As a long-time lurker on MAPS-L, I have come to admire the scholarly investigative powers of its members. I now have a personal request for help. --- Help!
I am seeking any medium to large scale aerial imagery or mapping created between 1967 and 1973 of a particular location in (at the time) South Vietnam. Ideally the images or maps would be detailed enough to show individual buildings.
Below I have provided a number of clues based on fifty year old memories. Any suggestions that would corroborate my clues with a specific reference to the "173rd Airborne Brigade, Company A Admin compound" would be icing on the cake. One thought of an extreme resource might be a (hypothetical) document describing the work of a US Army Engineer unit in building the structures in the compound complete with a sketch map. I view this as unlikely, although I have skimmed a number of such documents obtained from the University of Colorado's Norlin Library. Lacking a plan of the structures, any image or map on which the compound's fences and guard towers could be identified would be helpful. You should know that as US military units were pulled out of Vietnam in the early 1970s, many US built facilities were razed and the sites bulldozed. Hence my request for images from 1967 to 1973.
Description / Clues:
- US Army 173rd Airborne Brigade, Company A Admin compound.
- The compound was west of the town of Phú Tài. (There are several Phu Tais in Vietnam. This Phu Tai is inland (west) of the coastal city, Qui Nhon.)
- The compound was west of "Highway 1" (AKA ? "QL1A" AKA ? "AH1")
- The compound was directly south of the Sông Hà Thanh river.
- The compound was directly N/NW of a mountain. I believe this mountain is Núi Hòn Chá, Mountain
State/Province: Tinh Binh Dinh
Latitude: 13.76667
Longitude: 109.13333
Elevation: 171 meters
- I do have my own photographs of the mountain. They can be viewed at JHensinger.org. Perhaps they can add to the clues. The long/time exposures were all taken looking south from near the bank of the Sông Hà Thanh river.
- There were other units billeted adjacent to the compound to the east, but this compound had no other units adjacent on the other three sides, and was essentially at the west end of the road extending through them.
- The Army Map Service has morphed into new bureaucratic structures several times since the 1960s, and as far as I can determine, it no longer exists as a public resource. In examining AMS maps online I have determined the following:
AMS sheet 6836 IV
Qui Nhon
series L7014
1:50000
20' contours
The compound was probably located within a grid of:
BR 2696 ------------------ BR 2600
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BR 2396 ------------------ BR 2300
Please keep in mind that I could have miss-stated the AMS coordinates.
I have been told that there was a special AMS series published for helicopter pilots that may show large scale features.
I also know that the US military routinely photographed Vietnam with everything from satellites to U-2s, SR71s, and small aircraft.
I have been working on identifying this compound for over a year, and will deeply appreciate any help MAPS-L can provide.
Thank you.
Jim
James Speed Hensinger