Vietnam War 65th Anniversary Vol.1 USAF Aircraft (Aviation Archive No.52) 9781913295240

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Vietnam WAR

ding TS u l c n I D-OU L 8 FO

65th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: VOL 1

ISSUE 52

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USAF Aircraft

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INTRODUCTION

VIETNAM WAR

65th Anniversary Special: Vol 1

USAF Aircraft

1

965 was a pivotal year in modern history. It was the year of mini-skirts, free love and Beatlemania. But it was also the year of civil rights unrest, austerity and conflict. Most significantly, it marked the escalation of the tensions in Southeast Asia into a full-blown war, a controversial war that would rage for a decade and would change the world. The Vietnam War was an anachronism, a high-tech war fought on a low-tech battlefield, a collision of cultures powered by the machinations of the Cold War superpowers. It was also the first war fought under the glaring spotlight of the media, delivering the horrific and brutal nature of warfare right into America’s living rooms. Anti-war demonstrators marched against the White House as US casualties continued to mount.

For the US Air Force, the air war in Vietnam represented an unanticipated challenge. The service had been shaped by the perceived Cold War nuclear threat… now it had to mix it over the jungles of Southeast Asia, a hostile and challenging environment where technology did not always rule. Gaining air superiority was not an issue, but keeping losses to an acceptable minimum was. While high-level bombing missions ran the gauntlet of MiGs and surface-to-air missiles, down low the battleground was even more dangerous. To support the troops on the ground and protect its own aircraft, the US Air Force had to be creative. ‘FAC’, ‘Sandy’, ‘Spooky’, ‘Wild Weasel’ and ‘MiGCap’ were all terms that crackled over the airwaves as specialised aircraft fulfilled specialised missions. Meanwhile the muscular Thunderchief and new Phantom did what they did best, pounding enemy positions and taking on MiGs. The Hercules tactical transport forged its legend in the heart of the battle, while ‘Jolly Green Giants’ clattered overhead in search of downed aircrew. However, there was one aircraft that did not achieve ‘iconic’ status, but without which the air war over Vietnam could not have been fought. The KC-135 tanker emerged as the greatest force-multiplier in history, allowing strike aircraft to hit targets far beyond their range, deep into enemy territory… and bring them safely home. In many ways the Vietnam War was an unwinnable war and by the end of the conflict the US Air Force was left counting the cost, having lost 2,257 aircraft. The might of the US Air Force might not have been threatened, but there is no doubt that it had been truly tested. AVIATION ARCHIVE SERIES In this 52nd issue of ‘Aviation Archive’, we mark the 65th anniversary of the start of the Vietnam War, a war that shaped the history of aerial warfare. We have listed 37 of the most significant aircraft flown by the US Air Force in the battle, examining their part in the conflict. The types are listed under primary role and by specification. ‘Vietnam War’ features stunning photographic coverage, including exclusive and rare shots. Side views by Rolando Ugolini/Airlinerart, [email protected].

Left: Vietnam War hero Col Robin Olds ‘chalks-up’ another MiG victory. Front cover: ‘All out warrior’. F-105G ‘Wild Weasel’ Thunderchief by artist Mark Karvon. Prints available from markkarvon.com.

Aviation Archive Series

Vietnam War

• Editor: Allan Burney • Design: Philip Hempell • Group CEO: Adrian Cox • Chief Publishing Officer: Jonathan Jackson • Senior Editor, Bookazines: Roger Mortimer • Publisher: Mark Elliott • Distribution: Seymour Distribution Ltd +44 (0)20 7429 4000 • Printing: Acorn Web Offset Ltd, Normanton, UK. All rights reserved. The entire content of Aviation Archive is © Key Publishing 2020. Reproduction in whole or in part and in any form whatsoever is strictly prohibited without the prior permission of the Publisher. We are unable to guarantee the bona fides of any of our advertisers. Readers are strongly recommended to take their own precautions before parting with any information or item of value, including, but not limited to, money, manuscripts, photographs or personal information in response to any advertisements within this publication. Published by Key Publishing Ltd, PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincs PE19 1XQ. Tel: +44 (0) 1780 755131. Fax: +44 (0) 1780 757261. Website: www.keypublishing.com ISBN: 9781913295240

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CONTENTS

5

INTRODUCTION 6

VIETNAM WAR: USAF v VPAF

USAF IN VIETNAM 1: FIGHTER/ATTACK 10 DOUGLAS A-1 SKYRAIDER 14 LTV A-7D CORSAIR II 16 CESSNA A-37 DRAGONFLY 18 NORTH AMERICAN F-100 SUPER SABRE 24 LOCKHEED F-104 STARFIGHTER 25 NORTHROP F-5 FREEDOM FIGHTER 26 REPUBLIC F-105 THUNDERCHIEF 32 MCDONNELL F-4 PHANTOM USAF IN VIETNAM 2: BOMBERS 38 BOEING B-52 SUPERFORTRESS 44 MARTIN B-57 CANBERRA 46 GENERAL DYNAMICS F-111 USAF IN VIETNAM 3: FAC 50 CESSNA O-1 BIRD DOG 52 CESSNA O-2 SKYMASTER 53 NORTH AMERICAN ROCKWELL OV-10 BRONCO USAF IN VIETNAM 4: GUNSHIPS 56 DOUGLAS AC-47 SPOOKY 58 LOCKHEED AC-130 SPECTRE 61 FAIRCHILD AC-119 USAF IN VIETNAM 5: HELICOPTERS 66 KAMAN HH-43 HUSKIE 68 SIKORSKY HH-3 JOLLY GREEN GIANT 70 SIKORSKY HH-53 SUPER JOLLY GREEN GIANT 72 BELL UH-1 HUEY USAF IN VIETNAM 6: TRANSPORTS 74 FAIRCHILD C-123 PROVIDER 76 DOUGLAS C-124 GLOBEMASTER II 77 LOCKHEED C-5 GALAXY 78 LOCKHEED C-130 HERCULES 81 LOCKHEED C-141 STARLIFTER USAF IN VIETNAM 7: SPECIALISED 84 DOUGLAS EB-66 86 LOCKHEED EC-121 WARNING STAR 87 GRUMMAN HU-16 ALBATROSS 88 BOEING KC-135 STRATOTANKER 90 BOEING RB-47H 90 MARTIN RB-57E 91 BOEING RC-135M 92 MCDONNELL RF-101 VOODOO 94 MCDONNELL RF-4C PHANTOM 96 LOCKHEED U-2 97 LOCKHEED SR-71 BLACKBIRD

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VIETNAM WAR

VIETNAM WAR USAF v VPAF

T

he Vietnam War was a protracted conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam and its allies in South Vietnam, known as the Viet Cong, against the government of South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. At the heart of the conflict was the desire of North Vietnam, which had defeated the French colonial administration of Vietnam in 1954, to unify the entire country under a single communist regime modelled after those of the Soviet Union and China. The South Vietnamese government, on the other hand, fought to preserve a Vietnam more closely aligned with the West. US military advisers, present in small numbers throughout the 1950s, were introduced on a large scale beginning in 1961, and active combat units were introduced in 1965. By 1969 more than 500,000 US military personnel were stationed in Vietnam. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union and China poured weapons, supplies, and advisers into the north, which in turn provided support, political direction, and regular combat troops for the campaign in the south. More than three million people (including over 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War, more than half of them civilians. The costs and casualties of the controversial war proved too much for the US to bear, and it withdrew its combat units in 1973. Communist forces ended the war by seizing control of South Vietnam in 1975 and the country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year.

THE AIR WAR US Air Force involvement in the Vietnam War first began in the 1950s in an advisory level and ended with heavy bombing operations in the early 1970s. Initially, the US Air Force helped train and equip the growing South Vietnamese Air Force, while also building up radar, reconnaissance, air control, and counterinsurgency capabilities. After the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964, during which a US destroyer exchanged fire with North Vietnamese torpedo boats, a major military

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build-up began. At this point in the conflict, US leadership emphasised restraint and gradual escalation, so the US Air Force mission was at first limited. During this period, the North Vietnamese Air Force (also known as the Vietnam People’s Air Force or VPAF), was building an extensive ground radar network, while its pilots slowly acquired experience with their new MiG-17s. Acting cautiously, Hanoi refused to commit its fighters to combat unless the odds were stacked in their favour. Only 28 North Vietnamese aircraft were lost in combat with US aircraft during 1964-66. The US Air Force’s first kills of the war occurred on 7 July 1965, when two MiG-17s were shot down when they attacked a pair of F-4C Phantoms. During the second half of the 1960s, the US Air Force gained more flexibility and took on a more active role in the war. Operation ‘Rolling Thunder’, ordered by President Johnson in 1965, had two objectives: to smash the North Vietnamese air defence system, industrial base, and supply network; and to erode its support in the south. The campaign targeted rail lines, highways, bridges, and oil refineries, as well as the supply lines running down the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the south. China and the Soviet Union continued to help North Vietnam build up its supplies of anti-aircraft artillery and surface-toair missiles, eventually creating the strongest air-defence system then in existence. As ‘Rolling Thunder’ ended and Vietnamization (a policy to make South Korea self-sufficient and allow the gradual withdrawal of US troops) began in late 1968, the US Air Force continued its bombing campaign, including hitting supply routes in southern Laos and Cambodia. As ground troops continued to pull out, air power began a greater offensive. During Operation ‘Linebacker I’, from May to October 1972, the US Air Force dropped over 150,000 tons of bombs over North Vietnam, concentrating mostly on transportation targets, airfields, powerplants, and radio stations. The US Air Force also continued to develop a wider range of weapons suited to the conflict, including specialised bombs to penetrate or defoliate the jungle canopy, non-lethal gas bombs that could provide cover for air rescue missions, and a new arsenal of radar- and laser-

Above: Air-to-air combat over North Vietnam. Gun camera footage of the MiG-17 victory by F-105 pilot Maj Ralph Kuster Jr on 5 June 1967. 

guided bombs. These bombs felled several important bridges over the Red River, including the logistically and symbolically important Paul Doumer Bridge, the only bridge to link Hanoi and Haiphong. As peace talks dragged on, President Nixon ordered a second Linebacker operation and in late December 1972, B-52s struck Hanoi and Haiphong at night and A-7s and F-4s struck during the day. The North Vietnamese returned to negotiations and quickly concluded a settlement.

AIR-TO-AIR In 1965, the small North Vietnamese Air Force (VPAF) was equipped with somewhat outdated, gun-armed MiG-17s. The entry of missile-armed, supersonic MiG-21s in early 1966, however, dramatically increased the VPAF threat. The US Air Force’s primary counter to the MiG was the F-4 Phantom fighter. Though outnumbered, VPAF MiGs had some significant advantages. Guided by ground controllers using early

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8

VIETNAM WAR

warning radar, MiG pilots only attacked under ideal circumstances, such as when US aircraft were bomb-laden, low on fuel, or damaged. The small, hard-to-see MiGs typically made one-pass attacks at high speed, then escaped to a sanctuary (either their airfields, which were not bombed until mid-1967, or to nearby communist China). Since they were always over friendly territory, MiG pilots could be back in action quickly if they survived being shot down. US Air Force fighter pilots had better training and superior aircraft, but they endured several disadvantages. One serious issue was missile reliability and performance. Over half of the missiles fired by the US Air Force during the conflict malfunctioned, and only about one in 11 fired scored a victory. The US Air Force rules of engagement dictated visual identification of an enemy aircraft before firing, which negated using the Sparrow missile at long range and F-4s flown during ‘Rolling Thunder’ did not have an internal gun to use when missiles failed. Although some F-4s carried external gun pods, it was not until the F-4E arrived in late 1968 that US Air Force Phantoms finally had an internal gun. Lastly, US pilots had to combat MiGs, SAMs and AAA over hostile North Vietnam and, if shot down, they were not always rescued. Even so, enemy MiGs failed in their primary mission to stop US air attacks over North Vietnam during the operation. In fact, the VPAF fighter force sometimes retreated to China and stood down from combat operations due to heavy losses suffered at the hands of US fighter crews. The VPAF, having lost half of its combat aircraft in a matter of a few weeks between March and June of 1967, went into a period of self-examination, training and reconstitution. Because the North Vietnamese could not possibly gain control of the skies by directly challenging the US forces, they adopted a different tactic that created problems for the US Air Force until the end of the war. On 23 August 1967, North Vietnamese ground radar guided a MiG-21 to a position

MiG-17 ‘Fresco’ This single-seat, single-engine fighter was in widespread use with the North Vietnamese Air Force from 1964. The F-4 was clearly a superior aircraft in terms of absolute performance, but the MiG pilots knew they could win an encounter if they could get the F-4 into a close-in, turning dogfight. In these conditions, the F-4’s manoeuvrability was inferior to that of the MiG, its missiles would be ineffective and its radar would count for nothing. Unlike the F-4, the MiG-17 had a heavy cannon armament, ideal for close engagements. At least three VPAF pilots achieved ‘ace’ status (five kills) during the Vietnam War, some of these being F-4s. Below: North Vietnamese pilots walk past their MiG-17s. Between 1966 and 1972 a total of 17 flying aces were credited by the VPAF against US fighters.

astern of four bomb-laden F-4 Phantoms in close formation. The MiG made a supersonic ‘hit-and-run’ pass, launched a Soviet AA-2/Atoll air-to-air missile that shot down Phantom No 4, and blew past the formation to safety. Because the MiG‑21s engaged only when directed by radar, which provided them with both surprise and positional advantage, there was no opportunity for the US forces to achieve a lethal firing position on the attacking MiGs. Facing both the SAM threat and supersonic MiGs, the US Air Force began building larger groups of aircraft for bombing missions. ‘Strike packages’ contained 40 or more aircraft, including bomb carriers, ‘Wild Weasels’ (two-seat F-105F and G Thunderchiefs outfitted with equipment to detect and destroy SAM sites), reconnaissance

MiG-21 ‘Fishbed’ North Vietnam’s best fighter and a close match in capability with the US F-4. The latter was slightly faster, but the MiG-21 had better acceleration. The MiG-21 was especially effective at higher altitudes. It had a 23mm cannon but relied mainly on its four Atoll missiles. Thirteen of North Vietnam’s16 fighter aces flew MiG-21s.

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and radar-jamming aircraft, F-4 Phantom fighter escorts close to the bomb carriers and the ‘MiGCAP’ F-4s, which were free to make sweeps and aggressively go after MiGs. When US forces resumed widespread operations over North Vietnam in spring 1972, the North Vietnamese decided once again to challenge the strikes head-on. On 10 May, the US Air Force traded the North Vietnamese three for two during the first major battle of Operation ‘Linebacker’. However, the US Navy famously shot down seven MiG-17s and a MiG-21 with no losses. It was the worst single day of the war for the VPAF. Hanoi’s reaction was swift, radical and appropriate. The MiG-17s were largely withdrawn from combat and the VPAF reverted to its successful supersonic ambush tactics with the MiG-21. For a brief moment in June 1972, MiG-21s gained ascendancy, shooting down five US Air Force Phantoms on air-to-air missions for a loss of only two. But things were about to turn around… In August 1972, the US Air Force finally got its technical answer to the attack warning problem: a control centre called Teaball. The centre provided MiG warnings in real time and the US Air Force crews got the situational awareness that they had been lacking. At the end of the Vietnam War in 1973, the VPAF had lost nearly 150 MiGs in combat to US Air Force fighter crews, while the US Air Force lost about 70 aircraft (of all types) to MiGs.

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1 : M A N T E I

V N I USAF

FIGHTER/ATTACK THE VIETNAM WAR marked a transition in the art of aerial warfare as the distinction between ‘fighter’ and ‘attack’ aircraft became increasingly blurred. Although speed and agility still ‘ruled’, the rapid development of air-to-air missile technology meant that the age of the pure dogfighter was on the wane. The fighter became a missile-carrying platform… and if it could carry missiles, it could carry bombs and other ordnance. This was the age of the tactical strike aircraft, a fighter, bomber and SAM killer all rolled into one. Typical of the genre was the F-105, the Thunderchief, the ‘Lead Sled’, the ‘Thud’. It was the signature fighter of the ‘Rolling Thunder’ campaign against North Vietnam from 1965 to 1968. ‘Thuds’ flew 75 percent of the strikes and took more losses over North Vietnam than any other type of aircraft. When ‘Rolling Thunder’ ended, more than half of the US Air Force’s F-105s were gone. They were replaced by the legendary F-4 Phantom, a true ‘multi-role fighter’ in every sense. From air superiority MiG killer to precision attack missions, the Phantom became the symbolic fighter of the conflict.

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10 ATTACK

DOUGLAS A-1 SKYRAIDER The Air Commandos ‘

W

e were flying anachronisms, piloting Spads through a supersonic world, tasting the thunderstorms at 8,000ft when an SR-71 was hitting three times the speed of sound above 70,000ft. It was a ludicrous situation, but one I applauded. Some of the greatest and most dangerous and heroic flying ever done was right there… in old A-1 Skyraiders.’ Skyraider pilot Capt Richard Drury’s sentiments are echoed by many of his colleagues who fondly remember this unlikely hero of the Southeast Asia war. There was nothing subtle about the Skyraider, but its ability to carry an immense number of weapons and stay over the battlefield for extended periods of time made it a powerful weapon. It provided close air support to ground forces, attacked enemy supply lines, and protected helicopters rescuing airmen downed in enemy territory.

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Designed during World War Two for the US Navy, the Skyraider almost disappeared before it had the opportunity to excel over Southeast Asia. In the high-speed jet-age world of the late 1950s, the Skyraider seemed to be a relic of an earlier era. It had performed well during the Korean War, but the US Navy had decided to replace it with jet aircraft. However, the rugged nature of Skyraiders proved well suited for fighting against the guerrilla-style war waged by communists in Southeast Asia. Therefore, when the US provided South Vietnam with increased military assistance and training to resist communist forces, it gave Skyraiders to the South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF). In 1961, US Air Force instructors started training the VNAF pilots at Bien Hoa Air Base with Skyraiders in VNAF markings and their tail hooks removed. Redesignated the A-1 in 1962, the old Skyraider soon got the nickname ‘Spad’ – referring to

Above: Four Douglas A-1E Skyraiders in formation over South Vietnam on their way to a target on 25 June 1965. The aircraft were assigned to the 34th Tactical Group based at Bien Hoa, South Vietnam. The A-1E 133899 was lost on 9 June 1966, 132633 on 10 November 1966, and 132638 on 4 May 1967. Below: It might have been a relic from another age, but the A-1E Skyraider became a valuable weapon during the Vietnam war.

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A-1 SKYRAIDER the French fighter used in World War One. The future South Vietnamese prime minister and vice president, Nguyen Cao Ky, began his rise to power as a Skyraider pilot: ‘Never had I flown such a powerful aircraft! As I raced down the runway, the Skyraider was a tiger leaping into the sky… It took all the strength of both arms and both legs to establish control…The next time I took off in an A-1, I would carry a full load of bombs to drop on the enemy.’ At first, bush-hatted US air commando advisers shared cockpits with Vietnamese pilots in two-seat ‘fat face’ A-1E Skyraiders carrying South Vietnamese air force insignia. As the fighting in Vietnam intensified, the US Air Force accepted 150 of its own two-seat Spads in 1964 to deliver the slow, accurate close-air support that jets could not provide. The first of these arrived at Bien Hoa AB in May 1964 and were assigned to the 1st Air Commando Squadron, which operated under the call sign ‘Hobo’. The first A-1E Skyraider shot down was on the night of 29 August 1964, killing its pilot Capt Richard D. Goss. The A-1E ‘Spad’ could carry four tons of bombs and had four cannons. Maximum speed was only 325mph, but it could stay in the battle area for much longer than jet aircraft could. Low-level was its domain. Wherever they went, the Skyraiders provided critical close air support to ground forces and other operations, such as defoliant spraying or supporting the insertion and extraction of special operations teams inside enemy held territory along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In August 1967, the US Air Force redesignated its air commando Skyraider units as special operations squadrons: the 1st SOS (call sign: Hobo); 602nd SOS (Firefly); and the 22nd SOS (Zorro), the US Air Force’s last A-1unit. The latter flew from Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai AB in eastern Thailand. US Air Force Skyraiders in Southeast Asia are probably best remembered for their support of search and air rescue missions. Operating under the call sign ‘Sandy’, the A-1H’s ability to fly over a downed airman for an extended period complemented its massive firepower. Whereas jet aircraft often had to leave an area for refuelling or rearming, the ‘Sandies’ provided nearly continuous suppressing fire until helicopters could extract downed airmen. The Skyraider in Vietnam pioneered the concept of tough, survivable aircraft with long loiter times and large ordnance loads. The US Air Force lost 201 Skyraiders to all causes in Southeast Asia, while the Navy lost 65. Of the 266 total, five were shot down by surface-to-

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Above: A US Air Force A-1E Skyraider drops a white phosphorus bomb on a Viet Cong position in 1966. Below left: A single-seat A-1H from the 6th SOS providing close air support in 1968. Below right: An A-1E pulls up after striking an enemy target in July 1969.

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12 ATTACK Right: A Douglas A-1H Skyraider of the 602nd SOS over Vietnam in June 1970. The unit operated A-1 Skyraiders under the call sign ‘Firefly’. Its daylight task was the primary one of combat search and rescue of air crew downed in Laos. A secondary task was night operations as flareships supporting the Hmong guerrillas in the Operation ‘Barrel Roll’ area.

A-1H Skyraider Crew: 1 Length: 38ft 10in (11.84m) Wingspan: 50ft 0in (15.25m) Height: 15ft 8in (4.8m) Empty weight: 11,968lb (5,429kg) Max T/O weight: 18,106lb (8,213kg) Powerplant: 1 × Wright R-335026WA DuplexCyclone18-cylinder air-cooled radial piston of 2,700hp Max speed: 322mph (518km/h) Range: 1,316 miles (2,118km) 28,500ft (8,700m) Service ceiling: Armament: 4 x 20mm AN/M3 cannon with 200 rounds per gun Ordnance: 15 external hardpoints with a capacity of 8,000lb (3,600kg),with provisions to carry combinations of bombs, unguided rockets and gun pods

air missiles (SAMs), and three were shot down in air-to-air combat; two by VPAF MiG-17s. The last Skyraider combat loss of the war was on 22 September 1972 over Laos. By then, the US was drawing down all forces in Vietnam and US Air Force Spads flew their last mission on 7 November, keeping enemy soldiers from the crash site of an Army UH-1 Iroquois near Quang Tri, until seven survivors were rescued. In 1973 the US Air Force handed its remaining Spads over to the South Vietnamese. They would take

part in the last-ditch fighting during the North’s 1975 Spring offensive, which ended in the Communist capture of Saigon.

