5th Special Forces Group (ABN)
The 5th
Special Forces Group (ABN), 1st Special Forces was Headquartered at Nha
Trang, RVN. While the Chain of Command for the 281st AHC went
through the 10th CAB, 17th CAG to the 1st Aviation Brigade, it was
attached in an Operational Control (OPCON) Command Relationship to the
5th SFG (ABN) with the specific mission of providing Aviation support as
directed by the Commanding Officer of the 5th SFG (ABN) The 2nd
(Bandits) and 3rd (Wolf Pack) Flight Platoons were initially directed to
support Special Operations and the 1st Flight Platoon (Rat Pack) was
initially directed to support the lettered companies, A Detachments and
MACV-RECONDO School. Over the period of 1966 through 1970 these
mission assignments cross migrated to the extent that both Lift Platoons
were involved in all aspects of support for the 5th SFG (ABN) plus
missions assigned through the 10th CAB Chain of Command.
The 281st
involvement in Special Operations began with Detachment B-52, Project
Delta and in the early days spread to Projects Omega and Sigma.
After Projects Omega and Sigma were absorbed by the Military Assistance
Command Vietnam-Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG), the 281st
continued to support Project Delta as primary. Over the years the
281st provided single or multi-ship support to MACV-SOG, Command and
Control Central (CCC) on occasion and supported other Special Operations
elements of SOG. Some specific missions are listed in the
Chronological History on this website.
The 281st
AHC was the only Army Aviation unit attached to 5th SFG (ABN) during the
war in Vietnam. Early organizational charts for 5th SFG (ABN) and
Project Delta actually show the 281st AHC as an organic asset. It
was the first Helicopter Special Operations unit in the US Army.
It is considered by US Army Historians to be the legacy unit for today's
160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Many of the techniques
and tactics jointly developed by the 281st and Project Delta were used
by other Special Operations units during the war in Vietnam and other
areas of South East Asia and in fact having been refined over the years
are still being used today by Special Operations Helicopter units
worldwide.