Dumbo Drop

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by Mark Regan

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This is a story belonging to my father. I first found out about it when I came home on leave from Basic Training during Christmas of 1968. Dad had recently returned from the second of two Air Force tours based in Thailand. On the kitchen table was a photograph of him holding a certificate of thanks from a Green Beret unit, plus an SOG knife. He explained that his crew had volunteered to do a special service for the Montagnards, and the story had been picked up by the information services, so they got a little publicity. Cool military stuff, I thought, then I checked out the knife in the closet. Heavy, and I liked the sheath design which had a pocket for a sharpening stone.

The family didn't think much about it until the Dumbo Drop movie came out, but my father was developing Alzheimer's disease and couldn't help out with details any more. Here's what we have.

First, you can't parachute an elephant. I haven't ever seen the movie, but I guess that's the story they had to sell to make it exciting. In reality, it's dangerous enough that no other pilot and crew in Thailand was willing to try flying an elephant into a small field in Vietnam. Any weight shift would make flying unsafe, and a large animal awake could kick right through the aluminum fuselage and down the aircraft. The elephant would walk or be trucked after the flight.

The flying wouldn't be impossible - my father had piloted B-47's for most of his career, and had worked in MATS flying cargo for several years already after B-47's were retired. The trick was sedation. Veterinarians tried several formulas of knockout shots and suppositories on the elephant until one worked.

There was a side effect, which led to the real flight's being named Operation Booms. The sedation caused gas. An elephant's body full of gas. A fuselage full of farts.

My father died in 1997, and was not able to give us any more information about his crew or this mission, but it's possible he did the same sort of thing stateside as an Air Force courtesy between the Washington and San Francisco zoos. His name was Robert F. Regan. Maybe you readers know something about those zoos, or about the movie, or about a Stars and Stripes story about Operation Booms from before December 1968. If so, please let me know!

Mark Regan
B/1/501