RIPPLE SALVO… #650… Part VIII of a CINCPAC/COMUSMACV review of the 1967 Rolling Thunder campaign…but firwst…

Good Morning: Day SIX HUNDRED-FIFTY of a non-stop recall of a historic air battle called Operation Rolling Thunder…

17 December 1967…HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a chilly, partly cloudy Sunday in New York…

Page 1: “Prime Minister Harold Holt Feared Dead–Drowned On a Skin-Diving Trip Near Melbourne–Johnson Informed, Asks Embassy For Word on Fate of Close Ally–Wide Air and Sea Search On for Australian, 59, Near Home at Resort of Portsea, Australia”… Page 1: “U.S. And Six nations Vow To Keep Gold At $35 An Ounce–Brief Statement by Fowler and Martin Seeks to End Rumors in Europe–It Aims To Stem Buying–Pool Members Also Pledge That London Market Will Operate Unchanged”… Page 1: President Signs Bills Raising Military and Postal Pay and Postal Fees–Letters at 6-Cents Starting January 7–Pay Raise of 5.6% For Military (Top Military Salary at $28,000: E-1 at $1,345)”… Page 1: “Greek King and Junta Discuss Terms of Accord”...”…exchange proposals today for the conditions under which the 27-year old monarch might return to his country and the throne he has fled.”… Page 1: “Doctor’s Parley in Chicago Invaded by Poor”… “150 residents of a Southside slum burst into the American Medical Association’s first conference on health care for the poor today and expressed dismay that poor people were not represented… 200 doctors present heard an attack on organized medicine’s narrow vision of the growing crisis in slum health needs.”… Page 1: “A White Liberal Shift On Integration”… “The black power philosophy of racial separatism is gaining significant new support from the nation’s white liberals. A growing number are saying integration is impossible for the foreseeable future and the nation should concentrate instead on building up Negro institutions and that only then–perhaps in a generation or tow–can we talk about integration.”... Page 69: “Giant Derricks Drag Ohio River For Victims and Vehicles in Collapse of Suspension Bridge”…

GROUND WAR (“War is a killing business.”)… Page 1: “In the ground war, troops of the First Cavalry Division (Airmobile) and South Vietnamese infantrymen reported 104 enemy soldiers killed in a two-day battle that ended at noon today near Bongson on the central coastal plain… 22 American soldiers were killed and 52 were wounded and hospitalized, according to a United States spokesman. The plains in the area have long been an enemy stronghold threatening the allied supply route along the coast. An earlier report listed 47 enemy killed…a sweep of the battlefield turned up numerous bodies raising the enemy casualty count to 104. A United States spokesman said 115 enemy soldiers were killed in the two days of fighting in another section near Bongson, this one 15 miles south of the city and about 295 miles south of the city and about 295 miles northeast of Saigon. Two Army helicopters were shot down by ground fire while supporting a South Vietnamese ground operations 50 miles north-northwest of Saigon. Two American crewmen were reported killed and two were wounded.”

17 December 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER …New York Times (18 Dec reporting 17 Dec ops) Page 1: “U.S. Pilots Strike Enemy MIG Bases–Bridges and Railroads Near Hanoi Are Also Attacked–Foe Downs 792nd Plane”… “Air Force fighter-bomber s attacked two MIG bases near Hanoi yesterday (17th) during the fourth day of unseasonably clear weather over North Vietnam. Pilots bombed the Kep airfield, 38 miles northeast of Hanoi and the Phucyen base 18 miles northwest of the city. A United States military spokesman said pilots reported bomb explosions all along the western half of the main runway at the Kep field, and bomb hits at the south end of the runway, on the main taxiway, and on antiaircraft sites ringing the field. Bomb hits were reported at two intersections of the main runway at Phucyen field. Air Force pilots of F-4 Phantoms jets fought with numbers of MIGs. A United States spokesman said a MIG-17 had probably been shot down, while Hanoi reported nine American planes were downed.

“Earlier U.S. spokesman reported that an Air Force F-4 was shot down by a North Vietnamese MIG-21 Saturday during a dogfight east of Hanoi. The two-man American crew was listed as missing (Major LOW and 1LT Hill were captured and are POWs)…This was the 762nd American plane lost in the North and the 34th shot down by MIG’s. United States pilots have downed 99 MIG’s in aerial combat over North Vietnam. The air battle broke out while F-105 Thunderchief pilots attacked the YenVien Railroad yard six miles north-northeast of Hanoi, in the third day of air strikes near the North Vietnamese capital… U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine pilots flew 132 multi-plane missions during the day (17th), the highest number since November 20 when 175 were flown. Heavy clouds and rain have blanketed most of North Vietnam, limiting air strikes until the weather cleared five days ago.

