RIPPLE SALVO… #561… This one is for Rear Admiral Tom Brown, a Bear Trainer for more than 50 years… As a consequence of the Stennis Senate Hearings of August 1967, several targets in North Vietnam came off the restricted list and were authorized for destruction. Included were targets in the very heart of Haiphong. On 17 and 18 September 1967 USS CORAL SEA (CVA-43) with Carrier Air Wing 15 embarked and USS INTREPID (CVS-11) with Carrier Air Wing 10 embarked made six coordinated attacks on those new targets with extraordinary results. Ripple Salvo #561 presents the complete account of one of those strikes….but first…
Good Morning: Day FIVE HUNDRED SIXTY-ONE of a one-Bear journal of the air war fought 50-years ago over North Vietnam by the bravest of the brave American aviators…
18 September 1967… Head Lines from The New York Times on a sunny fall Monday in NYC…
FALL 1967 in America: Page 1: “FAA Is Pressing For More Funds–Pleads For White House To Add Traffic Controllers, Towers and Equipment”...”…fearing it cannot keep pace with air travel growth, is seeking more funding. To date the White House has resisted the pressure.”… Page 1: “A Break is Near In School Talks–Union Head Optimistic After Negotiations Are Moved To Gracie Mansion (Mayor Lindsay’s Home)–Key Issues still Open–Salary Question among Problems–A Gap of $100-million”... “the dispute has kept most of the city’s teachers out of school for a week. Chairman of State Mediation Board said: ‘On some issues the parties are close in agreement. On others–they are world’s apart.”… Page 17: “First Woman Joins Draft Board Here”... “…appointed by the President to Local Board 10 in Manhattan. Mrs. Pearl Wallins, a lawyer, said: ‘Deferment is as vital as classification. A woman has a certain sensibility that enables her to see a situation the way a man might not see it. I think a board could be tempered by her compassion. Classification, however is strictly a real deal–a legal deal. Each registrant is assumed to be 1-A unless he proves otherwise. Although deferment is not a matter of right but a matter of legislative grace, people should be deferred if the need is there.'” ... Page 24: “Expert Says Computers Pose a Growing Menace to Privacy”… ‘intimate facts will be available to government officials and private institutions.”... Page 29: “Senate Amendment Perils Aid On Rent”… “The rent supplement program which has survived a host of narrow escapes in its brief legislative history, is once more in serious danger.”... Page 20: “Hurricanes: Beulah Batters Mexico Area–Yucatan Peninsula”... “While Hurricane Chloe threatens North Atlantic shipping lanes with 100-mph winds and Hurricane Doria has moved out to sea from the Carolina Coast.”…
VIETNAM: Page 1: “Johnson Accused Of Negating A Peace Feeler”… “The editor and writer Harry S. Ashmore reported today that he relayed a peace message to Ho Chi Minh on behalf of the State Department last February. But Mr. Ashmore charged that President Johnson ‘effectively and brutally canceled’ the secret initiative by sending an uncompromising letter to the North Vietnamese president. Mr. Ashmore said his letter had been written in response to a ‘conciliatory conversation he had with Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi last January. He added that Mr. Johnson’s letter setting forth ‘the most stringent’ American terms so far reached Hanoi before the message Mr. Ashmore had been authorized to send. Mr. William Bundy responding for the State Department…refused to comment on the charge by Mr. Ashmore.”… Page 1: “Vietcong Mortar Attack On Jail Killed 4 Prisoners”... “and wounded 42 at Tanky. The jail holds 55 Vietcong suspects and 300 other prisoners. Other provincial capitals have sustained similar attacks and increased enemy activity has been directed at headquarters and jails. More than 2,000 Vietcong prisoners were freed in attacks on Hoian, Quangtri and Quangngai.”…
18 September 1967: The President’s TS Daily CIA Brief: NORTH VIETNAM: Amid Western press reports that Hanoi is showing renewed interest in peace talks, the North Vietnamese foreign minister has twice in the past two weeks insisted that there has been no movement from his side…SOVIET UNION: The Soviets are still keeping their Mediterranean fleet near the level established during the Middle East crisis.