Skyraider heroics On 10 March 1966, Maj Bernard F. Fisher and Maj Dafford Myers were flying A-1Es on an attack mission in support of Special Forces under attack in the A Shau Valley of South Vietnam. Myers was hit and crash-landed his blazing Spad on the base airstrip. With enemy troops within 20 yards of Myers’ position and the nearest rescue helicopter 30min out, Fisher radioed: ‘I’m going in.’ Fisher ran the gauntlet of enemy artillery that ringed the valley, landed, taxied through burning debris, picked up Myers, took off through the smoke and automatic weapons fire, and flew out with 19 bullet holes in his Skyraider. Fisher was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroics. On 1 September 1968, Lt Col William A. Jones III, leading an A-1H mission to find a fighter pilot who had been shot down over North Vietnam, took heavy battle damage when he attacked enemy guns that were Left: In November 1966, Lt Col Jerald Ransom became the first A-1E Skyraider pilot to complete 100 missions over North Vietnam. Ransom was a veteran of World War Two, flying 35 missions over Europe as a B-17 navigator. In 1966, as commander of the 602nd FS (Commando) Ransom flew 366 hours over North Vietnam, and his A-1E was hit by enemy fire seven times. With his later tour as deputy commander of the 56th SOW, Ransom flew a total of 326 combat missions in Southeast Asia.

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A-1 SKYRAIDER 13

blocking the rescue effort. His aircraft was badly shot up. The cockpit canopy was blown away, and Jones was severely burned. Unable to use his radio, he declined to bail out and flew back to his base, where he refused sedation and medical care until he reported the exact position of the downed pilot, who was subsequently rescued. Jones was awarded the Medal of Honor. Tragically, that November Jones died stateside in the crash of a private aircraft in Virginia.

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Above: Carolyn’s Folly, an A-1E Skyraider of the 1st Air Commando Squadron, escorts an HH-3C rescue helicopter as it goes to pick up a downed pilot in Vietnam in 1966. Left and below: US Air Force A-1E pilot Maj Bernard F. Fisher (right), discusses maintenance with his crew chief at Pleiku AB, South Vietnam in 1966. Fisher received the Medal of Honor for the rescue of a fellow pilot who had been shot down and stranded just yards away from the enemy. Fisher’s Skywarrior was severely damaged in further combat in South Vietnam.

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14 FIGHTER/ATTACK

LTV A-7D CORSAIR II Call me ‘SLUF’

I

t was officially called the Corsair II, but its pilots knew it as the ‘SLUF’, for ‘Short Little Ugly Fella’ (or something less polite). The US Air Force operated the type as the A-7D and although it was late to the battle in South East Asia, it demonstrated its outstanding ground attack capability during the closing months of the conflict. To meet a need for close air support of its troops in South Vietnam, the US Army pressured the US Air Force to procure a specialised subsonic close air support fixedwing aircraft that would suit its needs better than the general-purpose supersonic aircraft that the US Air Force preferred. The result was the single-seat A-7D, that was based on the US Navy’s A-7 Corsair, but with some significant changes. The US Air Force wanted more power for its variant, and selected the Allison TF41-A-1 turbofan engine, a license-built version of the

Left: The cockpit of a US Air Force A-7D ‘SLUF’.

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A-7D CORSAIR

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Left: A trio of US Air Force A-7Ds (s/n 70-0976, 70-0989 and 70-0970) of the 354th TFW cruising over Southeast Asia towards the end of the Vietnam War. Right: LTV A-7D (70-0978) of the 354th TFW at Korat Royal Thai AFB, Thailand, in 1972.

A-7D Corsair II Crew: 1 46ft 1in (14.06m) Length: Wingspan: 38ft 9in (11.81m) 16ft 1in (4.9m) Height: Empty weight: 19,915lb (9,033kg) Max T/O weight: 42,000lb (19,050kg) Powerplant: 1 × Allison TF41-A-1 turbofan producing 14,500lb of thrust Max speed: 698mph (1,123km/h) Range: 715 miles (1,151km) Service ceiling: 42,000ft (12,800m) Armament: 1 x M61 Vulcan 20mm cannon Ordnance: Max load of 20,000lb (9,072kg) for combination of missiles and bombs Rolls-Royce Spey. Other changes included a head up display, a new avionics package, and an M61A1 rotary cannon in place of the two single-barrelled 20mm cannon. The first A-7D made its initial flight in April 1968, and the US Air Force’s 354th Tactical Fighter Wing was equipped with four squadrons of A-7Ds by 1972. It first deployed two squadrons of A-7Ds to Korat Royal Thai AFB, Thailand in September 1972 as part of Operation ‘Cornet Dancer’. The A-7Ds were quickly assigned the ‘Sandy’ mission of providing air cover for Combat Search and Rescue missions of downed pilots. Taking over from Douglas A-1 Skyraiders, the A-7’s higher speed was somewhat detrimental for escorting the helicopters, but the aircraft’s high endurance and durability were an asset and it performed well. The aircraft’s impressive weapon carrying ability and ruggedness also made it ideal for close air support and ground attack missions. The US Air Force A-7Ds flew a total of 12,928 combat sorties during the war with only six losses, the lowest of any US fighter in the theatre. A-7Ds from Korat flew combat operations over Vietnam until mid-January 1973, in Laos until 22 February 1973, and in Cambodia until 15 August 1973. The last shot fired in anger by US military forces in Southeast Asia was fired by an A-7D of the deployed 345th TFW/353th TFS on 15 August 1973.

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‘SLUF’ to the rescue On 18 November 1972, Maj Colin A. Clarke led a successful CSAR mission near Thanh Hoa to rescue a downed Republic F-105 Thunderchief ‘Wild Weasel’ crew. The mission lasted a total of 8.8 hours during which Clarke and his wingman took a number of hits from 0.50 cal (12.7mm) anti-aircraft fire. For his actions in co-ordinating the rescue, Clarke was awarded the Air Force Cross, the US Air Force’s second-highest decoration for valour. His citation reads: ‘Maj Clarke directed an extremely complex mission that resulted in the successful recovery of two downed airmen despite adverse weather, mountainous terrain, and intense hostile ground fire. Disregarding these hazards, his own safety, and battle damage to his aircraft, he personally guided the rescue helicopter to the survivors’ location, suppressed hostile defenses, and continued to direct rescue efforts even though he sustained additional damage to his aircraft.’ Below: Maj Colin Clarke brings his Corsair in close for the camera. Maj Clarke was awarded the Air Force Cross for his role in rescuing two downed airmen.

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16 ATTACK

CESSNA A-37 DRAGONFLY Super Tweet

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ur troops on the ground were glad when the aircraft coming to help them was an A-37. The bigger fighters were less able to help them out of a tight spot. We had more time on station than the big fighters and unlike them we could operate under cloud cover and in tough terrain that might have deterred a larger jet.’ So comments Lt Col Dennis Selvig, who piloted A-37Bs with the 604th Special Operations Squadron (SOS) at Bien Hoa from March 1970 to March 1971. The growing US military involvement in Vietnam in the early 1960s led to strong interest in counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft, which led to the US Air Force evaluating the Cessna T-37C ‘Tweet’ trainer for the role. Although it showed much promise, the US Air Force needed an aircraft that could carry a much larger payload, and had much greater endurance and better ‘

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short-field performance. This resulted in the A-37, a heavier ‘beefed-up’ version with more powerful General Electric J85-J2/5 turbojets of 2,400lb thrust each. It was also fitted with four stores pylons on each wing and was armed with a General Electric GAU-2B/A 7.62mm Gatling-style machine gun. The A-37A was formally named the Dragonfly, but most pilots called it the ‘Super Tweet’. The straight-wing, two-seat A-37 (its second seat unused most of the time) was a true light attack aircraft. In August 1967, 25 A-37As were sent to Vietnam and flew from Bien Hoa Air Base on US Air Force ‘air commando’ missions, including close air support, helicopter escort, FAC, and night interdiction. Combat loads included highexplosive bombs, cluster munition dispensers, unguided rocket packs, napalm tanks, and the SUU-11/A Minigun pod. For most missions, the aircraft also carried two additional external

Above: US Air Force A-37A of the 8th TFW over Vietnam in September 1972. The ‘Super Tweet’ proved to be the ideal light attack aircraft for missions in Southeast Asia.

fuel tanks on the inner stores pylons. The A-37 excelled at close air support. It could engage targets at speeds 100mph slower than sweptwing fighters, which improved bombing accuracy, enabling pilots to achieve an average accuracy of 45ft (13.7m). The US Air Force signed a contract with Cessna in early 1967 for an improved ‘Super Tweet’, designated the A-37B. The initial order was for 57 aircraft, but this was quickly increased to 127. The A-37Bs were primarily intended to be supplied to the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) as replacements for its A-1 Skyraiders. As such, deliveries to the South Vietnamese began in 1968.

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A-37 DRAGONFLY

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A-37B Dragonfly Crew: 1-2 Length: 28ft 4in (8.6m) Wingspan: 35ft 11in (10.93m) Height: 8ft 10in (2.7m) Empty weight: 6,211lb (2,817kg) Max T/O weight: 14,000lb (6,350kg) Powerplant: 2 × General Electric J85-GE-17A turbojets of 2,850lb thrust each Max speed: 507mph (816km/h) Range: 460 miles (740km) Service ceiling: 41,765ft (12,730m) Armament: 1 × 7.62mm GAU-2B/A minigun. Provision for SUU-11/A gun pods under wings Ordnance: Bombs: 250lb (110kg) Mark 81, 500lb (230kg) Mark 82 or 750lb (340kg) M117 bombs. BLU-32B or BLU-1C/B fire bombs. CBU-12, CBU-22 or CBU-24 cluster bombs. Rockets: LAU-3/A rocket pods Top left: Cessna A-37A at Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam, in August 1967. Left: On the attack. Cessna A-37A 67-14516 targets enemy positions with a salvo of rockets during a mission in Vietnam. Below: Casualty of war. ‘Super Tweet’ 67-14513 of the 605th SOS which burnt out after making an emergency landing at Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam in October 1968.

‘Super Tweet’ sortie A typical mission in the ‘Super Tweet’ is recalled by Col Hank Hoffman, a pilot in the 604th SOS: ‘The A-37B looks tiny in its concrete nest designed for a bigger fighter. I pull forward outside the revetment and look for the Plumber [wingman 2nd Lt Chuck ‘Plumber’ Purcell] who is right behind me.’ Working with a forward air controller, or FAC, in an O-1 Bird Dog, Hoffman flies his A-37B into the fight. He carries a typical warload known as ‘shake and bake’ – two Mark 82s and two 500lb cans of napalm. He is ready, also, to use the 7.62mm gun possibly with, or possibly without, his crude gunsight. ‘On some missions, I never turned it on. Delivering ordnance in an A-37B was a little like throwing a rock at a fence post, and you didn’t really need a sight. We would have preferred a .50-caliber gun. Our 7.62mm wasn’t really effective. It was like using a hose.

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You could walk your rounds where you wanted them to go but it wasn’t easy.’ Able to operate beneath cloud cover where an F-4 Phantom or F-100 Super Sabre couldn’t, Hoffman and his A-37B find Viet Cong troops approaching the friendlies. Hoffman follows the

usual tactic of dropping his explosive bombs first, and then comes around and releases the napalm. ‘The easiest mistake to make in bombing is the ‘long-short error’. You never attack by flying over the friendlies. You fly parallel to the battle line on the enemy’s side.’

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18 FIGHTER/ATTACK

NORTH AMERICAN F-100 SUPER Wild Weasel pioneer

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he F-100 Super Sabre – or ‘Hun’ as it was often referred to – bore the brunt of early US Air Force missions in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. Attrition forced its gradual replacement, but not before it pioneered the legendary Wild Weasel ‘SAMkilling’ mission. Although perpetuating the name of North American’s earlier F-86 Sabre, the F-100 Super Sabre was very much an all-new design. Its concept was the result of US Air Force experience in the Korean War, where the MiG-15 seriously threatened the US Air Force’s dominance of the skies. The F-100 looked fast and it was, prototype 52-5754 exceeding the speed of sound when it made its first flight on 25 May 1953. The Super Sabre, in its F-100C and F-100D versions, served the US Air Force faithfully as a fighter-bomber, only being retired from front-line service with TAC in 1972. The F-100’s real period of active service came in Southeast Asia, the type’s involvement starting in May 1962 with the rotation of squadrons from US bases to Takhli air base in Thailand. US forces became heavily involved in Vietnam when the US President authorised a series of air strikes against military targets in North Vietnam in February 1965. This was the start of Operation ‘Rolling Thunder’, a sustained bombing campaign in which F-100s would figure prominently. An early ‘Rolling Thunder’ mission launched on 2 March 1965 involved 40 F-100s from Da Nang flying cover for 45 bombtoting F-105D Thunderchiefs. Demonstrating their multi-role capability, some of the F-100s flew ‘MiGCAP’ (providing fighter top cover for the attack formation) missions with AIM-9B Sidewinder air-to-air missile armament, while others tasked with flak suppression carried 2.75in rockets and 750lb bombs. Two F-100Ds failed to return from this mission and one of the pilots had the misfortune to be the first to be taken captive in North Vietnam. Acknowledging the F-100’s war role, a US Air Force Technical Order issued in late 1965 decreed that the aircraft should henceforth be camouflaged in tan and dark green with grey undersides, replacing the rather overvisible natural metal finish previously sported. F-100 pilots would not choose to mix it in

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the air-to-air arena with North Vietnamese fighters, but the North Vietnamese Air Force’s MiG-17s were the opponents they would be most likely to meet. The MiG-17 was nimbler than the F-100D and had a better rate of turn. Mounting underwing AIM-9B Sidewinder air-toair missiles did not make the F-100 into a true air superiority fighter, as the missile’s guidance system struggled to cope in any fight where the target aircraft was manoeuvring hard. Under these conditions, the F-100 pilot’s best friend was still his four M61 cannon. As North Vietnamese anti-aircraft defences increased and Super Sabre losses mounted, the US Air Force removed the F-100 from strike missions in North Vietnam, and the newly introduced Right: F-100Ds of the 481st TFS over South Vietnam in February 1966. Early F-100s were unpainted when they arrived in Southeast Asia (like the foreground aircraft), but all eventually received more appropriate camouflage schemes like the aircraft in the back. Below: A Colorado ANG 120th TFS F-100C rolls out on a mission. In 1968, four Air National Guard (ANG) F-100 squadrons deployed to Southeast Asia to provide close air support for friendly troops in South Vietnam. During their year-long tour they flew an impressive 30,000 combat sorties.

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SABRE

50ft Qin (1 Sm) 38ft 9in (11.81 m) 16ft 3in (4.94ml 21,000lb (9,525kg) 34,832Ib (15,800kg) 1 x Pratt & Whitney J57-P-21 ofl 0,200Ib thrust 'dry; 16,000lb with afterburner 924mph (1,487km/h) 1,995 miles (3,211km) 50,000ft (15,000m) 4 x 20mm Pontiac M39A1 revolver cannon Hardpoints: 6 with a capacity of 7,040Ib (3,190kg),with provisions to carry combinations of missiles, rockets and bombs

22

F-100 SUPER SABRE

F-4 Phantom took over the fighter escort role. Even so, the Super Sabre remained an essential close air support aircraft in the ‘in-country’ war over South Vietnam. F-100s also continued to strike targets in northern Laos, and in 1968, they participated in operations against enemy infiltration in southern Laos. Super Sabre numbers in Southeast Asia peaked at 490 aircraft in 1969, and the last F-100 left Vietnam in 1971. F-100s flew over 360,000 combat missions in Southeast Asia between 1964-1971, with 186 lost to enemy anti-aircraft fire, none in air-to-air combat, seven to enemy ground forces, and 45 to operational accidents.

F-100 Wild Weasel The first F-100D shot down by ground fire was piloted by 1st Lt Colin A. Clarke of the 428th TFS on 18 August 1964. Clarke ejected and survived. On 4 April 1965, as escorts protecting F-105s attacking the Thanh Hoa Bridge, F-100 Super Sabres fought the US Air Force’s first air-to-air jet combat duel in the Vietnam War, in which an F-100 piloted by Capt Donald W. Kilgus of the 416th FS shot down a Vietnam People’s Air Force MiG-17, using cannon fire. However, the F-100 was to gain fame in another role… Losses over North Vietnam due to the surface-to-air missile (SAM) threat mounted as the Soviet-built SA-2 Guideline was deployed in

increasing numbers from July 1965. Suddenly, the risk to US Air Force fighter pilots of flying over the North had increased significantly. An F-4C Phantom was the first loss, on 24 July 1965. What was needed, and needed quickly, was an aircraft that could locate, identify and destroy the enemy radar sites. Thus was born the Wild Weasel programme, which involved the conversion of a small initial batch of two-seat F-100F Super Sabres, the back-seat Electronic Warfare Officer (EWO) handling the new radar warning receiver, signal processors, displays, launch-warning lights, cameras and recorders. The development time allowed was short and the first F-100F Wild Weasels arrived at Korat AFB in November 1965 where they equipped the newly-formed 6,234th TFW. The first operational Wild Weasel missions were flown soon afterwards. Their crews had a hazardous task; they were in the vanguard of any strike force and had to fly towards the radar site – and the SAMs – to home in on the signals and then to prosecute their attack. If the radar continued transmitting they could destroy the site using rockets, napalm or iron bombs, but there was always the prospect of an SA-2 being launched against them in retaliation. If the radar operators on the ground felt overly threatened, they could shut down their radar – but in doing so they

lost their purpose. This cat and mouse game was played out many times over North Vietnam, proving the viability of the Wild Weasel concept. This was the beginning of a new capability called SEAD – Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses. No self-respecting air force today can afford to be without it. Finally, in 1967, a group of combatexperienced fighter pilot volunteers were brought together in South Vietnam to form

Above: Capts Allen Lamb (pilot) and Jack Donovan (EWO) achieved the first Wild Weasel SAM kill on 22 December 1965, while covering a strike force northwest of Hanoi, North Vietnam. Capt Donovan began picking up radar signals and called out the co-ordinates. Capt Lamb guided their F-100F to the site and spotted the camouflaged radar van. He attacked it with a salvo of 2.75in rockets and 20mm fire, destroying the van and a nearby SA-2. The cabled message to the Joint Chiefs of Staff read ‘Weasel sighted SAM – killed same’. Left: Wild Weasel pioneers. Most of the second group of F-100F Wild Weasel pilots at Korat in early 1966.

a top-secret squadron with a now-famous callsign – ‘Misty’. Flying the two-seat F-100F, they were stationed first at Phu Cat AB, and then Tuy Hoa. Their mission was to fly fast and low over enemy territory – so low that they could see the targets. Armed with only cannons and marking rockets, their goal was straightforward: disrupt the transfer of enemy supplies and equipment down the Ho Chi Minh trail. When a Misty located one or more of these targets, he directed fighter strikes against them. Despite flying low and fast, 28 per cent of the Misty pilots were shot down.

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F-100 SUPER SABRE

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Above: An F-100 Super Sabre refuelling from a KC-135 Stratotanker near the border of Laos and Thailand over the Mekong River, circa 1967. Page 19: Super Sabre pilots were noted for their accuracy during bombing and strafing runs. Here F-1 00D-85-NH 56-3415 fires a salvo of 2.75in rockets against an enemy position in South Vietnam in 1967. This aircraft and its pilot, 1st Lt Clive Jeffs, were tragically lost after an engine failure near Nha Trang on 12 March 1971. Right: On the hot flight line at Phu Cat Air Base, Airmen 2nd Class Francis Branch (left) and John Se/lung remove a 20mm cannon from an F-100 in October 1967.

24 F-104 STARFIGHTER

LOCKHEED F-104 STARFIGHTER Fast but not furious

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s conceived, the F-104 Starfighter was a pure interceptor fighter for the US Air Force, one which promised phenomenal speed and altitude performance. But the hot-ship performance came at a cost and manoeuvrability was traded for speed, not ideal for the harsh conditions of the conflict in Southeast Asia. The F-104C entered service with Tactical Air Command (TAC) as a multi-role fighter and fighter-bomber. During the Vietnam War the Starfighter was used both in the air-superiority and air-support roles, commencing with Operation ‘Rolling Thunder’. The 476th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS) of the 479th TFW arrived at Da Nang AB on 19 April 1965 to help protect F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bombers against MiG-17s and especially MiG-21s. The F-104 was also deployed extensively as a barrier combat air patrol (BARCAP) protector for the

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EC-121D Warning Star airborne early warning aircraft patrolling off the North Vietnamese coast. The F-104s were successful in deterring MiG interceptors, though they were largely uninvolved in aerial combat and recorded no air-to-air kills. From the first F-104 deployment, Starfighters flew a total of 2,937 combat sorties for the loss of five aircraft. One incident on 20 September claimed three F-104s when Capt Philip E. Smith strayed into Chinese airspace and was shot down by a Shenyang J-6; two more Starfighters collided in mid-air while searching for Smith’s missing jet. Starfighters returned to Vietnam when the 435th Tactical Fighter Squadron deployed from June 1966 until July 1967, in which time they flew a further 2,269 combat sorties, for a total of 5,206 sorties. Nine more F-104s were lost; two F-104s to ground fire, three to surface-to-air missiles, and the final four losses were operational.

F-104C Starfighter Crew: 1 Length: 55ft 0in (16.76m) Wingspan: 21ft 8in (6.62m) Height: 13ft 0in (3.96m) Empty weight: 14,082lb (6,387kg) Max T/O weight: 27,853lb (12,633kg) Powerplant: 1 × General Electric J79-GE-7A of 10,000lb thrust 1,320mph (2,124km/h) Max speed: Range: 1,500 miles (2,414km) Service ceiling: 58,000ft (17,678m) Armament: 1 x 20mm Vulcan cannon 4,000lb payload Ordnance: Below: The rare sight of camouflaged US Air Force F-104C Starfighters of the 435th TFS, 479th TFW, at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base in 1965.

