Catkiller 3-2

An Army Pilot Flying for the Marines in the Vietnam War

By: Raymond G. Caryl

Narrated by: Tom Parks

Catkiller 3-2 provides unique insights into the role of the tactical air controller, airborne (TACA) in I Corps as seen through the eyes of one of the pilots who flew low-flying, unarmed, single-engine aircraft in support of marine ground units during the Vietnam War. When Gen. William Westmoreland changed the marines' role in I Corps into a combat one, the Marines found themselves in need of more fixed wing aircraft to handle the TACA missions. The advance party of the Army's 220th Reconnaissance Aircraft Company (RAC) arrived in Vietnam in late June 1965 thinking they were going to be assigned to III Corps Tactical Zone. However, because of the shortage of existing Marine Birddogs, the 220th was immediately reassigned to I Corps and came under the operational control of the Marines.

No other work details the tactics, restrictions, aerial maneuvers, and dangers experienced by the army pilots and marine aerial observers flying these missions. As young lieutenants and captains, they had at their beck and call as much authority to request and control artillery and air strikes as ground commanders of much higher rank. Raymond G. Caryl provides unrivaled examples of the cultural mores, attitudes, and recreational activity of these young pilots and observers supporting the ground forces.

©2018 Raymond Caryl (P)2021 Tantor

I’ve always wanted to listen to a birdgods POV on the war ABSOLUTE AWESOME BOOK

It’s very interesting honestly from the beginning , the narration is done well and very easy to understand. I highly recommend this book to anyone!

great book!

if you have been bit by the bug and have a love in your heart for aviation, you truely need to listen to this book! it has certainly become one of my favorites.

Great Book

It is well written and has a great detail. There are few books on observation military planes and pilots so it fills an important void in military experiences. It had upbeat vibe.

Concise but with great detail.

This was an excellent “read”. The book is thorough and covers a lot of operations and specifics of the bird dogs in Vietnam and life as an army airman. It had more than enough anecdotes and recounted missions to keep you immersed. I really appreciate the website, catkillers.org for bringing locations like Marble Mountain to life with images. Definitely should check out the website if you plan to get into this book. I also want to note that the narration is excellent. Very smooth and he nails the tone when it comes to sarcasm and humor. My only gripes with it being that sometimes the author had a tendency to go over a detail or details repeatedly, for example with the AC-47, what it was and how it was operated. And sometimes when going into detail the author would trail on to great lengths describing something which could feel a bit disconnecting. But this by no means changes my feelings toward the book, it’s still excellent.

l felt I was alongside him during his ture.

l am sure there were more missions he was on that could be included in this book.