the misty experiment movie

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The history behind the usaf’s top-secret fighter pilot unit in vietnam.

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A new documentary slated to premiere on PBS stations on May 2, 2022 will introduce audiences to the never-before-told story of 157 US Air Force fighter pilots and their experimental unit designed to disrupt the flow of weapons into South Vietnam during the Vietnam War .

The group came together in June 1967 as Detachment 1, 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Phù Cát Air Base, Vietnam. Their official name was “Operation Commando Sabre,” with the 16 pilots and four aircraft given the codename “Misty.” Maj. George E. “Bud” Day was its first commander, while Maj. William Douglass served as the unit’s first Ops Officer.

Given the top-secret nature of their work, very little is publicly known about the aviators and their work. This is why the documentary, titled The Misty Experiment , became a passion project for both the filmmakers and the pilots who were interviewed. More than 20 of the unit’s 157 members were spoken to over several years, creating the template for the film.

Filmmaker Danny L. McGuire filmed the majority of the interviews before leaving the project unfinished due to health issues. Production was paused for several years, until filmmaker Ian Adelson was approached by his grandfather Doug Echenberg to complete the project. Echenberg served as an Air Force flight surgeon for the unit.

In 1967, weapons and supplies were freely flowing to South Vietnam from the north, resulting in an increase in the loss of US aircraft and personnel in the country. As such, it was the new unit’s job to test out a new air controller concept that would stop the flow of enemy weapons and personnel by identifying targets for aerial attacks.

The first Misty pilots designed the basic techniques and tactics used by later flyers. They ensured two pilots flew on each mission, with the front seat pilot flying the aircraft while the one in the backseat responded to radio transmissions, took photos on a handheld 35 mm camera with a telephoto lens, and analyzed maps of the area.

To accomplish their missions, Misty pilots flew two-seater F-100F Super Sabre fighter jets, which were much faster than their propeller-powered counterparts (the Cessna O-2 Skymaster and Cessna O-1 Bird Dog ), hitting speeds of between 350 and 550 MPH. While flying low over enemy territory along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, they would continually jink and turn in irregular patterns to make it more difficult for North Vietnamese anti-aircraft weapons to hit them.

They also dive-bombed over enemy targets, shooting smoke-filled rockets to mark their positions for Air Force and US Navy fighter jets – McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom IIs and Republic F-105 Thunderchiefs – to launch strikes. This, paired with their aerial photography, allowed them to map North Vietnamese movements, supply routes, and the locations of anti-aircraft weapons.

Misty missions were incredibly dangerous, and pilots were once told that they were facing the largest amount of anti-aircraft weaponry since the Second World War . The missions were often exhausting for the crews flying them. Pilots remained on station for up to six hours, during which they temporarily left North Vietnamese airspace to refuel from an aerial tanker. By the end of the program, they were flying seven sorties a day.

Of the 157 pilots who served over the three years the unit existed, 34 were shot down, eight were killed in action and four became prisoners of war .

The top-secret Misty unit was disbanded in May 1970. Following this, two of its pilots became Air Force Chiefs of Staff, while six others rose to the rank of general officer. Two flew on the space shuttle and one pilot became the first man to fly non-stop and un-refueled around the world.

Day was awarded the Medal of Honor for defying his captors after being shot down in North Vietnam. He was later imprisoned in Hanoi for five years alongside John McCain, where he provided false information to protect his comrades. He retired from the Air Force in 1970, holding nearly 70 military decorations.

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New movie reveals elite Air Force unit’s secret battles against enemy supply networks during Vietnam War

A new documentary releasing May 2 tells the never-before-told story of a group of 157 U.S. Air Force fighter pilots that formed an experimental unit to secretly disrupt the flow of weapons into South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

In 1967, as weapons and supplies flowed freely down from North Vietnam to South Vietnam, a group of experienced fighter pilots volunteered to form a top-secret unit with the code-name “Misty.” The job of this Misty unit, over the course of three years, was to fly fast and low over the North Vietnamese supply lines and identify targets for aerial strikes, disrupting the flow of weapons to the war in South Vietnam. The story of this experimental unit, and their highly dangerous mission, is retold through the documentary film “The Misty Experiment.”

The Misty Experiment (Trailer) | Film from Floor 1 Productions LLC on Vimeo .

“The Misty Experiment” was the product of years of interviews with more than 20 members of the legendary unit and is set to air on local and national PBS channels beginning on May 2. Viewers can check their local listings for air dates and the film will also air on PBS WORLD on Saturday, May 28 at 6 pm ET; Sunday, May 29 at 11 pm ET; and Monday, May 30 at 11 am ET.