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F-5 FREEDOM FIGHTER

NORTHROP F-5 FREEDOM FIGHTER ‘Skoshi Tiger’

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lthough the F-5’s involvement in the Vietnam War was widely regarded as political, it nevertheless played an important, but understated, role in the Southeast Asia conflict. The F-5 was developed by Northrop as a lightweight supersonic fighter that was both cheap to run and acquire. It first flew in 1959 and was selected in 1962 by the US Department of Defense for export to friendly countries. In October 1965, the US Air Force began a combat evaluation of the F-5A titled ‘Skoshi Tiger’. A total of 12 aircraft were delivered for trials to the 4,503rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, and after modification with probe and drogue aerial refuelling equipment, armour and improved instruments, were redesignated F-5C. Over the

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Above: An F-5 dropping its payload of bombs over Vietnam.

next six months, they performed combat duty in Vietnam, flying more than 2,600 sorties, from the 3rd Tactical Fighter Wing at Bien Hoa over South Vietnam and from Da Nang Air Base, where operations were flown over Laos. Nine aircraft were lost in Vietnam, seven to enemy ground fire and two to operational causes. Although the load-carrying capability of the F-5 was not as great as that of other types, such as the F-4 Phantom and the F-105 Thunderchief, the Northrop fighter was fast and agile and proved to be the least vulnerable jet aircraft in the war zone. On the debit side, the take-off roll of a heavily-laden F-5 was excessively long, and the range was considered to be inadequate.

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F-5C Freedom Fighter Crew: 1 47ft 2in (14.38m) Length: Wingspan: 25ft 3in (7.74m) Height: 13ft 2in (4.02m) Empty weight: 8,085lb (3,667kg) Max T/O weight: 20,677lb (9,379kg) Powerplant: 2 × General Electric J85-GE-13 turbojets of 2,720lb thrust each Max speed: 925mph (1,488km/h) Range: 558 miles (898km) Service ceiling: 50,500ft (15,392m) Armament: 2 x 20mm cannon. 2 x Sidewinder Ordnance: 5 x pylons for 6,200lb payload of bombs/ rockets/napalm After six months of combat the US Air Force determined that the F-5 was very capable and requested that it remain in Vietnam as part of the build-up in 1966. The 4,503rd TFS was disbanded and re-organised as the 10th Fighter Commando Squadron. In June 1967 the ‘Skoshi Tigers’ were passed on to the Republic of Vietnam Air Force and fought in the Vietnam War until 1975.

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26 FIGHTER/ATTACK

REPUBLIC F-105 THUNDERCHIEF Big and deadly

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hough originally designed as a Cold War warrior, the charismatic Thunderchief proved its worth in the fighter-bomber role over Vietnam. While effective in combat, nearly half of the 833 F-105s built were lost during actions in the dangerous skies over Southeast Asia. The Republic F-105 Thunderchief was the first supersonic tactical fighter-bomber developed from scratch. Apart from being the biggest single-seat, single-engine combat aircraft in history, the F-105 was notable for its large internal bomb bay and unique swept-forward engine inlets in the wing roots. Nicknamed the ‘Thud’, the F-105 evolved from a 1951 project to replace the F-84F fighter-bomber. The prototype first flew in October 1955, and Republic delivered the first production aircraft to the US Air Force in 1958. Republic also developed a fully combat-capable two-seat trainer version, the F-105F.

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In spite of a troubled early service life, the F-105 became the dominant attack aircraft early in the Vietnam War. The F-105 could carry more than twice the bomb load farther and faster than the F-100. In a foreshadowing of its ‘Wild Weasel’ role, the first F-105D combat mission of the war on 14 August 1964 involved an attack against an anti-aircraft artillery site on Plaine des Jarres. The first Thunderchief lost in the war also occurred during this mission, although the pilot managed to return the aircraft to Korat. The first strike mission took place on 13 January 1965 with the destruction of the Ben Ken bridge in Laos. At the start of Operation ‘Rolling Thunder’ in March 1965, large numbers of F-105Ds were deployed to Korat and Takhli air bases in Thailand to participate in the intense bombing missions. On a typical combat mission into North Vietnam, the F-105D carried two 450 US gal (1,700L) wing-mounted fuel tanks, a 390 US gal

(1,500 L) fuel tank in the bomb bay, and five 1,000lb (450kg) or six 750lb (340kg) bombs. It required inflight refuelling going to, and sometimes returning from, Hanoi 700 miles (1,100km) distant. F-105s flying in the vicinity of Hanoi would routinely travel around mountainous terrain nicknamed ‘Thud Ridge’ to evade the air defences surrounding the city. Although the F-105s were routinely escorted by F-4s to protect them against attack, the Thunderchief was officially credited with 27.5 air-to-air victories against VPAF MiGs at the cost of 17 lost to enemy fighters. All victories were against MiG-17s. Of these 24.5 were shot down with cannon fire (one victory was shared with an F-4), and three with AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. One F-105F is unofficially credited with downing three MiGs – one by air-to-air missile, the second by cannon fire and the third by jettisoning its centreline rack full of bombs directly into the path of a surprised MiG.

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F-105 THUNDERCHIEF

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Wild Weasel in action The Thunderchief formed the backbone of US Air Force SAM suppression during Operation ‘Rolling Thunder’. In May and June 1966, 11 F-105F Wild Weasels arrived in Thailand. More followed, flying with the 335th TFW at Takhli and the 388th TFW at Korat, but the number of Wild Weasel aircraft and aircrews remained small and they remained in high demand throughout the conflict. The F-105 Wild Weasels developed two types of missions – strike support, by far the more common of the two, and ‘hunter-killer’. During strike support missions deep into North Vietnam, Wild Weasels ranged ahead of strike forces to suppress SAM sites and gun laying radars in the target area. Ideally, the Wild Weasels would destroy them, but intimidating the radars to shut down and keeping them occupied also accomplished the main mission Left: A trio of F-105D Thunderchiefs begin their take-off roll on a mission to bomb North Vietnam in 1966. Below: Flying high over the border of Laos and North Vietnam circa 1967, a heavily laden Republic F-105 Thunderchief pulls away from the boom of a Boeing KC-135 after refuelling.

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of protecting the strike force. To complete their mission, the Wild Weasels selflessly kept themselves between the enemy defences and the strike force. They remained in the area until the strike force was gone – hence the motto ‘First In, Last Out’. The search and destroy Wild Weasel mission involved actively hunting SAMs to destroy them. Usually flying in the southern part of North Vietnam, the Wild Weasel would ‘troll’ for SAM sites, acting as bait to tempt them to fire. When a SAM site responded, the tell-tale smoke and dust created by the SA-2 launch visually revealed its exact location. At the same time, the pilot rolled the aircraft over, accelerated the throttle, and dove the aircraft down to pick up speed, turning towards the SA-2. Continuing to dive, the pilot rolled the aircraft upright. The SA-2 climbed and accelerated during its six-second boost stage, then dropped the booster section, fired its sustaining rocket, and began guiding. The pilot continued to dive, keeping the missile ahead and slightly to one side. Both crewmen carefully kept sight of the SA-2 as it approached. By now, the missile would be pointing its nose down as it guided. At this precise moment, the pilot pulled the aircraft into a very hard climb. The SA-2, travelling nearly twice as fast could not

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28 FIGHTER/ATTACK

turn as quickly, causing it to miss (the SA-2 could not make a second attack). If the pilot pulled the manoeuvre a few moments too early or too late, the missile’s 288lb warhead would find its target. After the trolling Wild Weasel outmanoeuvred the missiles with its ‘SAM break’, it or other aircraft would attack and destroy the SAM site. The F-105F Wild Weasel typically carried two Shrike anti-radar missiles, along with a heavy load of bombs or rockets. Although the Shrike missile was not ideal (the range of the Shrike was well within the lethal range of the SA-2), it finally gave the Wild Weasels the capacity to mark and damage a site from afar. Like their predecessors, the F-105F Wild Weasels often led conventional F-105s that helped finish off SAM sites. As the ‘Rolling Thunder’ campaign intensified through 1966 and 1967, enemy SAM and AAA defences strengthened (by November 1968, there were about 30 SA-2 batteries), making the Wild Weasels crucial to the success of strikes deep into North Vietnam. Though they remained a threat, North Vietnamese SA-2s became less effective due to the Wild Weasels and other anti-SAM measures. In 1965 the North Vietnamese fired about 15 SA-2s for every aircraft shot down. By the end of ‘Rolling Thunder’, they had to fire an average of 48 missiles to down one aircraft. Success, however,

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Above: The F-105D Thunderchief could carry an impressive bomb load and played a key role in Operation ‘Rolling Thunder’. Right: A North Vietnamese Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 is hit and shot down by 20mm shells from a ‘Thud’ piloted by Maj Ralph Kuster Jr from the 469th TFS, 388th TFW, on 3 June 1967. Right: The F-105D Thunderchief of Robert Malcolm Elliot trailing fire and smoke just after interception by an SA-2 missile on 14 February 1968. Sadly Elliot did not survive. The SA-2 did not actually hit an aircraft – the warhead was detonated by a command from the tracking radar or by a proximity fuse in the missile when it neared the target, throwing deadly fragments over a wide area.

came at a high price for the Wild Weasels. Of the eight crews (16 airmen) who initially flew out of Takhli, four were killed, two became POWs and two were wounded in action. To survive and complete their missions, pilots (nicknamed ‘nose gunners’) and EWOs (nicknamed ‘bears’) had to work together as one. So, a special relationship existed between individual Wild Weasel crews. Paired up early in their training, they usually deployed and flew combat tours together. This was epitomised on 19 April 1967, when Maj Leo Thorsness (pilot) and Capt Harold Johnson (EWO) led a Wild

Weasel formation on a mission against the Xuan Mai army barracks about 30 miles southwest of Hanoi. After they silenced one SAM site and destroyed another, AAA fire shot down the accompanying F-105F carrying Majors Tom Madison and Tom Sterling. Now alone, Thorsness and Johnson remained behind to cover them and radio rescue forces. Johnson spotted a MiG-17, and Thorsness shot it down with 20mm fire. Low on fuel, they sped off to a tanker to fill up. Returning to cover the rescue forces, Thorsness and Johnson engaged three MiG-17s, damaging one of them. Then Johnson

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F-105 THUNDERCHIEF 29

spotted four MiGs coming up behind them, and Thorsness evaded the MiGs by speeding away at low altitude through nearby mountain passes. Despite being out of ammunition, Thorsness and Johnson yet again returned to draw the MiGs off the rescue forces, but fighter support arrived to take over. Unfortunately, in spite of their heroic efforts, the rescue had to be called off due to the overwhelming enemy defences, and Madison and Sterling

were captured. For ‘valor in combat above and beyond the call of duty’, Maj Thorsness was awarded the Medal of Honor, and Capt Johnson was awarded the Air Force Cross. In 1967 the US Air Force began developing the more capable F-105G with improved radar homing and warning equipment. Equally important was the introduction of the Standard AGM-78 anti-radar missile, which was a vast improvement over the Shrike missile. The Left: Wild Weasel pilot Capt Larry Huggins in front of his ‘Thud’. Huggins flew 113 missions as a Wild Weasel pilot with the 44th TFS. Below: Departing for a Wild Weasel mission, Thunderchief 62-4423 of the 6,010th Wild Weasel Squadron, 388th TFW, takes off from Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base in 1971. It is armed with AGM-45 Shrike and AGM-78 Standard antiradiation missiles.

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Above: F-105F used by Thorsness and Johnson on the decorated mission. By then, they had already dodged 53 SAMs and nearly completed their 100 missions.

AGM-78 was first employed by F-105 Wild Weasels on 10 March, 1968. Although ‘Rolling Thunder’ ended in 1968, Thud Wild Weasels remained busy flying north in ‘protective reaction’ strikes into 1972. These strikes initially targeted North Vietnamese SAM sites that fired on reconnaissance aircraft, but later included other North Vietnamese targets. In 1970, as part of the ‘Vietnamization’ programme, the US Air Force began reducing its forces in Southeast Asia. In November the Wild Weasels were consolidated into the 6,010th Wild Weasel Squadron at Korat. In December 1971 it was redesignated the 17th Wild Weasel Squadron.

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30 FIGHTER/ATTACK

Above: An F-105D Thunderchief takes evasive action against an incoming SA-2 missile over North Vietnam. Left: A SAM site being destroyed. After initial attack by a Wild Weasel, it was struck with bombs that set off secondary explosions.

Left: US Air Force Capt Merlyn H. Dethlefsen was awarded the Medal Cross for an F-105F Wild Weasel mission on 10 March 1967. After th ground fire, Dethlefsen and Gilroy elected to stay in the skies above Nguyen until the SAM site was found and destroyed.

Below: Republic F-105D-25-RE, 60-0504, Memphis Belle II as flown b of the 357th TFS/355th TFW, Takhili, Thailand in 1968. The aircraft i two 450 US Gal fuel tanks and eight Mk82 500lb bombs, with four fi external fuses for anti-personnel shrapnel effect.

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F-105 THUNDERCHIEF 31 Left: A shark-mouthed F-105F Wild Weasel landing after an Operation ‘Linebacker II’ mission in 1972.

F-105D Thunderchief Crew: 1 Length: 64ft 5in (19.62m) Wingspan: 34ft 11in (10.64m) Height: 19ft 8in (5.99m) Empty weight: 26,855lb (12,181kg) Max T/O weight: 52,838lb (23,967kg) Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney J75-P-19W turbojet of 14,300lb (dry) 26,500lb (afterburner) thrust Max speed: 1,390mph (2,240km/h) Range: 778 miles (1,252km) Service ceiling: 48,500ft (14,800m) Armament: 1 × 20mm M61A1 Vulcan cannon Ordnance: 4 × under-wing, 1 × centreline pylon stations plus an internal bomb bay with a capacity of up to 14,000lb (6,400kg) of ordnance, with provisions to carry combinations of: general-purpose bombs, cluster bombs, laser-guided bombs, rocket pods. AIM-9 Sidewinder AAM, AGM-12 Bullpup ASM, AGM-45 Shrike AGM missiles

ed the Medal of Honor and Capt Kevin ‘Mike’ Gilroy the Air Force 967. After their aircraft was damaged by skies above the steel works at Thai

e II as flown by Maj Buddy Jones The aircraft is fitted with , with four fitted with

Above: Wild Weasel pilots Maj Ben Fuller and Capt Norm Frith complete their 100th mission. Note the three SAM kills painted in yellow between the cockpits.

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32 FIGHTER/ATTACK

MCDONNELL F-4 PHANTOM A legend is born

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he Phantom might well have become an iconic legend of the Vietnam War, but when the big beast first came into contact with the small agile North Vietnamese MiGs, it did not have everything its own way. However, as a ground attack aircraft it could carry double the payload of a B-17… Despite the fact that more than half the production run of F-4s went to the US Air Force, the aircraft was designed for the US Navy. The origins of the design can be traced back to 1955, when McDonnell put forward its proposal for a twin-engined supersonic fighter to defend the fleet, to be armed with the Sparrow radarguided air-to-air missile. The first flight was made on 27 May 1958 and it quickly became the fighter of choice for the US Navy. It was the performance and flexibility that similarly impressed the US Air Force when it evaluated the F-4 in 1961. The result was a decision in March 1962 that the aircraft would become its standard fighter and reconnaissance aircraft and production orders followed. The US Air Force’s adoption of what had previously been a Navy aircraft came as a result of an urgent need to replace earlier strike aircraft such as the F-100 Super Sabre and the F-105 Thunderchief. Few

changes were deemed to be required, and the resulting F-4C retained the Navy’s folding wings and the heavy-duty arrestor hook. Intended for the tactical fighter role (ie for ground attack as well as air defence duties), the first F-4C flew on 27 May 1963 and production eventually reached 583. The first front-line unit to operate the C-model was the 12th TFW at MacDill AFB, Florida. Its aircraft were involved in exercises and firepower demonstrations before being deployed to Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, in November 1965 as the war escalated. In Vietnam, the F-4 – both US Navy and US Air Force variants – came up against the products of the Mikoyan design bureau in the shape of the MiG-17, MiG-19 and later the MiG-21. On paper, the MiGs were smaller, more lightly armed and altogether less capable. But they were nimble, and F-4 pilots had to adapt their tactics to use the Phantom’s strengths to their advantage, manoeuvring the aircraft right to its limits. Prior to Vietnam, US fighter pilots had normally only flown in combat against other US fighter pilots in similar aircraft types. Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) was unknown. It was only when the US Navy and US Air Force hierarchy realised the problem faced by their

pilots and took action to train them against adversaries who thought and flew like MiG pilots, that things improved. The F-4C – and the F-4D which followed it and which was tailored far more closely to the US Air Force’s needs – delivered a huge range of weaponry in Southeast Asia and proved relatively capable of defending themselves against the North Vietnamese MiGs. From the initial deployment of the F-4C, US Air Force Phantoms performed both air superiority and ground attack roles, supporting not only ground troops in South Vietnam, but also conducting bombing sorties in Laos and North Vietnam. As the F-105 force underwent severe attrition between 1965 and 1968, the bombing role of the F-4 proportionately increased until after November 1970 (when the last F-105D was withdrawn from combat) it became the primary US Air Force tactical ordnance delivery system. In October 1972 the first squadron of EF-4C Wild Weasel aircraft deployed to Thailand on temporary duty. The ‘E’ prefix was later dropped and the aircraft was simply known as the F-4C Wild Weasel. Sixteen squadrons of Phantoms were permanently deployed between 1965 and 1973, and 17 others deployed on temporary combat assignments. Peak numbers of combat F-4s occurred in 1972, when 353 were based in Thailand. A total of 445 US Air Force Phantoms were lost, 370 in combat and 193 of those over North Vietnam (33 to MiGs, 30 to SAMs, and 307 to AAA).

Phantom in combat Phantoms of the 45th TFS scored the US Air Force’s first victories against North Vietnamese MiG-17s using AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles on 10 July 1965. However, just two weeks later, a Phantom from the same unit Right: Refuelling a Phantom over rugged Southeast Asian terrain, as seen from the KC-135 boom operator’s point of view in 1967. Left: F-4Cs and F-4Ds did not have an internal gun, but some were equipped with an external gun pod. Here, armourers load 20mm cannon rounds, with several pods already completed and ready for fitment. A C-123 provides the backdrop.

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MCDONNELL F-4 PHANTOM

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33

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34 FIGHTER/ATTACK Right: A typical scene during the Vietnam War, as maintainers work long hours in humid conditions to keep the Phantoms flying. Housed in the revetments behind are F-100 Super Sabres, the aircraft which the US Air Force F-4 was designed to replace.

F-4E Phantom Crew: 2 Length: 63ft 0in (19.2m) Wingspan: 38ft 5in (11.7m) Height: 16ft 5in (5m) Empty weight: 30,328lb (13,757kg) Max T/O weight: 61,795lb (28,030kg) Powerplant: 2 × General Electric J79-GE-17A turbojets of 11,905lb (dry) 17,845lb (afterburner) thrust each Max speed: 1,470mph (2,370km/h) Range: 420 miles (680km) Service ceiling: 60,000ft (18,000m) Armament: 1 × 20mm M61A1 Vulcan cannon mounted internally in nose Ordnance: Up to 18,650lb (8,480kg) of weapons on nine external hardpoints, including general-purpose bombs, cluster bombs, laser-guided bombs, rocket pods, air-toground missiles

Above: Low and fast, a Phantom makes a bombing run to suppress enemy positions in Vietnam. Right: F-4C Wild Weasel flying over North Vietnam in December 1972.

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MCDONNELL F-4 PHANTOM 35

The Wolf Pack Above: The nickname of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing – the ‘Wolfpack’ – fitted Robin Olds’ aggressive style. Pictured here are revetments and F-4s of the 8th TFW at Ubon, Thailand. Left: Col Robin Olds, the commander of the 433rd TFS/8th TFW at Ubon RTAFB, Thailand. Below: F-4C Phantom II 64-0829/FG Scat XXVII was flown by Col Robin Olds, who was credited with shooting down four enemy aircraft, including two MiG-17s on 20 May.

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36 FIGHTER/ATTACK became the first American aircraft to be downed by an enemy SAM. An F-4C from the 480th TFS scored the first aerial victory by a US aircrew over a North Vietnamese MiG-21 ‘Fishbed’ on 26 April 1966, but on 5 October 1966 an 8th TFW F-4C became the first US jet lost to an air-to-air missile, fired by a MiG‑21. The lack of an in-built gun in these early versions proved something of a handicap in air combat. Col Robin Olds, boss of the 8th TFW summed up the situation by saying: ‘A fighter without a gun is like an airplane without a wing.’ The F-4E, which finally remedied the deficiency, reached the 388th TFW at Korat, Thailand in early 1969. Pilots were keen to blood the new variant in air-to-air combat, but by this stage of the war such engagements with MiGs were much less frequent, a situation which only changed in 1972. The nature of the air war in Southeast Asia is reflected in the many fewer aces as compared to previous conflicts. During Operation ‘Rolling Thunder’ from 1965-1968, the small VPAF fighter force generally avoided air-to-air

Right: Capt Richard ‘Steve’ Ritchie of the 555th TFS scored five MiG-21 victories between May and August 1972, including one double-victory mission. He was the US Air Force’s only pilot ace of the Southeast Asia War.

combat, and from the autumn of 1968 to the spring of 1972, there was no large-scale air campaign against North Vietnam. The first US Air Force pilot to score four combat victories with F-4s in Southeast Asia was Col Robin Olds, a World War II ace. In late 1966, the US Air Force was not permitted to bomb North Vietnamese airfields and could only destroy enemy fighters in the air. Complicating the problem, enemy MiGs focused on bomb-laden F-105s and only initiated combat when they had a clear advantage. Col Robin Olds and Capt John ‘J.B.’ Stone, devised Operation ‘Bolo’, a plan to lure and trap North Vietnamese MiG-21s by mimicking an F-105 bombing formation. On 2 January 1967, 8th TFW F-4s entered North Vietnam from the west using the same route, altitude, and formation as an F-105 bomb

Above and below: An F-4D from the 435th TFS, 8th TFW, armed with two GBU-10 Paveway 1 laser-guided bombs. Precision guided munitions (PGM) revolutionised the air war in Southeast Asia. The resulting accuracy was impressive with almost half of all LGBs dropped in Southeast Asia hitting their target. Most of the other LGBs hit within 25ft. In April 1972, the US Air Force used LGBs to destroy the famous Paul Doumer Bridge, just outside of Hanoi.

