Rob1

Yes, it's incredible in some way. My starting point was some forum post I saw around a decade ago saying that there was a Seaspray chopper photo in some 1980s US News issue... I did some internet searches, somehow I got the idea that it might be related to Emerson, I found that this issue was an introduction to his book, so I kept that reference in my "loose ends" file, but it has been only a few days ago that I managed to find a scan. Makes me wonder if there are other gold nuggets lying around... The picture is not credited, I guess Emerson got it from one

Published in U.S. News & World Report, March 21, 1988 (it's in an adaptation from the then-forthcoming book by Steven Emerson, Secret Warriors) : "Quick Response: The custom Star Wars choppers used by Seaspray carrying commando units on an exercise" Looks seriously legit. I have only a scan of the magazine, maybe some hardcore researcher can get a paper copy and do a better job. (BTW in case you're wondering, no, there is no other interesting photo in the mag article, and no pics at all in the book)

I was thinking about the sketch p. 174, my bad it doesn't indicate the flight route, but it shows the operating base, the target and the intermediate refuelling site.

I have long been interested in special operations, and I have heard of only one operation by Little Birds during the Gulf War : supporting the lone Ranger operation to attack a communications facility. In the USSOCOM history : https://fas.org/irp/agency/dod/socom/2007history.pdf The only detailed account I have read of that operations is in Daniel Bolger's book Death Ground, it makes several pages with two sketches of the flight route and the facility itself. He says that four AH-6Gs involved (don't hope for serial numbers). Nice, though not so exciting, readi