Bo Zarts in Vietnam (ca. 1970)

[Bo Zarts]

©2025 Bo Zarts Studio

[Grumpy Old Guy]

1. Thank you for your service sir!

[Irish_Dem]

2. What are you flying there Bo?

[Bo Zarts]

9. Army RU-8D

All top secret crypto stuff ..

I initially put Lockheed SP2-E, which I also flew. But this was in the RU-8D.

[ShazzieB]

19. I just googled and found an interesting write up on the RU-8D.

It's on the website of the Combat Air Museum in Topeka, KS, which has one of these planes in their collection. Two photos of the plane are included.

https://www.combatairmuseum.org/aircraft/beechbonanza.html

"This aircraft flew electronic intelligence (ELINT) gathering missions in the skies over South Vietnam and Laos with the US Army 138th Aviation Company/224th Aviation Battalion from the summer of 1966 until 1972. This plane was one of eight RU-8Ds flown by the 138th out of Da Nang, South Vietnam. The mission of the 138th was to provide support to the US Marine Corps in the form of ELINT gathering, intercepting enemy radio transmissions to locate their troop concentrations and movements and locating enemy transmitters. That is why the aircraft is covered with antennas. The planes and pilots were called “spooks,” Vietnam slang for intelligence types."

Thank you for your service, Bo Zarts!

[orangecrush]

25. Beat me to it

[Bo Zarts]

27. Thanks! What memories.

Now, imagine flying night missions in that little thing over the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos and Cambodia. We called it the "Whisper Jet" because the RU-8D was so loud.

[Irish_Dem]

21. Oh I thought it might be a damn Huey.

The mortality rate was so high.

Maybe you can answer a question for me.
Send me a pm if it is secret squirrel stuff.

My Dad was career USAF and we were stationed overseas during the VN war.
One of our neighbors was a young captain and he and his wife had two
young children, I used to babysit for them all the time.

This captain was in a reconnaissance squadron.

I don't know what kind of aircraft he flew.
But I would ask him what he was going to do when he left for TDY and he aways
told me he was dropping weather balloons on a nearby island.

I knew it did not take a week to two weeks to drop weather balloons so close to home, I always
wondered what he was doing.

I have recently learned that a stop secret project during the VN war was the use of drones.
Could he have been dropping drones?

Did you know anything about this project?

[democrank]

3. So glad you made it back home, Bo Zarts.

Your photo brought tears to my eyes. My sweetheart was there.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. I'd know that grin anywhere!

[Bo Zarts]

8. Still grinnin' after all these years!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. That you are!

[usonian]

5. This wasn't you with the camera?

Last edited Fri Oct 24, 2025, 07:12 PM - Edit history (1)

Just kidding. Coastie here ca 1971.

[Bo Zarts]

7. Private Joker!

Actually, I had a Pentax Spotmatic-II snatched from me by "cowboys" on a motorcycle in Nha Trang.

[yorkster]

6. I see a bit of Jack Nicholson deviltry...

Iconic pic.

[Bo Zarts]

10. Jack could have learned from me ..

[nilram]

12. dashing!

[Skittles]

13. so cool!

[Ellipsis]

14. Very cool.

https://www.combatairmuseum.org/aircraft/beechbonanza.html

[George McGovern]

15. Neat portrait Bo. Glad you are grinning still!

[surfered]

16. Glad you made it home safely to keep those wonderful photos coming.

[AllaN01Bear]

17. ""

[calimary]

18. VERY handsome!

[HAB911]

20. Glad you made it back brother

[Sanity Claws]

22. Nice photo

Is your name an Americanized/Anglicized spelling of Beaux Arts?

[orangecrush]

23. Sierra Hotel

Thank you

[orangecrush]

24. "If you could see the pilot smile, and he waved out of the window, then it had to be those crazy 'spooks' from the 138th

https://www.combatairmuseum.org/aircraft/beechbonanza.html

[SheltieLover]

26. Ty for your service!

[peacebuzzard]

28. great action portrait there, Bo Zarts

a great shot! and quite historical too

[FakeNoose]

29. My dearest Bo Zarts ... we're probably around the same age

I can remember those days of early 1970, I was actively protesting the Vietnam War. In fact my college went on Moritorium in the spring of 1970 because of the war protests. So I hope you understand that the college protests of that time were happening because we feared for our friends, brothers, cousins, neighbors, classmates etc. who were going to fight in that awful war.

Our anger and our protests were never, ever about the guys who were doing the fighting and making the sacrifices. It was always about the illegal and unfair, undemocratic actions of the US government in creating and protracting that conflict. Make no mistake, it was Dems as well as Repukes so I'm not playing politics here. I'll never forgive Nixon or LBJ for Vietnam. I knew guys who went there, and most of them came back. A few didn't. But everyone was changed by that awful war.

Thank you ....

[Bo Zarts]

30. When I got out of the Army, I immediately joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW)

I got my draft notice in 1968. Since I already had a Commercial Pilot license, I successfully enlisted to go to flight school. So I was a draftee at heart, and an enlistee in fact. I figured that since I was always better at flying airplanes than hiking, I'd better maximize my chances in Vietnam. I didn't have the resources to claim something like bone spurs!

The VVAW is still an active organization today, and I am still a member. Looks like we might have our work cut out for us .. again.

Thank you for protesting that mad, bad war. It was heartening to know that back home there was some glimmer of truth getting out!