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

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trated the area, supported by a wide array of Air Force and Navy aircraft. F-4s dropped chaff in wide corridors. EB-66s, EA-~s, and EA-6s jammed enemy radar with electronic countermeasures. F-105 Wild Wea- LINEBACKER I and I1 operations, 1972. In missions carried out from May to October and in December to compel enemy negotiators back to the Paris peace talks, intercontinental Boeing B-52 Stratofor- tresses, top, form up to take off for intensive bombing missions over North Vietnam. A General Dynamics variable-sweep wing F-111 tactical fighter, center, provides high- precision bombing. The aerial photograph of a military weapons storage area, bottom, in Hanoi reveals widespread bomb crater- ing and demolished buildings. sels with Shrike radar-seeking missiles attacked enemy radar sites. SR-7 1 s provided reconnaissance. EC-12 1 s fed early warning informa- tion to the attacking aircraft. F-~s, A-7s, and F-111s struck airfields, storage sites, and other precision targets. F-4s flew MiG suppression. KC-135s orbited over the Gulf of Tonkin, ready to feed thirsty jets. This was the air war the Air Force had wanted from the beginning. A B-52 tail 67
The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird strategic reconnaissance aircraft, first employed during the Vietnam War. A marvel of technology, it out- performed all of the other military aircraft of its time, attaining altitudes above 85,000 feet and speeds of nearly Mach 3.5. gunner shot down a MiG on the first night, but 200 surface-to-air missile launches claimed three B-52s-the first 3 of 15 lost. By December 27 North Vietnam had depleted its supply of SA-2 missiles and much of its antiaircraft ammunition. Interdiction strikes against rail lines and bridges coupled with mines in Haiphong Harbor prevented resupply from China or the Soviet Union. By December 30, LINEBACKER I1 had destroyed many industrial and military targets in the Hanoi and Haiphong area, although its major impact was on North Vietnam’s morale. To Captain Ray Bean, an F-4 crewman imprisoned in the “Hanoi Hilton,” the B-52s “got the attention of the North Vietnamese” because the United States seemed to have forsaken precision attacks on purely military and industrial targets in favor of “whole- sale destruction.” North Vietnam witnessed the path of devastation a sin- gle B-52 could create, especially in an urban environment. Its negotiators returned to the peace talks, agreeing to a cease-fire in January 1973 and signing a treaty in April. Before the year was out Congress cut funds for Southeast Asian operations and passed the War Powers Act, which limit- ed the President’s options. Two years later North Vietnam launched a final offensive against a South Vietnam operating without American air support. After 55 days, on April 29, 1975, Saigon fell. In Vietnam, the United States lost 58,000 68
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A Concise History of the U.S. Air F
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The Genesis of American Air Power T
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vivid contrast to aerial achievemen
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For sale by the US. Government Prin
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In the United States an outpouring
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commander, General John Pershing, c
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Early Military Aviation Leaders The
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served him well at St. Mihiel in Se
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No one in the Air Service was parti
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direct or indirect support of other
Page 22 and 23: Interwar Aircraft In amazing techno
Page 24 and 25: AF) on March 1, 1935. This first Am
Page 26 and 27: World War 11-Global Conflict Despit
Page 28 and 29: 35 percent of America’s total inv
Page 30 and 31: Principal American participants at
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Page 37 and 38: Despite heroic efforts to restore p
Page 39 and 40: Molding the Line in the Pacific Top
Page 41 and 42: America’s Air War in Asia Right,
Page 43 and 44: Hansell’s XXI Bomber Command, the
Page 45 and 46: nance, radar, jets, rockets, and a
Page 47 and 48: The newly independent U.S. Air Forc
Page 49 and 50: In addition, vast distances to targ
Page 51 and 52: Principal American air commanders a
Page 53 and 54: Korean War fighters. North American
Page 55 and 56: Air Force attacked 78 cities and to
Page 57 and 58: Atlas, lef, and Titan I, right, int
Page 59 and 60: off at a moment’s notice; another
Page 61 and 62: Union. A more capable SR-71 Blackbi
Page 63 and 64: clude, “We’re eyeball to eyebal
Page 65 and 66: Vietnam-based Viet Cong, the other
Page 67 and 68: ombed, the two most famous were the
Page 69 and 70: Transport Aircraft in Vietnam The U
Page 71: The Tet offensive proved a military
Page 75 and 76: meant that warheads could be smalle
Page 77 and 78: Beginning in March 1985, Soviet Com
Page 79 and 80: on an enemy army to isolate it on t
Page 81 and 82: America’s Air War in the Gulf
Page 83 and 84: tionally-televised attack by two F-
Page 85 and 86: 2 percent of combat sorties. Their
Page 87 and 88: in the next. An innovator behind fi
Page 89: Hallion, Richard P. Rise of the Fig
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