USAF Martin A-40B Sledgehammer

[comrade harps]

Martin A-40B Sledgehammer
a/c 70927, Debbie Sue, 612th Special Operations Squadron (612 SOS), 666 Counter Insurgency Wing (666 CIW), United States Air Force (USAF), Kentung, Burma, August 1967



The Martin AM-1 Mauler was designed to meet the same US Navy specification as the Douglas AD Skyraider. Although 153 Maulers were built for the US Navy, the Skyraider was the preferred option and went on to earn aviation immortality. Criticisms of the AM-1 included its overly complex design and poor maintenance record compared to the relative simplicity of the AD-1. The Mauler story might have ended there, but, desperate for contracts, Martin redesigned the type to trim weight, simplify its systems and improve reliability. Two AM-1s were bailed back to Martin to serve as prototypes to pursue this course of development. These aircraft were rebuilt as the carrier capable AM-2 and the land-based XA-40. Both replaced the quartet of 20mm T-31 cannon with the AN/M2 cannon of identical calibre. The Navy gave the AM-2 a cursory evaluation and ordered more Skyraiders. In late 1949 the USAAF put the XA-40 through a brief flight test program, but was more interested in procuring jets. Then the globe was thrust into WW3, as the Western European summer of 1950 turned into a series of Red revolutions and Reds swept into South Korea. Although the emphasis was still on jets, USAF commanders quickly realised that there was still a place for propeller driven attack aircraft and that it could no longer rely on WW2 surplus types like the A-26 and F-51D. 14 YA-40A, with the new official nickname Sledgehammer, were urgently ordered for service evaluation alongside a contract for 1,000 A-40As. Development was swift and USAF A-40A combat operations began in January 1952 with the Korean-based 17th Bomb Wing. These A-40As were powered by the 3,000hp R-4360-4; the next model (A-40B, 1,500 built) used the 3,500hp R-4360-20. Several subtypes were produced through conversions, including the RA-40A with a photographic reconnaissance capability and the two seat EA-40A and EA-40B electronic warfare versions. Replaced on Martin's production line in 1953 by the B-57 Canberra, many surplus A-40s were delivered to export customers for counter insurgency duties. On Mark Engineering acquired the A-40 type certificate in 1960, going on to provide sustainment support and test fly the Allison T56 turboprop powered A-40T prototype as a private venture. This had no takers.

USAF Sledgehammers served in Korea, South East Asia (SEA), North Africa and South America. Turkey received 100 B models to replace their B-26Gs and used them extensively against Kurdish guerillas. A-40s were highly valued for performing CAS, interdiction and air rescue fire support. Their rugged construction, long range and endurance, accuracy and prodigious capacity for carrying heavy and varied ordnance loads made them hard to replace.



The A-40 wasn't redesignated when the US tri-service aircraft designation system was introduced in 1962. Retaining its original A-40 monica, it was, in effect, an out of sequence designation in the A for Attack series. This was publicly explained away as the A-40 being an obsolescent type not worth the trouble of renumbering; by 1962 most USAF Sledgehammers were in the boneyard at Davis-Monthan, with just 35 listed as active. The main USAF operator was the 612th Special Operations Squadron (612 SOS); 26 A-40Bs were assigned to it in 1962. It was the job of On Mark Engineering to maintain a minimum active fleet of 35. They did this through maintenance and repair services and by regenerating stored Sledgehammers to replace attrition.  However, by the mid-1960s stored airframe and engine numbers were running low and only 19 were airworthy in December 1966 and the Sledgehammer was retired in 1968.



Based at Kentung in Burma, 612 SOS operated in the UN's murky Secret War in SouthEast Asia. Assigned to 666 Counter Insurgency Wing (666 CIW), the Sledgehammers at Kentung were joined by an assortment of helicopters, FACs, gunships, flareships, photo reconnaissance and ELINT/SIGINT platforms, transports and light STOL utility aircraft. Kentung served as a major UN COIN hub for activities across Burma, northern Thailand and Laos. Kentung was considered a closed city from 1960 onwards.

The Sledgehammers of 612 SOS attacked the Patho Lao and Viet Minh and supported indigenous militia armed by the CIA in neutral Laos. They were active in Operation Barrel Roll against North Vietnamese Reds and the Patho Lao in north eastern Laos. As part of Operation Big Time, they targeted the China-Laos Friendship Highway and the nearby Boten–Vientiane Railway, both being built as foreign aid projects by China in Laos. The Highway and the Railway were guarded by Chinese troops and their anti-aircraft guns (plus SAMs from 1965). These major transport corridors were being used to supply Red armed forces in Laos, Cambodia, South Vietnam and Thailand.



