The Ravens

While most Americans watched the Vietnam War on television, another bloody conflict was transpiring next door in Laos, hidden from the news cameras and print journalists. A very small, select, group of volunteer U.S. Air Force pilots in a highly secret U.S. government program were fighting a secret war, wearing civilian clothes, piloting small, unarmed prop-driven aircraft, taking life-and-death risks on every hazardous mission and given little to no guidance other than to direct deadly fires on the enemy. These men were U.S. Air Force pilots called Ravens, guiding fast-mover U.S. fixed wing fighters and bombers onto enemy targets in an effort to stop the North Vietnamese invasion of Laos. Ravens flew and fought in Laos from 1967 to 1972, sustaining one of the highest casualty rates of any U.S. Air Force unit during the Vietnam War. This is Part I of their story.

https://thehochiminhtrail.com/tails-from-the-ho-chi-minh-trail-the-ravens-part-2-their-story/