18 SEPTEMBER 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… The New York Times (19 Sept reporting 18 Sept ops) Page 12: “U.S. Planes Bomb Haiphong For 2nd Day In A Row–Pilots Report Direct Hits On Highway Bridge In City”... “Navy warplanes struck less than a mile from the center of Haiphong yesterday (18th) to sever a highway bridge that carries cargo inland from the city’s port. One span of the bridge was reported destroyed. Other direct hits were said to have been made on the span, but pilots said heavy smoke prevented further bomb damage assessment. Pilots also returned to the railway and highway bridge a mile west of the city which was reported heavily damaged during Sunday’s raids in which a highway bridge 7-miles from China was also heavily damaged by Air Force fighter-bombers.”… “An Air Force spokesman announced the loss of an RF-4C reconnaissance plane during Sundays raids near China. The two crewmen aboard the plane (MAJOR J.E. STAVAST, POW and 1LT G.S. VENAZI, POW) were (initially) reported as MIA… The Air Force had no comment on claims broadcast by the Hanoi radio that four planes had been shot down on Sunday.”… “Navy bombers also struck Sunday at a warehouse area and railroad yards 1.3 miles west and 1.7 miles northwest of the center of Haiphong. In all 109 missions were flown yesterday as the weather improved over the northern areas of the country. Many of the 109 missions were flown against the rail lines running northeast and northwest between Hanoi and Communist China…”… “Hanoi reported five planes were downed by North Vietnamese defenses yesterday (18th) including a pilot less reconnaissance plane (Buffalo Hunter?).”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 18 September 1967…
(1) LCDR SAM HAWKINS was flying an A-4C of the VA-34 Blue Blasters embarked in USS INTREPID (CVS-11) and leading a flight of five flak suppressors supporting a two carrier air wing attack on military targets in the city of Haiphong. He was unable to completely evade a pair of SA-2 surface-to-air missiles as he approached the target. One exploded within 100-feet of his Skyhawk. He was able to fly his damaged aircraft clear of the Haiphong area before having to eject ten miles from the coast. He was successfully rescued by a gutsy Navy SAR helicopter… oohrah…
RIPPLE SALVO… #561… “ISOLATING HAIPHONG FROM THE HINTERLAND on 17 & 18 September 1967″…
On 18 September 1967, Air Wing Fifteen embarked in USS Coral Sea (CVA-43), in coordination with Air Wing Ten embarked in USS Intrepid (CVS-11), launched a major strike against enemy installations in the port city of Haiphong, North Vietnam. Led by Commander Verl Daniels, Executive Officer of Attack Squadron 155, assigned targets were two key bridges, the Haiphong Railroad/Highway Bridge and the Haiphong Highway Bridge. The Haiphong Railroad/Highway Bridge is a 300 by 20 feet steel truss bridge built on two levels, one for vehicles and one for one meter guage rail traffic. The highway bridge was 300 by 25 feet, six span, concrete deck, bowstring truss span with a vertical lift center span to allow passage for waterway traffic. These two bridges were vital links in the railroad and railway systems connecting the port city of Haiphong with the rail center at Hai Duong and the capital city of Hanoi. Destruction of these logistic arteries which serve the principle entry and exit route for North Vietnamese imports and exports would seriously effect the North Vietnamese ability to wage war.
“In defense of the strategic area the enemy deployed 22 surface-to-air missile sites, eight of which were known occupied and considered a high threat. These particular sites become very active due to the increased bombing missions directed against targets in the city of Haiphong. Additionally, 33 active medium and 50 active heavy antiaircraft guns were emplaced throughout the area. Recent experience by pilots over flying these sites indicated that the gunners were well-trained and could provide accurate tracking, sector and barrage antiaircraft fire. An enemy aircraft threat was also prevalent due to the fact that Kien An Airfield located south of the city was able to support the most modern Sino-Soviet jet aircraft, also, the city was well within the range of jet fighters operating from Phuc Yen Airbase north of the capital city of Hanoi.
“The Air Wing 15 strike force was composed of 14 A-4E strike aircraft, Two A-4E Iron hand and four F-4B
TARCAP aircraft. Additional flak suppressors of the strike force were four A-1H RESCAP aircraft, one E-2A and one EA-1F aircraft.
“In order to reduce the effectiveness of the enemy defense it was planned to divide his fire by striking both bridges nearly simultaneously from different directions immediately following an attack by Air Wing Ten on the railroad yards located to the west of the city. Run-in and bomb delivery sectors were restricted due to a hospital area located in close proximity to the targets.
