Hitchin' A Ride, Photos by Captain Doug Price, Mad Dog 6
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Captain Price, Mad Dog 6, standing in front of a Mad Dog mini-gun
gunship. I'm not for sure but that might be Robert 'Headhunter' Slater at the
left of the picture. I personally flew many missions with Captain Price and
he was an exceptional aircraft commander. I'll never forget the time we were
flying and had Greyhound 6, Major Lacy, flying as our copilot. Captain Price
made a rocket run and when we broke, mud that was around the target we hit
actually flew up and hit me in the side of the face! I thought I had been
shot! The Mad Dogs were well known for making their rocket runs low. Don
James, Hartford 2 Zulu, a Marine Advisor we worked with out of Nha Be, told
me one time he heard the Mad Dogs coming in for a landing and when he looked
up at this particular Mad Dog gunship making its final approach to Nha Be,
there was Captain Price with his head sticking out of the door in order for
him to see the runway. The windshield was covered with mud from rocket runs!
Don James said he would never forget that sight as long as he lives!
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Here's yours truly, Ragman. I had two nicknames in the 240th, "Ragman" given
to me by Mad Dog 16, CW2 Mike Forrester and "Doyle," given to me by Mad Dog
6, Captain Price. When I reunited with Captain Price in 1994 for the first
time since Vietnam, I asked him why he had given me that name. He replied,
"Heck, Doyle, wasn't there a rock band that had that name!" haha I am very
proud of both of those nicknames! This photo had to be taken after January
1970, I have Specialist 5 stripes on my sleeves and a rectangular Mad Dog
which I believe was the one that was turquoise.
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Aircraft Commander, Mad Dog 6, giving the photographer two "one
finger" peace signs. This is Mad Dog Gunship 497. Does anyone know who the
copilot is?
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Mad Dog 6 with his custom painted chicken plate down at the
flightline at Bearcat.
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Here's Captain Price receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross from
the 222nd Aviation Battalion Commander. The captain standing to the right
of Mad Dog 6 is Captain Mike Fitzgerald, Greyhound Aircraft Commander who
flew a lot as Charlie/Charlie.
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Captain Price is making a rocket run in this picture. Looks like we
were flying around 800 feet altitude while making this run, I bet we all had
nose bleeds from flying so high! Just kidding, Sir.
A picture is worth a thousand words, here's mud on the nose of a Mad
Dog Gunship where Mad Dog 6, Captain Price, broke low on a rocket run!
Captain Price loading rockets in his gunship at the Tan An airfield.
That's Captain Price, second from the left, does anybody know the
names of the other pilots in this picture? Don't forget the sunscreen, Sirs!
The song for this page was put on here for a reason and I thank our
webmistress, Ms. Linda Luther, for finding this particular music. On one
mission while flying with Captain Price, Mad Dog 6, we were flying along a
major highway, don't remember where or the number of the road, but as we were
cruising along I happened to look down and couldn't believe what I was
seeing. There, going down this highway, were two Vietnamese couples and they
were driving in a 60's Ford Thunderbird convertible! I immediately told
Captain Price and the whole crew started laughing. Here in the middle of this
war are some Vietnamese cruising down the highway in their T-Bird convertible
and it brought a little of The World back into our day and we were all
wishing we were cruising back home in our cars.
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