Dean Echenberg, who served as an Air Force flight surgeon for the experimental unit, spoke with American Military News about his Vietnam war experience.

“I got to see the entire Misty operation and I got to know maybe 100 pilots who passed through Misty,” said Echenberg, who was one of the Misty members interviewed in the film and who helped complete the film’s production.

Early on in the Vietnam War, airborne forward air controllers (FACs) worked to spot targets for the Air Force using slow, propeller-driven aircraft. This particular military doctrine proved particularly dangerous for countering the flow of supplies in the border region between North and South Vietnam, where the North Vietnamese forces had gathered a high concentration of anti-aircraft weapons to protect their supply lines.

The Mistys, which were created from a flight of the 416th Fighter Squadron, formed in June 1967 to try a new forward air controller concept to stop the flow of enemy troops and supplies while avoiding some dangerous anti-aircraft fire. Their new concept entailed using special two-seat F-100F Super Saber fighter jets as so-called “Fast FACs,” flying much faster than their propeller-powered counterparts. These Misty Fast FACs would fly at high speeds, constantly jinking and turning in irregular patterns to make themselves difficult for North Vietnamese anti-aircraft weapons to track and shoot down, all while they looked for and marked enemy targets.

“It was a very high-G, constant movement of the aircraft so no one could get a bead on you,” Echenberg told American Military News.

As they flew fast and low over North Vietnam, the Misty crews would take photos to try to find potential targets. Back at their base, the Misty pilots would study the photos to map out the movements of the North Vietnamese. The Misty’s quickly learned to pick out the enemy supply routes and their anti-aircraft weapons, even when they were well hidden by the dense jungle canopy.

The Misty Fast FACs would also dive-bomb those enemy targets, shooting at them with smoke-filled rockets to mark their positions for Air Force attack aircraft and bombers to strike.

While this “Fast FAC” approach to spotting and marking targets was more effective than the slow-moving propeller aircraft other FACs used, the mission of the Mistys was still incredibly dangerous. Of the 157 Misty pilots who served over a three-year time span, 34 were shot down, some multiple times. The Misty pilots were told at one point, that they were facing the largest concentration of anti-aircraft weaponry fielded since World War II.

“We had a high shoot-down rate,” Echenberg said. “But the impact didn’t really strike me until many years later about how dangerous it was and how different it was.”

With the challenging nature of the mission, the volunteers for the Misty unit still had to go through a rigorous selection process. The unit’s high level of professionalism is reflected in part by its military decorations, including a Medal of Honor. Misty pilot George Everette “Bud” Day received the highest individual U.S. military decoration for defying his captors after being shot down over North Vietnam. Despite being badly injured and immediately captured, Day escaped and attempted to get back to South Vietnam before being recaptured once again. At a prison in Hanoi, Day continued to provide his captors with false information, in order to protect the lives of his fellow aviators.

Other Misty pilots had professional success following the war. The unit produced seven generals, two Air Force Chiefs of Staff, two NASA astronauts and numerous successful business executives.

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Donald Shepperd, who served as the director of the Air National Guard after his time with the Mistys, said the experience with the experimental Vietnam War-era unit mostly taught him the importance of making sure the force had the right tools and training for the job they were doing.

Shepperd said the task the Mistys took on was nearly impossible. Rather than striking enemy weapons and supplies at their source in North Vietnam, the Misty pilots had to disrupt them as they were already proliferating across the border with South Vietnam. The Misty pilots of the 416th Fighter Squadron were trained earlier on in the Cold War as a low-level nuclear fighter bomber squadron and the F-100fs they flew in during the Vietnam War were repurposed trainer aircraft.

“We did not have the equipment we needed,” Shepperd said of the Misty unit. “. . . We had no radar warning gear. We had no ‘chaff’ that would deflect [Surface to Air Missiles] . . . We had no standoff weapons such as we have today. We had no night capabilities.”

From that experience, Shepperd decided that as a leader, “I’m never going to let the people underneath me go to a war for which they are not trained, with equipment that is not suitable for the war, if I can do anything about it.”

Despite the mismatched training and equipment for their mission, the Misty pilots made due and, as Shepperd put it, “We did make a difference and we basically slowed them down, we attacked a lot of targets that needed to be attacked, we blew up a lot of things in the way of people and munitions and vehicles that would have attacked our kids and the south and killed them.”

The effort to produce “The Misty Experiment” became a labor of love for the Mistys. Filmmaker Danny L. McGuire filmed most of the interviews with the Misty pilots several years ago and created the template for the film, but was unable to complete the project due to health problems. The film’s production was paused for several years before Echenberg took over the effort and reached out to his grandson, award-winning filmmaker Ian Adelson, to complete the project.

