Sentinel Eagle was the nickname assigned the deployment of ten "Super Goon" EC-47Q aircraft to Southeast Asia. The "Q" model, with the basic C-47 airframe but R-2000-4 engines, had better single engine and climb performance than the standard EC-47 using R-1830 engines. Although the EC-47Q aircraft in CONUS had been ready for SEA deployment in April 1968, OSD approval for the program was not received until 28 June of that year. This followed a lengthy "Roles and Missions" controversy in which MACV proposed a one-for-one tradeoff where each EC-47Q, as it arrived in the theater, would replace an older EC-47N/P, thus keeping the UE down to 47. On the surface this arrangement appeared advantageous, since it would solve headroom problems, facilities construction, and beddown.

However, when it was discovered that the Army had propossed a significant increase in its own fixed-wing intelligence collection forces, the Air Force quickly took violent exception to this maneuver. Unresolved, the problem was turned over to the "New Focus" committee, a joint USAF/USA organization created specifically to iron out roles and missions controversies, and the EC-47Q eventually came to SEA with a revised UE of 57.

The first EC-47Q arrived in South Vietnam on 11 September 1968 and was assigned to the 362nd TEWS, then at Pleiku, as were all subsequent arrivals. The assignment of the "Q" models to the 362nd was a natural move from a flight safety viewpoint, since Pleiku, with the highest elevation of any major airfield in Vietnam, could prove fatal for successful operation of lower-powered EC-47's. Another valid consideration existed: the EC-47Q's wer all equipped with the AN/ALR-35 (a second generation version of the ALR-34), and USAFSS recommended that, because of the limited quantity of AGE, they all be assigned to one base. This was directed by Seventh Air Force on 6 September.

There were seven Sentinal Eagle aircraft in the theater as of 31 December 1968, with three more scheduled for delivery during the next quarter. Although the figures continued to be revised, as the result of combat loss and damage (discussed later), the average number of Sentinal Eagle aircraft in-country and possessed usually ran between six and nine.