This article was written by Blair Case, Editor, ADA Magazine Online.

It is based on interviews with and materials furnished by 2-71 veterans.  Robert Mackintosh supplied a written narrative, documents and newspaper clippings.  David O’Connell read the completed manuscript and offered corrections and suggestions.   Samuel Grant contributed photos of General Maxwell Taylor, Major General L. L. Doan and Chaplain Burt Webb.  Other photos used in the article are from the collection of Nat Lewis.

It begins:
Once the sun sank behind the horizon not much flew, the dark sky was virtually empty, and any blip that appeared on the scope jumped out at you. At 2000, Bravo Battery's Target Acquisition Radar operator reported a target to First Lieutenant Bob Mackintosh, the fire control officer. The aircraft that appeared on the scope had just taken off from the Chinese mainland and was headed due east across the strait. Mackintosh rang the battalion's Army Air Defense Command Post and reported the target's coordinates, altitude, size and direction of travel. The procedure was to update the target status report once a minute. Bravo Battery was already on three-minute alert, so the Nike-Hercules missiles were up and ready to fire before the target came within range of the Target Tracking Radar. Since the missiles had a range of about 75 miles and the Taiwan Strait was only about 80 miles wide, it took only a few moments for the aircraft to come within range.

Mackintosh phoned in more precise data to the command post. The target was a twin-engine bomber . . . .

You can view the entire article along with the photographs by downloading the the following Adobe PDF file.

You will need the free Adobe Acrobat reader to do this.

If you need to install the free Adobe Acrobat reader click here to download and install it.

Download Operation Hurry Up! PDF File
(578 kb) (1 minute 24 seconds @ 56kb)