Forward From Vietnam: Air Force Success Late in War Set Stage for Future Airpower

STORY BY // RANDY ROUGHTON

19 January 2016

Operation Niagara
Besieged U.S. Marines at Khe Sanh, Vietnam, watch as a U.S. Air Force F-4 makes close air support strike over the area. (U.S. Air Force photo)

When Dr. Wayne Thompson began working on his book “To Hanoi and Back”about airpower in the Vietnam War, he anticipated a focus on an unsuccessful air campaign in an unpopular war. But as the historian dove into his research, his work soon evolved into a history of how the Air Force learned lessons that it used to dominate the airspace decades later.
Thompson began paying close attention to the bombing of North Vietnam after he joined the Air Force History and Museums Program a decade after he was an Army draftee assigned to an Air Force intelligence station in Taiwan during the Vietnam War. The more he learned about air operations, particularly late in the war, the more the now retired historian saw his project as a positive side of the Air Force’s role in Vietnam.
“When I began to study these events, I thought I would write about one of the saddest portions of the Air Force’s history, but, gradually, I came to take a more positive view of the Air Force’s experience in Southeast Asia,” Thompson said. “The struggle for Southeast Asia helped to transform the Air Force from an almost total focus on potential nuclear warfare against the Soviet Union into a more varied and flexible force wielding increasingly sophisticated conventional weapons.”

North Vietnam: Rolling Thunder
By 1968, typical USAF combat rescue packages included strike aircraft, aerial refuelers and rescue helicopters. (U.S. Air Force photo)

Although the Air Force sustained 1,741 combat deaths and lost 2,255 aircraft in the Vietnam War, statistics show a less costly air war than commonly believed. The Air Force flew more than twice the number of sorties as the Army Air Forces flew during World War II, yet had only a 0.4 loss rate per 1,000 sorties, compared to 9.7 during World War II and 2.0 in the Korean War, according to “The Air Force in the Vietnam War,” published by the Air Force Association and the Aerospace Education Association.
The war also provided a proving ground for new technologies, which Thompson described in “To Hanoi and Back.”
“While the bitterness of many who had served in a frustrating war was exacerbated by declining Air Force manpower and budgets, the service pursued new technologies stimulated by the Southeast Asian experience – new fighter aircraft, new radar aircraft, new means of countering enemy radar, new means of operating in darkness, and new guided weapons,” Thompson wrote.

Focused on nukes

Before the U.S. began combat operations in Vietnam, the Air Force was built around Strategic Air Command with a focus on the potential of nuclear war with the Soviet Union or China. It wasn’t well-prepared for a conventional or unconventional war in Southeast Asia, Thompson said. The emphasis shifted from the big bomber aircraft to fighters such as the F-4 Phantom, F-100 Super Sabre and F-105 Thunderchief.
The Air Force wanted to use the B-52 Stratofortress against 94 targets throughout North Vietnam because of its all-weather capability, large bombload and radar, and could have attacked in early 1965 without being hampered by clouds or surface-to-air missiles. Weather in North Vietnam severely limited bombing with any other aircraft from December through March. However, Johnson decided against the Air Force’s recommendation and restricted B-52s to targets such as depots and transportation routes near the border of South Vietnam and Laos.
The president was concerned about the threat of China entering the conflict, based on what happened during the Korean War.

North Vietnam: Rolling Thunder
F-105 crews played a key role in ROLLING THUNDER. (U.S. Air Force photo)

“The Air Force leadership thought that was silly, that the Korean War analogy was wrong,” Thompson said. “What the Air Force was recommending was to start bombing the targets we knew about quickly, partly because it makes a big difference on the ground, but also because it could make a big difference in Hanoi’s thinking.
“With the B-52s, we could still go in bad weather around-the-clock, and with radar, we could do serious bombing, but the Johnson administration wouldn’t allow us to do that in the heartland of North Vietnam,” he continued. “So that left us to work with the fighters, which were fairly short-range, daylight and fair-weather aircraft.”
Air Force leaders asked to use the fighters to take out North Vietnam’s air defenses to eliminate the potential to develop surface-to-air missile sites. The administration refused because they didn’t want any bombing near the government in Hanoi for political reasons. Pilots were also often frustrated by the limitations on airstrikes, with prohibited zones 10 nautical miles in diameter at Hanoi and 4 miles wide at Haiphong and restricted zones extending 30 and 10 miles wide, respectively