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strike. They also carried and operated electronic jamming pods used by F-105s. The North Vietnamese took the bait, and the MiGs came up to intercept what they thought was an F-105 strike. At the same time, 366th TFW F-4s came into North Vietnam from the east to block the MiGs’ escape to China and to orbit their bases, preventing the MiGs from landing. Operation ‘Bolo’ was a success and during the 12min engagement, seven North Vietnamese MiG-21s, about half of their operational force, were shot down with no US Air Force losses. Four days later, another ruse, this time mimicking an F-4 reconnaissance flight, shot down two more MiG-21s. These crippling losses greatly reduced MiG activity for several months. Not until Operation ‘Linebacker’ started in May 1972 did North Vietnamese MiGs fully engage in air-to-air dogfights, and the three US Air Force Southeast Asia war aces scored all their victories between April and October 1972. Three US Air Force F-4 airmen, Capt Charles ‘Chuck’ DeBellevue, Richard ‘Steve’ Ritchie and Jeffrey Feinstein, became aces during the Southeast Asia War. Ritchie was the only US Air Force pilot ace (DeBellevue and Feinstein, backseat weapon system officers [WSO], received equal credit for victories as the pilot in front). US Air Force F-4C/D/E crews claimed 107½ MiG kills in Southeast Asia (50 by Sparrow, 31 by Sidewinder, five by Falcon, 15.5 by gun, and six by other means). On 2 June 1972, a Phantom flying at supersonic speed shot down a MiG-19 over Thud Ridge in Vietnam with its cannon. At a recorded speed of Mach 1.2, Maj Phil Handley’s shoot down was the first and only recorded gun kill while flying at supersonic speeds.

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2 : M A N T E I

V N I USAF BOMBERS

THE HEAVY HITTER in the US Air Force line-up was the intimidating B-52 Superfortress. As controversial as it was deadly, this strategic bomber was a devastating weapon, initially working against targets in South Vietnam, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and around the Demilitarized Zone. When its hell was finally unleashed on North Vietnam during Operation ‘Linebacker II’, it became a game-changer, albeit at a high cost. Though the B-52 will forever be inextricably linked with Vietnam, the ‘honour’ of carrying out the first strike fell to the aging B-57, a stalwart of the conflict that also pioneered the use of laser-guided weapons for precision attacks. Towards the end of the conflict, they were joined by the new boy on the block, the F-111, complete with its confusing ‘F’ designation. Vietnam was the proving ground for the revolutionary swing-wing terrainfollowing bomber, offering a precision tactical counterpart to the B-52’s carpet-bombing approach.

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38 BOMBER

BOEING B-52 STRATOFORTRESS Bringer of destruction ‘

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he bombs were like ghosts’, said a Viet Cong POW. ‘We never knew when they would come. We never knew where. They came one afternoon and an entire platoon of my comrades perished.’ Not surprisingly, the B-52 Stratofortress struck terror when it appeared in the skies over Vietnam… The B-52 Stratofortress is the longest-serving and most versatile warplane in the world. ‘A super ship to fly’, one pilot calls it, but you don’t want to be standing underneath when bombs are falling. Also called the ‘BUF’, or big ugly fellow (polite version), the B-52 was intended to prevent, or win, an atomic war with the Soviet Union. The prototype for the B-52 series took to the air on 15 April 1952 and Boeing went on to manufacture 744 of the bombers in Seattle, Washington and Wichita, Kansas, with the last being delivered in 1962. A painful, humiliating disaster marked the advent of the B-52 Stratofortress in its first real shooting war, Vietnam. On the very first combat mission on 7 June 1965, two B-52Fs were flying a ‘racetrack’ orbit off the coast of South Vietnam when they came together in mid-air. In all wars about half of all aircraft losses are from noncombat causes and the B-52 was no exception. That first day at war, of 12 crewmen aboard two

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aircraft, eight lost their lives. Blamed on an error in formation flying, the lethal collision stunned everyone who maintained and flew the mighty ‘BUF’. Days later, 27 B-52Fs struck a Viet Cong stronghold known as the Iron Triangle. This began an eight-year-long bombing campaign conducted over South Vietnam known as ‘Arc Light’. Flying at altitudes where they could not be heard on the ground, the B-52s gave the enemy little warning. Often, the first the communists knew they were under attack was when bombs exploded around them. If the B-52s hit enemy forces concentrated for an attack, like during the siege of Khe Sanh and the North Vietnamese invasion of South Vietnam in April 1972, the results were devastating. The first ‘Arc Light’ B-52s were deployed to Andersen AFB on Guam, but the 2,600-mile flight to South Vietnam took six to seven hours. This distance made it difficult to attack the mobile enemy forces, and the aircraft required aerial refuelling. To reduce the response time Right: Pilot’s view of a typical, three-ship B-52 formation, known as a cell, as it wings its way towards a target over Vietnam. Below: A B-52 about to receive its deadly payload for a mission over Vietnam

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B-52 STRATOFORTRESS 43

and lessen the need for aerial tankers, B-52s were also stationed at the U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield, Thailand. Dense foliage in South Vietnam made locating targets almost impossible, forcing the US Air Force to use area, or ‘carpet’, bombing. To support this tactic, the ‘Big Belly’ programme modified the bomb bays of many B-52Ds to carry up to 84 500lb or 42 750lb conventional bombs. A typical ‘Arc Light’ mission in South Vietnam consisted of long strings of 500lb bombs by cells (formations) of three ships each, releasing bombs together. This technique saturated an area a mile and a half long and a half mile wide with high explosive bombs. When ‘Arc Light’ operations ended in August 1973, B-52 aircrews had flown about 125,000 sorties and dropped almost 3.5 million tons of bombs. Over half of all ‘Arc Light’ missions were flown over South Vietnam, and the rest struck targets in Cambodia, Laos and North Vietnam.

‘Linebacker II’ It was an era of controversy. In what amounted to doing things backwards, B-52s were bombing guerrillas in South Vietnamese

Above: B-52D Stratofortress B-52D-25-BW s/n 55-0677 of the 43rd BW, Andersen AFB, Guam, circa 1972.

rice paddies while fighter-bombers, like the F-105 Thunderchief and F-4 Phantom II, were attacking strategic targets in North Vietnam. B-52 pilots and crews begged to be turned loose to conduct strategic bombing in the north, around Hanoi and Haiphong. Straining at the leash, impatient B-52 pilots and crews were finally committed to targets in North Vietnam. Operation ‘Linebacker II’ was a complex multi-service operation over North Vietnam in December 1972. These missions became the best known B-52 operations of the Southeast Asia conflict. The first Operation ‘Linebacker’ was the aerial interdiction campaign to halt the flow of supplies during North Vietnam’s Easter Offensive earlier that year. After the communists stalled peace negotiations, the US Air Force gathered an enormous force of B-52s: 99 B-52Gs and 53 B-52Ds at Guam and another 54 B-52Ds at U-Tapao. To force the communists back into serious peace negotiations, the US launched Operation ‘Linebacker II’. From 18-29 December, waves of B-52s attacked

military targets in Hanoi, Haiphong and other places in North Vietnam with precision bombing. Initial plans sent long streams of B-52s flying in groups of three through a narrow corridor into North Vietnam to avoid mid-air collisions at night. For protection from enemy ground defences, the planners relied upon Wild Weasels attacking SAM sites, F-4 Phantoms dropping radar-disrupting chaff, the B-52’s onboard radar-jamming electronics, and the bombers making a sharp turn away from the target after releasing their bombs. However, these tactics proved flawed because winds blew the chaff away, and the sharp turns pointed the B-52’s electronic jammers the wrong way. Just as importantly, the bombers flew the same routes every night and gave away the element of surprise. Already knowing the route, North Vietnamese fighters reported the bombers’ altitude to the SAM crews, who simply launched unguided SAMs to where they predicted the bombers would be. The communists shot down 11 B-52s before operations halted for Christmas. This forced a change of tactics and the B-52 aircrews regained the element of surprise by approaching their targets from different directions. Losses from SAMs dropped sharply, and only four more B-52s were lost. They paid a high price, but B-52 aircrews dropped over 15,000 tons of bombs on important military targets during ‘Linebacker II’ and helped force the North Vietnamese back to the peace table. Altogether, 31 B-52s were lost in Southeast Asia, of which 18 were due to Soviet-supplied SA-2 ‘Guideline’ SAMs or ground fire, while 13 were non-combat losses. No B-52s were lost to communist aircraft, but during Operation ‘Linebacker II’, two B-52D tail gunners, Staff Sgt Samuel Turner and Airman 1st Class Albert Moore, turned the table and each shot down attacking MiG-21s. Left: A B-52 aircrew returning from an ‘Arc Light’ mission over Southeast Asia. Just as in earlier wars, the bombs painted on the fuselage showed the number of missions flown.

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�

6

Powerplant:

Service ceiling:

156ft 6in (47.7m) 185ft Oin (56.38m) 48ft 4in (14.75m) 450,000lb (204,116kg) 8 x Pratt & Whitney J-57 turbojets of 12, 1OOlb thrust each 638mph (1,027km/h) 7,365 miles (11,853km) 45,000ft (13,716m) 4 x .SO cal machine guns in tail Up to 60,000lb (27,215kg) of conventional bombs

44 BOMBER

MARTIN B-57 CANBERRA Striking the first blow

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he B-57 Canberra did not look particularly menacing or cutting edge, and yet the aircraft earned its place in aviation history when it dropped the first bombs of the Vietnam War. It went on to play a significant part in the conflict. After the Korean War began in 1950, the US Air Force looked for a jet-powered medium bomber to quickly replace the aging, propellerdriven Douglas B-26 Invader. In March 1951 it contracted with Martin to build the British Canberra under license. The Martin-built B-57 made its first flight in July 1953, and when production ended in 1959, a total of 403 had been produced for the US Air Force. When tensions in Southeast Asia began to escalate, two B-57B units, the 8th and 13th Tactical Bomb Squadrons, were deployed to Bien Hoa air base, despite a treaty forbidding deployment of US warplanes on Vietnamese soil. Inauspiciously, two B-57s collided on

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landing at Bien Hoa, and another fatally crashed at the back-up airstrip at Tan Son Nhut. Though not flying combat missions, the US bombers attracted hostile attention. On 1 November 1964, an NVA mortar team attacked the base, destroying five B-57s, damaging 15, and killing six American and Vietnamese personnel.

First blood History was made on 19 February 1965 when B-57s struck Viet Cong targets in Phuoc Tuy Province, the first US Air Force bombing raid of the Vietnam War and the first ever airstrike performed by a US jet bomber. Within two months, the B-57s were targeting the Ho Chi Minh trail, the critical supply line running through Laos and Cambodia. B-57s could interdict traffic for four hours at a time using conventional bombs, napalm, rocket pods, and M35 and M36 incendiary cluster bombs. The B-57s were primarily used for dive bombing

and strafing, the aircraft typically carrying nine 500lb (227kg) bombs in the bomb bay and four 750lb (340kg) bombs under the wings. They also flew night intruder missions supported by C-123 Provider or Lockheed C-130 Hercules flare ships and US Navy EF-10B Skyknight electronic warfare aircraft. The worst B-57 accident by far occurred on 16 May 1965, when a bomb detonated onboard a B-57 queued for take-off at Bien Hoa, starting a chain reaction of explosions that annihilated two squadrons-worth of aircraft (ten B-57s,

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B-57 CANBERRA

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Left: A B-57 of the 8th Tactical Bomb Squadron loaded with two 750lb napalm canisters on each wing in 1969. Right: As hostilities in Southeast Asia increased, the US Air Force sent jet aircraft to South Vietnam. B-57 bombers were among the first to arrive and carried out the first bombing mission.

11 A-1H Skyraiders and an F-8 Crusader) and killed 34 personnel. Subsequently, B-57s were transferred to Da Nang and then Pho Rang airbase and reassigned to hit targets primarily in South Vietnam. By now, the B-57 was showing its age. The 13th Tactical Bomb Squadron was withdrawn early in 1968, while the last nine aircraft in the 8th Tactical Bomb Squadron followed in October 1969. But that was not the end of the B-57 in Vietnam. The US Air Force upgraded 16 special B-57Gs with chin-mounted Forward-Looking Infrared Sensors and a laser-designator operated by a third crew member. This new equipment, dubbed ‘Tropic Moon III’, gave the ‘G’ the capability to precisely target up to four laser-guided Paveway bombs. The 13th Bomber Squadron was reformed, and in October 1970 11 black B-57Gs were deployed to Ubon, Thailand, and began flying interdiction missions over the Ho Chi Minh trail. Through 1972, they reported

destroying 2,000 trucks for the loss of a single aircraft to a likely mid-air collision. However, they could not match the killing power of the AC-130 gunships and were eventually retired. A total of 58 B-57 Canberras were recorded as having been lost during the Vietnam War: 26 to ground fire; five to ground attack; four in mid-air collisions; 10 to airfield accidental bomb explosion; seven to operational causes; and six to unknown causes.

Martin B-57B Crew: 2 Length: 65ft 6in (20.0m) Wingspan: 64ft 0in (19.5m) Height: 14ft 10in (4.52m) Empty weight: 27,090lb (12,285kg) Max T/O weight: 53,720lb (24,365kg) Powerplant: 2 × Wright J65-W-5 turbojets of 7,220lb thrust each Max speed: 598mph (960km/h) Range: 950 miles (1,530km) Service ceiling: 45,100ft (13,745m) Armament: 4 × 20mm M39 cannon Ordnance: 4,500lb (2,000kg) in bomb bay, 2,800lb (1,300kg) carried on 4 x external hardpoints Left: The smouldering remains of a B-57 following the mortar attack on Bien Hoa in late 1964. Below: US Air Force Martin B-57B, 52-1541, of the 13th Tactical Bomb Squadron, 3rd Tactical Bomb Wing.

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46 BOMBER

GENERAL DYNAMICS F-111 ‘Whispering Death’

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he General Dynamic F-111’s reputation as one of the most underestimated and misunderstood combat aircraft of the 20th century can be directly traced to its designation. ‘F-111’, indicating a fighter type, never sat easily with a 75ft long, swing-wing aircraft weighing up to 100,000lb. While it never flew the air-superiority missions that had initially been written into the design, the aircraft’s performance as a long-range strike and interdiction bomber from 1967 was outstanding. Vietnam was to be its combat debut. The F-111 programme was instigated in the early 1960s when the US Secretary of Defense directed the US Navy and the US Air Force to adopt a single aircraft design to meet their widely differing needs under the TFX (tactical fighter, experimental) programme. General Dynamics had a mere 25 months from the 21 December 1962 contract-signing date to complete and fly the first F-111A. This was achieved on 21 December 1964 when chief test pilot, Dick Johnson, and engineer Val Prahl, took the aircraft on its first flight. The revolutionary aircraft featured variable geometry (swing) wings, afterburning turbofan engines and terrain-following radar for low-altitude, terrainhugging approach to the target. Suffice to say that the F-111’s development programme

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encountered numerous problems, that the US Navy pulled out as its version was clearly unsuited to the requirement for a carrier-based interceptor, and that the aircraft was late in coming into service with the US Air Force. Although nuclear-capable, the original F-111 was essentially a tactical bomber. As such, it served with Tactical Air Command units from the summer of 1967. For the US Air Force’s ‘under-the-radar’, allweather attack missions, usually in darkness, the F-111 required complex terrain-following radar and inertial navigation/attack systems that could fly the jet to its target automatically at a minimum altitude of just 200ft. Although this new system was the key to much of the F-111’s capability, it endured inevitable teething difficulties that caused headline-grabbing losses for an increasingly hostile US press. With such an unpromising start it fell to the F-111’s crews and

Above: An F-111A of the 428th TFS on a mission over Southeast Asia, equipped with a full load of cluster bombs. Note the AN/ALQ-72 ECM pod. Bottom: F-111A, 66-0021, of Det 1, 428th TFS/474th TFW, Takhli RTAFB, Thailand, March 1968.

developers to prove its true worth as one of the most important aircraft in the Vietnam War. The escalation of the conflict in Southeast Asia provided the perfect proving ground for the F-111 concept. Poor weather common over North Vietnam prevented visual bombing by US Air Force fighters during ‘Rolling Thunder’, and although B-52s could bomb through clouds, they were not used around Hanoi for political and military reasons. The US Air Force tried other bombing methods, but none worked well. The F-111A appeared to offer the answer. Its sophisticated terrain-following

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F-111

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radar automatically flew the aircraft at a very low-level, even over hills and mountains, and its advanced attack radar provided excellent bombing accuracy. In 1967 Det 1, 428th Tactical Fighter Squadron, began testing pre-production F-111As under the code name ‘Harvest Reaper’. Though problems remained, the US Air Force sent six of these F-111As to Thailand in March 1968 for operational tests called ‘Combat Lancer’.

Tragedy to triumph Introduced to combat prematurely in 1968, the F-111A provided the US Air Force with the vital capability of an all-weather precision fighter-bomber. ‘Combat Lancer’ F-111As flew single aircraft precision strikes at night or in poor weather at low altitude. The enemy had little or no warning because the F-111A crews did not have to visually see the target to hit it, and they could strike on the first pass. Highly praised by its crews, the F-111A did not need aerial tankers, fighter cover or surface-to-air missile (SAM) protection like other aircraft. The aircraft went into combat over North Vietnam from 25 March, hitting suspected truck parks and supply caches. Poor weather dogged operations from the start, with 60 per cent of the 55 combat missions flown by the ‘Lancer’ jets being undertaken in often monsoon-like conditions. When the deployment ended on 22 November 1968, in the words of Secretary of the Air Force, Harold Brown, the F-111 ‘had done a job no other aircraft could do’ in validating the concept of a single-aircraft penetrator using terrain-following radar at night and in poor weather. They had struck heavily defended targets accurately and without loss to enemy fire. However, three aircraft had been destroyed, with two jets never being found. When wreckage of the third F-111 was examined it was discovered that structural failure had brought the aircraft down, so the ‘Lancer’ jets were forbidden from flying over North Vietnam and eventually brought home. By 1972, the F-111A was thoroughly tested and technical issues had been resolved. Now fully operational, it returned to Takhli Air Base,

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Thailand, with the 474th TFW and played a key role in in the final month of Operation ‘Linebacker’ and later flew 154 low-level missions in the ‘Linebacker II’ aerial offensive against the North Vietnamese, who called the aircraft ‘Whispering Death’. Crews described their flying in Vietnam as ‘speed is life’, ‘one pass, haul ass’, and ‘you do more than one pass in a target area you die’. They struck heavily-defended enemy airfields and SAM sites. One F-111 could carry the bomb load of four McDonnell F-4 Phantom IIs. The worth of the new aircraft was beginning to show. Following increased North Vietnamese incursions into South Vietnam, President Richard Nixon released targets in Hanoi and Haiphong that had previously been forbidden. The ‘Constant Guard V’ deployment saw missions commence on 28 September, with crews attacking some of the toughest

Above: Capt Fred De Jong in the cockpit of an F-111A. Already a veteran of an F-105 100 mission tour, De Jong was one of a handful of aircrew to combat test the F-111A in 1968.

and best defended targets in North Vietnam. Aside from attacking the enemy’s supply network, F-111As were also used as pathfinder aircraft for Phantom IIs and Corsairs because of their superior navigation-attack systems. By the time the 474th TFW completed its combat tour in March 1973, the wing had flown more than 4,000 sorties for the loss of six aircraft.

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48 BOMBER

Above: ‘Combat Lancer’ F-111A at Takhli Royal Thai AB in September 1968, loaded with 24 500lb bombs. Six 428th TFS F-111As were allocated to the ‘Combat Lancer’ programme and departed Nellis AFB for Takhli RTAFB on 15 March 1968. By the end of that month, 55 night missions had been flown against targets in North Vietnam, but 66-0022 had been lost on 28 March, and 66-0017 on 30 March. Replacement aircraft had left Nellis, but the loss of a third F-111A (66-0024) on 22 April halted F-111A combat operations until 1972. It turned out that the three F-111A losses were not due to enemy action but were caused by wing and tail structural defects. Right: The crew of a US Air Force F-111A from the 474th TFW in front of their fully-loaded aircraft at Takhli RTAFB before a mission in 1972. The 474th TFW deployed 48 F-111As to Thailand. Below: F-111A receiving fuel from a KC-135. Unlike other tactical strike aircraft bombing North Vietnam, the F-111A had enough range that it did not normally need to be refuelled in flight.

General Dynamics F-111A Crew: 2 Length: 73ft 6in (22.40m) Wingspan: 63ft (19.20m) wings spread and 32ft (9.75m) wings at full sweep Height: 17ft (5.22m) Empty weight: 46,172lb (20,943kg) Max T/O weight: 91,500lb (41,500kg) Powerplant: 2 x Pratt & Whitney TF30-P-3 afterburning turbofans each of 18,500lb thrust Max speed: 1,450mph (2,335km/h) Range: 3,165 miles (5,093km) Service ceiling: 66,000ft (20,100m) Ordnance: 4,000lb (1,814kg) of bombs in bombbay and 31,500lb (14,290kg) of bombs/ rockets/missiles on four underwing stores pylons

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3 : M A N T E I

V N I USAF FAC

HIGH TECHNOLOGY WAS not always the answer in Southeast Asia. When the US Air Force needed an aircraft to provide the Forward Air Control (FAC) link between the troops on the ground and the state-of-the-art metal flying overhead, it turned to one of the most unlikely of combat aircraft, the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog. They flew slowly over the rough terrain at low altitude to maintain constant aerial surveillance. Once the FAC spotted enemy forces, the target was marked with smoke grenades or white-phosphorus rockets and the strike aircraft called in. The small O-1 Bird Dog was slow, had limited range and a small payload, so a successor was quickly sought. An interim solution was the twin-engined Cessna O-2 Skymaster, which had greater speed, could carry more equipment and ordnance, and could survive ground fire better than the Bird Dog. When the Rockwell OV-10 Bronco arrived in 1968, it was equipped with 7.62mm machine guns and rocket pods for providing light strike support. Now the FAC could hit back.