Adelson said it was an incredible experience getting to help tell a piece of his family’s history.

“To be able to get firsthand accounts from the pilots themselves . . . was really eye-opening and enlightening for me,” said Adelson, whose production company Floor 1 Productions completed the film. “And then getting to work with my grandfather was such a fun experience. It sort of opened up this whole other conversation that we started having about his history and what his experiences were.”

Echenberg noted McGuire “really immersed himself” in the unit when he was first starting on the project and had gotten to know the Misty pilots well over the years. “And that’s why I think the movie is so accurate.”

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other VVA Applauds Bipartisan Lawmakers for Introducing the Molly R. Loomis Research for Descendants of Toxic Exposed Veterans Act of 2024 (S.3958/H.R. 9039)

The Covert Vietnam War Misty Experiment Documentary

Review by Kathleen Grathwol

As we approach the 50 th anniversary of the end of the American combat presence in the Vietnam War, more and more veterans’ stories are being told in memoirs, novels, and documentaries.

One fascinating documentary that aired on public television stations across the country over Memorial Day weekend, The Misty Experiment: The Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail , chronicles the largely unknown story of a covert Vietnam War operation.

The Misty Experiment consisted of a group of U.S. Air Force pilots who volunteered for scores of dangerous, secret missions destroying weapons, trucks, and war material traveling south from North Vietnam along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The missions also included rescue operations of U.S. and allied aircrews shot down while flying over the jungles of North Vietnam and Laos.

Listening to the first-person accounts of the Misty veterans narrating the film offers a highly human view of this aspect of the war. Officially known as Operation Commando Sabre, the Misty squadron was classified as top secret during and immediately following the war.

Misty pilot Don Sheppard, who flew 58 missions, says that he and his fellow were “a bunch of guys who would do anything to accomplish the mission we were given—an impossible mission to stop the flow of arms and material coming south.” Despite the “impossibility” of the mission, the Misty experiment proved highly successful, if also costly in terms of the loss of life.

Other Misty veterans refer to themselves as “crazy” or “adrenaline junkies,” and all agree that they were a special group of highly skilled fighter pilots. Of the 157 Misty pilots, 34 were shot down; eight were killed and four became prisoners of war. About half of the men who served are living. Two Misty became Air Force Chiefs of Staff; two others later were astronauts. One received the Medal of Honor.

      Misty pilot Merrill McPeak in-country

Despite the difficulty and dangers, many Misty pilots loved the thrill of flying risky sorties. “There were a few of us thought ‘gee, this is so much fun. How can I go back to South Vietnam? This is where the action is,’ ” said Misty pilot and military historian Dick Rutan, who appears in the film.

The Mistys flew hours-long missions, putting their bodies through extreme physical stress from G-forces during quick evasive maneuvers, which they called “jencking.” “You’re constantly bending the airplane around, jencking, trying to stay alive,” George “Bud” Day, the Medal of Honor recipient, said. “Missions were tremendously fatiguing.”

Upon their daily returns, and regularly finding their planes riddled with battle damage, the pilots would help intel create detailed maps with their reports. “There was an atmosphere of innovation,” Misty Intelligence Officer Roger Van Dyken says in the film. “One flight reconnaissance fed into the next. The next day’s group of pilots tested the theories from the day before. There was constant pressure.”

The first-person recollections of the veterans who volunteered for the mission are enhanced in the documentary by never-before-seen footage from the war. The film brings to life this largely unknown story of one successful Vietnam War “experiment” and of the men who achieved that success.

For more info about the doc, including scheduling showings of PBS stations, go to themistyexperiment.com

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Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail: The Misty Experiment

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U.S. Air Force pilots recount the dangerous and top secret air missions they volunteered for during the Vietnam War.

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Today in History – August 17, 1946 – “1st Human to Be Shot Out of a Speeding Plane”

17 August 1946 – The first person in the U. S. to be ejected from an airplane (P-61) by means of its emergency escape equipment was Sergeant Lambert at Wright Field in Ohio. (1) “Sergeant Larry Lambert ejected from an airplane while in flight over Wright Field. Lambert was testing a new device to assist

The Misty Movie is now on PBS – Airing Nationwide on Memorial Day – 24 DFC Members in the Movie

The Misty Experiment

Shep writes to tell us that as of May 2nd, The Misty Experiment, The Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail is now on PBS.

Many PBS stations are showing the movie on Memorial Day. PBS  does not control local stations nationally so each local station determines its own schedule. Check your local PBS station listings for showtimes in your area.