 Start of combat ops

U.S. combat operations in Vietnam began with the Gulf of Tonkin incident in August 1964, when a U.S. destroyer exchanged fire with North Vietnamese torpedo boats. On March 2, 1965, the Air Force’s role escalated with Operation Rolling Thunder, a systematic but frequently interrupted bombing campaign designed to discourage North Vietnamese aggression,interdict supplies heading south and boost morale in South Vietnam.
When President Lyndon B. Johnson halted the bombing of North Vietnam in time for Christmas Eve, many pilots had mixed emotions. The Air Force had established a policy of pilots and electronic warfare officers returning stateside after they reached their 100^th mission over North Vietnam until all similarly rated aviators served their tours, said retired Col. Bob Krone, former commander of the 469^th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand.
Halting Rolling Thunder meant an interruption in pilots reaching that magic milestone.

South Vietnam: A USAF F-100 of the 90th Tactical Fighter Squadron leaves the target area after dropping napalm on a suspected Viet Cong target, March 1966. U.S. Air Force Photo.

“The U.S. Air Force’s 100 missions over North Vietnam policy was unique in history. It had never been official policy before, nor has it been since the Vietnam War,” Krone said.
After Krone’s 100^th mission on June 3, 1966, he was selected as a fighter pilot member of a new office at Headquarters Personnel at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, and later helped the National Museum of the Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, create the “100 Mission Exhibit” that opened in 2009.
“The policy was based on the high risks of flying into the North Vietnam air defense system, which was judged to be very dangerous,” he said. “Many pilots did volunteer for second tours, and many of those became casualties.”
To reach their 100th mission, pilots faced MiG-17 and 21 fighters, surface-to-air missiles and a combination of anti-aircraft artillery and automatic weapons. On Nov. 15, 1965, the 469^th TFS lost its first pilot two days after it arrived in Thailand. Krone assumed command of the squadron on April 24, 1966, after Lt. Col. Bill Cooper was killed over the Phu Lang Thuong Bridge.
“Those of us who reached the 100 counters were the lucky ones,” Krone said. “Thirty-five percent of all the F-105D/F pilots and electronic warfare officers who flew in the Vietnam War between 1965 and 1968 did not reach the 100^th mission.”
The 100-mission policy ended as Rolling Thunder began winding down in March 1968. During the operation, U.S. aircraft dropped 643,000 bombs and inflicted about $300 million of damage on North Vietnam, but lost 900 aircraft and failed to achieve any of Johnson’s strategic objectives.

New approach

In the spring of 1972, President Richard M. Nixon responded to the overt North Vietnamese invasion of South Vietnam by ordering Operation Linebacker I, an aerial interdiction campaign against North Vietnam. After B-52s bombed fuel storage tanks at Haiphong and fighter-bombers hammered a tank farm and warehouse complex outside Hanoi, the Nixon administration extended the aerial interdiction campaign throughout all of North Vietnam.
Linebacker was a considerably less gradual campaign than Rolling Thunder. Bombing throughout North Vietnam disrupted the flow of supplies and reinforcements to the south. Thompson said the use of newly developed laser-guided bombs was effective, especially against bridges. Among the more than 100 bridges destroyed by 2,000- and 3,000-pound laser-guided bombs during Linebackerwere the Thanh Hoa Bridge and Hanoi bridge over the Red River.

Secret War: Green Hornets, Dust Devils and Blackbirds
On alert at Ban Don, South Vietnam, in July 1970. From locations along the borders with Cambodia and Laos, the US Air Force helicopters covertly inserted reconnaissance teams, which included local peoples like the Hmong, along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. (U.S. Air Force photo)

In December 1972, Nixon ordered the most intense bombing of the war, Operation Linebacker II, to force the North Vietnamese into negotiations for a cease-fire agreement. Linebacker II intimidated the North Vietnamese by making unprecedented use of B-52s at night and in bad weather to attack rail yards and other targets near Hanoi. By Dec. 29, the 700 nighttime sorties flown by B-52s and 650 daytime strikes by fighter and attack aircraft persuaded the North Vietnamese government to return to the conference table.
In 1972, 200 B-52s were operating in Southeast Asia, up from 60 in Guam and Thailand in 1967. The use of B-52s and laser-guided bombs made a difference in the effectiveness of bombing operations in 1972, Thompson said. Guided bombs could do more damage than hundreds of unguided bombs exploding in the area around a target.
Two decades later,the lessons the Air Force learned in Vietnam proved victorious in the skies above Iraq when Operation Desert Storm kicked off in January 1991. Six weeks of bombing enabled U.S. and coalition ground forces to push the Iraqi army out of Kuwait in four days, with fewer than 200 American Soldiers killed in action, Thompson said.
“With guided bombs, you can make every bomb count,” Thompson said.“We already had rudimentary laser-guided bombs by the end of the Vietnam War,but by the time we got to the Gulf War, we had laser-guided bombs which we could use at night and could be carried by a stealth fighter. That meant we could basically bomb any target that we knew about, no matter if it was in Baghdad or elsewhere, from opening night. That was a big step forward.”