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50 FAC

CESSNA O-1 BIRD DOG Unlikely hero

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ometimes low tech just works… and you can’t get much more low tech than the O-1 Bird Dog. The thought of flying an antiquated Cessna into battle in one of the most hostile environments on earth might seem like a suicidal mission, but the small aircraft was surprisingly resilient and provided the vital link between the troops on the ground and the high-technology in the air. The O-1G was a two-seat observation and liaison aircraft developed from the commercial Cessna Model 170 in 1949. Originally designated L-19s, Bird Dogs were used by the US Air Force, US Army and US Marine Corps for such tasks as artillery spotting, front-line communications, medical evacuation and pilot training. The US Air Force ordered more than 3,200 Bird Dogs, most of which were built as L-19As between 1950 and 1959. In Southeast Asia, the US Air Force O-1s were uses as forward air control (FAC) aircraft. Its pilots were often experienced fighter aircrew who flew in a specific geographical area so that they could readily identify enemy activity. By flying low over the same territory regularly, the

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FAC could recognise any changes that might indicate enemy activity. Also, by using his same unique call sign on the radio, the FAC became a familiar and trusted voice to all friendly forces in the area. If a controller observed enemy ground targets, he marked them with smoke rockets for attack by fighter-bombers. The FAC remained on the scene to report bombing results.  Although easy to maintain, highly manoeuvrable and capable of operating from small airstrips, the O-1 Bird Dog first flown

Top: After a saturation bombing mission by B-52 bombers over a jungle area of South Vietnam in 1966, US Army Troops went into the area to destroy bunkers and tunnels which the bombing uncovered. A US Air Force O-1E evaluates the effect of the bombing from the air. Above: Marking the target. A US Air Force O-1 pilot of the Red Marker FACs at Tan Son Nhut AB fires a rocket at an enemy site near Tay Ninh City. The Red Markers, officially known as Advisory Team 162, provided FAC support for the ARVN Airborne Division.

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0-1 BIRD DOG

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O-1E Bird Dog Crew 1-2 Length: 25ft 10in (7.87m) Wingspan: 36ft 0in (10.97m) Height: 7ft 4in (2.24m) 1,614lb (732kg) Empty weight: Max T/O weight: 2,430lb (1,102kg) Powerplant: 1 × Continental O-470-11 air-cooled flat-six of 213hp 115mph (185km/h) Max speed: Range: 530 miles (850km) 18,500ft (5,600m) Service ceiling: Armament: 1 × Lewis Gun (.30-06 Springfield) Right: A light, unarmed O-1 Bird Dog spotter aircraft flying low over North Vietnam in August 1966. The growing enemy air defences soon became a serious threat to the slow flying FACs.

by the FACs had many shortcomings. Its slow speed left it vulnerable to enemy small arms fire, its small size limited the amount of ordnance and radios it could carry, and it could not operate effectively in bad weather or at night. Also, the FACs often saw a few communist troops who disappeared into the jungle before strike aircraft could be summoned. Sometimes they shot at the enemy with M-16 rifles, but the FACs wanted to arm their aircraft with light weapons. Their O-1s lacked the power to carry heavier weapons, and the US Air Force began looking for an aircraft specifically designed for FAC operations which led to its eventual replacement by the twin-engine O-2 Skymaster and OV-10 Bronco. During the course of the Vietnam War, the US Air Force lost 178 Bird Dogs. Right: A Forward Air Controller (FAC) prepares for a mission along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in an O-1. Note the white phosphorus marking rockets under the wing. Below: Another FAC mission completed. The versatility of the Bird Dog meant that it could be easily deployed to remote sites.

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52 O-2 SKYMASTER

CESSNA O-2 SKYMASTER ‘Oscar Deuce’

O-2 Skymaster Crew: 2 Length: 29ft 9in (9.07m) Wingspan: 38ft 0in (11.58m) Height: 9ft 4in (2.84m) Empty weight: 2,848lb (1,292kg) Powerplant: 2 × Continental IO-360C/D flat-six engines of 210hp each Max speed: 199mph (320km/h) Range: 1,060 miles (1,710km) Service ceiling: 19,800ft (6,000m) Armament: SUU-11/A Minigun pod Ordnance: LAU-59/A rockets, MA-2/A rockets

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n a classic case of keeping it simple, when the US Air Force wanted to replace its Bird Dogs in the FAC role, it chose another Cessna product in the form of the Skymaster... though this time it had two engines. The Cessna O-2 Skymaster (nicknamed ‘Oscar Deuce’) was a military version of the Cessna 337 Super Skymaster, commissioned in 1966 to replace the O-1 Bird Dog for forward air control (FAC). As with the civilian version, the Skymaster was a low-cost twin-engine piston-powered aircraft, with one engine in the nose of the aircraft and a second engine in the rear of the fuselage. Modifications made for the military configuration included installation of single seating fore and aft, installation of view panels

Top: A US Air Force O-2A ‘Oscar Deuce’ in flight near Pleiku in 1968. Faster than the O-1 Bird Dog, the O-2A could respond to calls for FAC air support more quickly and could stay over the target longer. Left: After identifying a target, the FAC called for attack aircraft and marked the target. Here, an O-2 FAC fires a white phosphorus rocket (just to the right of the gunsight’s crosshairs) near Phan Rang in 1969.

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in the doors (for improved ground observation) and installation of military communication and navigation equipment. The US Air Force took delivery of the O-2 Skymaster in March 1967 and by 1970, a total of 532 O-2s had been built. In Vietnam it was assigned to the 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron and flew out of Da Nang on a variety of missions over North and South Vietnam, as well as Laos and Cambodia. In their role as FACs, the O-2 crews flew low and slow, spotting enemy positions and co-ordinating airstrikes by the ‘fast movers’. The O-2A proved to be a rugged aircraft when it came to surviving battle damage. As their missions were necessarily at low-level, they were vulnerable to small-arms fire during their lengthy sorties. Many returned with severe damage and, in some cases, portions of wings and tails were shot away; in one instance the left tail boom was completely severed, but the pilot was able to land at a friendly airfield. Armed only with marker rockets and occasionally a gun pod, it was a dangerous job and a total of 82 O-2s were lost in combat. It was eventually replace in the FAC mission by the OV-10 Bronco.

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OV-10 BRONCO

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NORTH AMERICAN ROCKWELL OV-10 BRONCO Ultimate FAC

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he arrival of the OV-10 Bronco in Vietnam gave the US Air Force a massive upgrade in capability in the FAC role. Here was an aircraft that could not only loiter for a long time over the target area, but could also bite back. Designed and built by North American Aviation, the OV-10A Bronco was a twinturboprop short take-off and landing aircraft conceived by the US Marine Corps and developed under a US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps tri-service programme. The rugged multi-mission aircraft was faster and more tactically versatile than helicopters, yet

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slower and more manoeuvrable than jets… and could use tactics not possible with either. The Bronco’s fuselage was mounted under the wing and provided tandem seating for pilot and observer. Its canopy design afforded better visibility than that of most helicopters. Each crewman was equipped with an LW-3B ejection-seat system, which was capable of operating at zero-speed, zero-altitude. Armour protection, a bullet-resistant windshield and self-sealing fuel cells were provided for operations in a low-level hostile environment. The OV-10 was equipped with seven external stores stations and four 7.62mm guns installed

Above: The first US Air Force OV-10 Bronco arrived in Vietnam in August 1968 and was assigned to the 19th TASS for evaluation. In the FAC mission, the OV-10 replaced the O-2 Skymaster to identify and mark targets for tactical fighter-bomber air strikes.

in the sponsons. A variety of conventional ordnance could be delivered in addition to 2,000 rounds of ammunition. The US Air Force acquired the Bronco primarily as an FAC aircraft. The first OV-10As arrived in Vietnam on 31 July 1968 operated by the 19th Tactical Air Support Squadron, 504th Tactical Air Support Group at Bien Hoa

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54 FAC Air Base in South Vietnam as part of Operation ‘Combat Bronco’, an operational testing and evaluation of the aircraft. As such, it flew the full range of missions then assigned to FAC aircraft – including day and night strike direction, gunship direction, bomb damage assessment, visual reconnaissance and aerial artillery direction. The operation was a success and the US Air Force began to deploy the Bronco in larger numbers to the 19th TASS (Bien Hoa), 20th TASS (Da Nang Air Base), and for out-ofcountry missions to the 23rd TASS (Nakhom Phanom in Thailand). The Bronco was also successfully evaluated as a light strike aircraft and in October 1969 all US Air Force OV-10As were authorised to use high explosive 2.75in (70mm) rockets against ground targets. In 1971, the OV-10A Broncos of the 23rd TASS were fitted with the Pave Spot target laser designator pod and these aircraft supported interdiction of troops and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh Trail by illuminating targets for laser-guided bombs dropped by F-4 Phantoms. Racked armament in the Vietnam War was usually seven-shot 2.75in (70mm) rocket pods with white phosphorus marker rounds or high-explosive rockets, or 5in (127mm) four-shot Zuni rocket pods. Bombs, ADSIDS air-delivered/para-dropped unattended seismic sensors, Mk-6 battlefield illumination flares, and other stores were also carried. Operational experience showed some weaknesses in the OV-10’s design. It was significantly underpowered, which contributed to crashes in Vietnam in sloping terrain because the pilots could not climb fast enough. Also, no OV-10 pilot survived ditching the aircraft. At least 157 OV-10As were delivered to the US Air Force before production ended in April 1969. Reflecting the dangerous nature of its mission, the service lost 64 OV-10 Broncos during the war, to all causes

Bronco bravery On 29 June 1972, US Air Force Capt Steven Bennett piloted his OV-10 on an artillery adjustment mission southeast of Quang Tri City. A forward air controller (FAC) assigned to the 20th TASS, Bennett had already directed two close air support strikes by US Navy fighters on that mission. From the backseat, Capt Michael B. Brown, a US Marine Corps airborne artillery observer, directed gunfire from two American destroyers in the Tonkin Gulf. They were about to return to their base at Da Nang when a Marine ground artillery spotter with a platoon of South Vietnamese marines radioed for help because a much larger force of North Vietnamese Army (NVA) regulars was

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Above: Bronco crew prepare for a FAC mission over Southeast Asia. The armament panel reveals that for this mission the aircraft is armed with both high-explosive rockets and white phosphorus marker rockets and is fully loaded with 2,000 rounds of ammunition for its 7.62mm machine guns.

overrunning their position. Bennett called for air support, but no fighters were available. Brown could not call in artillery fire without hitting the South Vietnamese marines. Bennett decided to attack the NVA troops with his OV‑10’s four 7.62mm machine guns. In addition to large numbers of 23mm and 37mm antiaircraft guns used by the enemy, Bennett had to face a new threat, the new shoulder-launched SA-7 ‘Grail’ surface-to-air missile carried by the NVA. The area patrolled by Bennett and Brown had so many SA-7s that American pilots had nicknamed it ‘SAM-7 Alley’. After four strafing attacks, Bennett had forced the NVA to retreat, and his OV-10 had received only slight damage from ground fire. On his fifth attack, however, Bennett’s left engine was hit by an SA-7, which set it on fire and damaged the landing gear. Another FAC pilot warned Bennett to eject because the damaged OV-10’s wing was about to explode, but Bennett refused. Shrapnel from the SA-7 had destroyed Brown’s parachute and Bennett refused to leave Brown. Therefore, Bennett decided to ditch his aircraft in the nearby Tonkin Gulf. It was well-known by OV-10 pilots that a backseater might survive a crash-landing at sea, but the pilot’s chances of surviving were remote. Choosing to risk his own life to save that of his backseater, Bennett landed the OV-10 in the Tonkin Gulf. Upon hitting the water, the OV-10 flipped over, and the front cockpit broke apart. Brown managed to free himself from the wreckage, but sadly he could not save Bennett. Vice President Gerald R. Ford presented the Medal of Honor to Bennett’s widow and daughter.

OV-10A Bronco Crew 2 Length: 41ft 7in (12.7m) Wingspan: 40ft 0in (12.19m) Height: 15ft 1in (4.63m) Max T/O weight: 14,444lb (6,551kg) Powerplant: 2 × Garret-AiResearch T76 turboprops of 715shp each Max speed: 281mph (452km/h) Range: 1,240 miles (1,995km) Service ceiling: 26,000ft (7,925m) Armament: 4 × M-60C 7.62mm machine guns in fuselage Ordnance: 3,600lb of external stores

Above: A forward air controller in an OV-10 directs two F-100s in accurately delivering firepower in support of ground forces.

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4 : M A N T E I

V N I USAF GUNSHIPS

THE US AIR FORCE fielded a new kind of weapon system in Vietnam… the gunship. By mounting fixed heavy guns on converted transport aircraft, this fearsome weapon could deliver devastating firepower on a focussed target as it flew a circular orbit. The first gunship was the AC-47, also known as ‘Spooky’, ‘Puff the magic dragon’, and ‘Dragonship’. It had three 7.62mm miniguns that could pump out 6,000 rounds a minute. It was succeeded by more sophisticated and capable gunships, the AC-119G Shadow, the AC-119K Stinger. Shadow gunships had four miniguns instead of three and flew close air support and air base defence missions. The Stingers added two 20mm cannon and concentrated on trucks on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The AC-130 Spectre was the ultimate gunship. Instead of miniguns, it had two 20mm and two 40mm Bofors cannons. The AC-130 worked at night, enabled by a suit of sensors that could hunt out their prey. But theirs was a deadly mission…

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56 GUNSHIP

DOUGLAS AC-47 SPOOKY Puff the Magic Dragon

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ome aircraft just refuse to die. Spooky – the first operational US Air Force gunship – was based on the World War Two-era Douglas C-47 transport. Armed with three side-firing 7.62mm miniguns, Spooky gunships stopped enemy ground attacks against airfields, bases and villages. As the first gunship of its kind, the AC-47 was developed out of a perceived need to provide heavy firepower when ground forces called for close air support. It began life as the FC-47, a highly modified C-47 mounting three 7.62mm General Electric miniguns to fire through two rear window openings and the side cargo door, all on the left (pilot’s) side of the aircraft. The guns were actuated by a control on the pilot’s yoke whereby he could fire the guns either individually or together, although gunners were also among the crew to assist with gun failures and similar issues. Two C-47s were thus converted and sent to Southeast Asia to test the concept. The first significant success occurred on the night of 23-24 December 1964. An FC-47 arrived over the Special Forces outpost at Tranh Yend in the Mekong Delta just 37min after an air support request, fired 4,500 rounds of ammunition, and broke the Viet Cong attack. The FC-47 was then called to support a second outpost at Trung Hung, about 20 miles (32km) away. The aircraft again blunted the attack and forced a retreat. Nicknamed ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’, the gunship’s deadly capabilities were once again demonstrated on 8 February 1965.

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For over four hours, it fired 20,500 rounds into a Viet Cong hilltop position over the Bong Son area, killing an estimated 300 troops. The early gunship trials were so successful the US Air Force ordered TAC to establish an AC-47 (as the gunship was now designated) squadron. By November 1965, the AC-47 was operational with the 4th Air Commando Squadron deployed to Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam. Now using the call sign ‘Spooky’, each of the gunship’s three 7.62mm miniguns could selectively fire either 50 or 100 rounds per second. Cruising in an overhead left-hand orbit at 120kts air speed at an altitude of 3,000ft (910m), the AC-47 could potentially put a bullet or glowing red tracer (every fifth round) into every square yard of a football field-sized target in less than 10sec. As long as its 45-flare and 24,000-round basic load of ammunition held out, it could do this intermittently while loitering over the target for hours. In May 1966, the squadron moved north to Nha Trang Air Base to join the newly activated 14th Air Commando Wing. The 3rd Air Commando Squadron was activated at Nha Trang on 5 April 1968 as a second AC-47 squadron, with both squadrons redesignated as Special Operations Squadrons on 1 August 1968. Flights of both squadrons were stationed at bases throughout South Vietnam, and one Below: US Air Force AC-47 gunship, toting its deadly array of miniguns.

flight of the 4th SOS served at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base with the 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. On thousands of occasions, Spooky crews prevented friendly ground positions from being overrun.

Spooky action On the night of 24 February 1969, Airman 1st Class John Levitow was the loadmaster aboard AC-47 ‘Spooky 71’. The gunship was circling over the US Army post at Long Binh, firing at nearby enemy troops and illuminating their positions with flares. An enemy mortar round hit the aircraft and exploded in the wing. Levitow and four other crewmen were badly wounded, and the aircraft was riddled with fragments. As Levitow dragged an unconscious crewman away from the open door, he spotted a smoking, armed flare. Despite more than 40 wounds and the partial loss of feeling in his right leg, Levitow grasped the 27lb MK-24 flare and crawled toward the door. ‘Spooky 71’ was partially out of control and banking to the right. Just after Levitow pushed the flare out, it ignited. Levitow then lost consciousness. Had the magnesium flare ignited inside the gunship, the aircraft and its seven-man crew would have been lost. ‘Spooky 71’ made a successful emergency landing despite 3,500 fragment holes and a seriously-damaged right wing. John Levitow received the Medal of Honor for his heroism, and he flew 20 more combat missions after recovering from his wounds.

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AC-47 SPOOKY

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Above left: AC-47 firing one gun during a rare daylight mission. Typically, every fifth round was a tracer – what is not seen are the four rounds between each red streak. Above right: ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’. Time lapse photograph of an AC-47 helping defend Tan Son Nhut Air Base during the enemy Tet Offensive in 1968. Left: General Electric GAU-2 minigun firing during a night mission. Right: Many AC-47s had Spooky nose art. Below: An AC-47 crew underneath the guns of their aircraft. A typical Spooky crew included the pilot, co-pilot, navigator, flight engineer, loadmaster and two gunners.

AC-47 Spooky Crew: 6-7 Length: 64ft 5in (19.63m) Wingspan: 95ft 0in (28.96m) Height: 16ft 11in (5.16m) Empty weight: 18,080lb (8,201kg) Max weight: 33,000lb (14,969kg) Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp 14-cylinder air-cooled radials of 1,200hp each Max speed: 230mph (370km/h) Range: 2,175 miles (3,500km) Service ceiling: 24,450ft (7,450m) Armament: 3 × 7.62mm General Electric GAU-2/M134 miniguns, or 10 × .30in Browning AN/M2 machine guns. 48 × Mk24 flares

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58 GUNSHIP

LOCKHEED AC-130 SPECTRE Death from above

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pectre of death. If you were a truck driver on the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Vietnam War, there was one aircraft that you feared more than any other, the ghostly AC-130 Spectre. This gun-toting variant of the peace-loving Hercules became the ultimate gunship during the conflict, remarkably a title it still holds today over half a century later.

AC-130A Spectre Crew: 11-16 Length: 97ft 10in (29.8m) Wingspan: 132ft 7in (40.4m) Height: 38ft 6in (11.7m) Max T/O weight: 124,000lb (56,245kg) Powerplant: 4 × Allison T56-A-1 turboprops of 3,750hp each Cruising speed: 335mph (539km/h) Range: 2,500 miles (4,023km) Service ceiling: 33,000ft (10,058m) Armament: 4 × 20mm M61Vulcan cannon, 4 x 7.62mm GAU-2B/A minigun

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On 21 September 1967, the familiar shape of a Hercules entered the circuit at Nha Trang Air Base, South Vietnam. There was nothing unusual about this, but as the aircraft taxied in after landing, it revealed itself to be a Hercules like no other. Ominously protruding from its port side were the muzzles of guns and cannons. The AC-130 Spectre gunship had arrived and was destined to become the US Air Force’s most successful ‘truck-killer’ along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The C-130 Hercules was perhaps the obvious choice to replace the aging AC-47 Spooky in the gunship role. In 1967, JC-130A 54-1626 was selected for conversion into the prototype AC-130A Project Gunship II. Four 7.62mm miniguns and four M-61 Vulcan 20mm cannons were installed, along with a side- and

forward-looking radar, a Starlight scope night observation device, and a computerised firecontrol system linking sensors and guns. Also installed were overt and covert illuminators, armour plate, and better navigation equipment. The prototype was thrown into combat for testing and quickly proved to be about three times as effective as the AC-47. Consequently, by December 1968 four AC-130s had arrived at Ubon, to be operated by the 16th Special Operations Squadron. The gunships were pressed into combat and forced to adapt to a variety of missions, but they concentrated on night interdiction. Within three months, the Below: Lockheed AC-130A of the 16th SOS, 8th TFW at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base during March 1969.

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GUNSHIP

FAIRCHILD AC-119 Shadows and Stingers 'F *** the F-4s - get me a Shadow�

This was the desperate plea to an FAC pilot from a GI on the ground surrounded by Viet Cong troops. The 'Shadow' in question was the AC-119 gunship, an aircraft that could produce a hailstorm of lead with deadly accuracy.

The Fairchild AC-119G Shadow and AC-119K Stinger were twin-engine piston­ powered gunships developed to replace the increasingly antiquated AC-47 Spooky and supplement the AC-130 Spectre. The AC-119 programme (Project Gunship 111) came after the AC-130, not before. By late

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1967, the idea of the fixed-wing gunship had been proven so successful that the US Air Force was having a difficult time keeping up with demand in Vietnam. The newer AC-130s that had been created under Project Gunship II were effective but were being mostly used for interdiction

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Top: AC-119 calling cards. Above: Staff Sgt Harry R. Watters, AC-119 gunner, loads rounds into a 7.62mm minigun. Above right: Capt William Groves, AC-119 navigator, gets the co-ordinates of enemy positions from an allied ground commander. With such devastating firepower, accurate positioning was essential.

the arrival of its lead elements, the 71st SOS was declared ‘combat ready’. By the end of 1969, 16 G-model and 12 K-model gunships were operating from five different air bases throughout Vietnam. It was not long before the Shadow and Stinger crews had established a formidable reputation throughout Southeast Asia. AC-119K Stinger crews destroyed trucks on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and performed close

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air support, especially during large enemy offenses. The AC-119K carried many of the same sophisticated sensors as the larger AC-130. To provide additional power, it also had two underwing-mounted jet engines. Concern about AC-119K vulnerability to anti-aircraft fire, especially to fire encountered over the Laotian road and trail system, led to the use of fighter escorts as developed on AC‑130 operations. F-4 Phantoms from the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing at Da Nang flew constant escort and anti-aircraft suppression for all Stinger armed reconnaissance flights. At the height of the truck-hunting season, the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing averaged six escort sorties per night. Fortunately, aircraft and crewmember losses in the AC-119 gunship programme were few, a fact directly attributed to the airmanship of the aircrews and fighter escort.

As the war came to a close, the US Air Force transferred its AC-119Gs and AC-119Ks to the South Vietnamese Air Force.

