Smokeships, Always Leading the Way by Brian Wizard is a photographic journey into the aerial war of Vietnam, told from the perspective of a young combat helicopter door gunner who flew aboard the Huey smokeship Pollution IV.
Unlike a traditional memoir, this photo-book combines Brian Wizard’s firsthand recollections with photographs and frames taken from the documentary Thunderhawks, creating a visual record of the men, helicopters, equipment, and combat missions that defined his experience in Vietnam. Many of the images were captured by the servicemen who were actually there, giving readers an on-the-spot look at Huey helicopter operations during the war.
At the center of the book is Pollution IV, a specially equipped Huey whose job was to protect troop-carrying helicopters during combat assaults. Flying ahead of the formation, the smokeship released a thick screen of smoke intended to obscure the enemy’s view as troop helicopters entered dangerous landing zones. The book explains how the aircraft and its crew operated, from early-morning preparations and flight formations to the mechanics behind the smoke generator and the dangerous missions that earned smokeships their reputation for “always leading the way.”
Wizard also recounts his own progression from a door gunner aboard the troop-carrying Blue 10 to volunteering for the beyond-the-call-of-duty position aboard Pollution IV after previous crewmembers were wounded in combat. Through photographs and accompanying stories, readers see the crew, the aircraft, aerial formations, landing zones, smoke runs, weapons, and landscapes encountered from the open door of a combat Huey.
The photographs are not modern recreations. They are surviving pieces of the experience itself—still images and wartime film frames documenting what Wizard describes as the real-life aerial war fought by Huey helicopters.
Part military history, part personal memoir, and part photographic archive, Smokeships, Always Leading the Way offers a visual companion to Brian Wizard’s larger Vietnam story, including Permission to Kill, Back in the World, and Permission to Live.
For readers interested in Vietnam War history, Huey helicopters, combat aviation, veterans’ firsthand accounts, and rare wartime photography, this photo-book provides a personal view from one of the most dangerous seats in the war—the open door of Pollution IV.