(http://www.weweresoldiersfilm.com/)

This page is by permission from the above web site.

This picture is of a frame capture from the shooting of "We Were Soldiers" film.

Although the shot is using all of the tricks of the modern movie making, it at first glance, looks damn real.  There are a few things that are wrong in this shot but this is what the FAC, TACP, and ROMAD's were all about in Vietnam.

This aircraft is a Douglas Sky Raider which dates back to the end of World War II as both a carrier and land base plane.  This model shown here is a A1H which was popular later on around 1968 on till the end of  Vietnam war.  When I was there in 1965-66, it was the A1E which was an earlier version more like the WWII version and had a longer cockpit. The back half was canopied in blue. This planes setup is wrong as well, missing the center fuel pod.  The rockets were always clustered and the markings on the plane are not correct. But who cares - this is for a movie and it is damn realistic.  The portrayals are very accurate for this film.

Most of what you see in this picture is very accurate.  Remember that Napalm is jellied gasoline and burns hot and fast.  WilliP is the name given to the White Phosphor bombs that were dropped and this stuff will burn through anything.  Put water on WilliP and it just hotter and burns faster.

In this photo - the aircraft  is real and the men are not, they are rubber dummies.  The fireworks is triggered pyro, as the plane flew over, pyro  Technicians fired the sequence .