RIPPLE SALVO… #136…. by Colonel Gerit L. Fenenga, USMC, Retired…. but first…
Good Morning: Day ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-SIX of my attempted escape from 2016 back to the era of “the air war in Vietnam”…
14 JULY 1966… PAGE ONE OF THE HOME FRONT NEWS…. New York Times…A partly cloudy Thursday with possible showers…
Page 1: “Johnson Offers Amity To Chinese Reds”…”President Johnson held out to Communist China today the prospect of eventual reconciliation but he emphasized that the war in Vietnam might last a long time. White House officials characterized the President’s speech, made by telephone to a meeting in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia and televised nationally as his first statement on Communist China. In it they said the President sought to look beyond the immediate conflict in Vietnam to the situation that could emerge in Asia after the war ends. Mr. Johnson discussing China policy said that among the essentials for peace in Asia was reconciliation between nations that now call themselves enemies. ‘A peaceful mainline China is central to a peaceful China. A hostile China must be discouraged from aggression. A misguided China must be encouraged toward understanding the outside world and toward policies of peaceful cooperation,’ declaring that lasting peace cannot come to Asia while the people of Communist China were isolated from the outside world.”…
Page 1: “Hanoi Alarms U.S. On Fate Of Pilots”…”The Johnson Administration has become increasingly concerned about the fate of American fliers captured by North Vietnam. By denouncing the pilots as ‘war criminals’ who broke North Vietnam’s basic laws and by parading some of them before angry crowds, North Vietnam appears to be building a case for their trial and appropriate punishment. Expressions of Washington concern are said to have been relayed through diplomatic channels by W. Averell Harriman, Ambassador at Large, who several weeks ago was given the full time job of looking after the affairs of the prisoners and their families and attempting to negotiate their release. The number of prisoners held by North Vietnam is a military secret. Defense Department rolls list 35 American servicemen as ‘detained,’ including 22 airmen, 2 Marines and 11 Army men. A total of 233 are listed as missing and most of them are thought to be prisoners of either the Vietcong or North Vietnamese. Thus far North Vietnam has not formally indicted any of the fliers or committed itself to their trial by court martial. Some officials here believe the charges against the fliers are ‘confessions’ by some of them and are being used for propaganda. The mounting pitch of the to campaign, however, and the public display of some of the captives last week, have raised fears that the North Vietnamese may be contemplating a war crime tribunal.”…
Page 1: “Negro Gangs Attack Police and Loot Chicago Stores”…” Roving gangs of Negroes swept through a Near West neighborhood tonight tossing Molotov cocktails at police cars and looting scores of stores. The windows of every store in one large shopping plaza were shattered and the shelves of a super market emptied before the police arrived. Forty-one persons were arrested and several others were injured. Police fired at least five rounds of bullets. Several gangs of 250 youths each formed throughout the area after police turned off two fire hydrants that were being used by children during the hot afternoon.”…
Page 1: “Retired Pentagon Officer Is Seized As Spy for Soviets”…”A retired Army Lietenant Colonel was arrested by Federal Agents today on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union while serving in the Pentagon on the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. William Henry Whalen, 51, of Alexandria, Virginia was picked up and charged with conspiring with two Russian embassy employees to pass high level defense information to the Soviet government.”
14 July 1966…The President’s Daily Brief…CIA (TS sanitized)…South Vietnam: The cabinet changes–finally announced today after repeated delays–are not spectacular. Defense Minister Co retains all his functions, suggesting that Ky and Chief of State Thieu decided not to risk controversy over the downgrading of Co. Two Buddhists, both endorsed by the Buddhist Institute, were dropped in the reshuffle, whereas another Buddhist not affiliated with the institute was made deputy premier for cultural and social matters. No reaction to the changes has been reported from government functionaries or from the remnants of the Buddhist Institute.
