RIPPLE SALVO… #134… “TAKHLI TALES”*****….
Good Morning: Day ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-FOUR of a grand reflection of the pounding of North Vietnam by the warriors of Rolling Thunder…
12 JULY 1966… ON THE HOME FRONT… New York Times…A fair, hot and humid Tuesday in the big city…
Page 1: “McNamara Orders Air Munitions Cut”…”Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara said today the United States was producing air munitions so much faster than they were being used in Vietnam that he was ordering a $1 billion cutback in production. Within a year, he said the United States will have an air ordnance inventory of 500,000 tons. The ordnance shortage is over…. Page 1: “Soviet Athletes Spurn U.S. Meet In War Protest”…”The Soviet national track and field team in protest against the Vietnam War refused today to compete with the United States in their annual meet this year. The eighth in a series of competitions was scheduled for Los Angeles on July 23 and 24. “Our hatred for the American military who are perpetrating atrocities in Vietnam, and our solidarity with the people in Vietnam, who are fighting for their freedom and independence do not permit us to take part in a match with athletes of a country from which this aggression comes.”…..
Page 2: “Hanoi Is Reported Planning To Try Pilots As Criminals”… “The Yugoslav press agency Tanyng quoted reports from Hanoi today that about 60 captured United States airmen “will be tried as criminals by a special court.” The dispatch said that North Vietnam “does not consider these United States citizens as prisoners of war for it has not declared war on the United States.” The North Vietnamese press agency said that Lieutenant James Edwin Ray of the Air Force is one of the Americans who has pleaded guilty to charges of having participated in raids in North Vietnam. The agency said LT Ray was captured May 8 when his F-105 was shot down.” The U.S. State Department said “any attempt by North Vietnam to try American prisoners of war would violate the 1949 Geneva convention on treatment of prisoners to which Hanoi adhered to in 1957.” … Page 3: “Candidates File In Vietnam Race”… Candidates for a South Vietnamese assembly that will draft a constitution began filing today to run in elections to be held in September. Twenty-four constituencies will elect one deputy each to the assembly. In such single-member are3as candidates will run as individuals and must regi8ster their intention to run today. In 25 constituencies two delegates will be elected. Candidates from these areas must run as part of a slate as a move to get many small political parties to merge in to fewer but larger parties.”…
Page 3: R.W. Apple reports: “U.S. Raids In Laos Reported Growing”…”The clandestine war in Laos is growing. Informed sources disclosed today that fighter-bombers of the United States Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps were now carrying out more than 100 strikes a day over Laos in an attempt to slow the infiltration of North Vietnam men and equipment. Six months ago the rate was fewer than 50 per day. The activity over Laos has never been publicly acknowledged by the United States and the loss of planes and pilots there is never announced. Even the citations of pilots decorated for heroism in Laos are classified. Planes bound for Laos take off from carriers in the South China Sea and from air fields in South Vietnam and Thailand. Both jets and propeller aircraft are used. On the average United States war planes carry out more than 800 strikes a day in Southeast Asia: 100 in Laos, 300 in North Vietnam and more than 400 in South Vietnam. To back-up the pilots who carry out the actual bombing, strafing and rocket attacks the allied command sends aloft interceptors, photo reconnaissance planes, aircraft to deflect missiles, tankers, and rescue aircraft and helicopters. To support activity at this level the Seventh Air Force has been doubled in size. Eight months ago there were 20,000 Air Force personnel in southeast Asia, now there are 40,000.”…
12 July 1966… The President’s Daily Brief…CIA (TS sanitized)…South Vietnam: There is still some question about what the Buddhists will do about the election schedule for September. The Buddhist Institute–which is still controlled by the extremists–has made no official statement recently on the elections. It may not get around to defining a position, for fear of inducing splits in the movement which would dissipate such poli8tical influence as it retains… rest redacted…
12 JULY 1966 ROLLING THUNDER OPERATIONS… NYT (13 July reporting ops on 12 July)…Page 4: “Pilots Evade Enemy Missiles”…”United States Air Force jets twisted away from two enemy MIG-21s, two air-to-air missiles and seven surface-to=air missiles while carrying out raids in North Vietnam yesterday (12 July). One of the MIG pilots fired two air-to-air at an Air Force F-105 Thunderchief but both exploded harmlessly. One Air Force pilot was listed as missing after his F-105 was shot down during an attack on a bridge 60 miles northeast of Hanoi (reported 11 July). United States Navy pilots bombed and strafed about 200 barges and junks along the coast and in the inland streams of the southern part of North Vietnam. At least 18 vessels were sunk and 37 damaged. Navy bombers also attacked two petroleum depots northwest of Vinh, a coastal city about 170 miles south of Hanoi. A Navy F-8 Crusader crashed shortly before noon today in the mountains northeast of Haiphong. The pilot was rescued. The crash brought to 291 the number of aircraft lost over North Vietnam since regular bombing of the North commenced February 7, 1965. Air Force reported 110 aircraft lost in the South since January 1, 1961. Helicopter losses are 176 in the South and 3 in the North, a total of 179.
