A Concise History of the US Air Force - Air Force Historical Studies ...

Providers, and C-130 Hercules to move mountains of supplies around
South Vietnam. C-141 Starlifters and C-5 Galaxies, augmented by com-
mercial airlines, helped move in personnel and critical supplies from the
United States.
Despite the fact that many targets were obscured much of the
time by Vietnam’s triple canopy jungles, the key to limiting ground casu-
alties was close air support. As in earlier wars, the solution was to drop
more bombs to inundate an area. Carpet bombing by B-52 Stratofor-
tresses, each dropping up to 108 500- and 750-pound bombs, was the
favored technique. Directed by LORAN, occasionally to within one thou-
sand feet of American units, these ARC LIGHT missions flew at 30,000
feet. Bombs fell without warning. After the war, Vietnamese who sur-
vived this deluge described the ARC LIGHT experience as the most ter-
rible they had faced. Another technique involved employing newly-
developed gunships, including the AC-47 Spooky (known popularly as
Puff the Magic Dragon), AC-119 Shadow, and AC-130 Spectre. The lat-
ter carried four 7.62-mm machine guns and four 20-mm cannon, each fir-
ing 6,000 rounds per minute, and 40-mm and 105-mm cannon. Orbiting
over enemy concentrations at night, they covered the jungle with a rain of
projectiles, well-appreciated by American soldiers nearby.
Again, as it had in Korea, the Air Force in Vietnam learned that
the most difficult function of air power was interdiction; its major effort
involved interdicting the flow of enemy troops and supplies down the Ho
Chi Minh trail through Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam. Many
Aerial interdiction in Vietnam. Flying under
radar control, four Republic F-105 Thunderchiefs
and a North American F-100 Super Sabre release
bombs over a North Vietnamese supply storage area
hidden under a blanket of dense jungle.
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