Dac Pek airstrip, one of the stop-offs for USAF 002 Mission. The mission was a daily military ...

Dac Pek airstrip, one of the stop-offs for USAF 002 Mission. The mission was a daily military logistic support flight for 35 Squadron RAAF tasked by the 8th USAF and could be a specific task detailed by that headquarters or the mission aircraft could be assigned to a nominated Air Movements unit for that day. The Mission was flown by Caribou aircraft of 35 Squadron RAAF, known as Wallaby Airlines because of their 'wallaby' call sign. The mission flight on this day went from Nha Trang - Kontum - Pleiku - Dac Pek - Plaiku - Tien Atar - Pleiku. They remained overnight and had for this mission provided logistic support for the US Army Special Forces (Green Berets). At the Tien Atar stop-off they had been asked to deliver smoke rockets used for target identification. As the airfield was under mortar fire the 35 Squadron RAAF Caribou stayed on the airstrip for the shortest time possible.