“The YenVien railroad yard, the main marshaling yard for all rail traffic into and out-of Hanoi was attacked on November 19. Pilots returning in the latest raid reported sighting 35 boxcars that had been destroyed in the previous raid. The poor weather had delayed a damage report. United States pilots also attacked a railroad bridge 183 miles northwest of Hanoi and two military barracks to the west and northwest of the city. Navy carrier pilots also bombed and strafed the Kienan MIG base near Haiphong and struck the Kienan motor maintenance facility, just to the north. They reported that the target was left in flames. Navy pilots also destroyed one bridge and damaged four, and destroyed or damaged 45 boxcars and 3 locomotives on tracks along the coast in the southern panhandle, the narrow lower section of North Vietnam.”

“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) There were four fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 17 December 1967…

(1) MAJOR KENNETH RAYMOND FLEENOR and 1LT TERRY LEE BOYER were flying an F-4D of the 497th TFS and 8th TFW out of Ubon as MIG CAP for a wing strike on the Lang Lau railway bridge when jumped by a large number of MIG-17s and MIG-21s. They were hit by MIG-17 cannon fire and were forced to eject near the town of Piu Tho on the Red River. Captured immediately they were imprisoned until released in Project Homecoming in March 1973. MAJOR FLEENER was on his 87th mission and 1LT BOYER on his 40th.

(2) 1LT JEFFREY THOMAS ELLIS was flying an F-105D of the 469th TFS and 388th TFW out of Korat in a strike group en route to attack the Lang Lau railroad bridge that was attacked by several MIG-21s. In the melee 1LT ELLIS’ Thunderchief was hit by an Atoll air-to-air missile and control of the aircraft was lost moments later forcing him to eject. He came down 10 miles west of Thai Nguyen and was captured immediately. His five years as POW ended in March 1973. He returned to flying duty, ascended to command and completed his Air Force career as a Brigadier General.

(3) COLONEL C. BRETT and 1LT MYRON F. SMITH were flying a F-4C of the 559th and the 12th TFW out of Cam Ranh Bay on an armed reconnaissance north of the demilitarized zone. Their Phantom was hit by 57mm as they made bombing runs on an active automatic weapons site and were forced to eject. Colonel Brett was rescued  by a an HH-3E. 1LT SMITH perished in the crash and the record is not clear on his current status… he gave his life for his country fifty years ago and is remembered 

(4) MAJOR LAIRD GUTTERSON and 1LT S.P. SOX were flying an F-4D of the 497th TFS and the 8th TFW out of Ubon participating in an air wing strike on a ferry at Huu Hng four miles south of Dong Ha and was hit by ground fire in the attack. MAJOR GUTTERSON managed to fly his failing Phantom out to sea where both he and his back-seater ejected and were rescued by Navy helicopter…

RIPPLE SALVO… #650… Part VIII of a review of the Rolling Thunder campaign in the year 1967…three basic tasks were set the conduct of the air war in the north. The third of these tasks was “Destroying In Depth the War-Making Resources in North Vietnam.” ... The review…

“Air Attacks were authorized and executed by target systems for the first time in 1967, although the attacks were limited to specific targets within each system. Strikes against authorized targets during the good weather period in 1967 resulted in damage to all targets systems and decreased productivity. The Thai Nguyen iron and steel combine, which was North Vietnam’s major steel located 30 miles north of  Hanoi, and which had an estimated design production capacity of some 300,000 metric tons of pig iron annually, was first struck in the spring of 1967. By the end of June production of pig iron and coke had completely ceased as had the fabrication  of bridge pontoons, barges, oil storage tanks, and other steel products utilized in supporting a war effort. The status of this industry when combined with the unserviceability of the Haiphong Cement Plant pointed to the drastically reduced North Vietnamese capabilities for construction and repair of LOC’s.

“To compensate for these losses North Vietnamese capabilities for construction and repair of LOC’s, North Vietnam had to look to either the inefficient production of the many small shops of the handicraft industries or to additional imports from Communist China, the USSR, or the Eastern European countries. Either adjustment brought additional problems of distribution and management. The requirements for additional imports reduced shipping space normally allocated to other war supplies and added to congestion at the ports as more ships were required to meet the added requirements.

“Strikes against power plants in the crucial northeast area continued during the good weather period for 1967, including the Hanoi Thermal Power Plant which was struck for the first time in May. By mid-November some 85 percent of the North Vietnamese power system had been rendered unserviceable, affecting industrial, government, and consumer needs.

“It is of vital importance, however, in viewing results achieved by ROLLING THUNDER operations during 1967, to bear in mind that the objective of applying continuing and steadily increasing pressure over an extended period of time was not attained. The objective was approached  briefly during the summer months and it was during that period that the air campaign began to have its greatest impact–to make the pressure felt by the enemy. the pressure period was foreshortened, even as the enemy began to hurt.”          

RTR Quote for 17 December: ADMIRAL ERNEST J. KING: “Difficulties is the name given to the things it is our business to overcome.”…

Lest we forget…       Bear