North Vietnam: Rolling Thunder
Specialized RB-66s helped F-105s bomb in North VietnamÕs frequently poor weather conditions. (U.S. Air Force photo)

- See more at: http://airman.dodlive.mil/2016/01/forward-from-vietnam/#sthash.xzLxiKYm.dpuf

Rolling Thunder: 100th Mission was the Goal for F-105 Pilots in Bombing Campaign 50 Years Ago

ROLLING THUNDER

100th mission was the goal for F-105 pilots in bombing campaign 50 years ago

STORY BY RANDY ROUGHTON

9 March 2015

“Instinctively, my eyes found the patch we coveted the most … the bold, embroidered words read: ‘North Vietnam – 100 missions F-105.’ It was beautiful and signaled the finale I had dreamed about.” Capt. (later Brig. Gen.) Kenneth Bell on receiving the ceremonial 100-mission flight suit after completing his 100^th mission over North Vietnam

The 100 Missions North Vietnam patch. (U.S. Air Force photo)

Operation Rolling Thunder pilots had mixed emotions when President Lyndon B. Johnson called a halt to the bombing of North Vietnam in time for Christmas Eve in 1965. F-105 Thunderchief pilots at Korat and Takhli Royal Thai Air Bases in Thailand knew it would take longer for them to reach the milestone 100^th mission the Air Force had determined would earn them a trip home from Southeast Asia. Still, the pilots of the 469^th Tactical Fighter Squadron, deployed to Korat from McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., celebrated the no-flying Christmas Day with a party in Lt. Col. Bill Cooper’s trailer. Retired Col. Bob Krone assumed command of the 469^th TFS on April 24, 1966 after Cooper was killed when his F-105 was shot down by a missile over the Phu Lang Thuong Bridge. Another pilot, 1^st Lt. Jerry D. Driscoll, was captured and held as a prisoner of war in Hanoi for more than six years.
Two days after they arrived at Korat, the squadron lost its first pilot when Capt. Donald G. Green was killed on Nov. 15, 1965. In the early years of the war, F-105s had such a high loss rate that the squadron had a saying, the supreme optimist was “the F-105 pilot who stops smoking to prevent cancer,” Krone said. So reaching the 100^th mission was on every pilot’s mind.

Col. Krone wearing the hat on display. Attached to the hat is a Royal Thai Air Force pilot’s badge. (U.S. Air Force photo)

“Pure joy is a rare wartime emotion,” Krone said. “But joy comes to an aviator after the solo flight, when doing a roll after penetrating an overcast into a sun-filled sky, and especially when landing with honor after the last combat mission.
“Those of us who reached the 100 counters were the lucky ones. Thirty-five percent of all the F-105D/F pilots and electronic warfare officers who flew in the Vietnam War between 1965 and 1968 did not reach the 100^th mission.”
Rolling Thunder was a systematic, but frequently interrupted, bombing campaign designed to discourage Viet Cong aggression, to interdict the flow of supplies going south and provide a morale boost to South Vietnamese forces. The Air Force flew from bases in South Vietnam and Thailand and hit targets north of the demilitarized zone across North Vietnam. Although Rolling Thunder officially began 50 years ago on March 2, 1965, bombing missions in the North actually began in 1964. The F-105D and the Wild Weasel F-105F flew 85 percent of Air Force combat missions to North Vietnam. Eight of 16 Airmen on the Wild Weasel crews that flew out of Takhli Royal Thai Air Base were killed, wounded or taken as POWs.

Rolling Thunder Missions over the North. (U.S. Air Force Photo)

“The (Wild Weasels) were the guys who had the highest risk of anybody because they would go in and search for missile sites and try to wipe them out,” Krone said. “They would be there before we got there, we would leave, and they would still be there trying to clean up things. They had terrible losses. I have a lot of good friends who were Weasels. They were a huge part of the Vietnam effort.”
The Air Force was the only service that adopted the 100 mission policy. In November 1965, the service established the length of a tour as either one year or 100 missions in Laos and North Vietnam, or a combination of the two, although by February 1966, only missions over North Vietnam counted toward completing a tour. However, to reach 100 missions, pilots faced MiG fighters, surface-to-air missiles and a combination of anti-aircraft artillery and automatic weapons.
“As far as I know, there was never a policy like that before Vietnam, and I don’t think there has been one since,” Krone said. “The policy was we’re sending you there for a combat tour, but you will not have to go back involuntarily until everybody else with the same qualifications as a pilot has gone. That was a historic policy for the military.