Memorable mission The night of 8 May 1970 witnessed an extraordinary display of airmanship when a Stinger crew operating over Ban Ban, Laos, brought back a gunship despite extensive anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) damage. Capt Alan D. Milacek and his nine-man crew had been reconnoitring a heavily defended road section, when they discovered, attacked and destroyed two trucks. More trucks were located, but as the aircraft banked into attack orbit, six enemy positions opened up with a barrage of triple-A fire. During the ensuing battle enemy rounds tore into the Stinger’s right wing. The aircraft entered a dive and Capt Milacek directed the

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64 GUNSHIP

AC-119G Shadow Crew: 6 (day), 8 (night) Length: 86ft 6in (26.35m) Wingspan: 109ft 3in (33.3m) 26ft 8in (8.12m) Height: Empty weight: 40,125lb (18,200kg) Max T/O weight: 62,000lb (28,123kg) Powerplant: 2 × Wright R-335085 Duplex-Cyclone 18-cylinder radial pistons of 2,500hp each Max speed: 210mph (330km/h) Range: 1,680 miles (3,110km) 23,300ft (7,100m) Service ceiling: Armament: 4× GAU-2/A 7.62mm (0.30in) miniguns; 60 × Mk 24 flares crew to prepare for instant bailout. By using full-left rudder, full-left aileron, and maximum power on the two right engines, Milacek and his co-pilot managed to wrest the stricken aircraft out of its dive and regain level flight. The crippled Stinger headed for friendly territory, but they were too low to clear a range of mountains between them and safety… and fuel consumption would likely mean dry tanks before reaching base. The crew tossed out every possible item to lighten the load and the aircraft slowly climbed to 10,000ft. Having cleared the mountains and reached friendly territory, Capt Milacek elected to land the damaged aircraft. Using almost full-left rudder and aileron and all his skill, he was able to land

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safely. Upon leaving the Stinger, the crew saw about one-third of the right wing had been torn off. Capt Milacek and crew were presented with the 1970 Mackay Trophy ‘for the most meritorious flight of the year’. Top: Unleashing hell. US Air Force gunships, like this AC-119K, were potent weapons against communist supply lines. Right: AC-119G Shadow gunners prepare for a mission. These gunships supported troops in ground combat, attacked enemy supply lines and provided convoy escort. Below: Most gunships, like this AC-119G, were painted black underneath. It made them less visible from the ground at night.

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5 : M A N T E I

V N I USAF HELICOPTERS

THE HELICOPTER BECAME a symbol of the war in Southeast Asia. For the US Air Force this was manifest in the rescue role, the helicopter’s unique capabilities being used to recover downed aircrew deep in enemy territory. The Air Rescue Service (later the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service) first used Kaman HH‑43 Huskie helicopters, unofficially known as ‘Pedro’ from their radio call-sign. Air operations over dangerous enemy territory forced Search and Rescue (SAR) to evolve into Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) teams. First came the ‘Jolly Green Giants’, Sikorsky H-3 helicopters specifically adapted for the role. A further improvement came in November 1965, when the Sikorsky HH‑53E ‘Super Jolly Green Giants’ arrived. Capable of being refuelled in flight, the HH-53E helicopters could reach any point in the Southeast Asia theatre. Throughout the conflict, CSAR personnel lived up to their motto: ‘That others may live’. They rescued a total of 4,120 people, including 2,780 in dangerous combat situations.

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KAMAN HH-43 HUSKIE Pedro to the rescue

Kaman HH-43F Huskie Crew: 4 Length: 25ft 0in (7.6m) Rotor diameter: 47ft 0in (14.3m) Height: 17ft 2in (5.18m) Loaded weight: 9,150lb (4,150kg) Powerplant: 1 x Lycoming T53 turboshaft of 860hp Max speed: 120mph (190km/h) Range: 185 miles (298km) Service ceiling: 25,000ft (7,620m)

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he Huskie was not designed to be a CSAR helicopter, but when the call came it was the first to enter the battle zone. Trained for emergency response, a Huskie crew could be airborne in under a minute, sometimes the difference between life and death. There was no other helicopter quite like the Kaman Huskie. It could never be referred to as aesthetic, its boxy fuselage balanced by equally squared-off tail fins. But what made it stand out even more was its intermeshing rotorblades. In US Air Force service it was known as the HH-43 and the first examples were delivered in November of 1958. The build-up in Vietnam caught the US Air Force with few SAR squadrons and no SAR platforms designed for the missions required. The HH-43B lacked armour and armament because it was envisioned for the airborne fire-fighting and air base crash rescue role, so the HH-43B was quickly modified for Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) by adding titanium, thus becoming the HH-43F, which also had improved engine performance for ‘Hot-and-High’ conditions. In March 1964, the US Air Force deployed six Pacific Air Rescue Center Huskies to Thailand’s Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, forming the 33rd Air Rescue Squadron’s forward detachment. A year later, the 33rd launched its first CSAR mission of the Vietnam War. Responding to an F-105D shoot down, an

Left: In Southeast Asia, HH-43 ‘Pedros’ rescued downed aircrews and wounded personnel requiring immediate evacuation from inaccessible combat zones.

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‘That Others May Live’ Typical of the heroism exhibited by ‘Pedro’ crews during hazardous missions, were the actions of pararescueman Airman 1st Class William ‘Bill’ Pitsenbarger. Arriving in Vietnam in August 1965, Pitsenbarger completed more than 250 missions, including one in which he hung from an HH-43’s cable to rescue a wounded South Vietnamese soldier from a burning minefield. This action earned him the Airman’s Medal. On 11 April 1966, in thick jungle near Saigon, an infantry company of 134 soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division was surrounded by a Viet Cong battalion of approximately 500 troops. In a fierce firefight, the Viet Cong surrounded and pinned down the Americans. As the battle went on, the number of US casualties grew steadily. Detachment 6 of the US Air Force’s 38th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron received an urgent call to evacuate the wounded. Army helicopters could not land in the battle zone because there were no clearings in the tall, dense forest. Only US Air Force HH-43 Huskie helicopters with cables and winches could hoist the injured from the jungle. Airman Pitsenbarger was the rescue and survival specialist aboard ‘Pedro 73’, one of the two Huskies on the mission. The Huskies were taking turns hoisting litters with critically wounded patients through the forest canopy and delivering them to a nearby airfield. While under fire and hovering in a hole in the forest below the tallest trees barely large enough for the Huskie, the crew of ‘Pedro 73’ saw that the ground troops desperately needed help loading wounded into the litter. Pitsenbarger volunteered to be lowered to the ground to help. He descended a hundred feet into the firefight with a medical bag, a supply of splints, a rifle and a pistol. On the ground, Pitsenbarger organised and speeded the evacuation, enabling the Huskies to rescue nine soldiers on several trips. Normally, pararescuemen return to the helicopter, but Pitsenbarger chose to stay and help the beleaguered troops. As the fight continued, ‘Pedro 73’ was badly damaged by ground fire and forced to withdraw. Rather than escape with the last Huskie, Pitsenbarger chose to stay on the ground and aid the wounded. Soon the firefight grew too intense for the helicopters to return. As darkness fell, Pitsenbarger not only cared for the wounded, but also collected and distributed ammunition to the surviving soldiers several times under enemy fire. In the early evening he was mortally wounded fighting alongside the remaining infantrymen. He was only 21. On his final mission, Pitsenbarger embodied the pararescueman’s motto: ‘That Others May Live’. The Viet Cong withdrew during the night, and the following morning US forces were able to recover survivors and the fallen. Below: A1C William Pitsenbarger with an M-16 in front of an HH-43. Above: HH-43 ‘Pedro’ rescuing a pilot in Southeast Asia.

HH-43F Huskie, supported by two A-1E Skyraiders, flew 17 miles north of the DMZ to rescue Capt Robert V. Baird. Initially the Huskies were unarmed, but early experience led some crewmen to install a Browning automatic rifle or .30-cal. machine gun in a door sling. During the war they became known unofficially as ‘Pedros’ from their radio call sign and HH-43 aircrews saved more lives in combat than crews flying any other US Air Force helicopter. From 1966 to 1970, they performed a total of 888 combat saves, 343 aircrew rescues and 545 non-aircrew rescues. However, as more purpose-built HH-3s arrived, the Huskies were relegated to their original fire-fighting role. The last HH-43 left Indochina on 20 September 1975, making it the first US Air Force SAR helicopter to conduct a combat search-and-rescue mission and the last to leave the theatre.

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SIKORSKY HH-3 JOLLY GREEN GIA Saviour from above

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or a downed US pilot surrounded by enemy forces, the sound of an approaching Jolly Green Giant meant the difference between life and death. The HH-3 rescue helicopter was specially adapted for the task, but it was still a highly dangerous mission… The US Air Force developed the Sikorsky HH-3E helicopter, nicknamed the ‘Jolly Green Giant’, to perform combat search and rescue (CSAR) to recover downed airmen during the conflict in Southeast Asia. A highly modified version of Sikorsky’s CH-3 transport helicopter, 50 CH-3Es were converted to HH-3Es with the addition of armour plating, defensive armament, self-sealing fuel tanks and a rescue hoist. With a watertight hull, the HH-3E could land on water, and its large rear door and ramp permitted easy loading and unloading. It was also the first air-refuellable helicopter to be produced, the HH-3E’s retractable fuel probe and external fuel tanks giving it a range limited only by the endurance of the aircrew. This long-range capability allowed HH-3Es to conduct CSAR operations anywhere in the Southeast Asia theatre of operations, and they participated in the attempt to rescue US prisoners of war from the Son Tay prison camp in 1970. The first US Air Force HH-3Es arrived in Vietnam in 1967, and they operated out of Udorn Air Base, Thailand, and Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam. The HH-3E was generally armed with a pair of 7.62mm M60 General Purpose Machine Guns for suppression of

enemy elements. The internal hold could house up to 25 passengers or 15 medical litters along with two medical specialists. The Vietnam War certainly illustrated the bravery and sacrifice of Jolly Green Giant crews for they were awarded over 190 Silver Stars, 24 Air Force Crosses and one Medal of Honor. HH-3E crews were exposed to very harrowing conditions during a typical work day, including bullet riddled airframes, loss of windscreens and fractured rotor assemblies. It was not uncommon for a single aircraft to have rescued dozens of downed airmen across the theatre of war. 

‘Jolly Green 22’ Typical of HH-53 operations in Vietnam is the story of HH-3E 67-14709. Assigned to the 37th Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron at Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam, it flew with the call sign ‘Jolly Green 22’. On 14 March 1968, a two-ship helicopter rescue team attempted to rescue the aircrew of a US Marine Corps F-4 Phantom shot down over North Vietnam. One of the two crewmen was picked up, but heavy enemy machine-gun fire forced the rescuers to withdraw before saving the second Marine. Enemy fire had damaged ‘Jolly Green 22’, but its crew made a second attempt to rescue the stranded Marine. Meanwhile, the North Vietnamese had killed the Marine and set up an ambush for the returning rescuers. Despite intense enemy fire, ‘Jolly Green 22’ escaped the trap with 68 bullet holes, a shot-out windshield, and holes through the rotor blades. The pilot, Maj Stuart Hoag, co-pilot, Lt Col Gerald

Above: An HH-3E being refuelled by an HC-130. Aerial refuelling enabled the Jolly Green Giant to rescue downed aircrew from any location in the Southeast Asia theatre of operations.

Lowe and pararescueman Sgt James Locker, all received Silver Stars. The flight engineer, Sgt Dennis Richardson, whose actions under intense fire probably saved the helicopter, received the Purple Heart and was later awarded the Air Force Cross. During the 32 months this helicopter – also known as ‘709’ from its serial number – served in Southeast Asia, the crewmen assigned to it received one Air Force Cross and 14 Silver Stars for heroism. In addition, they were credited with the rescue of 27 US airmen. Left: A Jolly Green Giant escorted by an A-1 Skyraider on a CSAR mission in Southeast Asia. Skyraiders provided the helicopters with valuable protection during the high-risk rescues of downed US pilots.

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HH-3 JOLLY GREEN GIANT

GIANT

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HH-3E Jolly Green Giant Crew: 4 Length: 73ft 0in (22.25m) Rotor diameter: 62 ft 0in (18.9m) Height: 18ft 11in (5.52m) Empty weight: 12,346lb (5,600kg) Max T/O weight: 22,051lb (11,002kg) Powerplant: 2 x General Electric T58-GE-5 turboshaft engines of 1,500hp each Max speed: 153mph (247km/h) Range: 779 miles (1,253km) Service ceiling: 21,000ft (6,401m) Guns: 2 × 7.62mm M60

Above: A downed F-105 pilot about to be rescued by an HH-3 in 1972. Below left: A US Air Force HH-3E Jolly Green Giant helicopter picks up a pilot from the water while performing its mission as a search and rescue helicopter in Vietnam. On rescue missions, it carried a crew of four: two pilots, a flight engineer and a para-rescueman. Below: A Jolly Green Giant flattens the foliage during a rescue mission.

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70 HELICOPTER

SIKORSKY HH-53 SUPER JOLLY GREEN GIANT Big brother

HH-53 Super Jolly Green Giant Crew: 5 Length: 88ft 3in (26.9m) Rotor diameter: 72ft 3in (22m) Height: 24ft 11in (7.35m) Empty weight: 23,628lb (10,717kg) Max T/O weight: 33,500lb (15,195kg) Powerplant: 2 x General Electric T64-6 turboshaft engines of 2,850hp each Max speed: 196mph (315km/h) Range: 540 miles (869km) Service ceiling: 20,400ft (6,217m) Guns: 3 × General Electric GAU-2/A 7.62mm miniguns

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t was dubbed ‘Super Jolly Green Giant’ for good reason. Developed to replace the HH-3, the HH-53 was bulked up in every way. It was the largest and fastest helicopter in the US Air Force inventory, but most importantly its primary mission was to rescue downed airmen in hostile territory.

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The HH-3E Jolly Green Giant long-range rescue helicopters were highly valued in Vietnam, so when its ‘big brother’ CH-53 became available, it was little surprise that the US Air Force would be interested in a more capable CSAR version. Consequently, it ordered 72 HH-53B and HH-53C variants for Search and Rescue units based in Southeast Asia. In homage to the smaller HH-3E, not surprisingly it was quickly referred to as Super Jolly Green Giant, or more commonly Super Jolly. Features of the HH-53 included: spindleshaped jettisonable external tanks; a rescue hoist capable of deploying a forest penetrator

Above: A US Air Force HH-53 seen from the gunner’s position of a fellow Super Jolly over Vietnam in October 1972. Right: An HH-53C lowering a ‘PJ’ (pararescueman) during a mission in June 1970.

on 250ft (76m) of steel cable; armament of three pintle-mounted General Electric GAU‑2/A 7.62mm six-barrelled machine guns, with one in a forward hatch on each side of the fuselage and one mounted on the tail ramp; and a Doppler navigation radar. Five crew were standard, including a pilot, co-pilot, crew chief, and two pararescuemen. The first of

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HH-53 SUPER JOLLY GREEN GIANT

Above: An HH-53B of the 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron refuelling from a HC-130P Hercules over North Vietnam, circa 1969–70.

eight HH-53Bs performed its initial flight on 15 March 1967 and the type was performing CSAR missions with the US Air Force Aerospace Rescue & Recovery Service in Southeast Asia by the end of the year. The HH-53B was essentially an interim type, with production quickly moving on to the modestly improved US Air Force HH-53C CSAR variant. Some 44 HH‑53Cs were built, with introduction to service in August 1968. Late in the war they were fitted with countermeasures pods to deal with heatseeking missiles. Despite the guns and armour plating, theirs was a dangerous mission and the big helicopters were still vulnerable at lower altitude. Even when travelling at top speed, the HH-53 was within tracking range of various enemy guns for 30 seconds or longer. Small arms could do damage as well. Used in virtually every high-risk CSAR and special operations mission of the war, the US Air Force lost 17 Super Jollies, with 14 lost in combat – including one that was shot down by a North Vietnamese MiG-21 on 28 January 1970 while on a CSAR mission over Laos – and three in accidents.

Super Jolly to the rescue To cover the southern portion of South Vietnam and be closer to the increasing levels of operations in Cambodia, the 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (ARRS) maintained a pair of HH-53Cs at Bien Hoa Air Base, about 15 miles northeast of Saigon. On 26 September 1971, a Super Jolly was scrambled to rescue the crew of an OV-10A that had been shot down. The ‘Rustic FAC’, the callsign that any forward air controller operating in Cambodia used, was hit by converging fire from

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four 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns ringing the perimeter of a small village northwest of the Mekong River town of Kampong Cham. Piloting the HH-53 was Lt Cdr Joseph ‘Jay’ Crowe, US Coast Guard exchange pilot. He approached at 8,000ft (2,438m), safely above the range of the still-active hostile guns, while the A-1H Sandys (Skyraiders) went in low to begin their routine of locating the survivors and the hostile guns. In the flat and relatively open terrain of central Cambodia there was little cover and penetrating the ring of guns was going to be difficult. By this stage of the war, a low, treetop-hugging approach by the rescue helicopter was a well-known procedure, and the enemy gunners would be waiting for it. Crowe decided to use a diving spiral approach and entered an autorotation from directly overhead, with throttles pulled back. The helicopter descended with blades unloaded, so the characteristic whop-whop was virtually eliminated. With the Sandys rumbling around, strafing and bombing and attracting the attention of the gunners, the diminished but still tell-tale sounds made by the falling Super Jolly were masked. Crowe kept the helicopter in a steep turn, spiralling down inside the perimeter of the four guns around the downed aircrew. As the HH-53 approached the ground, Crowe began to level off. The accelerating engines and the rotors digging into the air as Crowe pulled up on the collective and flared into a quick-stop, created loud rotor beats announcing their arrival to all. But the helicopter was safely down beneath the trees in a hover. The Super Jolly crew snatched the two men quickly and escaped out of the circle with a low-level departure. The helicopter received only sporadic fire as it left the scene in the typical low-level escape, while taking no casualties. Mission accomplished.

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72 HELICOPTER

BELL UH-1 HUEY

Covert ‘Ops’ Specialist

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or the ‘grunts’ on the ground, a Huey was a Huey, no matter what service it belonged to… but for the US Air Force the UH-1 was more of a secretive ‘bird’, one that specialised in covert operations. The Bell HU-1, with its strong and reliable turbine engine, quickly earned a reputation for dependability and proved itself the best equipped helicopter to execute a new and mobile style of warfare. When the HU-1 went to Vietnam, it shed its given name, Iroquois, and took the Huey moniker derived from the letters in its designation. Later, when the Department of Defense began using the US Air Force naming standard, the letters were swapped and the helicopter became UH-1, but the nickname Huey stuck. In October 1965, the US Air Force 20th Helicopter Squadron was formed at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in South Vietnam, equipped initially with HH-3 helicopters. By June 1967 the UH-1F and UH-1P were also added to the unit’s inventory, and by the end of the year the entire unit had shifted to Nakhon Phanom, with the HH-3s transferring to the 21st Helicopter Squadron. The unit was redesignated the 20th Special Operations Squadron on 1 August 1968 and became known as the ‘Green Hornets’, stemming from the UH-1’s two-tone camouflage

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Above: US Air Force special operations Hueys flew missions to Cambodia from bases in Laos.

(green and tan). Carrying the radio call-sign ‘Hornet’, the main roles of these helicopters were to insert and extract reconnaissance teams, provide cover for such operations, conduct psychological warfare, and other support roles for covert operations especially in Laos and Cambodia. From late 1970, the unit was re-equipped with the twin-engined UH‑1N. Armed with miniguns (or 40mm grenade launchers) and rocket pods, the helicopters carried no US markings, save for a Green Hornet insignia. The UH-1Ns supported Special Forces reconnaissance missions from Cam Ranh Bay.

Green Hornet rescue On 26 November 1968, a six-man reconnaissance team of US Army Special Forces Green Berets found themselves penned up next to a river near the Cambodian border, surrounded by enemy forces and taking heavy fire. The team leader’s call for immediate evacuation was picked up by a nearby flight of five US Air Force UH-1s of the 20th SOS, led by Capt James P. Heming. Despite being low on fuel, the helicopters headed toward the co-ordinates. As soon as the helicopters

UH-1F Huey Crew: 2-4 Length: 57ft 0in (17.4m) Rotor diameter: 48ft 0in (14.6m) Height: 14ft 11in (4.3m) Max T/O weight: 9,000lb (4,082kg) Powerplant: 1 x General Electric T58 of 1,070shp Max speed: 140mph (121km/h) Range: 330 miles (531km) Service ceiling: 24,830ft (7,568m) sighted the team’s smoke, they opened fire, knocking out two machine gun positions. One gunship was hit and crash-landed across the river, its crew picked up by another UH-1. Another UH-1, dangerously low on fuel, had to pull out of the combat. Fleming flew over the river and hovered just above the water, with his landing skids against the bank, hoping that the special forces troops would be able to run the few yards to his helicopter safely, but they were pinned down and Fleming was forced to lift his UH-1 out of range of the hostile fire. In a last attempt to reach safety, the Green Berets detonated their mines while Fleming once again lowered his helicopter to the riverbank. The Green Berets ran for the chopper, firing as they ran and killing three Viet Cong barely 10ft (3.0m) from the aircraft. As they leapt through the cargo door, Fleming backed the helicopter away from the bank and flew down the river to safety. For this action, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

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6 : M A N T E I

V N I USAF TRANSPORTS

TACTICAL AIRLIFT WAS the glue that held the widely dispersed force in Southeast Asia together. Initially, the workhorse of the airlift mission was the C-123 Provider, which had previously been declared obsolete and scheduled for retirement. After 1965, the rugged and powerful C-130 Hercules, which carried triple the payload of the C-123, dominated the tactical airlift mission, delivering vital supplies to the ground troops, often under battle conditions. Strategic airlift in the Vietnam War was provided by Military Airlift Command, which transported two million tons of materiel and two million passengers between the US and Southeast Asia. The main strategic airlifter of the war was the C-141 Starlifter, which made its first delivery to Vietnam in 1965. It was twice as fast as the propeller-driven C-124, and it could carry twice the load. The gargantuan C-5 Galaxy had even more capacity, but it did not make its first delivery to Vietnam until August 1971 in the later phase of the war. Between 1965 and 1973, MAC airlifters evacuated a total of 406,022 patients from Southeast Asia, 168,832 of them battle casualties.