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) One aircraft lost–the F-8 Crusader above…
(1) LT RICHARD F. ADAMS was flying an F-8 Crusader of the VF-162 Hunters embarked in USS Oriskany fifty years ag0 today and got bagged, but rescued– to fly and fight again…Here is Chris Hobson’s narrative that also introduces readers to Oriskany…. For more extended remarks on USS Oriskany I invite you to read the several posts of Brown Bear Schaffert, one of the Navy’s best, bravest, boldest and brightest, that are found in the archives of this website…
“On 30 June the Oriskany took up her position on the line for her second tour of duty off Vietnam. The ship would suffer 16 aircraft losses in combat, extreme bad luck from a spell of accidents and the tragic early termination of its cruise on 26 October.
“The Oriskany joined in the POL campaign on 12 July 1966 (50 years ago this day) with a raid on Dong Nham near Dong San 20 miles northeast of Haiphong. Four Crusaders were assigned to protect the strike force from possible MIG attack in the target area. A SAM launch was called and the strike force dived into a small valley. One of the Crusaders was hit in the tailpipe by small arms fire and started to burn. The fire quickly spread forward into the fuselage and the aircraft became uncontrollable. LT ADAMS ejected near the target and was picked up 45-minutes later in a daring rescue by a Navy helicopter escorted by four A-1s.This was the second time that LT ADAMS had been shot down during a mission over North Vietnam. His Crusader had been hit by a SAM on 5 October the previous year and he had to be rescued from the Gulf of Tonkin. He was posted back to the United States after his second shoot down and his exploits are related in Time magazine. Two years later he flew with the Blue Angels…”
RIPPLE SALVO… #134… “TAKHLI TALES” by LCOL BILLY SPARKS… I pulled two pages from a great read that I hope teases you into tracking a copy down for your own Vietnam library… LCOL SPARKS creds are among the best with Silver Stars (3) and Distinguished Flying Crosses galore (8) to go with countless Air Medals, etc… Not only a Wild Weasel guy but another hundred counters pounding Route Pack Six targets… Here is his view of a strike to a target in the Kep complex…
Chapter Fourteen: “Kep Airbase–A Worthwhile Target–But” … (pages 125-6)
“I think everyone had a target in North Vietnam that they hated. The one I disliked the most was Kep. It was on the Northeast Railroad from Hanoi to China. It was Northeast of Hanoi about 100 miles or so. The Town of Bac Gang was near, the Bac Gang bridge on the railroad was very close, and the turning Y that was a the junction of the Northeast Railroad and the rails that ran to the Steel Mill was even closer. All this added up to some 1,200 37mm and larger guns to shoot at you.
“Kep didn’t have as many SAMs around but the ones that were there were very good. The area was flat with no hills to hide behind and they had good Radar coverage from the time we crossed the coast to the target. In addition the gunners didn’t have to figure out which Target we were hitting since they were all together. The last problem was that to get there from the west you had to over fly all of the defenses in the Hanoi Valley. That was not good!
“The mission order always included the refueling track and that was either Brown or Tan. Those were the Water Tracks over the Gulf of Tonkin. The route to the target and back was to fly from Takhli to just north of Danang, turn left and find your Tanker. the track paralleled the coast to the drop off point east of Thanh Hoa. We then went North of Haiphong well off the coast and turned in to hit an Island that had the Kam Pha Mines where they shot at you. It did make it easy to find because there was the 80mm and the 100mm flak hanging over the place. From there we would fly about 15 minutes to Kep, bomb it, and head back the way we came.
“The big difference of operating north of Haiphong was that it was a long way to an area where the Jolly Greens hung out. The USN Big Mother Choppers were charged with rescue and were on a boat. There was no way they could get up North of Haiphong in less than two hours. In the parlance of the time, it was Dog Squeeze! If you ever pick up a poodle by the neck to speak to it, you will know what Dog Squeeze consists of.
“The last truly bad part of Kep was that the average mission was some 6 1/2 hours minimum. Long missions, less chance of a rescue, a large bag of guns that were very accurate, SAMs, MIGs from there and Hanoi and the long distance to our tankers after the mission made Kep about as welcome as a dose of Clap in a nunnery! My personal view was that I would rather eat Dog Squeeze with a spoon than go to Kep.”
Here is a bit from LCOL SPARKS “notes”… he writes…”During my time at Takhli, I performed my duties, often with the feeling that the decisions coming down from above made no sense. Missions like Rolling Thunder (1965-1969) served to wipe out 50% 0f my aircraft, the F-105, and to kill or imprison a very large numbers of my friends. I am haunted by the losses that I watched and participated in. My fear is that what I have written may sound like the meanderings of a braggart or the bragging of an egotist. It is my hope that the stories are meaningful and provide some insight into the man I’ve become…I write the way I speak, very straightforward and, I think simply. As far as I know, all of the tales included in this collection of mine, are at least as true as my memory allows. Thank you for reading”….. BILLY SPARKS, WHEREVER YOU ARE…THANKS FOR WRITING AND SHARING AND SETTING AN EXAMPLE FOR THE EMULATION OF GENERATIONS OF AMERICAN WARRIORs TO COME…YOUDAMAN!!!….. Great little book….fun read…
Lest we forget…. Bear ………. –30– ……….