Just Another Day in the Delta

‘Inspiring and timely. I commend Just Another Day in the Delta for its honesty, its clarity, and its contribution to our national understanding of service, sacrifice, and alliance.’

— The Hon. Kim Beazley

‘THE helicopter book on Vietnam.’

— Mike Carlton

Book Launch

Thursday 19 November 2026, 5–6pm

Australian National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney
Launched at the Chief of Navy’s History Conference. Open to the public.

Conference details: 125 Years of Australian Naval History

The Mekong Delta was one of the most dangerous and fiercely contested theatres of the Vietnam War. Into this volatile arena came a small group of Australian Navy aviators, embedded with the US Army’s 135th Assault Helicopter Company and operating as an experimental unit known as the EMUs.

Flying daily into heavily defended landing zones, these Australian sailors led American helicopter crews through relentless fire, carried troops into battle, rescued the wounded and brought damaged aircraft home when they could. They were shot up and shot down. Some did not return.

Drawing on firsthand accounts, Just Another Day in the Delta brings to life the intensity, danger and camaraderie of helicopter warfare, told by the men who were there. It reveals a little-known chapter of the Vietnam War, the closest operational collaboration between Australian aviators and the US Army.

More than fifty years later, Max Speedy reflects on the missions, the men, the friendships and the cost of service.

Max Speedy joined the RAN in 1962 as an Observer, was promoted to Pilot in 1967, and a year later was in Vietnam. He was the Second in Charge of the RAN Helicopter Flight Vietnam, flying with the US Army 135th Assault Helicopter Company in a unique collaboration known as an Experimental Military Unit — the EMUs.

As First Platoon Leader leading ten troop helicopters into enemy-defended landing zones, and later as Air Mission Commander directing the Company and its gunships, he flew over 1,000 combat hours. He was decorated by the US Army and the South Vietnamese Army, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by HM Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.