Rolling Thunder 1965–68 by Richard P. Hallion

Author:Richard P. Hallion
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472823212
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2017-03-16T16:00:00+00:00

The war against North Vietnam’s radar order of battle lasted throughout America’s decade-long involvement in Southeast Asia, and took on even greater significance following the introduction of the SA-2 into combat in July 1965. Anticipating the introduction of the SAM – a possibility then scoffed at by senior civilian defense officials in Washington, as discussed shortly – the Air Force deployed radar-locating Douglas RB-66Cs (redesignated EB-66C in the spring of 1966) to Southeast Asia in April 1965, the type completing its first radar mapping mission over the North on May 4. If lacking the allure of higher-performance strike aircraft, the RB/EB-66B/C (and the later EB-66E introduced in August 1967), like its EA-1F, EA-3B and EKA-3B naval stablemates and the Marine’s venerable EF-10B and EA-6A, soon proved absolutely essential for aircrews venturing “Up North.”

Taking on the MiGs

On April 1, 1965, ADF-VPAF commanders had met and decided to employ their MiG-17s in a veritable guerrilla air war, making sudden unexpected ground-controlled intercepts (GCI) on raiding American formations, and then withdrawing quickly. Two days later, they implemented this strategy, opening an air superiority war between American and North Vietnamese airmen and air defenders. During a Navy strike near Thanh Hoa, four 921st Regiment MiG-17s eluded an F-4B TARCAP from VF-151 off Coral Sea, bouncing four Hancock VF-211 F-8Es as they rocketed the Dong Phong Thong bridge. Though two MiG pilots each claimed an F-8 shot down, all the Crusaders survived, three trapping back on Hancock, and a fourth, badly shot up, diverting ashore to Da Nang. One MiG then ran out of fuel and landed on a river bank. (Since then, despite this mixed outcome, the DRV has celebrated April 3 as its Air Forces’ Day.)

The next day, VPAF GCI controllers vectored four 921st MiG-17s behind four 354th TFS F-105Ds circling near Thanh Hoa preparing to attack the Ham Rong (“Dragon’s Jaw”) bridge (JCS Target 14). The leader and his wingman missed warnings, and both were shot down and killed. Afterwards, low on fuel, one MiG force-landed safely, but three did not: panicky flak or lack of fuel was most likely responsible, for no American airmen claimed them, although a 416th TFS F-100D pilot claimed a probable after hosing a diving MiG-17 that disappeared into a very low overcast over Tonkin Gulf, trailing bits of its right horizontal stabilizer and elevator.

Afterwards, in a telling study in contrasts, Ho Chi Minh congratulated his pilots while Lyndon Johnson (as the historian Jacob van Staaveren relates) informed the JCS that the “incident” was “unduly inflammatory,” and “he did not want any more MiGs shot down” – as if that were something over which American airmen had total control.

Proving that point, just days later, on April 9, four VF-96 McDonnell F-4Bs off Ranger tangled in a confused dogfight with four Chinese PLAAF J-5s off Hainan Island during which the Phantoms fired 11 AIM-7 Sparrows and AIM-9 Sidewinders, claiming only a single J-5 destroyed, but at the price of a Phantom and its crew lost, to either an undetected MiG or an errant missile.

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