“It was agreed that Air Wing Ten would precede Air Wing Fifteen on target by not more than one minute and would provide six A-4C surface-to-air missile suppression aircraft and ten A-4B/C aircraft for flak suppression, in addition to an attack element of A-4C aircraft to strike the railroad yards. Four of the INTREPID suppressors were to join the Air Wing Fifteen strike force en route to the target and provide close flak suppression support.
“The two air wings rendezvoused over their respective carriers and proceeded independently between multi-cloud layers toward the target. Upon reaching a position in the vicinity of the Northern SAR destroyer, the two forces combined, Air Wing Fifteen assuming a position five miles in trail. As the force closed the target area, intense ground control radar and surface-to-air missile tracking radar activity was detected. At this point the Air Wing Fifteen Iron Hand aircraft led by LCDR Bill Cook positioned themselves to counter a SAM site northeast of the city which had fired on previous strike groups entering the Haiphong complex. Within seconds after the site began emitting, an air-to-surface missile was fired and was observed to impact into the site. No further radar emissions were detected from this site and the Iron hand aircraft proceeded to a position north of the city where they provided protection for both strike groups until completion of the attack and the post-strike photo reconnaissance.
“Reaching a position abeam of the Do Son Peninsula the attack force split into two elements. The southern element led by LCDR R.F. Coleman was composed of seven A-4E aircraft. Its target assignment was the northern highway bridge. Skirting the southern edge of the city and proceeding to a planned roll-in point to the west of the intended target, LCDR Coleman’s flight was taken under immediate attack by 57 and 85mm fire from sites in the vicinity of Kien An Airfield. The northern element led by CDR Verl Daniels was composed of seven A-4E strike aircraft. CDR Daniels’ flight was taken under heavy attack by medium antiaircraft fire from sites located to the west of Cat Bi airfield and the city proper. Both element leaders maneuvered their forces skillfully, seeking altitudes and areas which were relatively safe from enemy flak concentrations. Despite this heavy enemy fire, both elements reached their respective roll-in points nearly simultaneously and executed a superbly coordinated and extremely effective attack on their assigned targets with the northern element rolling in just as the last aircraft of the southern element was releasing its bombs.
“During the entire ingress and egress of the attack force, the TARCAP aircraft led by CDR Bobbie Williard stationed themselves in an optimum position to protect the strike force and to provided visual and radar search for enemy aircraft as well as visual lookout for surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft fire.
“The photo reconnaissance element, which had been holding offshore and had observed two apparently ballistic SAMs explode in their vicinity, made their photo run through heavy antiaircraft fire obtaining outstanding photographic coverage of all targets.
“Assessment of the post strike photography showed superior results. One approach span and one over water span on the Highway Bridge was cleanly dropped. The east and west approaches to this bridge were also completely dropped. The east and west approaches to this bridge were also completely destroyed. The previously undamaged south end of the railroad/highway bridge was heavily damaged with holes in both decks of the bridge making the structure unusable. Both approaches to this bridge were also severely interdicted.
“These accomplishments in the face of continuous and grave danger reflect great credit on the skill, courage and leadership of those participating in this combat action.
“The USS CORAL SEA and AIR WING FIFTEEN major assault on 18 September 1967 against the highway/railway bridges located in Haiphong, North Vietnam was one of the strikes referred to in COMSEVENTHFLT Conf msg 200202Z SEP 67, which is quoted in full:
“Key targets in the plan to isolate Haiphong from the hinterland are the Highway and Railroad located in the environs of the port city. It is noted that a significant advance towards the realization of our objectives has been achieved by the CORAL SEA and the sharpshooters of CVW-15 with the dropping of the west span and east approach ramp of the Haiphong Highway Bridge and this cratering of the Highway/Railroad Bridge. A special note has been taken of the determination and aggressiveness of CTG77.3 forces during operations of 17 and 18 September while striking targets in the heavily defended Haiphong complex on six different occasions. The excellent results achieved are a fitting tribute to your teamwork, dedication and courage.”…”Well done!” /s/ Admiral John J. Hyland”
Humble Host tips the hat to a few old squadron and ship mates who were there fifty years ago this week to pound the bridges of Haiphong: Tom Brown, Len Guiliani, Gary Starbird, Harold Barnhart, Tom Woolcock, Dash Hicks, Jim Linder, Dave Sperling and Paul Moore… Whattagroup!!!! (Source: Old Stuff from the back of my cave.)
RTR QUOTE for 18 September: PUBLILIUS SYRUS, Sententiae: “Valour grows by daring, fear by holding back.”…
Lest we forget… Bear