In addition to the Air Force airlift units, the Marines maintained a detachment of their own KC-130 tanker/transports at Da Nang. Like their Air Force counterparts, the Marine airlifters were based out of country, on Okinawa at Futema Marine Corps Air Field — just a few miles up-island from Naha Air Base, where the Air Force’s C-130-equipped 374th Tactical Airlift Wing was based. (The other two Air Force wings were the 314th, based on Taiwan, and the 463rd, based in the Philippines at Clark and Mactan.) Marine airlift also included squadrons equipped with CH-53 and CH-46 heavy-lift helicopters. Marine helicopter crews would do yeoman’s service keeping outposts around the combat base supplied, while CH-53s would lift cargo into the base from nearby Dong Ha throughout the siege.

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Although the world was not to hear of Khe Sanh until late 1967 and early 1968, the airfield had been a frequent stop for airlifters from the commencement of U.S. activities in early 1962. A U.S. Army Special Forces and CIDG (Civilian Irregular Defense Group) camp there was serviced by C-123s of the 311th Air Commando Squadron at Da Nang. In mid-1967 the Marines began building up the base they had established at Khe Sanh a few months earlier. The buildup was entirely dependent on Air Force and Marine airlift to move troops in and out and to bring in construction materials and other supplies. Air Force and Marine C-130s and Air Force C-123s airdropped supplies to the construction crews in late 1967, gaining experience that would be invaluable less than six months later.

By January 1968, Khe Sanh was a regular stop for Air Force C-130 crews, with an average of 15 missions per day being scheduled into the base, as well as for the C-123 crews who had been operating there for years. Khe Sanh already had a reputation among the airlift crews, partly because of the known presence of the enemy and partly because of the airstrip itself. Located on top of an 800-foot rise, the runway was difficult to approach because it lacked ground references, while the steep drop-off at the end of the runway often caused downdrafts in wickedly shifting winds. In addition, the runway was only 3,000 feet long — barely long enough for safe C-130 operations, but with little margin for error.

In mid-January, MACV began building up the defenses at Khe Sanh. On the 16th, C-130s lifted in a third Marine infantry battalion to reinforce the two already there (along with an artillery battalion). A fourth battalion was proposed, which raised the question of the feasibility of adequate airlift resupply. MACV advised General Westmoreland that the 15 C-130 missions per day would be adequate, although 75 extra missions would be required to build up the 30-day stock to accommodate the additional troops. But on the 20th the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) blew up the main ammunition dump. Suddenly the airlift effort became critical.

When the dump detonated, debris was scattered all over the base, including the runway. Only two-thirds of it was usable, and that portion was littered with debris. A six-plane C-123 emergency resupply mission managed to land at nightfall by flare light, in spite of bad weather and incoming enemy fire complemented by constant explosions in the still-burning ammunition dump. Other supplies were brought in by Marine helicopters, but no C-130s landed at Khe Sanh that day.

For three days, only C-123s and helicopters could operate into Khe Sanh. Yet the smaller transports managed to bring in 88 tons of critically needed supplies, while Marine helicopters brought in more than 500 members of the fourth Marine infantry battalion. On the 23rd, C-130 operations resumed. Over the next eight days, Air Force deliveries to Khe Sanh averaged 50 tons, with 18 C-130 landings per day during that same period.

Khe Sanh was blessed with unusually good weather during those first few days of February. Early morning ground fog was the only obstacle, but the presence of a Marine GCA (ground-controlled approach) radar unit made landings possible with ceilings as low as 500 feet. A pair of Air Force officers with the 834th AD, Majors Myles Rohrlick and Henry Van Gieson III, thought of a new possibility for the Marine GSA in the event that landings at Khe Sanh should become out of the question. In late January and early February the two airlifters conducted a series of test airdrops at Khe Sanh, using the GCA to position the C-130 drop planes over a known point from which the aircrew navigators could compute a heading and the amount of time to a drop zone. Experience gained from the tests would be a major factor in the later successful supply effort. After the initial tests were conducted with C-130s, the 834th developed similar procedures for the C-123s.

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