The Distinguished Flying Cross Society sent out this bulletin:

Misty FAC Film to Show on PBS

DFC Society Has 24 Misty FACs As Members

Dear Valued DFC SOCIETY Members –

During the month of May, the Public Broadcasting Service, PBS will tell the story of the Misty FACs in the Vietnam War, airing the film “The Misty Experiment: The Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail.”

Presented by Maryland Public Television, the film airs on public television stations across the country in time for Memorial Day (check local listings). The film will feature several Misty FACs who are in the DFC Society.

Press release for “The Misty Experiment,” including links to photos, a trailer and more HERE.

Check your local listings, it may show on earlier dates. Viewing times airing on PBS WORLD (all times eastern and):

Saturday, May 28 at 6pm ET

Sunday, May 29 at 11pm ET

Monday, May 30 at 11am ET

About the Misty FACs During the Vietnam War, U.S. Air Force Forward Air Controllers (FACs) normally flew slow, propeller-driven light aircraft to locate enemy activity. These activities also took place in Laos to spot North Vietnamese personnel and supplies moving south along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The communists reinforced their infiltration routes with antiaircraft artillery (AAA) and surface-to-air missiles, and the loss rates over certain areas became unacceptable.

To approach this problem, the U.S. Air Force set up the COMMANDO SABRE program to use two-seat F-100F FACs over the most heavily-defended areas. On 25 June 1967, Detachment 1, 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron, commanded by Maj. George “Bud” Day, stood up and began operations at Phu Cat Air Base. The aircrews were volunteers and their radio call sign was Misty.

Misty FACs operated in high threat areas on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, focusing on its key passes from North Vietnam into Laos, and also spotted targets in southern North Vietnam. As FACs, they located and marked targets for other aircraft to hit, and they occasionally used their 20mm cannon to attack targets themselves. They supported rescue forces to recover downed aircrew, often being the first aircraft on the scene.  They remained on station for four to six hours, during which they left enemy air space multiple times to refuel from KC-135 tankers.

Nearly a quarter of the 155 Misty FAC pilots were shot down; two were shot down twice. Four Mistys were POWs in North Vietnam. Bud Day became a 5 1/2 year POW on 26 August, two months after the Mistys started; he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his conduct during imprisonment. Eight Mistys were killed-in-action (KIA) with their names listed on the Vietnam Wall in Washington D.C.

COMMANDO SABRE ended in May 1970, as F-4 Phantom IIs took over the role of Fast FAC, following the example and the mission of the Mistys. Tiger FACs worked out of Korat Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, Wolf FACs were at Ubon, Thailand, Laredo FACs at Udorn, Thailand, and Stormy FACs were at Da Nang, South Vietnam. The legacy continues as the OA-10 took on the FAC role in 1987.

The legendary Misty FACS still remain a select group. Misty FAC pilots include Medal of Honor recipient Col. George “Bud” Day, two USAF chiefs of staff – Gen. Merrill “Tony” McPeak and Gen. Ronald Fogleman, two astronauts – Maj. Gen. Roy Bridges and Col. Charles Lacy Veach, five other general officers – Lt. Gen. Donald Snyder, Maj. Gen. Donald Shepperd, Maj. Gen. John Dickey, Brig. Gen. Ross Detwiler, and Brig. Gen. Walter Bacon, and the chief pilot of the first around-the-world unrefueled flight – Lt. Col. Richard Rutan.

The DFC Society is proud to have 24 Misty FACs listed on our Honor Roll.

George E. “Bud” Day, Misty 01

Corwin M. “Kipp” Kippenham, Misty 13

Keith “Eagle Eye” Heiniger, Misty 15

Phillip J. “PJ” White, Misty 21

Robert M. “Mick” Greene, Misty 30

James T. “Hog” Piner, Misty 33

Donald W. “Shep” Shepperd, Misty 34

Donald G. “Don” Jones, Misty 35

Charles H. “Whispering” Smith, Misty 38

Richard G. “Dick” Rutan, Misty 40

Paul K. “PK” Robinson, Misty 45

Wells T. Jackson, Misty 50

Charles A. “Chuck” Shaheen, Jr., Misty 52

Ross C. “Rosie” Detwiler, Misty 67

John L. “Bones” Kretz, Misty 68

John H. Boles, Misty 91

Robert M. “Bob” Wilson, Misty 97

David A. “Dave” Skilling, Misty 104

Victor K. “Vic” Macomber, Misty 112

Jerry A. Hallman, Misty 118

Harry D. Scott, Misty 138

Logan J. “Jack” Doub, Misty 145

Donald Schmenk, Attached A-13

To view the film, tune in on your local PBS station just before Memorial Day – check your local listings.

