac would then take each package in so there was a constant load of ordnance rolling in on target!

[@grimreapers]

Would there have actually been a FAC at night?

[@montys420-]

@@grimreapers I think yes

[@aboriani]

"Yes I flared, and I am proud of it" Cap, you're the best

[@grimreapers]

Certain online forum will NOT approve.

[@kietdinh8220]

Sending love from vietnam. Your channel always makes excellent videos content keep up with the good work Cap ❤️

[@grimreapers]

thx

[@dalecain1158]

My squadron was bombing the trail in 1968 from the USS Kitty Hawk CVA63

[@grimreapers]

Awesome

[@meltonkentjr1226]

Nice run guys!

[@darrellseike3185]

This is going to be killer! Thank you Cap!

[@grimreapers]

:)

[@BCSchmerker]

+GrimReapersAtomic *The Ho Chi Minh Trail was, for practical purposes, a tunnel through the jungles of the Indochina Penninsula.* Then-CDR Randy Cunningham USN, CO of Fighting NINETY-SIX, was one of the attackers in the statistics, scoring a probable on a People's Army of Vietnam GAZ with a Hughes AIM-9 Bravo ("one of the trucks must've needed a valve job," wrote he in _Fox Two!,_ a memoir of the squadron tour of 1972). FLIR would have been the best sensor for detection of heat beneath the trees. The North American Rockwell OV-10 Alfa (would have been called the O2J-1 in Marine Corps service under the just-superseded BuAer system) saw its first combat as a type in the hostile skies over Viet Nam, serving as a forward-air-controller mount.

[@draigygoch]

I heard circus music on that mass take off lol

[@grimreapers]

lol

[@Eagle01ph]

One of the things that frustrated the US forces was that a huge part of the Ho chi minh trail goes through Cambodia and Laos. And the Cambodian government did not allow US aircraft to enter their air space... Tossing JDAMs maybe in TOO mode? Designate targets within vietnam and yeet the JDAMs without crossing over the border?

[@RhodokTribesman]

Nah, lol, we just crossed into those countries anyway

[@brandonclark435]

Interesting fact. Most of the tech they are using was first used over Vietnam.

[@grimreapers]

cool

[@Bigfoot1955]

We had the ability to win the war in Viet Nam but were not allowed to by our "Fearless Leaders"

[@madyoda]

Simply "wow"

[@michiganengineer8621]

I might have tried a mix of CBU and (if available in DCS) BLU-96. Drop the FAE last as "clean-up" so as not to eff up the FLIR

[@joshuaglaude1549]

Another great battle

[@ronducote8564]

That was a blind man's dream

[@MOTO809]

Legend has it Sock is still lasing 1688.

[@grimreapers]

lols

[@dampsok]

As of right now, I'm still firin' my lazar!

[@n3zyd]

One of the missions MACV-SOG did was setting quick burst radio beacons set off by trucks passing by.

[@Aussilightning]

all missions need a Viggen. illumination bombs would have lit the whole island up

[@RhodokTribesman]

Forget the Viggen, just need a few Mosquitos to flare the trail for the Lancasters haha

[@jamesj.7750]

Teamwork makes the dream work

[@williamcraig6377]

That mission would be perfect for AH1 or AH64 helicopters.

[@victoriaregina8344]

Sure, except the range from all the bases isnt ideal for helos. Probably a reason why they didn't use helos in the og vn war and also why if you were shot down north of the dmz you were pretty much guaranteed to be captured.

[@Tankerpaul223]

AH-1s first saw action in vietnam.

[@jeffwheeler8597]

i think pave penny and pave tack designators were used on the trail

[@childrenoftolkien]

Angry Scot. Definition of redundant.

[@PackPractical]

Valued viewer saying Hi! Keep up the great videos Cap!

[@grimreapers]

Hi

[@HH-qd5rj]

Does DCS have the A6 & A7 mod? That would be fun to use in a Viet Campaign simulation.

[@vf111sundower]

As for the first bomb kill on an aircraft, if your referring to GR then ok. But IRL, there is I believe there was a F-15 that made a HoBos kill against a helo in the Gulf war. And an F-105 made a kill against an Mig-17 with his empty bomb rack.

[@vf111sundower]

Sorry it was a GBU-10 that the F-15 dropped.

[@vf111sundower]

Sorry it was a GBU-10 the F-15 dropped.

[@grimreapers]

Ooo I remember doing this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g4TPeHyum7ppq5o

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

I used to bomb planes with a B-29 in Pearl Harbor zero hour but that was in 2.5D.... Also their was Night vision in Vietnam and it was common.... on tanks you know those TVs looking things over the guns? Those are Infered search lights.