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FAIRCHILD C-123 PROVIDER Short-range hauler

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s its name implied, the Provider was a short-range assault transport used for airlifting troops and cargo to and from small, unprepared airstrips. The rugged C-123 became an essential part of US Air Force airlift during the Southeast Asia conflict, where it flew primarily as an in-theatre airlifter and, more controversially, as a ‘Ranch Hand’ sprayer. Designed by the Chase Aircraft Co just after World War Two, the C-123 evolved from earlier large assault glider designs. The prototype XC‑123, basically a glider powered by two piston engines, made its initial flight in 1949. A second prototype was built as the unpowered XG-20 glider. Chase began manufacturing the C-123B in 1953, but the contract was transferred to Fairchild, which built about 300 C-123Bs. Between 1966 and 1969, 184 C-123Bs

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were converted to C-123Ks with the addition of two J85 jet engines. These jet engines increased the C-123’s payload weight by a third, shortened its take-off distance, improved its climb rate, and gave a much greater margin of safety should one of the piston engines fail. Providers entered service with the US Air Force’s 309th Troop Carrier Group (Assault) in 1955. The Provider’s most important service was during the Southeast Asia war. In January 1962, the first of many Providers were sent to South Vietnam to start the ‘Ranch Hand’ programme Right: A Provider unloading US Marines at Calu, South Vietnam. On this airlift, 13 C-123s delivered 475 troops and over 12,000lb of equipment. Below: Many isolated outposts depended on the appropriately-named C-123 Providers for essential supplies.

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C-123 PROVIDER

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tasked with defoliating the jungle in order to deny rebels their traditional hiding places. Aircraft fitted with spraying equipment were given the U prefix as a role modifier, with the most common types being the UC-123B and the UC-123K. They used the call-sign ‘Hades’ and during the 10 years of spraying, over 5 million acres of forest and 500,000 acres of crops were heavily damaged or destroyed. More conventionally, by the autumn of 1964, there were four US Air Force C-123B squadrons in Vietnam flying airlift and airdrop missions. Providers constantly flew troops and supplies to small, dirt airstrips at isolated bases in South Vietnam. Their relatively large cargo hold and excellent short field performance

Daring rescue On 12 May 1968, Lt Col Joe Jackson was flying an emergency mission from Da Nang during the evacuation of the special forces camp at Kham Duc, which had been overrun by enemy forces. Viet Cong had taken the forward outpost and were in complete control of the airstrip, which was surrounded on all sides by mountainous terrain. While orbiting over the battle area, Jackson learned by radio that a three-man combat control team (CCT) had been inadvertently left behind after the camp was air evacuated. Jackson answered the call by descending his C-123 rapidly from 9,000ft and making an assault landing on the strip, while under heavy enemy fire. After he stopped, a rocket fell in front of the transport. A dud, it bounced harmlessly toward the nose of the C-123 without exploding. Jackson had landed near the spot where the CCT was hiding, and quickly rescued the men. With the team safely on board the aircraft, he took off under a mortar barrage and intense automatic weapon fire from the surrounding hills. After landing back at Da Nang the crew found that not a single bullet had touched their aircraft during the entire flight. For his actions, Lt Col Jackson received the Air Force Medal of Honor. Below: This remarkable photograph was taken just as Lt Col Jackson was turning his C-123 around (1). A disabled and burning helicopter is visible blocking the runway (2), while a damaged C-130 and the tracks it made skidding off the runway are visible on the left (3). Just beyond the C-130 is an O-2 which had been hit and crash-landed (4).

Above left: A US Air Force C-123B dropping ammunition to forward-deployed troops in South Vietnam in 1966. Above: ‘Ranch Hand’ UC-123 clearing a roadside in central South Vietnam in 1966. Note the aircraft’s very low altitude.

made them essential to holding these widelyscattered bases. In 1968, the aircraft helped resupply troops in Khe Sanh, Vietnam, during a three-month siege by North Vietnam. C-123s sometimes flew other types of missions, including dropping flares to expose enemy attacks at night. Specially-modified C-123s also flew night operations with floodlights, radar, and night-vision equipment. As the war in Southeast Asia wound down, the US transferred some of its Providers to the South Vietnamese Air Force and the Royal Thai Air Force. The remaining US Air Force C-123s were transferred to the Air Force Reserve.

C-123K Provider Crew: 4 Length: 76ft 3in (23.24m) 110ft 0in (33.53m) Wingspan: Height: 34ft 1in (10.39m) Empty weight: 35,366lb (16,042kg) Max T/O weight: 60,000lb (27,216kg) Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-2800-99W Double Wasp 18-cylinder radial piston engines of 2,500hp each. 2 × General Electric J85-GE-17 turbojets engines of 2,850lb thrust each Max speed: 228mph (367km/h) Range: 1,035 miles (1,666km) Service ceiling: 21,100ft (6,400m)

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76 C-124 GLOBEMASTER II

DOUGLAS C-124 GLOBEMASTER II ‘Old Shaky’

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he C-124 Globemaster II was the US Air Force’s first strategic long-range airlifter. A veteran of Korea, the transport was beginning to show its age by the time of Vietnam. Nevertheless, in the early years of the conflict it provided invaluable service. The Douglas C-124 served as the backbone of strategic air transport for the US Air Force throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. It was officially the Globemaster II, but its pilots never called it that. It was affectionately known as ‘Old Shaky’ or ‘Shakemaster’, because of the constant in-flight shaking and rattling. A redesign of the Douglas C-74 Globemaster, the C-124 used the same wings, tail and engines, but featured a new and enlarged fuselage, as well as stronger landing gear to handle higher weights. To facilitate out-sized cargo handling, the C-124 featured ‘clamshell’ loading doors and hydraulic ramps in the nose and an elevator under the aft fuselage

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Above: C-124 of the US Air Force Reserve’s 916th Military Airlift Group, based at Carswell AFB, Texas.

with electric overhead cranes which could traverse the entire length of the 77ft-long cargo compartment. It was capable of handling up to 74,000lb of cargo such as tanks, field guns, bulldozers, and trucks. It could also be converted into a transport capable of carrying 200 fully-equipped troops in its double-decked cabin or 123 litter patients and their attendants. The first flight by a C-124 took place on 27 November 1949 and the first operational aircraft were delivered in May 1950. The US Military Air Transport Service (MATS) was the primary operator until January 1966, when the organisation was retitled Military Airlift Command (MAC). Within a few years following the formation of MAC, the last remaining examples of the C-124 were transferred to the Air Force Reserve (AFRES) and the Air National Guard (ANG), these being complete by 1970.

Douglas C-124 Globemaster II Crew: 6 or 7 Capacity: 200 troops/ 123 litter patients Length: 130ft 5in (39.75m) Wingspan: 174ft 2in (53.073m) Height: 48ft 3in (14.719m) Empty weight: 101,165lb (45,888kg) Max payload: 74,000lb (33,565kg) Max T/O weight: 194,500lb (88,224kg) Powerplant: 4 × Pratt & Whitney R-4360-63A Wasp Majors of 3,800hp each Max speed: 304mph (489km/h) Range: 4,030 miles (6,490km) Service ceiling: 21,800ft (6,600m)

AFRES effort US Air Force Reserve participation in the Vietnam War commenced in the early months of 1965 with C-124 Globemaster II missions to Saigon. Reservist C-124 crews completed 1,252 missions to Southeast Asia for MATS and Military Airlift Command from January 1966 through November 1972, when the last C-124 departed the inventory. Over the course of the conflict, the C-124 fleet flew 95,395 hours, carried 27,125.7 tons of cargo and 3,435 passengers. At its peak in 1967, this airlift service consisted of 19 groups equipped with 158 airframes.

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C-5 GALAXY

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LOCKHEED C-5 GALAXY Heavyweight champion

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he Vietnam War highlighted the urgency of developing the capability to move US troops and weapons quickly overseas. The need? A huge military transport that could carry nearly every type of combat equipment – including heavy tanks and helicopters – any place in the world. The solution? Lockheed’s C-5 Galaxy. Following a US Department of Defense proposal for a ‘Heavy Logistics System’, Lockheed was awarded the contract in December 1965 for what was to become the C-5 Galaxy. The Lockheed design featured shoulder-mounted swept-back wings, with four underslung engine nacelles towards their leading edges. Power was provided by four

of the revolutionary General Electric TF39GE-1C high-bypass turbofans of 43,000lb thrust each. The flightdeck was seated over a short, downward-sloped nose cone giving a commanding view of the ground ahead. The nosecone was hinged to open upwards allowing access to the hold within the body of the aircraft. Rear clamshell doors and a ramp allowed a roll-on-roll-off capability. The first C-5A Galaxy (66-8303) was rolled out of the manufacturing plant in Marietta, Georgia, in early March 1968 and made its first flight just under four months later on 30 June 1968. By this stage the costs of the programme had escalated in proportion to its astronomic size, a problem exasperated by fatigue cracks

appearing in some wings which reduced payload capability in the early C-5As. The first operational C-5 was delivered on 17 December 1969 in time for the aircraft to participate in the Vietnam War, flying the transpacific run from California to Southeast Asia.

Into service The C-5’s first mission during the Vietnam War was on 9 July 1970. Because it could transport about 98 percent of the Army’s range of equipment, the C-5 soon became indispensable to the war effort. C-5s were used to transport equipment and troops, including US Army tanks and even some small aircraft, throughout the later years of the US action in Vietnam. In the final weeks of the war, prior to the Fall of Saigon, several C-5s were involved in evacuation efforts. During one such mission on 4 April 1975, a C-5A was lost while participating in Operation ‘Babylift’, which involved transporting a large number of orphans. The transport crashed on approach during an emergency landing at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, South Vietnam. Although there were 176 survivors, tragically 140 were killed. The cause was ascribed to loss of flight control due to explosive decompression and structural failure. The accident marked the second operational loss and first fatal crash for the C-5 Galaxy fleet. Left: The C-5 Galaxy had an immediate impact on airlift capability when it entered service during the Vietnam War.

Lockheed C-5A Galaxy Crew: 6 Length: 247ft 1in (75.31m) Wingspan: 222ft 9in (67.89m) Height: 65ft 1in (19.84m) Empty weight: 380,000lb (172,371kg) Max T/O weight: 840,000lb (381,000kg) Powerplant: 4 x General Electric TF39-GE-1C highbypass turbofans of 41,000lb thrust each Max speed: 531mph (855km/h) Range: 2,760 miles (4,400km) Service ceiling: 33,000ft (10,058m)

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LOCKHEED C-130 HERCULES Combat transport

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he Hercules came of age during the Vietnam War. Its legendary strength, ruggedness and power proved to be the perfect combination for operations in the hot and dangerous environment of Southeast Asia. For the first time, its crews truly began to understand its capabilities.

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It was in early 1951 that the US Air Force issued its requirement for a new military transport. It called for an aircraft able to haul heavy equipment including artillery weapons, vehicles and tanks over long distances and to deliver them into short strips. These requirements were born out of the experience

in Korea, where existing military piston-engined transports proved to be woefully inadequate. Most importantly, the US Air Force wanted a transport that was quick and easy to unload in battle conditions. A low-slung fuselage with hinged rear loading ramp would best meet this requirement. Four aircraft manufacturers

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V N I USAF SPECIALISED

THERE ARE MANY ways in which aerial warfare can influence the battle, beyond who has the heaviest bomber or the fastest fighter. In Vietnam ‘electronic’ aircraft came to the fore for the first time, flying high above the battlefield crammed with the latest technology monitoring the skies and snooping the airwaves for valuable intelligence. Meanwhile, without the ‘eyes in the sky’, the battle on the ground could not be fought. Lowlevel battlefield reconnaissance was the dangerous domain of the RF-101 and RF-4, while circling RB-135s provided the bigger picture. Even higher, roaming with impunity were the strategic eyes of the U-2 and SR-71. But there was one aircraft without which the air war over Vietnam could not have been fought. The KC-135 Stratotanker was the lifeblood of the operation and the greatest force multiplier. It was these aerial petrol stations that allowed US aircraft to roam the extensive skies of Southeast Asia, perform their missions and get home safely.

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DOUGLAS EB-66 DESTROYER Electronic jammer

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amming was the name of the game for the unarmed Douglas EB-66 electronic warfare aircraft. Though small in number, EB-66s and their crews remained in high demand blocking enemy air defence radars as part of the total strike package in bombing missions against North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese used radar signals to detect incoming aircraft, guide their MiG fighters, and aim surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and anti-aircraft guns. US Air Force EB-66s conducted ‘electronic warfare’ against these radars to render them useless. These aircraft were derived from the B-66 Destroyer that had been developed as a tactical bomber, itself a

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modified version of the US Navy attack bomber, the A3D Warrior. Between 1955 and 1957, the US Air Force bought 36 electronic tactical reconnaissance versions, the RB-66C, later redesignated EB-66 after ‘jammer’ conversion.

Sparks over Vietnam The first EB-66s went to Southeast Asia in the spring of 1965. Their crews detected and gathered information about enemy radar locations and frequencies and also used Below: Douglas EB-66E Destroyer over Southeast Asia on 30 March 1970. These aircraft and their crews were always small in number and high in demand.

jamming equipment to interrupt enemy radar signals. US Air Force bombing missions deep into North Vietnam always required EB-66 support, even though there were relatively few of them. Moreover, the B-66 was out of production, so repair and shortages of spare parts made it difficult to keep aircraft flying. Losses further reduced the number of available aircraft. EB-66s were so successful that the enemy specifically targeted them. MiG fighters shot down one EB-66 and SAMs shot down five. Eleven more EB-66s were lost to accidents. Despite these problems, EB-66 crews continued flying and providing essential support to strike aircraft to the end of the war.

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EB-66 DESTROYER

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EB-66 Destroyer Crew: 3 Length: 75ft 2in (22.91m) Wingspan: 72ft 6in (22.10m) Height: 23ft 6in (7.19m) Empty weight: 43,476lb (19,720kg) Max T/O weight: 83,000lb (37,648kg) Powerplant: 2 × Allison J71-A-13 turbojet engines Max speed: 585mph (941km/h) Range: 1,800 miles (2,896km) Service ceiling: 43,000ft (13,106m)

Top: Some EB-66s flew ‘buddy bombing’ or ‘pathfinder’ missions during bad weather. They aimed with their radar bombsight and signalled to the accompanying F-105s when to release their bombs.  Above: US Air Force Douglas EB-66C 54-522 of the 42nd TEWS, 388th TFW. Right: Unarmed EB-66s were vulnerable to enemy MiGs, who specifically targeted them. Pictured here are EB-66 pilot Maj Kibby Taylor (right) and navigator Capt Jack McGinn. Their aircraft was attacked by two MiGs on a mission in November 1966. They narrowly escaped, and their fighter escort shot down both of the MiGs. Below: Douglas EB-66E Destroyer, 54-440, of the 42nd TEWS, 355th TFW, at Takhli RTAFB, on 5 December 1968.

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LOCKHEED EC-121 WARNING STAR Eye in the sky

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here was no mistaking the origins of the EC-121. Even the large radomes above and below the fuselage could not detract from the lines of one of the bestlooking aircraft ever built, the Lockheed Constellation. But beneath its classic looks, there was state of the art technology… The Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star was a US Navy and US Air Force airborne early warning and control radar surveillance aircraft. A military version of the Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, it was designed to supplement the Distant Early Warning Line, using two large radomes, a vertical dome above and a horizontal one below the fuselage. EC-121s were also used for intelligence gathering (SIGINT). The US Air Force ordered 82 EC-121 Warning Stars between 1951 and 1955, 72 of which were EC‑121Ds. The EC-121 entered service with the Air Defense Command in 1953.

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EC-121s were used extensively in Southeast Asia between 16 April 1965, and 1 June 1974, particularly in support of Operation ‘Rolling Thunder’ and Operation ‘Linebacker/ Linebacker II’, providing radar early warning and limited airborne control of US Air Force fighter forces engaging MiG interceptors. They also directed US aircraft to aerial refuelling tankers, and guided rescue missions to downed pilots. Flying orbits over the Gulf of Tonkin and later over Laos, these unarmed high-value assets were protected by F-104 Starfighter ‘MiGCAPs’. During the Vietnam War some 40 EC‑121s were modified from US Navy WV-2 and WV-3 early warning Constellations for use with ground sensors to detect enemy troop movements along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and 25 were deployed to Korat RTAFB as a part of Operation ‘Igloo White’. The resulting EC-121R configuration was nicknamed the ’Batcat’.

EC-121D WARNING STAR Crew:  6 flight crew, 11-25 radar crew Length: 116ft 2in (35.40m) Wingspan: 126ft 2in (38.45m) Height: 24ft 9in (7.54m) Empty weight: 69,210lb (31,387kg) Max T/O weight: 143,000lb (65,000kg) Powerplant: 4 × Wright R-3350-34 18-cylinder supercharged radial engines of 3,400hp each Max speed: 299mph (481km/h) Range: 4,250 miles (6,843km) Service ceiling: 25,000ft (7,620m) EC-121Rs were operated by the 553rd and 554th Reconnaissance Squadrons of the 553rd Reconnaissance Wing, between October 1967 and December 1970, with approximately 20 ‘Batcats’ on hand at any one time. The US Air Force had a total of 11 Warning Stars destroyed in accidents, killing 66 aircrew. Below: Lockheed EC-121D 53-0555 Triple Nickel, of the 552nd AEWCW, Korat AB, circa 1967. On 24 October 1967, while operating over the Gulf of Tonkin, it guided a US fighter by radar into position to destroy a North Vietnamese Air Force MiG-21. This was the first time a weapons controller aboard an airborne radar aircraft had ever directed a successful attack on an enemy aircraft.

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RESCUE

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GRUMMAN HU-16 ALBATROSS Flying life boat

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t might not have looked state of the art, but that did not matter to aircrew forced to ditch or eject off the coast of Vietnam. For them, the old-fashioned sight and sound of the HU-16 Albatross simply meant one thing… survival.

Grumman designed the versatile Albatross to meet a US Navy requirement for an amphibious utility aircraft. The prototype first flew on 24 October 1947 and soon after the US Air Force ordered a quantity for air-sea rescue duties as SA-16As. Grumman delivered 297 A models to the US Air Force. It went into action during the Korean War and rescued almost 1,000 United Nations personnel from coastal waters and rivers, often behind enemy lines. In 1955 Grumman developed an improved version with an increase in wingspan and larger aileron and tail surfaces. Beginning in 1957, many A models

HU-16B Albatross Crew: 4-6 Capacity: 10 passengers/ survivors Length: 62ft 10in (19.15m) 96ft 8in (29.46m) Wingspan: Height: 25ft 10in (7.87m) 22,883lb (10,380kg) Empty weight: Max T/O weight: 37,500lb (17,010kg) Powerplant: 2 × Wright R-1820-76A Cyclone 9 9-cylinder air-cooled radial pistons of 1,425hp each Max speed: 236mph (380km/h) Range: 2,850 miles (4,590km) Service ceiling: 21,500ft (6,600m)

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Above: US Air Force Grumman HU-16B Albatross, 51-5292, patrolling along the coast of South Vietnam in 1966.

were converted to the B configuration with these improvements. In 1962 the US Air Force changed the designation to HU-16. The Albatross saw extensive combat service during the Vietnam War where it was used by the US Air Force’s Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service (ARRS) patrolling the extensive coastline. They made numerous dramatic and hazardous rescues in Southeast Asia, on occasion taxiing many miles over rough, open water when unable to take off. In addition, a small number of Air National Guard air commando groups were equipped with HU-16s for covert infiltration and extraction of special forces from 1956 to 1971. By the very nature of their operations, often in harsh conditions, a number of HU-16s were lost in action, including an Albatross deployed to rescue two crew members of a downed F-4C Phantom off Haiphong in the Gulf of Tonkin. The HU-16B landed in the sea close to the shoreline, but was quickly approached by several North Vietnamese boats which opened fire. The flying boat was hit by a mortar shell and burst into flames. Two of the six crew were killed but the survivors were later rescued by US Navy helicopters.

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88 TANKER

BOEING KC-135 STRATOTANKER Aerial fuel truck

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he heartfelt phrase ‘Thanks, that’s a save!’ was heard more than 500 times during the Vietnam War as the dedicated crews of KC-135 tankers moved into harm’s way, delivering salvation to strike aircraft perilously low on fuel. Quite simply, without the KC-135, the air war over Vietnam could not have been fought.

The Boeing KC-135 was designed in response to a US Strategic Air Command (SAC) requirement for a jet-powered aerial refuelling tanker to replace the propeller-driven KC-97s. Like its predecessor, the KC-135 was equipped with a flying boom for fuel transfer at the rate of 6,500lb/min. The KC-135 was initially purchased to support bombers of the Above: Even long-range bombers like the B-52 needed refuelling to reach their targets and return to base on far-off Guam. Bombing operations such as ‘Arc Light’ and ‘Linebacker’ depended heavily on air refuelling.

Strategic Air Command, but by the late 1960s the Stratotanker’s ability as a force multiplier came to the fore in the Southeast Asia theatre. Mid-air refuelling of F-105 and F-4 fighterbombers as well as B-52 bombers brought farflung targets within reach and allowed fighter missions to spend hours at the front, rather than a few minutes. Without tankers, the bomber operations from Guam would have been impossible, and the fighter force would have been virtually incapacitated. KC-135 crews also Left: A pilot’s-eye view of the KC-135’s refuelling station. Stratotankers could use either the boom by itself, or the hose-and-drogue attachment, seen here. The ability to use either method allowed US Air Force tankers to refuel aircraft from all services.

KC-135A Stratotanker Crew: 4-6 Length: 136ft 3in (41.54m) Wingspan: 130ft 10in (39.9m) 38ft 4in (11.7m) Height: Empty weight: 109,000lb (49,441kg) Max T/O weight: 297,000lb (134,716kg) Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney J57-P-59W turbojets of 13,750lb thrust each Max speed: 600mph (965km/h) Range: 4,000 miles (6,437km) Service ceiling: 40,000ft (12,192m)

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KC-135 STRATOTANKER

refuelled US Navy and USMC aircraft, though a special ‘basket’ adaptor had to be fitted to the boom before such a mission. Crews also helped to bring in damaged aircraft (specifically those with punctured fuel tanks which could fly while being fed fuel) to a landing site or to ditch over water. Another specialised mission was handling the refuelling requirements of reconnaissance aircraft, from RB-47s (phased out by 1966) to SR-71s, the latter requiring dedicated KC-135Qs filled with the special JP-7 fuel used by the Blackbird. The tanker air and ground crews were able to achieve their decade-long success for a variety of reasons. They had the advantage of a designed-to-purpose tanker. Although underpowered for operations in the heat and humidity of Southeast Asia, and with performance sometimes limited by the length of available runways, the KC-135s were nonetheless well-suited for their task. When the situation demanded, the tankers went inside the combat area to off-load fuel, even though officially forbidden to do so. Without the tankers, aircrew casualties would have been dramatically higher. Perhaps the best known ‘save’ occurred on 31 May 1967. Maj John H. Casteel’s tanker crew was engaged in a routine refuelling of two US Air Force F-104Cs over the Gulf of Tonkin when US Navy aircraft dangerously short of fuel arrived. This KC-135, equipped with a boom-drogue adapter to support the F-104s, refuelled two US Navy KA-3 tankers, two Navy F-8s, two Navy F-4s, as well as its assigned F-104s. In order to save the aircraft, a brief tri-level refuelling occurred with the

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Above: A gaggle of thirsty F-105 Thunderchiefs receive fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker on their way to bomb targets in North Vietnam, circa December 1965. Left: Fighter and reconnaissance refuelling ‘anchors’. KC-135 Stratotankers loitered along the oval ‘racetrack’ patterns, awaiting combat aircraft on their way to and from targets in North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Tanker bases on this map include Takhli, Korat, and U-Tapao in Thailand.

