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[com]mitment either alone or in conjunction with other forces is its most significant factor."

A typical EAGLE FLIGHT would consist of the following: one armed Huey would serve as the command and control ship and would have the U.S. Army aviation commander and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam troop commander aboard; seven unarmed Hueys were used to transport the combat elements; five armed Hueys gave the fire support and escort to the troop-carrying helicopters; and, one Huey was usually designated as a medical evacuation ship.

The EAGLE FLIGHTS were usually on a standby basis or sometimes even airborne searching for their own targets. Not only were these EAGLE FLIGHTS immediately available for those missions which required a minimum of planning, but they also provided the basis for larger operations. Several EAGLE FLIGHTS were sometimes used against targets that, when developed, proved too large for a single unit.

By November 1964, all helicopter companies in South Vietnam had organized their own EAGLE FLIGHTS and each company maintained at least one flight in an alert status on a continuing basis. The Vietnamese troop commanders were particularly enthusiastic about these operations for they provided a very close working relationship between the air and ground elements and a special esprit was built from the day-to-day operations.

Simply stated, the EAGLE FLIGHT was a microcosm of the large airmobile assaults that were destined to take place later. It had all the attributes of a true airmobile force with its self-contained reconnaissance and surveillance ability, firepower, and Infantry. Above all, these early EAGLE FLIGHTS were able to capitalize on the element of surprise which so often was lost in the detailed planning cycle with Army of the Republic of Vietnam forces.

At the beginning of 1964 the United States had 388 aircraft in Vietnam including 248 helicopters, too few to accommodate the expanding advisory effort and increasing Vietnamese Army operations. By the end of September 1964, there was in South Vietnam a total of 406 Army aviation aircraft supporting the Army of the Republic of Vietnam as follows: