Scope and Contents

The collection consists of slides documenting Gary Jackson's U.S. Air Force service with two tours (1967 to 1969) in Southeast Asia with the 50th Tactical Airlift Squadron, 314th Tactical Airlift Wing at Ching Chuan Kang Air Base, Taiwan, as a C130E pilot flying missions into Vietnam. Also included are personal narratives and an excerpt from a USAF monograph regarding the airlift evacuation of Kham Duc.

Also included is an oral history interview conducted in 2002.

Biographical / Historical

Gary R. Jackson, originally from Beaver, Okalahoma, served in the U.S. Air Force from 1962 until 1971. After his basic and advanced training in 1962, he was a Weapons Controller (Intercept Director) in the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) air defense network at the Phoenix Air Defense Sector, Luke AFB (Arizona), until 1966. In 1966 and 1967, Jackson underwent pilot training at Reese AFB (Texas) and Stewart AFB (Tennessee).

He served two tours in Southeast Asia (July 1967-July 1969), based in Ching Chuan Kang Air Base, Taiwan, as a C130E pilot with the 50th Tactical Airlift Squadron, 314th Tactical Airlift Wing. Jackson flew over 100 airlift missions and over 800 sorties in Vietnam. He left Taiwan in July 1969 and went to the 779th Tactical Airlift Squadron at Pope AFB (North Carolina) until he retired from the USAF in 1971.