KC-135 feeding a KA-3 while the KA-3 passed fuel to an F-8. All six US Navy aircraft involved in the operation reached their carriers safely. By 1973, after nine years and two months of hard flying, the tankers had flown a total of 911,364 hours during 194,687 sorties. In the same period, they conducted 813,878 in-flight refuellings and off-loaded more than 8 billion pounds of fuel. No KC-135 was lost to enemy action despite the massive number of sorties and frequency with which tankers went in harm’s way over North Vietnam to assist fighters desperately low on fuel. Only four tankers were lost during the entire war,

Tow truck ‘Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! We’ve been struck by a missile’, called the voice on the radio. The transmission blared over the headsets of the crew on a KC-135 Stratotanker about to return to base after a successful refuelling mission in the midst of the Vietnam War. Retired Maj Jim Hickman was the navigator on that tanker crew that received the distress signal and he vividly remembers the events

that transpired shortly after. The crew members exchanged glances and began weighing their options, when Hickman made the call. ‘Let’s go get him’, he said. The tanker crew called back over the radio, verified the location of the distressed aircraft (an F-111 Aardvark) and headed north until the two aircraft were in view of each other. ‘He pulled in behind us, we got the boom into the receptacle and started transferring fuel’, said the retired navigator. It wasn’t until the boom operator saw fuel spilling out of the aircraft that they realised the extent of the damage to the fighter. Getting the aircraft and its crew safely back to base was going to take a bit of ingenuity: ‘We have a thing that we do called locking the toggles’, said Hickman. ‘When you lock the toggles on a receiver you can actually tow him. So we did that, and kept giving him fuel’. The KC-135 towed the fighter through the skies of North Vietnam back to Thailand. When they got close to the base where the F-111 was operating out of, the boom operator unlocked the toggles, disconnected and the fighter made a safe landing.

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BOEING RB-47H D uring the early part of the Cold War, the US Air Force needed an aircraft to gather information about Soviet air defence radar systems. Developed from the B-47E strategic bomber, the RB-47H met this requirement. A total of 32 RB-47Hs were built for electronic intelligence (ELINT) missions. Featuring a distinctive blunt, rounded nose and sporting blisters and pods for intelligence-gathering antennas and gear, they were designed to probe defences and collect data on radar and communications signals. The bomb bay

was replaced by a pressurised compartment, which accommodated three Electronic Warfare Officers. As the only B-47s to see anything that resembled combat, they encountered MiGs at various hotspots around the world. The last known confrontation between MiGs and RB-47s occurred on 28 April 1965, when an ERB-47H was intercepted by two North Korean MiG-17s over the Sea of Japan. While hit by the MiGs,

MARTIN RB-57E T he first B-57s to be deployed to South Vietnam were not operated in an offensive role. The need for additional reconnaissance assets, especially those capable of operating at night, led to the deployment of ‘Patricia Lynn’ RB-57Es. ‘Patricia Lynn’ was a highly-classified reconnaissance programme using speciallymodified RB-57Es which provided infrared coverage using their Reconofax VI cameras. The sophisticated equipment in these aircraft revealed enemy positions and transportation even on the darkest of nights. They also carried optical cameras for day missions. Though there were only six

‘Patricia Lynn’ RB-57Es – and two of these were shot down – their effectiveness far outweighed their numbers. Flying under the radio call sign ‘Moonglow’, ‘Patricia Lynn’ crews flew both night and day missions over South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and areas of North Vietnam until 1971, being some of the last US Air Force tactical aircraft to be withdrawn. Two RB-57Es

it returned to Yokota AB in Japan with three engines out. A few RB-47Hs operated during the Vietnam War on missions such as relaying ELINT data, but were soon replaced by more efficient and capable Boeing RC-135s. Below: The RB-47H flew missions early in the air campaign against North Vietnam.

were lost in combat operations. The first, 55-4243, was lost as a result of a fuselage fire caused by small arms fire while on a lowlevel reconnaissance mission in August 1965. The crew ejected safely. The second aircraft, 55-4264 (pictured), was lost on 25 October 1968, after an engine fire started by ground fire forced the crew to eject.

Right: Martin RB-57E ‘Patricia Lynn’ at Da Nang AB, South Vietnam, January 1964. This aircraft was lost on 25 October 1968.

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RC-135

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BOEING RC-135M Combat Apple

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or 24 hours a day, RC-135M Combat Apple aircraft orbited over the Gulf of Tonkin and Laos, gathering communication and electronics intelligence. Their mission was highly-classified, which made them a specially valuable target for North Vietnamese MiGs. The secretive world of airborne electronic intelligence (ELINT) took on ever greater importance during the Cold War. In Vietnam, the arrival of the RC-135M in 1971 represented another level of sophistication over the aging RB-57s. Under the Combat Apple programme, five RC-135Ms were deployed to Kadena AB to be operated by the 82nd Reconnaissance Squadron, gathering signals intelligence over the Gulf of Tonkin and Laos. With so few aircraft and with missions lasting over 19 hours for a 12 hour orbit in the Gulf of Tonkin, it was a challenging task, especially when operating

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in conditions of such high humidity and volatile weather. Nevertheless, Combat Apple was on station without a break until the requirement ended.

MiG threat Initially, the Combat Apple orbits were all in the Gulf of Tonkin, which inevitably attracted the interest of North Vietnamese MiG-21s. The RC-135M had no defensive systems, so after a few close encounters, fighter escort was ordered for the Combat Apple patrols. However, the enemy fighters soon recognised that the RC-135M would be vulnerable when the fighters had to refuel and timed their attacks accordingly. That occurred twice before additional fighter cover was provided. A couple of orbits before the ‘high cover’ would depart for refuelling, two more fighters would join the RC-135 and tuck in under its wings undetected.

Above: Highly capable RC-135s – like this RC-135M Combat Apple aircraft – conducted communications and electronic intelligence over Southeast Asia, 24 hours a day.

The MiGs took the bait and were promptly shot down. They soon learned to leave the RC-135s alone. In 1972 an overland route was established for Combat Apple that took the RC-135Ms over Laos and the Ho Chi Minh Trail and other supply routes. Although this gave access to intelligence that was unobtainable from the Gulf of Tonkin, it also placed the RC-135s under the threat of SAMs and attacks by MiGs. However, any weapons moved into Laos against the RC-135, were quickly detected and destroyed. No RC‑135M was lost in combat in Southeast Asia. Other specialised RC-135 family types sent to Kadena for the purpose of collecting specific electronic intelligence were the KC-135R, C-135U and several versions of the RC-135C.

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MCDONNELL RF-101 VOODOO Magic Eye

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econnaissance pilots had a motto – ‘alone, unafraid and unarmed’. For the RF-101 pilots flying low and fast over the dangerous skies of Southeast Asia, this could not be more apposite. Nicknamed the ‘Long Bird’, the RF-101C was the only version of the Voodoo to see combat. Using the reinforced airframe of the McDonnell F-101C Voodoo, the RF-101C first flew on 12 July 1957 entering US Air Force service in 1958.

The RF-101C retained the bombing ability of the fighter-bomber versions, but had up to six cameras in place of radar and cannons in the reshaped nose, which gave the RF-101 its distinct appearance when compared to the original F-101 fighter. Some 166 RF-101Cs were built, including 96 originally scheduled to be F-101C fighter-bombers. RF-101s from the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing deployed to Vietnam in October 1961 and

started off flying flood damage photos and missions over Laos. The Loran-equipped RF-101s also acted as pathfinders for F-100s in the first US Air Force strike against North Vietnam on 8 February 1965. As the war escalated, so the requirement for reconnaissance operations over South and then North Vietnam increased. Voodoo and aircrews photographed communist positions in South Vietnam and Laos, enemy movement on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and targets in North Vietnam before and after bombing attacks. They also conducted weather reconnaissance flights ahead of strike forces. But it was a dangerous business and flying tactical reconnaissance demanded nerves of steel. Pilots had to fly straight and steady as they flew over targets which, by mid 1965, were ringed with growing AAA defences and SA-2 ‘Guideline’ SAM missiles… and MiGs were always lying in wait. However, the Voodoo’s greatest asset was its speed and regularly its

Above: As they approached their ‘targets’ the RF-101 crews flew low and their shadows often crept into the images, such as this recce photo taken over the destroyed My Duo highway bridge, April 1965. The Voodoo at this stage would have been doing around 600mph to avoid enemy defences. Right: An RF-101 lands at Udorn Royal Thai AFB, after another reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam in December 1967.

RF-101C Voodoo Crew: 1 Length: 69ft 3in (21.09m) Wingspan: 39ft 8in (12.1m) Height: 17ft 11in (5.48m) Empty weight: 28,660lb (13,000kg) Max T/O weight: 51,147lb (23,200kg) Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojets of 15,000lb thrust each Max speed: 1,000mph (1,610km/h) Range: 2,060 miles (3,315km) Service ceiling: 48,556ft (14,800m)

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RF-101 VOODOO

pilots would light the afterburner and exceed Mach 1 after hitting the targets, leaving the MiGs in their wake. Nevertheless, the first RF‑101C combat loss occurred in late 1964. In April 1967, ALQ-71 ECM pods were fitted to provide some protection by jamming the radars used by SAMs. Although the Voodoo was again able to operate at medium altitudes, the added drag decreased the speed enough to make the RF-101 vulnerable to MiGs and thus requiring fighter escort. In some 35,000 sorties over nine years, 39 RF-101C aircraft were lost, 33 in combat including five to SA-2 ‘Guideline’ SAMs, one to an airfield attack, and one in air combat to a MiG-21 in September 1967. From 1965 through November 1970, the RF-101’s role was gradually taken over by the RF-4C Phantom II.

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Above: US Air Force McDonnell RF-101A-30-MC Voodoo, 54-1510, circa1968. Below: The RF-101 provided key intelligence about movements along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

The cost of a photograph On 29 July 1965, Capt Jack Weatherby volunteered to lead an extremely dangerous recce mission against a key surface-to-air missile (SAM) site deep in North Vietnam. Forty miles from the target, Weatherby and his wingman, Maj Jerry Lents, descended to 200ft and accelerated to more than 600mph. As they neared the site, Weatherby’s RF-101C was hit by ground fire, causing a fire under the fuselage. Knowing the importance of this mission, though, he continued on the photo run. As they left the target area at low altitude, Weatherby’s RF-101C exploded and crashed. In recognition of his extraordinary heroism and sacrifice, Capt Jack Wilton Weatherby was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross, the US Air Force’s second highest honour. Left: Capt Jack Weatherby was one of the most experienced reconnaissance pilots in Southeast Asia.

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94 RECCE

MCDONNELL RF-4C PHANTOM Action photographer

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n an era when flying low and very fast gave a reasonable chance of getting back to base with the all-important film of the target area, the RF-4C became the master of tactical reconnaissance. In the early 1960s, the US Air Force recognised the need for more tactical reconnaissance aircraft to reinforce the RF-101s then in service. A modification of the F-4C fighter was chosen and the RF-4C development programme began in 1962. The first production aircraft made its initial flight on 18 May 1964 and the US Air Force eventually operated a total of 499 RF-4Cs. The 16th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron became the first operational unit to fly the RF-4C. In October 1965 that unit deployed to Southeast Asia to provide photographic reconnaissance of the growing conflict in Vietnam. The RF-4C was

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equipped with a variety of optical and infra-red cameras in three different stations in its nose section, allowing it to take images at both high and low altitude, day or night. The RF-4C carried no offensive armament, although during the last few years of its service some were fitted with four AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles for defence. The unarmed RF-4Cs were far from defenceless, however, as pilots quickly developed deceptive manoeuvres to counter the gunners. Its crews also found that the RF-4C could outrun many threats. To get the best pictures, crews usually flew daytime missions over North Vietnam between 11-14,000ft altitude, making the aircraft vulnerable to surface-to-air missiles. From SAM launch to possible impact was about 10sec. For SAM defence, dispensers on the rear of the RF-4C ejected chaff to fool radar-guided missiles, and a radar-warning receiver flashed

threats on cockpit displays, along with chirping in headsets. The RF-4C was operated by four squadrons, and of the 83 losses, 72 were in combat, seven to SAMs and 65 to AAA.

Back-seat driver Even without formal pilot training, several back-seat weapon system officers (WSO) managed to land RF-4Cs after their pilots were injured. WSO Gerry Dobberfuhl recounts a mission over Laos on 16 September 1969: ‘Our cockpit exploded and I heard screaming from the front. We started diving and I managed to pull back on the stick and we just missed the ground and the mountain in front of us’. Since he had heard that Laotian communists were taking no prisoners, Dobberfuhl initially headed for North Vietnam, but realising the aircraft was still flyable, turned back west

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RF-4C PHANTOM

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Left: An early uncamouflaged US Air Force RF‑4C in a protective revetment. The first RF-4Cs deployed to Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Saigon, Vietnam with the 16th TRS in 1965. This RF-4C, 64-1054, was lost after being hit by ground fire on the night of 19-20 August 1966. Right: Photograph of an SA-2 site in North Vietnam taken by an RF-4C in August 1965.

toward Thailand. Crossing the river dividing Laos and Thailand, he pulled the throttles to idle and headed for Nakhon Phanom Air Base, just inside Thailand’s eastern border. The barely conscious pilot lowered the gear and flaps, but Dobberfuhl couldn’t tell if the tail hook was down. To see the runway, he kicked the rudder back and forth during final approach. ‘The last 300ft was pure luck’, he said. ‘The greatest relief I ever felt in my life was when that tail hook grabbed the wire’. Both pilot and aircraft lived to fly another day.

Above: Two RF-4C aircrews fully outfitted for a mission. Unlike the single-seat RF-101C, the RF-4C carried a pilot in the front seat and a pilot/ WSO in the back seat. Left and below: A US Air Force RF-4C being shot down by an SA-2 on 12 August 1967 near Hanoi, North Vietnam. Capts Edwin Atterberry and Thomas Parrott were captured after ejecting. Atterberry died in the hands of the North Vietnamese after an escape attempt and Parrott was released at the end of the war.

RF-4C Phantom Crew: 2 Length: 62ft 2in (18.95m) 38ft 5in (11.76m) Wingspan: Height: 16ft 3in (4.99m) Powerplant: 2 × General Electric J79-GE-15s of 17,000lb thrust each Max speed: 1,384mph (2,227km/h) Range: 1,400 miles (2,253km) Service ceiling: 55,200ft (16,824m)

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96 U-2

LOCKHEED U-2 Dragon Lady

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hey couldn’t see it, but they knew it was there... flying high overhead, slow and vulnerable, but tantalisingly out of reach. The U-2 was the proverbial eye in the sky, gathering vital intelligence essential to the US war effort in Vietnam. The unique high-flying U-2 reconnaissance jet was designed early in the Cold War to overfly and photograph military activities in the Soviet Union and other communist nations. The U-2, nicknamed ‘Dragon Lady’ after a comic strip character of the 1930s, was built at Lockheed’s famous ‘Skunk Works’ under the direction of Clarence L. ‘Kelly’ Johnson, and became one of the most successful intelligence-gathering

Below: A US Air Force Lockheed U-2D, 56-6951, from the 4,028th SRS at Bien Hoa Air Base, Vietnam, in early 1965. For security reasons, U-2s were rarely seen outside of their hangars. Note the Vietnamese Douglas A-1H Skyraiders and US Air Force Martin B-57B Canberras in the background. On 19 October 1966 this U-2 crashed on the runway at Davis Monthan AFB, Arizona, during a practice approach and landing. The pilot survived without injury.

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aircraft ever produced. The original U-2A first flew in August 1955 and early flights over the Soviet Union provided key intelligence on Soviet military capability. In October 1962, the U-2 photographed the build-up of Soviet offensive nuclear missiles in Cuba, touching off the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Chasing the Dragon The clandestine U-2 first appeared over Southeast Asia skies in 1962 under the command of the CIA, using unmarked U-2s from ‘Detachment H’ in Taiwan. However, as tactical intelligence became more important after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution of August 1964, SAC took over all U-2 missions in Indochina. In early 1964, SAC sent a detachment of U-2s from the 4,080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing to South Vietnam for high altitude reconnaissance missions over North Vietnam, particularly identifying SAM sites around highly-defended targets such as Hanoi and Haiphong harbour. Following the redesignation of the 4,080th SRW into the 100th SRW on 11 February 1966, the

Lockheed U-2C Crew: 1 Length: 50ft 0in (15.24m) Wingspan: 79ft 11in (24.38m) 14ft 11in (4.57m) Height: Empty weight: 13,007lb (5,900kg) Max T/O weight: 22,542lb (10,225kg) Powerplant: 1 x Pratt & Whitney J75-P-13 producing 15,000lb of thrust 528mph (845km/h) Max speed: Range: 6,251 miles (10,060km) Service Ceiling: 90,000ft (27,432m) detachment at Bien Hoa AB, South Vietnam, became the 349th SRS. The U-2s continued to provide valuable information throughout the Vietnam War, flying high over Southeast Asia with impunity, beyond the range of enemy fighters and missiles. As such, its role in the conflict cannot be understated. Remarkably, the only loss of a U-2 during combat operations occurred on 8 October 1966, when an aircraft flown by Maj Leo Stewart developed mechanical problems high over North Vietnam. Stewart managed to fly the U-2 back to South Vietnam where he ejected safely. The U-2 crashed near its base at Bien Hoa. In July 1970, the 349th SRS at Bien Hoa moved to Thailand and was redesignated the 99th SRS in November 1972.

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SR-71 BLACKBIRD

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LOCKHEED SR-71 BLACKBIRD Black Shield ops

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ot everybody appreciated the futuristic beauty of the SR-71 Blackbird. The North Vietnamese fired 800 SAMs at SR-71s during the Vietnam War, without scoring a single hit. While it would appear that the Blackbird was untouchable, there was nothing routine about its missions over Vietnam. They might have been built alongside each other at Burbank California, but the SR-71 was the antithesis of the U-2. In some ways it represented the pinnacle of aeronautical innovation, and of the advanced work carried out by Lockheed’s famous ‘Skunk Works’. This sleek Mach 3, unarmed, high-altitude strategic reconnaissance aircraft was among the ultimate symbols of US technological superiority during the Cold War. The first flight of an SR-71 took place on 22 December 1964 and it entered service with the 4,200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, California, in January 1966. Code named ‘Black Shield’, the first operational SR-71 sorties over North Vietnam, and Laos were flown in March 1968 from Kadena AFB, Okinawa. Because of the extended turnaround required after mission recovery, the SR-71s initially averaged approximately one sortie a week for nearly two years. Very often an aircraft would return with rivets missing, delaminated panels or other broken parts such as inlets requiring repair or replacement. However, by 1972 the SR-71 detachment was flying nearly one sortie every day, an incredible achievement for such a specialised machine. Two SR-71s were lost during these missions, one in 1970 and the second in 1972, both due to mechanical malfunctions. Over the course of its reconnaissance missions during the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese fired approximately 800 SAMs at SR-71s, none of which managed to score a hit.

Lucky bunny On 15 May 1972, Maj Tom Pugh and Maj Ronnie Rice were ‘cruising’ at Mach 3.18 at 79,500ft over North Vietnam in SR-71 61-7978 (known as the ‘Rapid Rabbit’ because of the Playboy bunny logo on its rudders), when both generators failed. Out of power, the fuel pumps stopped feeding JP-7 to the engines causing a double flameout. To add to the crew’s problems, theinlet spikes moved fully forward and the aircraft began pitching and rolling rapidly. Pugh knew the aircraft was approaching the limits of its supersonic flight envelope, so had to be gentle as he struggled to regain control. Pugh initiated a gentle ‘needle ball and airspeed’ turn towards a ‘friendly piece of concrete’. Having descended to 41,000ft and slowed to just Mach 1.1, he managed to get one generator back on line and both engines relit. He then re-accelerated to Mach 1.7 to exit the area as quickly as possible.

Above: Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7974, Det 1 9th SRW, Kadena AB, Okinawa, Japan 1968.

Pugh crossed Laos to recover into Udorn RTAFB without further problems. In their post-flight analysis, Pugh learned that they had overflown Hanoi at 41,000ft, within range of the SAMs that encircled the city. The ‘Bunny’ had pulled off a lucky escape.

SR-71A Blackbird Crew: 2 Length: 107ft 5in (32.74m) Wingspan: 55ft 7in (16.94m) Height: 18ft 6in (5.64m) Empty weight: 67,500lb (30,617kg) Max T/O weight: 172,000lb (78,018kg) Powerplant: 2 x Pratt & Whitney J58s of 25,500lb thrust each Max speed: Mach 3.32 (2,200mph/3,540km/h) Range: 3,250 miles (5,230km) Service Ceiling: +85,000ft (+26,000m)

Right: An aircraft like no other. The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.

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Land, sea and sky. Part two of our coverage of the Vietnam War features the primary aircraft operated by the US Army, USN and USMC during this hard-fought + 120 and controversial conflict.

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A PHOTOGRAPHIC GUIDE TO THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN’S SURVIVING AIRCRAFT The Battle of Britain is widely considered to be Britain’s finest hour. The ‘Few’ will not be forgotten, nor will they be around forever to recount the heroism of the summer of 1940 first-hand. In contrast, the number of restored and preserved aircraft in our museums and skies is at an all-time high. This book features a brief history of all the front-line RAF fighter aircraft that were involved in the famous battle and explores some of the major training and support aeroplanes that contributed to the iconic events. The story is told using over 150 photographs of surviving and restored aircraft in the air, on the ground and in unique formations together.

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