The Air War in the Skies Over Hanoi, North Vietnam Taking the Fight to the Enemy Background: Views are from a young F-4 backseater who had just spent 18 months with the 335 TFS at Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina flying all of the missions that the F-4 could perform.

Overview This is not a discussion about war stories, although it will include war stories. It is about Integrity, Fear, Courage, Discipline, Patriotism, Leadership and Teamwork in a very unpopular war. The American people did not support the Vietnam War and blamed the American military. Returning veterans were not treated very well like we are today. It is how we prepared ourselves for combat over Hanoi, North Vietnam. Who is on your team? How does you and your team effect the mission?

History Rolling Thunder Strikes into North Vietnam from 1965 and 1968 Over half of the 850 F-105s built were lost over North Vietnam Took 100 combat missions into Route Package 6 to complete a tour President Johnson put a bombing halt on strikes into North Vietnam from 1968 to 1972 Supply shipments had protection from attack until they crossed into Laos on the Ho Chi Minh Trail During the time period between Rolling Thunder and Linebacker the AF fought an interdiction war in Laos and South Vietnam. Life was almost like going to the range back in the states – except that every once in a while someone got shot down. From going through POW training in the states and Jungle Survival School in the Philippines, I had no desire to eject into the jungle, but if I had to, all the North Vietnamese would have seen of me is a green streak going south. Based on how American POW’s were treated by the North Vietnamese, I was not interested in a reservation at the Hanoi Hilton. The room service sucked and they didn’t give Hilton Honors points. I knew that the War in Southeast Asia was not popular with the American people – and I blame the government in Washington for not letting the generals fight to win. And I blame so called Americans for aiding the enemy and causing the residents of the Hanoi Hilton and other POW camps undue brutality and, in some cases, being beaten to death. Had we fought in Vietnam to win the war, I would not have had to go and would not be talking to you tonight – but the historians and history will better explain that aspect of the war. Read McNamara’s book to see how a bean counter goes to war.

History Linebacker I begin April 16, 1972 Tactical fighters attack key targets in North Vietnam in an attempt to stop the flow of supplies into South Vietnam Extensive use of procession munitions, Laser and TV guided bombs, to hit high value and strategic targets Linebacker II begin in December, 1972 Strategic bombers used to force the North Vietnamese to the peace table

USAF F-4D

North Vietnamese MiG-21J

Map of Southeast Asia Udorn RTAFB Da Nang NKP Takhli Korat Ben Hoa Ubon Korat Takhli U Tapao Da Nang Ben Hoa Tan Son Nhut

Map of North Vietnam Thai Nguyen Yen Bai Hanoi Phuc Yen Hour Glass Thanh Hoa Thai Nguyen Phuc Yen Hanoi Yen Bai Fishes Mouth Hour Glass Vinh During Rolling Thunder, North Vietnam was divided into Route Packages, which initially allowed the leadership to maintain control of where we operated. Route Pack 6 was split, with 6A being primarily an Air Force area and 6B primarily a Navy area. During Rolling Thunder, a tour was considered 100 counters or Route Pack missions.

Initial Checkout Arrived in Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base on 30 November 1971 about 1330 Assigned to the 555 Tactical Fighter Squadron (Triple Nickel) Part of the 432 Tactical Reconnaissance Wing Arrived too late to get on the flying schedule Started checkout the next morning Arrived at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base on 30 Nov 1972 Flight commander in 335 TFS at Seymour Johnson had written a letter to the commander of the 555 TFS at Udorn – Lt Col Joe Kittinger. Kittinger’s claim to fame was he tested ejection seats and parachutes. He once jumped out of a balloon at 102,000 feet. All my friends were in the 13 TFS. Arrived with another backseater from Seymour who had equal experience to me. Kittinger refused to trade me to the 13th. Walked in the 555th about 1:30 PM and introduced myself to the scheduler (he controlled who flew what missions). When I told him that I had 550 hours of F-4 time and had flown at Seymour, he looked at his watch and said “Damn, the afternoon missions have already stepped -go get your E&E kit form intel, you’re on tomorrow’s dawn patrol.” When I asked about in processing, he said don’t worry, you have an entire year to do that, if you’re lucky. Note: Most of the new backseaters were 2 Lt’s right out of training.

555 Tactical Fighter Squadron

Blood Chit

Linebacker I 16 April 1972: First mission to Hanoi Coordinated strikes into the heartland of the enemy Thanh Hoa Bridge finally destroyed Other targets included the Paul Doomer Bridge in Hanoi, the Hanoi Rail Yards and the Thai Nuen Steel Mills Dams, dikes and MiG bases were off limits? During Rolling Thunder, the USAF had lost 35 F-105s trying to destroy the Thanh Hoa Bridge and could never close it. One flight of F-4s carrying LGBs were able to drop the key span of the bridge, finally closing it. Had the we been allowed to destroy the dams and dikes, the war might have been over sooner.

Training “If you don’t train the way you are going to fight, you will fight the way you trained!” Combat is a very expensive way to train We were well trained, but not for the war we were fighting Had received good air-to-ground training but had no dissimilar air-to-air training until we started flying into North Vietnam during Linebacker No experience in Dissimilar Air Combat. Only trained in an Air to Ground war.

10 May 1972 USAF and Navy extremely successful. USAF F-4s (Oyster Flight) destroys 3 x MiG-21s using AIM-7 Sparrows. Navy F-4s destroys 1 x MiG-21 and 7 x MiG-17s using AIM-9 Sidewinders. Navy A-7 fires 20mm gun at MiG-17 and probably damages it. USAF loses 2 x F-4s. Navy A-7 fired on by Navy F-4 but AIM-7 missed. Total of 11 North Vietnamese MiGs shot down.

Oyster Flight MiG-21s & 19s Locher Pickup Thai Nguyen Hanoi Thanh Hoa

Engagement Areas July 1972 Thud Ridge Phuc Yen 8 July Talk about 8 May a little. Talk about 10 May. 8 July

First Things First

Buick Flight 28 August 1972 Happy Face

After the Rescue 9 Sep 1972

Results Triple Nickel’s score for 1972: 20 MiG kills F-4D 67-0463s score: 6 MiG kills Three AF Aces Chuck DeBellevue: 6 kills (4 MiG-21s w/Ritchie; 2 MiG-19s w/Madden Steve Ritchie: 5 kills (4 MiG-21s w/DeBellevue; 1 MiG-21 w/Pettit) Jeff Feinstein: 5 kills (flew with variety of pilots in 13 TFS) Two Navy Aces Randy Cunningham and Willie Driscoll: 5 kills

The Crew That Made It Happen Sgt Reggie Taylor, Dedicated Crew Chief

SSgt Reggie Taylor, Crew Chief Key Team Members SSgt Reggie Taylor, Crew Chief F-4D 67-0463

TSgt Dan Ames, SSgt Tom Penton A1C Doug Freeman, A1C Joe Mozzy Key Team Members Weapons Load Crew TSgt Dan Ames, SSgt Tom Penton A1C Doug Freeman, A1C Joe Mozzy

Party Anyone?

F4D 67-0463 at the AF Academy

Questions?

Laredo Highway Patrol Laredo Hiway Patrol ran the highways in North Vietnam. Since RF-4Cs were also stationed at Udorn, we teamed up with a Fast Recce on the early morning Fac missions to get pictures of high value targets that were planned to be hit later in the day.