AFVN Det 2, Pinpointing the location

From this point, Greg began to correspond with me at my "Webmaster" address.

Name: Greg Clark

Date: November 17, 2017

Subject: FNG

I found a couple other hints about the site location for Detachment 2. The pictures are from your AFVN web site:
Pict road1 (Loach Helicopter parked on the road taken by Mike Pitts) - shows the road on Monkey Mountain, you can see it behind the helo headed east then south away from the site.

Pict beforeafter (below) - this confuses me, the elevation to the top of the steps in 1968 appears to be about twice as high as that in 2015. Also the left side of the building in 1968 faced the road, something that doesn't seem practical in the 2015 picture.

Pict parking - the Monkey Mountain road is behind the jeep and truck in the lower picture. Across the road the mountain angles steeply upward. The slope in the picture above the vehicles doesn't rise as steeply. So I am skeptical about the picture.

Pict AFVN air2 - provides a view of the site from above and from the north. The vehicles in the other picture would have been parked between the AFVN building on the left with AFVN on top, and the large building in the center of the picture. You can see the roac down the mountain as it makes the curve, which looks a lot more like the curve in the road at the BT0584 location.

Pict AFVN air1 - shows a longer distance shot of the site taken from the southeast. You can just make out the radio tower between the last two buildings on the left. And the steep incline of the mountain from the the road. The site is perched on the edge of a ledge.

So my money is on the BT0584 location. I know this is more than you ever wanted to know about the Monkey Mountain site, but you may run across someone who can narrow the location down a bit. It is a small mystery for me and I'd like to solve it, but it may not happen, so then I'll speculate and let the future correct me if I am wrong.
Thanks for having the AFVN site available. I'll keep searching but I won't be making any more noise about it unless I can confirm the location, at which time I'll let you know.

AFVN Home

Name: Steve Wiltsie

Date: November 12, 2017

Subject: FNG

Greg,
I don't know if this will help but you can see several views of Monkey Mountain and the AFVN detachment in my video made from Super 8 film that I shot there in 1971. The Da Nang footage is in the second video. This can be seen on my website www.theveteranscheck.com. Go there and click on the "AFVN Videos" button. [Also on this site: Click here.
I walked up the road one time from the detachment and past Boom Boom rock but I don't remember how far it was.
Steve Wiltsie
1970-71

Pinpointing the Location of Det 2

Greg Clark ARVN Senior Advisor

Trung Lap, III Corps (69-70)

Name: Doug Jennings

Date: November 12, 2017

Subject: FNG

AFVN Org-Det2

Name: Greg Clark

Date: November 11, 2017

Subject: FNG

Hello AFVN'ers,
I am a double veteran, new to your user group, and my first time joining any user group.
I have no former affiliation with AFVN other than my devotion to catching Chickenman on the air in 1969 when possible. I joined your user group in search of information.
I served with MACV from 1969-70 as a DUFFLE BAG sensor advisor with a regiment of the 25th ARVN Division. I operated from Trung Lap in III Corps.
The information I currently seek is the grid location of the AFVN (Detachment 2) site on Monkey Mountain. I have looked at a lot of pictures of the site, a couple of aerial videos, read many accounts about the site, but have yet to find a notation of the site's grid reference.
As the actual grid may not be available among the user group members, perhaps someone can remember if the AFVN site was between the base of the mountain and the Air Force site on Hill 621 (PANAMA Control) or was the AFVN site between PANAMA and the Marine radar site (MACS-4) near Hill 647 (near the top of Monkey Mountain)? Based on aerial pictures of the site and its proximity to a large curve in the road, there are only a couple of possibilities as to where the site was located. If the grid is unknown (among users in the group) I can plot it out based on available L7014 series maps, current lay of the Monkey Mountain road as depicted on Google Earth, and location information obtained from your user group.
A second question, where was Boom Boom Rock in relation to the AFVN site? Was the rock closer to AFVN or closer to the PANAMA site? And was the rock up the road (towards the top of the mountain) or down the road (towards Camp Tien Sha or the troposcatter communication site near the bottom of the mountain) from the AFVN site?
If any of you AFVN'ers can shed some additional location light on these two sites, it would be greatly appreciated. The information will be used to plot the exact location of Det 2 and Boom Boom for posterity.
Anyway, that's my story, and I am sticking to it.
Greg Clark

Name: Greg Clark

Date: November 17, 2017

Subject: FNG

As far as the location of Detachment 2, I have looked at as many pictures of the site as I could find and a couple of videos.

pict1 - shows an overhead google view of Monkey Mountain (2016). Based on the pictures I have seen and the narratives the AFVN site was on the downhill side of the road, facing the Da Nang and the Son Tra Peninsula. The yellow and white circles represent my guess as to where the site was located. From pictures the road down hill of the site makes a curve to the right, which would be to the south when traveling down the mountain.

Pict2 - is a view from just above and behind the site. This is based on picture views of Da Nang harbor and the South China Sea from other sites and your own. This would be from the possible view from the white circle, which would be in the vicinity of MGRS BT053849. This is about the 1200' level up the mountain.

Pict3 - is a similar view to the south from the site in the yellow circle, BT065855, at about 1600' above sea level. No other curves in the road match up with the picture views from the site and still support the curve in the road at the east end of the AFVN site.

Pict4 - is a view of the mountain from 2009. No structural differences from pict1, but no extra graphics.

Pict5 - is the L-series 50k scale tactical map of the top of the mountain. The possible AFVN site in the orange circle would be in the vicinity of BT058846 and the site in the yellow circle would be at BT069853. Note there is a discrepancy between the Google grids and the L-series map grids. This discrepancy also carries over to the lat/lon for these locations as well. Thus direct transfer of MGRS grids between google and the Army maps is not possible without some calculations, the same holds true for lat/lon.

There are other curves in the road, thus my question as to whether the AFVN site was between the Air Force and Marine radar sites or between the Air Force site and the bottom of the mountain to the south.
Boom Boom Rock is described as being in the hairpin turn on the mountain. There is one other hairpin location, but it is south of the Army tropo site and the contours of the mountain would block clear views to the opposite of Da Nang Bay. So Boom Boom must be at one of the two westward loops in the road facing the harbor.
Anyway that is my take on the location of Det 2.

Return to AFVN Organization, Det 2

Name: Ron Turner

Date: November 12, 2017

Subject: FNG

I was not stationed at the Monkey Mountain site but have some recollection of the geography. Det 2 was on the left side of the road overlooking DaNang bay (I think). The buildings were elevated and upward from the entry road. Behind the site (to the left and (closer to the bay) was a large more or less flat area with nothing in particular on it, although there might have been an well built and unused guard tower to the left of the vacant area). These observations are from 71-72 and the confused mind of an old man. Regards, Ron