Bat *21 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lt. Col. Hambleton

Iceal "Ham" Hambleton was a navigator and electronic countermeasure expert on a mapping run for a major bombing strike. The plane was an EB-66 with the call sign Bat 21. After it was shot down, Ham used the same call sign. Though it is written Bat 21, it is pronounced Bat two one.

Answer: Jolly Greens

The green frame of the HH-E3 earned it the name Jolly Green Giant. Developed for SAR, search and rescue, it was used extensively in the Vietnam war.

Answer: Hollywood and Vine

Map locations were given State-side names to confuse the enemy who listened to all transmissions.

Answer: Bird-dog

You can see this clearly in many side shots of the plane. A bird dog seeks out downed birds for the hunter and the recon plane sought out downed men for rescue. It was also the call sign used on the radio.

Answer: Golf courses

Ham was a golfer and had played over 100 times on the courses he used for his plan, so knew them by heart. When he could not be picked up after his plane was lost, due to 'unfriendlies' in the area, he devised a plan using golf holes he knew. Once they had contacted a fellow golfer at one of the bases, they were able to lay out a map of his route by adding zero to the yardage of each hole he named and follow his progress to the safe pick up point.

Answer: Shaw, MacDill and Hickam

These were the courses that provided the right yardage (when you add a zero) for the map of his route. When "Bat 21" contacted Bird-dog the morning after the failed pick up attempt, he said, "I worked out a front nine to avoid the hazzerds. Copy this. Add zero to the yardage. Holes three, six and eight at Shaw. South one and seventeen at MacDill. Coming in on two, twelve, fourteen and eighteen at Hickam." Bird-dog does not understand. "Contact colonel Douglas at Korat air base for instructions." Korat air base is in Thailand. Douglas and Ham were golf fanatics and had played these courses over 100 times so he knew them by heart.

Answer: He was attacked and had to defend himself.

The farmer returned and found Ham in his home. Ham used the native word for friend but the farmer continued shouting and attacking him with a machete. He was wounded in the leg and forced to defend himself and killed the farmer. This bothered him a great deal. He told Bird-dog he had killed a man that day and had never done so before. He was never that close to the war when he was in a plane.

Answer: A boy

It was raining and Ham met a young boy wearing shorts and a conical hat. Ham motioned the boy to pass unharmed and after the boy did, he turned back, grabbed the stick Ham was using as a cane and ran forward and set off a trip wire that released a lethal bed of wooden spikes.

Answer: A wrapped piece of candy

After the boy released the trap, Ham thanked him and gave him a piece of wrapped candy. The boy took off his hat and gave it to Ham, then went on his way with a small smile.

Answer: Danny Glover

Danny Glover started his acting credits with an uncredited part on "B. J. and the Bear" in 1979. "Bat 21" was made in 1988 a year after the first of the "Lethal Weapon" movies.

Answer: A compass

After Ham hid in the underbrush from the Viet Cong soldiers, he noticed he had left his compass in the leaves in full view. It was night but the patrol had stopped right in front of him for a break. He managed to break off a palm frond and cover the compass before they noticed.

Answer: Take the commander's helicopter

The air strike that was scheduled was to be a carpet bombing, covering the entire area clear to the river where Ham was headed for pickup. There was not enough safe time to extract him before the strike and all air traffic had been grounded. Bird-dog could not accept this and took the commander's helicopter, which he had only had experience with 15 years before, and went to rescue Ham. They were just ahead of the bombing until they got to the river.

Answer: On the fairway at Tucson National

When Ham was on the mapping run in the plane (call sign Bat 21), he said, "Got my sights on a condo on the seventh fairway at Tucson National. Six months from now that's where the old lady and me will be."

Answer: Yes

He had sustained an injury to his leg when the farmer attacked him with the machete. Remember he was using a stick for a cane on the bridge.

Answer: Iceal E. Hambleton, "Ham" and Bartholomew Clark, "Clarky".

While on the riverbank waiting to be picked up by a US patrol boat, they exchanged names. "Are we home free, colonel?" "Yeah. Cut the colonel crap. It's Iceal Hambleton." "Iceal?" They both laugh. "It's Ham." "Clark, Bartholomew, Clarky." "Bartholomew?" More laughter. "Yeah."