Teak Lead

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Red River Valley (aka Teak Lead)
( Song of Teak Flight at Takhli)

From this valley they say you are leaving
I will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile
For they say you are taking the sunshine
That has brightened this place for a while.
Come and sit by my side if you love me
Do not hasten to bid me adieu
And I'll tell you about the Red River Valley
And why it always makes me feel blue.

Way up yonder they say they've been going,
Where the Red flows by Hanoi to the sea,
And we call it the Red River Valley,
Where the flak is as bad as it can be.

To this valley he said we were flying,
But he never saw the pay that he earned,
Many jocks have flown into that valley
And a number have never returned.

So I listened as he briefed on the mission
That night at the bar Teak Flight did sing
About going to the Red River Valley
And how I was to fly on his wing.

Oh the flak was so thick in the valley,
That the MiGs and the missiles we don't need
We'd fly high and down sun in the valley
And I'll guard well the ass of Teak Lead.

Now if things turn to shit in the valley
And the briefing he gave I did not heed
They'll waiting at the Hanoi Hilton
Where it's fish heads and rice for Teak Lead.*

* Note: Teak One3 or the leader, Lead.

We refueled on the way to the valley
Back in the States it had always been fun
But with thunder and lightening all around us
'Twas the last A-A-R* for Teak One.

* Note: air-to-air refueling

The boss weasel* warned of Fan Songs** past the target
Tall white poles would rise to meet us in the sky
When we pulled up off of our bomb run
The SAMs were fused to hit us where we fly.

* Note: Boss weasel leads the fighters to attack surface-to-air
missiles.
** Note: Fan Song is a SAM radar, Guideline is SAM-2.

Our MiG chaser* jets were up high to guard the strike force
While twenty-ones took off from Kep and Phuc Yen
But gomer planes would be in place to jump our slow ones
And their cannon (rocket) bursts would surely do them in.

* Note: F-4s on Cap. fighter protection

The triple A rained up thick from the gunners
The orange flashes changed to black the sky
I followed Lead on down from the IP*
Dared not look up to see else I might die.

* Note: IP is Initial Point or start of bomb run.

Well Lead bore down through the flak toward the target
With his bombs and his rockets he drew a bead,
But he never pulled out of his bomb run
'Twas fatal for another Teak Lead.

So come and sit by my side at the briefing
We'll say a prayer as we tickle the beads
For we're going to the Red River Valley
And my callsign today is Teak Lead.

Various Artists
- Commando Sing: Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, 27 October 1974
  - Off We Go into the Wild Blue Yonder (Commercial recording by AF Band) Time: 1:05
  - Opening by Master of Ceremonies Ron Barker Time: 3:25
  - Nape Is Great (Mark Atherton And The Sandies) Time: 0:58
  - Sandy Low (Mark Atherton and the Sandies) Time: 2:41
  - Spectre Theme Song (16SOS Singers) Time: 3:32
  - First In, Last Out (16SOS Singers) Time: 2:29
  - Wild Weasel (17TFS Singers) Time: 4:14
  - Teak Lead (17TFS Singers) Time: 3:47
  - Can Anybody See My Smoke (Greg Wilson and the Nail FACs) Time: 2:51
  - Dear Ma'am, Your Son Is Dead Time: 2:41
  - We Are F-4 Phantom Drivers (Bob Bose, Al Brown and the Black Suit Singers) Time: 3:21
  - Commander Les Frazier pays tribute to the F-105 Time: 2:57
  - Whispering Death (Goos Rundell and John Jordan) Time: 4:03
  - I Ain't a Fighter Pilot No More ( Ron Barker and the Black Falcon Singers) Time: 4:18
  - I Wanted Wings (Ron Barker And The Black Falcon Singers) Time: 2:21
  - Stand To Your Glasses (Ron Barker) Time: 1:59
  - High Flight (Ron Barker); Lord, Guard and Guide the Men Who Fly (Protestant Chapel Choir); Fighter fly-by added by AFN Time: 4:21