BattleGround Vietnam : Skyriders over Mu Gia Pass. A 64Km CCP convoy route on default FSX road through Mu Gia Pass.The pass was the principal point of entry into the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos. A CIA landscape analysis prepared in February 1966 described Route 15 as threading "its way upstream along a narrow, steep-sided valley. To the left rise dog-toothed limestone peaks, to the right is a flat-topped plateau. Dense tropical rain forest covers the entire area, almost frustrating aerial observation. The road is carved out of the steep hillside, for in most places there is not enough room for both road and stream in the constricted bottom of the ravine". Due to its difficult geography, the pass was identified as a choke point, and, as a result, was heavily bombed first as part of Operation Barrel Roll and later as part of Operation Rolling Thunder and Operation Commando Hunt. By March 1966, it was estimated that 75% of all truck traffic into Laos went through the pass. |