Texas Tech University

Watercolor painting

Museum Object Item Number: 1528museum7391
Media Type
Museum Object
Physical Location
117A
Language(s)
English
Dates
Existence: 1966
General Note
Note provided by donor:

This depicts an airstrike on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Khammouane Province, Laos. The cockpit interior is based on a photo that I took in 1966 while a forward air controller in the 23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron, based at Nakhon Phanom, Thailand. It illustrates our strike methods over Laos, using two FAC aircraft. The high FAC observes, contacts the control authority, and makes initial contact with strike aircraft, shown as orbiting the air strike. The low FAC locates targets, places a reference point mark by firing a rocket with white phosphorous warhead, and directs the strike aircraft. He then provides a bomb damage assessment to the departing fighters. The artist has shown the puff of white smoke, a truck on the road among craters from previous strikes, and the karst landscape that characterizes the mountains of Laos. The haze is typical of the springtime just prior to the rainy monsoon season, when mountain tribes are burning the slash in their dry rice mountain fields.

Perma Link
https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=1528museum7391

Citation
Watercolor painting, 1528museum7391. No Date, William Tilton Collection, Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=1528museum7391, Accessed 04 Mar 2026.

Pub Credit Line
1528museum7391, William Tilton Collection, Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University

Added: 03 Apr 2025 [Updated: 03 Apr 2025]