Sparks over Vietnam by Gilles van Nederveen

Author:Gilles van Nederveen [Nederveen, Gilles van]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, History, Military, Vietnam War, Asian, United States
ISBN: 9781839746253
Google: 8Duo-KA3jtgC
Publisher: Barakaldo Books
Published: 2020-10-09T04:00:00+00:00

Pathfinder Operations

The onset of adverse operational weather for USAF aircraft strikes against North Vietnam in 1966 rejuvenated a bombing method originated during World War II. This technique was called (as it was in World War II) “Pathfinder” and utilized the EB-66B “Brown Cradle” aircraft as the vehicle to provide “radar eyes” for F-105, F-4C, and B-57 strikes against North Vietnam. This mission, also referred to as “buddy” bombing, was a corollary to the EB-66B’s primary mission in Southeast Asia, suppression of enemy threat radars with ECM. Heavy low clouds cover most of North Vietnam during the monsoon months of November through January, thus reducing the number of days for visual bombing. Seventh Air Force required all-weather bombing capability, but did not have any strike aircraft fitted with the necessary equipment. The EB-66B K-5 radar bombing equipment had such a capability. In order to conduct an interdiction campaign against North Vietnamese resupply links, the EB-66Bs were pressed into service.

Pathfinder missions averaged approximately five hours in duration and some required three air-to-air refuellings. These sorties were slightly longer than normal EB-66 sorties, and the complexity of flying up to four different formations during one sortie made the flights more taxing on the crew. The EB-66B made up to four target runs with a total of forty-eight aircraft, including F-105s, F-4Cs, and B-57s. EB-66B pilots were responsible for directing the rendezvous with the attack aircraft and leading the formation throughout the bomb run. The navigator-bombardier on board the EB-66B used the K-5 radar bombing system to make the precision radar bomb drops which often produced circular errors of less than 200 feet.{169}

The EB-66B’s K-5 bombing-navigation system was a remnant from the aircraft’s original bomber equipment. The K-5 was the first system of its kind without vacuum tubes and the first electronic bombing-navigation system installed successfully in a production type aircraft. The K-5 system could track all targets up to 40 miles away in any direction, using short-range integrated radar and optics. The system used a 10 inch radar scope, or periscope when visibility permitted visual sighting. When used as a Pathfinder, the K-5 system directed the EB-66B to a release point and then sent a tone to the accompanying aircraft to drop their bombs. The system could adjust to variations of 50 knots true air speed or 5000 feet altitude without affecting bombing accuracy.{170} The EB-66B had an additional advantage. The EWO monitored the radar-warning receiver and activated ECM equipment against enemy radars. Pathfinder techniques included the protection of all formation aircraft from enemy radar controlled defenses.

After a test of the concept in Thailand, the EB-66s flew six bombing missions, from March to May 1966, along two highway segments located on the North Vietnamese-Laotian frontier. This was part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a logistical pipeline that supported North Vietnamese and Viet Cong operations in South Vietnam. Four F-105s with an EB-66B bombed from 20,000 feet and interdicted both lines of communications. Three strikes were flown against Nape Pass and three others against Mu Gia Pass.

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