Special thanks to Maj Gen Donald “Shep” Shepperd, Misty 34, for his input and assistance on Misty FAC history and people.

If you don’t get PBS on your TV you can watch the movie online at PBS.org. Or click the following link.

The Misty Experiment: The Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail | The Misty Experiment | PBS

If you have not visited the Misty FACs website, there are amazing stories there. Click on the following link to go to the Misty FAC’s website.

MISTY FACs | Over North Vietnam and Laos: 1967-1970 (mistyvietnam.com)

Make Memorial Day a movie marathon. In addition to The Misty Experiment, you can watch Hun Pilots on Amazon Prime at

HOME – (hunpilots.com)

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The story of a special U.S. Air Force squadron during the Vietnam War. More

The story of the special U.S. Air Force squadron whose pilots volunteered for one of the Vietnam War’s most dangerous air missions. Their assignment: search for enemy supply transports and anti-aircraft installations concealed within the web of trail paths and waterways collectively known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The squadron also directed rescue operations for U.S. and allied aircrews shot down.

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The Misty Experiment

The story of the special U.S. Air Force squadron whose pilots volunteered for one of the Vietnam War’s most dangerous air missions. Their assignment: search for enemy supply transports and anti-aircraft installations concealed within the web of trail paths and waterways collectively known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The squadron also directed rescue operations for U.S. and allied aircrews shot down.

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 Since the Civil War when hot-air balloonists scouted enemy troop  movements from above battlefield treetops, the job of Forward Air  Controllers (FACs) during wartime has been to coordinate air-to-ground  operations for reconnaissance, searches and surveillance.   As helpful  as aerial perspectives may have been, the balloons were always easy  targets and the balloonist’s mission was often his last.

In military conflicts that followed, the fragility of forward air controllers remained unchanged. 

 Even well into the Vietnam War of the 1960s, aircraft employed for U.S.  and allied reconnaissance efforts over enemy territories were slow  moving, piston-and-propeller-driven planes that proved too slow when up  against the formidable Soviet-built anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) and  surface-to-air-missiles (SAMs) employed by the North Vietnamese Army. 

 And as North Vietnamese air defenses increased in number and strength,  casualties to American FAC patrols also increased and, as a result,  the  southbound movements of enemy supply trucks, weaponry and troops became  less observed and constrained.  It became imperative for U.S. military  strategists to implement a new bold  method of forward air control and rescue support over Vietnam’s heavily-defended terrain. 

  The Misty Experiment: The Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail  documents that urgent adjustment  in U.S. strategy, and tells of the  psychological and physical challenges faced by the daring airmen who  volunteered to test tactical theories.  Theirs was an uncompromising  trial: To seek out, identify and impede enemy movements of supplies and  artillery throughout the region, and to direct from above searches for,  and rescue of, pilots--from all military branches--that had been shot  down by enemy fire.  The Misty squadron’s reputation as  “courage-under-fire warriors” grew quickly among the military, but the  perilous nature of its mission cost them greatly as it suffered the  War’s second-highest loss rate. 23% of Misty volunteers were shot down,  captured or imprisoned, and/or ultimately declared missing or killed in  action (M.I.A. or K.I.A.).

Although the  service and sacrifice of the Misty pilots remain relatively unknown to  the American people today, these bold aviators performed feats that    were remarkable in the annals of warfare--and did so long before the  advent of laser technology, computerized drones, and precision-guided  targeting. 

 Among the on-screen interviewees in The Misty Experiment are  some remarkable individuals who endured their life-risking war-time  experiences to, in subsequent years, achieve even greater distinction:  A  highly decorated Medal of Honor recipient, two NASA astronauts, two Air  Force Chiefs of Staff, a dozen general officers, a Director of the Air  National Guard,  a Director of the San Francisco Department of  Health, several CEOs, aerospace engineers, and the first man to pilot  around the world unrefueled in a light aircraft.    Their level of success, by any measure, is extraordinary.  Truly, while  many Vietnam veterans have difficulty, today, in discussing the horror  of their Vietnam experiences, the men of Misty prefer to share them—not  as stories to glorify themselves or the war, but to serve as lessons to be learned from the past.  

Copyright © 2023 The Misty Experiment - All Rights Reserved.

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The story of a special U.S. Air Force squadron during the Vietnam War. More

The story of the special U.S. Air Force squadron whose pilots volunteered for one of the Vietnam War’s most dangerous air missions. Their assignment: search for enemy supply transports and anti-aircraft installations concealed within the web of trail paths and waterways collectively known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The squadron also directed rescue operations for U.S. and allied aircrews shot down.

Distributed nationally by American Public Television

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