Preparatory phase
The aerial artillery came on the heels of the tube artillery fire and worked over the area for 30 seconds expending half their load, then went into a orbit nearby to be on call. The lift battalion gunships took up the fire and were immediately ahead of the troop transport Hueys.
Close Air Support by 7th air force's 1st commando
Strikes in support of ground operations in Ia Drang
740 CAS sorties were flown, mainly in support of LZ X Ray and Albany.
Air Force tactical air provided continuous support with a fighter bomber on a target run on an average of once every fifteen minutes;
- A-4 Skyhawks
- A-37 Dragonfly
- F-4 Phantoms
- A-1 Skyraider
- AC-47 "Dragonship"
- AC-119 "Stinger"
- AC-130 "Spectre"
- F-100 Super Sabre
- B-52 (Modified for conventional bombs)
[B-52 missions[/b]
Five B-52 missions with 96 sorties were flown.
The most devastating support was provided by B-52 bombers which struck without warning six kilometers west of X-RAY. Though the bombers had been employed initially in Vietnam some six months earlier, this was their first use in direct support of U.S. troops on a tactical operation. For the next five days, the big bombers systematically bombed large areas of the Chu Pong Massif.
Quantity of Air and Arty support in the final stage of the battle
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Then, after his soldiers marked their units’ positions, he ordered strikes by over two dozen aircraft and called on the fires of four batteries of artillery.
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ARA
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It consisted of three firing batteries, each equipped with twelve Huey helicopters armed with 2.75-inch aerial rockets.
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In his after action report, Colonel Moore noted that aerial rocket artillery had been extremely effective. His commanders had confidence in bringing such fires extremely close to their own positions. He also had noted that tube artillery, aerial rocket artillery, and tactical air can be used at the same time without seriously downgrading the effectiveness of the fire or endangering the aircraft. The aerial rocket artillery and Tactical Air flew perpendicular to the artillery gun-target line in those cases when they were making a simultaneous attack on the same target areas. This technique was possible by close teamwork between the forward air controller and the artillery liaison officer.