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OP-2E TRIM (Trail Road Interdiction Mission)

On 24 November 1970 the Senate Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee completed a 3-day "Investigation into Electronic Battlefield Program," which dealt with the development and use of sensor surveillance to locate hostile forces in South Vietnam and thus take the night away from the enemy. As representatives of the Services and OSD explained to the committee, the program had its beginnings in 1966 when the Navy sought to adapt the air-dropped radio sonobuoy to ground use by replacing the hydrophone with a microphone. In the initial phase, the project was called ALARS (for Air Launched Acoustical Reconnaissance) which was a part of the TRIM (Trail Road Interdiction Mission) Project.

In August 1966, a scientific study group proposed a broader air-supported barrier system and in September the Secretary of Defense established the Defense Communications Planning Group to implement the concept and later expanded the mission to cover a variety of tactical applications with a variety of sensors. Although the air-supported sensor responsibility was eventually assigned to the Air Force (under the code name Igloo White), the initial combat mission was carried out from November 1967 to June 1968 by a newly established Navy Squadron, VO-67 equipped with 12 OP-2E aircraft.

Lockheed prepared twelve SP-2E for conversion to OP-2E, by updating them to SP-2H standard. They were then converted at China Lake into OP-2Es, by removing the MAD tail and installing a blunt bulkhead with AN/ALE-29 Chaff Dispenser in it. Under the tail were a rearward looking camera, and under the nose was mounted a large radome housing an AN/APQ-131 radar. The mission of the OP-2E was to drop ADSID seismic sensors over the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which were carried on multiple ejector racks under the wings and other sensors were carried in the bomb bay. The aircraft were also equipped with SUU-11A/1A Minigun pods under the wings.

Observation Squadron SIXTY SEVEN (VO 67) utilized converted P-2V aircraft, now known as the OP-2E, heavily armored and fitted with advanced land detection systems, for ground reconnaissance missions. The squadron deployed to Khon Phnom Airport in Thailand in 1967 and immediately began flying surveillance missions in the vicinity of the Ho Chi Min Trail. These missions were very hazardous. They had to fly low and slow, about 500 feet at 250 knots.

Two complete crews were lost from VO-67, totaling 20 brave men from three downed aircraft. Crew 2 of VO-67 was flying a classified mission from their home base at Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, dropping sensors and listening devices along the Ho Chi Min Trail, when they crashed into the Laotian mountainside. The nine crewmembers were initially classified as missing in action, but changed to killed in action only three or four days later.

On 11 January 1968 the nine crewmembers aboard the OP-2E aircraft MR 2 were reportedly flying a "Muscle Shoals" sensor-drop mission over central Laos. The aircraft was part of the specially commissioned V0-67 squadron, operating from Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base (RTAFB), Thailand and was also fitted to conduct armed aerial reconnaissance. The last radio and radar contact with this aircraft was on 11 January 1968 at 0957 hours as it descended through cloud cover to perform its mission. Search efforts were initiated after contact was not regained within a reasonable time. On 25 January 1968, a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft located and photographed the suspected crash site of the MR 2 loss. However, due to the hostile threat in the area, a ground recovery team could not access the site to recover the remains of the aircrew.

Repatriation has been a slow process as recovery procedures can only be carried out during a three-month period each year. The recovery process is part of the Joint Task Force Full Accounting Mission (JTFFA). Recovery of the remains did not begin until 1996. The Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI) sent multiple recovery teams to the crash site beginning in March 2001. The wreckage was located at 4,400 feet elevation on an isolated mountainside, deep in the Laos wilderness. The challenging terrain and adverse weather conditions hindered early rescue efforts. Recovery was completed January through March 2002 while two Sailors from AIMD Whidbey, PR1(AW) Nicholas Williams and PR1(AW) Benjamin Umayan, were temporarily assigned to JTFFA and worked at the Crew 2 recovery site.

At 1157 local time on February 27, 1968, Commander Milius and the crew of his OP-2E aircraft were on an operational surveillance mission over Laos when the aircraft was hit in the radar well by a large explosive projectile, presumed a 37MM antiaircraft fire. One crew member was mortally wounded by the initial blast and fire broke out in the aircraft. As it became clear that the aircraft could not be saved, Captain Milius took the controls from the pilot, Lieutenant Bernie Walsh, and gave the crew the order to bail out. Captain Milius continued to control the aircraft to enable his crew to escape. Of eight surviving crew members of the initial blast, all but Captain Milius were safely rescued on the ground by the 37th Air Rescue Recovery Squadron Jolly Green Giants.

Capt. Paul Milius still remains unaccounted for. He was the aircraft commander of Crew 7 and the last to bail out of his burning aircraft in February 1968, allowing the remaining seven survivors to be rescued. Milius was initially in radio contact with rescue helos on the day of the crash. The next day, only his radio beacon was heard and the rescue mission had to be aborted due to heavy enemy gunfire. His status was changed to presumed killed in action 10 years after the crash. Now there's a U.S. Navy ship named after this brave pilot, USS Milius (DDG-69) in San Diego, Calif. The ship's website opens with, "The USS Milius is the 19th and best of the Navy's new class of Arleigh Burke Guided Missile Destroyers. The ship is named for the late Captain Paul L. Milius, an OP-2E reconnaissance pilot who was shot down during Vietnam. She was commissioned into the fleet on Nov. 23, 1996."