666 CIW was also active in Operation Red Rain, the interdiction campaign against the Mao Tse Tung Trail that wound its way through eastern Burma, along the Mekong River and the Burmese-Thai border regions through to Malaysia. Burma's many ethnic separatist insurgencies were engaged through the auspices of the UN's Operation White Shadow. Located in the Golden Triangle region of Burma, 666 CIW was active in Operation Mercy Street, conducted in relation to the opium and heroin trades endemic to the area. The drug industry was dominated by former Kuomintang Army officers who ran their own private armies. Although hostile to the Reds, their allegiances were fluid, sometimes backing the separatist guerillas and sometimes cooperating with UN interests. These included various UN intelligence agencies who took a cut of opium profits to fund off-the-books operations. The Sledgehammers of 612 SOS occasionally bombed opium processing facilities when a local drug lord took the wrong side.

The contemporary public record was silent on much of this activity. Laotian neutrality was being respected. Burma and Thailand weren't major sources of illicit opioids: China was uniquely responsible. UN intelligence agencies definitely weren't participating in the opium business to finance black ops. China was still an active enemy, but the UN was successfully containing them through action against their proxies. Neither the UN nor the Red Chinese wanted their direct combat in Laos known. The activities of 612 SOS were hidden behind inaccurate public statements, classification, security clearances, closed sessions, censorship, cover stories and official secrets acts.



From 1966, as A-40 engines and airframes became too scarce to fill 612 Squadron's requirements, A-1Es and Hs were transferred from Navy stocks to continue operations. The last A-40Bs were retired in 1968. In 1970 it was re-equipped with B-57Gs. The 612th's big public reveal came in 2006 with the publication of Who's The Enemy Today?*, a book detailing the exploits of 666 CIW.



The clandestine exploits of 612 SOS came under scrutiny when they were mentioned in Congressional testimony relating to the CIA's Golden Triangle's drug trade. Investigations into the Agency's role in the heroin supply chain brought to light an incident in 1963. Apparently, 612 SOS Maulers had bombed the processing and warehouse facilities of a "rival" drug lord. Other 666 CIW squadrons were implicated in the transportation of drugs and the movement of illegally sold defence assets to fund CIA actions not approved by Congress.

The resultant public hearings, media interviews and published memoirs by former CIA and 666 CIW personnel publicised many of its clandestine missions. The managed release of many swashbuckling 666 CIW stories
was part of a Pentagon program to create an heroic counter narrative to the scandals being unearthed.

This aircraft was manufactured as an A-40B in 1953 and delivered to the USAF, which used it as a trails platform, serving at Elgin and Edwards. In 1959 it was placed in storage at Davis-Monthan. 70927 was refurbished by On Mark and returned to flight status in 1963. It served with the 612th Special Operations Squadron until 13 October 1967, when it failed to return from a sortie over the Friendship Highway. The plane's pilot (Captain Peter Gabriel) was rescued 3 days later, but the wreckage was not worth the effort to recover.



This model is based on photographs taken of Debbie Sue at Kentung in August 1967. Prepared for combat, it carries 2 BLU-27/B napalm tanks on a centreline mounted TER. The inner underwing pylons have an asymmetric loadout of a 300 gal external fuel tank and a SUU-23/A 20 mm GAU-4/A Vulcan cannon. Stations 6 and 10 are each armed with LAU-3 rocket pods of 19 2.75 inch rockets. 8 Mk.82 500 lb bombs round out the underwing ordnance. The internal armament is 4 20mm M39 (replacing the original AN/M3 cannon). An AN/APS-36 search radar (with a useful terrain avoidance feature) is under the starboard wing. The radar was added to Sledgehammers (as a removable option) from 1957 to improve all weather capabilities. The camouflage is South East Asia Four, a "lizard" version of the USAF's standard SEA camouflage.



According to Who's The Enemy Today?, the pilot was Lt. Barry Williams. The plane was named after his then wife, Debbie Sue Williams (nee Moore). Williams survived his combat tour with 612 SOS and retired as a Lt. Colonel. As a Major, he earned 5 kills flying F-4Es with the 32nd TFS in 1972 during Operation Half Back Flanker.




* Who's The Enemy Today?: the clandestine story of 666 Counter Insurgency Wing, Robert C. Mikesh, Osprey Publishing, 2006

[PR19_Kit]

Wowee, that's one big SLAB of a wing it's got!   

[NARSES2]

Always liked the Mauler and she looks really good in that scheme 

[comrade harps]

Wowee, that's one big SLAB of a wing it's got!   

That's why it needed a big gun. None of that whimpy Minigun stuff carried about by the Skyraider.

[zenrat]

Excellent job Comrade.

Jeux sans frontieres eh?
 

[comrade harps]

Excellent job Comrade.

Jeux sans frontieres eh?
 

This is the new stuff.

[McColm]

The first time I saw your build reminded me of the Thunderbolt ,well done 

[kerick]

Wonderful job.
This inspires me to get out the Mauler I have in the stash and see what I can do with it.

[HarryPhishnuts]

Love the build and LOVE the back story. Great work.   

[chrisonord]

Very nice, I struggled with mine, but was worth it as they are an awesome chunk of a plane. 

[Captain Canada]

Big, beautiful beast ! Love these big singles. Looks great like that !

[su27rules]

  

[DogfighterZen]

Great work on the model and backstory.   

[Wardukw]

A very very cool build ,,love anything Skyraider-ish