[@Nighthawke70]

If IGLOO WHITE could not help stem the flow, FLIR could not have helped any either. You have to stomp on the sources of the supplies. Meaning, trashing about 5 or 6 treaties and irritating some major powers, both neutral and belligerent. THE FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER movie portrayed that amount of frustration shared among all attack and bomber pilots during the war, having their hands tied, unable to bomb or mine Hanoi harbor or hit the supply depots in the city. TRAM-equipped Intruders and other attack aircraft improved their bombing accuracy greatly, as did the laser aiming pods on the Corsairs.

[@drones7838]

You guys want to learn about North Vietnam listen all the John Stryker Meyer podcast with Jocko

[@grimreapers]

thx

[@Oberkaptain]

Probably work better with a couple of Gazelles acting as FAC-A lasing for everyone.

[@spankyjohn69]

Hello cap this is your annoying John again. I just want to say this video was good I like how you did the Ho Chi Minh trail. And if you can at any time during a video can you put a shout out to John or the annoying John LOL if you can't don't worry about it cap like I said to all the Grim Reaper's and everybody else we're all in one big family and I appreciate everything you guys do February 1st I will be getting my Grim Reaper t-shirt. I don't know how long it'll take to get here in Florida and the United States but I will wait period and to the Grim Reaper fight team. That was a good fight that you did to the opposite team you guys won both rounds. I hope everybody has a wonderful day and stay safe please and especially you cap. I watched every single video that you guys have made I officially did it. Even the air shows those are awesome but I'm going to shut up now and stop being annoying and to cap you've been doing a good job of not saying the F word or cursing. LOL very proud. Hope you have a wonderful night everybody and stay safe and people that are watching also be very careful and stay safe much love the annoying John from St Petersburg Florida United States💯👌🤙

[@esmith3329]

You need JSTARS support for GMTI / SAR data of the trail and attendant tipping/cueing. Fire up an E-8C and get your ISR support!

[@trogdordog04smith95]

4 fans of freedom !!!!

[@alanmoffat4454]

THE TECHNICAL LOT HAD A URINE SAMPLER BUT EVERYONE IN THE JUNGLE DOES IT THERE WORK IT OUT .

[@duncanharrington219]

You guys are cool

[@manticore4952]

The Vietnamese started floating supplies down rivers when the trail was unusable.

[@merafirewing6591]

We need to see how the XB-19 and XB-15 will perform on bombing over Germany, maybe also the B-36 Peacemaker?

[@Phozz4]

41:55 I've shown you my laser, please respond!

[@thomasohanlon1060]

You know the USAF used for airborne FAC the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog or other light aircraft

[@grimreapers]

thx

[@alanmoffat4454]

PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON CAP ALSO A MIX OF FOOT SOLDIERS FROM ALL THREE COUNTRY'S .

[@311Bob]

Gun pods!

[@schlitzy-1031]

Great video gentlemen. Cap, I'm sure I'm in the minority on this, but I wish all of your videos were 2 hours long. When a mission runs a bit long, just know some of your viewers will be quite happy about it, despite the extra work for you.

[@grimreapers]

It's not really more work for me TBH. The problem is long vids invariably will not make it into you guy's YT feeds, and you won;t even know it was up.

[@streetcop157]

Markey mark and the funky bunch

[@grimreapers]

ooOO someone watched the entire vid :)

[@streetcop157]

@@grimreapers yeah…… I am a Certified Law Enforcement Thermographer ( I even have a tshirt to that effect-) the flir depictions in the game are really fairly accurate. Most video games have you looking at fully formed shapes thru the brush and cover and reality is you only see bits and pieces and you are squinting trying to decide if that’s your suspect, a deer, a rabbit hole or a fresh pile of cow flop. Flir only measures the heat on the surface so if you are flying over woods ( or triple canopy jungle) you only see treetops with the occasional glimpse underneath when you catch an angle or clearing.

[@charlesbukowski9836]

Wouldn't have mattered....they only needed 5% of the actual supplies to make it down to the south to sustain the war ...I read they only needed ~10 tons per day

[@victoriaregina8344]

Big difference between "sustaining" and "expanding" the war. You cant launch major offensives on a sustenance level of supplies.

[@JakusJacobsen]

They had FLIR equipped gunships working the trail. Very primitive by todays standards of course but I think it was some of the first use of it. FLIR can't penetrate heavy forest canopy.

[@rotary7372]

Tank plinking! This reminds of how the F-111 became the greatest tank killer in history, fuck the A-10. During the gulf war F-111s were loaded with small guided bombs and they would circle the battlefield and just spend the day bombing tanks with incredible accuracy. They called it tank plinking. You kids need to do a tank plinking mission.

[@christopherdallenbach2524]

Would be awesome if you guys tried to outdo the Argentine Air force during the Falklands