Around March 1969 the C-123K defoliation aircraft that had been spewing Agents Orange and the other 17 agents received a lot of battle damage. That day the General's aircraft, that had been parked in front of our old French hangar, received very carefully place rockets around the aircraft without damaging the hangar which the VC knew one day when we pulled out they would get. The VC accomplished this event to show the General they could bomb anything around the base with pin point accuracy. In the meantime I was ordered to repair the C-123 which had also received a lot of damage. I worked alone because everyone else were working on the General's aircraft. I spent over 13 hours placing a lot of "scab patches" (these are not flush patches or repairs), 22 to be exact all over the aircraft. I beveled all my patches and rounded all the corners. I even placed one patch over three other patches. Even today I probably could find all the scab patches I placed on that aircraft. When I finished I was soaked in chemicals so when the Crew Chief came over to inspect the repairs I had accomplished, I asked him,"What chemicals have you been spraying from this aircraft these past 30 days?" He responded with, "We've been spraying Agents Blue, Green and Orange." The VA will have you believe they had quit spraying Agent Green several years earlier but that is not the case at all. They were still spraying Agent Green in 1969 at Da Nang.
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C-123 Provider Details
Aircraft/Missile Information
Model Fairchild C-123K Provider Length 78.48 ft | 23.92 m Width 110.01 ft | 33.53 m Height 33.99 ft | 10.36 m Engine(s) 2 x Pratt & Whitney R-2800-99W Double Wasp 18-cylinder radial piston engines generating 2,300hp each; 2 x General Electric J85-GE-17 turbojet engines developing 2,850lbf each. Empty Weight 35,367 lbs | 16,042 kg MTOW 59,525 lbs | 27,000 kg Max Speed 228 mph | 367 km/h | 198 kts Max Range 1,035 miles | 1,666 km Ceiling 28,871 ft | 8,800 m | 5.5 miles Climb Rate 1,150 ft/min Hardpoints 0 Armament None. Accommodations 3 + 62 Operators Cambodia, El Salvador, Laos, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Vietnam (South), Thailand, Venezuela and the United States of America.