14 JULY 1966… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… NYT (15 July reporting ops for 14 July) Page 1: “2 MIG-21s Downed In North Vietnam”…”The United States Air Force fighter planes defending bombers over North Vietnam shot down two MIG-21s with air-to-air missiles northwest of Hanoi today. The MIG-21 is the most advanced plane in the enemy’s air arsenal. The two brought down today 22 and 50 miles from the North Vietnamese capital city were the 16th and 17th enemy planes shot down over North Vietnam. No American aircraft were lost on raids today. Since last Monday United States pilots have sighted at least a dozen of the Soviet built MIG fighter planes over North Vietnam covering the entire range of fighters in the North Vietnam air force: obsolete MIG-15s, newer MIG-17s, and the MIG-21s, which are comparable to the best U.S. aircraft…One Air Force officer said: ‘It just shows that our added pressure on the North is beginning to hurt and the enemy is stepping up the air war. We’re seeing their entire defense in action. Now they are using every SAM they can get their hands on and now we are running into more MIGs.’… The NVA Air Order of Battle numbers 60 MIG-15/17 and 15 MIG-21s…(Make that 13 as of today)… In Saigon this afternoon two Navy pilots told how their flight of four F-4 Phantoms from the carrier Constellation shot down a MIG-17 yesterday in a battle with s6 enemy plane that had been chasing a pair of A-4 Skyhawk fighter-bombers. the sidewinder that killed the MIG was fired by Lieutenant William M. McGuigan… In 85 multiple plane attack missions in the north the Air Force and Navy pilots raided two oil and fuel depots along the coast of the southern panhandle. They also destroyed ten trucks.” ….. “VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES” by Chris Hobson…Page 66: One aircraft lost…Here is the story…
A Navy strike on a storage depot in the Nam Dinh area was escorted by a trio of F-8Es from the VF-162 Hunters embarked in USS Oriskany. The flight of three were led by the VF-162 Skipper Commander Dick Bellinger with two equally, well almost, as, famous wingmen, Lieutenant Commander Chuck Tinker and Lieutenant Dick Wyman. The Crusaders orbited the target and were engaged by two MIG 17s. CDR Bellinger’s F-8 was hit by cannon fire during a dogfight about 25 miles south of Hanoi. With the right wing shot up and the left wing spoiler stuck in the up position CDR Bellinger broke off the fight and sought a cloud to cover his dilemma as he headed south toward a friendly runway. (‘Discretion is the better part of valor’…) He chose to head for Danang. Unfortunately, his aircraft systems were failing, he was unable to refuel due to the hydraulic system failure, and he ran out of gas 16 miles short of Danang. He ejected and was rescued by a USAF helicopter. Scratch a ‘sader… Skipper Bellinger would have his revenge and down a MIG-21 on 9 October 1966…
RIPPLE SALVO… #136… A book review, sort of… “SKYHAWK” by Gerit L. Fenenga, Colonel of United States Marines, Retired… In May of 1956–60 years ago– I was a happy Naval Aviation Cadet who had “mastered” the T-34 at Whiting, and had moved on to bigger and better things–T-28s at Naval Auxiliary Station, Corry Field, Pensacola–and was in a pool of flight students awaiting my turn to fly “The Trojan”… Toward the end of May after sitting around reading books like Scott’s “God is My Copilot,” and Ernest Gann’s “Fate is the Hunter,” a big, spit and polished, mean, commanding Marine First Lieutenant rattled we of the pool to attention, announced we were off to T-28 ground school, and to fall-in to march to school. About twenty of us fell in and squared up at attention. The big Marine looked us over and got us in motion. A half block later he ordered us to halt. He put on his meanest look as he strode up to a position a few inches from and well above my nose, seized the book I held in my left hand and scaled it into a handy storm drain. There went “Twelve O’clock High.” The first Lieutenant, a very senior officer in the eyes of a lowly NavCad, proceeded to lecture our little formation on the need to bear down and ace the course we were assigned to. He said, the time for reading “skin books” was over. I survived the blast, but Gregory Peck did not. As we resumed marching one of the other NavCads whispered to me that I had just “been hanged to get the others attention”(Voltaire:”Candide”). The lesson in “bear down and fly right” had been administered by a Marine who had been a grunt in Korea and had more ribbons than I would have until I came home from Rolling Thunder.
God? Almost. His name was “Lieutenant Fenenga, Sir.” That lesson has stuck with me for the last 60 years… So when I discovered that Colonel Gerit Fenenga had written a book entitled “Skyhawk” I seized the moment. I would buy it and scale it into a storm drain to banish the scar imposed by a mean Marine on my psyche six decades ago… I couldn’t do it. I stood there with his shiny paperback with a great little title (I have about 26oo hours in the Skyhawk) and a hawk in attack mode on the cover, and took aim at the storm drain down on the corner, and stopped. I thought, it won’t hurt to read it first. So I did. And it’s a great story told by a pro who has a story to tell, and the skill to tell it. Buy it, read it and skip the Frisbee flip… it is a keeper… I would tell you more about it but the publisher says “no part of it can be copied, stored, transmitted, etc,” without permission of the author. And if you think I am going to present myself to Colonel Fenenga for anything, fugetaboutit… Great work, Colonel…thanks for the lesson in leadership… very respectfully, NavCad Taylor…
Lest we forget…. Bear ………. –30– ……….