Special Operators: The Night Stalkers, United States.

LTC Eugene Chu Excellent Share! Love It!

I am not certain if they were part of the 160th... However, When I was with MACVSOG, I worked directly with the First Flight Detachment... They were formed when MACSOG inherited from the CIA a substantial group of agents and a robust maritime element. It had no aviation force of its own to clandestinely parachute sabotage agents, and guerrilla warfare and reconnaissance teams into North Vietnam (and later, Laos and Cambodia). Therefore, it needed to create a covert air operations capability from scratch. Thus was born the First Flight Detachment, the first and only covert combat aviation unit in US Air Force history. Their seemingly innocuous C-123 Provider transports became highly modified "Grey Ghosts" and "Black Birds." Special attention was given to the combat tactics the crews used to survive their dangerous nighttime low-altitude missions through mountainous terrain and enemy defenses.
The First Flight Detachment was a squadron of the United States Air Force (USAF) that consisted of four heavily modified C-123 Provider aircraft flown by Nationalist Chinese aircrews. They provided airlift support to the Studies and Observations Group (SOG). The First Flight Detachment was considered the most secret air unit of the war.