Rescued pilot (right) with fellow USAF pilots who helped bring him out of North Vietnam. (U.S. Air Force photo)

“It was continually on people’s minds of getting to that 100. It didn’t deter anybody from flying a mission, but it was a cloud that hung over everybody all the time. It was a cloud that let you know when the sun would come out, and you would be going home.”
Under Krone’s command, the 469^th TFS designed a 100 Mission Patch in 1966 and also initiated the “100 Mission Reception” for pilots returning from their 100^th mission. They were greeted by fire engines and trucks loaded with crew chiefs firing flares to lead the aircraft as it taxied to the parking ramp, where they were met by commanders, pilots and maintenance specialists with congratulations and champagne on a red carpet. They then rode to operations to log their final mission on the mission board, followed by the “Ringing of the Bell” in the bar.
Krone also helped to produce an Air Force Aerospace Audio Visual Service film called “There is a Way” to remind pilots that it was possible for them to reach the 100-mission mark, and established a policy that every attempt would be made to make a pilot’s final three missions routine with low risk, or “a milk run.” His own 100^th mission, when he became the first squadron commander to reach the plateau, was a milk run. His 99^th was not, he said.
No other pilot was available on a huge joint mission to Nghe An Province, North Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh’s hometown, a large military depot on the Red River Delta.
The 100-mission policy ended as Rolling Thunder began winding down in March 1968 without achieving any of the operation’s strategic objectives. After President Johnson ended all bombing north of the 20^th Parallel, aircrews arriving after June served one-year tours, regardless of the number of combat missions.

Specialized RB-66s helped F-105s bomb in North Vietnam’s frequently poor weather conditions. (U.S. Air Force photo)

After his tour ended in June 1966, Krone was sent to personnel headquarters at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, to set up a crew control shop that would manage the Air Force’s pilot and navigator resources stateside for Southeast Asia needs. He also spent 10 years advising the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, on the planning for the “100 Mission Exhibit” that was opened in 2009.
During Operation Rolling Thunder, U.S. aircraft dropped 643,000 bombs and inflicted about $300 million of damage on North Vietnam; however, the military also lost 900 aircraft, and estimates put the cost of the bombing campaign at about $900 million.
During his career, which ended in 1975, Krone flew a total of 125 combat missions in Southeast Asia, received the Silver Star, Bronze Star, four Distinguished Flying Crosses and 11 Air Medals. He earned a doctorate degree as a colonel at UCLA in 1972 and has been an author, educator and consultant in advanced management theory and practice. He was involved in NASA research in 1980 while on the University of Southern California faculty, which eventually led him to become the president of the Kepler Space Institute in 2013.
Despite the controversy of the war back home, Krone believes the pilots who flew in Rolling Thunder, as well as the thousands of service members who served in Vietnam, made an important lasting contribution that historians are just beginning to fully realize.

The elements of a hunter-killer team: F-105F Wild Weasel with Shrikes and F-105D with bombs. (U.S. Air Force photo)

“My conclusion for the meaning of the Vietnam War was the United States spent 11 years fighting communism in Vietnam and helped the demise of communism, because it tended to make them concentrate on what we were doing, rather than going elsewhere in Southeast Asia, which they were dedicated in doing,” Krone said in a presentation he gave on the meaning of Rolling Thunder and the war to the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
“They didn’t go to Singapore, Indonesia or Thailand, and that was all in their design. I firmly believe that one of the main reasons the Cold War ended on our behalf was the fact that we spent that time and resources in Vietnam.”

Maj. William Robinson, pilot (l), and Maj. Peter Tsouprake, EWO (r), celebrate their 100th mission. Earlier, on July 5, 1966, they flew lead on a large strike mission north of Hanoi. Disregarding their own safety, they braved intense ground fire and several SAMs to attack four SA-2 sites. Three were knocked out and the fourth was heavily damaged. For their valor, they were both awarded the Air Force Cross. (U.S. Air Force photo)

At the 50^th anniversary of the beginning of Rolling Thunder, Krone and other pilots who survived their combat missions on North Vietnam will honor their comrades who didn’t make it home.

- See more at: http://airman.dodlive.mil/2015/03/rolling-thunder-2/#sthash.TKDE3NAe.dpuf