The fuselage section of A4-185, a Caribou of the RAAF Transport Flight Vietnam (RTFV), that ...

The fuselage section of A4-185, a Caribou of the RAAF Transport Flight Vietnam (RTFV), that crashed while attempting to re-supply the Special Forces camp at A Ro completely covered in sandbags to protect the occupants from mortar attack. On the morning of 18 November 1964 A4-185, captained by Flying Officer (FO) B.G. Hammond, was tasked to deliver supplies to this isolated camp that relied entirely on aerial re-supply. His mission was to use the low level aerial delivery system (LOLEX), where the aircraft flew very low and very slow over the drop zone (DZ) and the pallet of supplies was extracted from the cargo compartment by a parachute. The Caribou approached the DZ but the floor mechanism jammed and the pallet of supples remained inside the aircraft. After discussing the situation with the soldiers on the ground, FO Hammond was assured that not only did they need the supplies urgently, but that the runway was suitable for his aircraft to land on. FO Hammond successfully landed the aircraft on the very short and muddy runway but after applying reverse thrust on both engines the windscreen was covered with muddy water and so obscured the pilot’s vision that the aircraft ran off the runway into a ditch running beside the runway and the right hand undercarriage leg was torn off. There were no casualties but the aircraft was badly damaged. Due to the nature of the runway and security situation in the immediate area after the two engines and the mainplane were salvaged by RAAF crews from Vung Tau the aircraft was written off. The Special Forces soldiers quickly moved on this unexpected bounty, the cockpit and cargo compartment became a briefing room and the rear door section of the cargo compartment was used as a store room.