RIPPLE SALVO… #95… LET THERE BE LIGHT!… but first…
Good Morning: Day NINETY-SIX of a review of Rolling Thunder on the 50th Anniversary of the U.S bombing campaign versus North Vietnam…
2 JUNE 1966…ON THE HOME FRONT…(NYT)… A fair and mild Thursday in NYC…
Page 1: “Surveyor Makes A Soft Landing On the Moon” and sends back photographs of the surface… The spaceship made a picture perfect 63-hour journey to overcome high odds against success on the first go. Officials delighted. Surveyor landed on target in the “Oceans of Storms,” which is the choice for Apollo astronauts landing in two or three years. Within 36-minutes of landing the spacecraft was sending back pictures of the moon’s surface. Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena admits there is a downside: “The six-year-old Surveyor program is now running three years late and costing ten times the original estimate.” But today was a long overdue win… In other space news on Page 1: The Gemini 9 launch of Stafford and Cernan has been delayed again…
Page 1: “Rights Conference To Vote On Criticism Of U.S. Policy” as the conference leaders yield to the militants on resolutions. “As a result of the vote, resolutions criticizing the Johnson Administrations role in Vietnam and its enforcement of civil rights are likely to be approved in some sessions of the conference. This was a victory for CORE leader Floyd McKissick. President Johnson warns against expectations and miracles to undo centuries old injustice. In an unexpected visit to the conference he said: “Do not expect from me, or any man, a miracle. Do not expect from us, even together, to put right in one year or four all that took centuries to make wrong. I do pledge this–to give my days and such talents as I have been given, to the pursuit of justice and opportunity for those so long denied.”…Page 20: “Johnson Hopeful On Vietnam Vote” at an impromptu press conference in the cabinet of the White House the President said: “We are hopeful that we can get it done as soon as possible. We solicit the support, the counsel, and assistance of everybody concerned in helping us attain it.”
Page 3: “Not War Criminals Say Two U.S. Pilots In Hanoi Interment”... Major Lawrence Guarino, USAF, and LCDR Raymond Vohden, USN, were interviewed by British Television last night and the interview was seen on Hong Kong television. Guarino: “I don’t know why they say we are not in a state of war, because we certainly are. They say because we attacked their country without official declaration of war, we are considered to be war criminals. However, we obviously don’t look upon ourselves as war criminals. We consider we are prisoners of war.” Ho Chi Minh was seen in a side-bar. He said: “The United States was mistaken if it thought the bombing of the North could win the war in the South…the will of the North Vietnamese people would not be taken by the raids.”…Page 4: “Hershey Assails Proposals For Lottery Draft”…He said “the difference between the present Selective Service System and a lottery is the difference between a human being and a machine.” He cited the need for human discretion and compassion that can only be obtained by allowing the local draft boards to make the decisions, vice a number drawing system…
Page 5: Tokyo…reported today that North Vietnam had submitted a letter to the ICC stating that many civilians were killed or wounded in air raids at Nam Dinh…”What is particularly serious, many piratical United States planes attacked Nam dinh city and Yen bay provincial town. In Namdinh they indiscriminately bombed and strafed densely populated residential quarters, sanatoria, the Ho Tung Man primary school, and economics establishments. As a result many civilians were killed and wounded, many dwelling houses destroyed.” The communique also noted that North Vietnam had shot down ten aircraft, including 3 over Haiphong on the day…
PRESIDENT’S DAILY BRIEF… 2 JUNE 1966…CIA (TS sanitized 8/2015)… South Vietnam: The First Division commander moved some of his units back into Hue today, but this is far from a decisive reassertion of Saigon’s authori8ty there. The first Division units now in Hue seem more disposed to back the ‘struggle forces’ than Saigon and took no action to stop mobs from sacking several more houses in Hue. The U.S consul in Hue believes the situation there will continue to deteriorate until Saigon makes a genuine for toe re-establish its authority. The ‘strugglers,’ he reports, now have more weapons than ever.
2 JUNE 1966…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…NYT (2 June reported 3 June 1966)...”U.S. Pilots Dodge Missile In North”…it exploded harmlessly70 miles north of Hanoi. However, three jets were lost in other raids. The SAM firing was the furthest south a SAM has been spotted. “An F-4C was shot down 30 miles from China in a strike against a bridge leading from Hanoi. Both the pilot and navigator are MIA. The other two losses were an F-105D Thunderchiefs, with one pilot being rescued and one pilot listed as MIA. About 120 miles further north Navy aircraft attacked a SAM site with 2.75 rocket hits on two of the launchers in the site. Navy aircraft also hit and destroyed 18 buildings and barracks and rail-lines. Air Force strikes destroyed 27 trucks in a convoy west of the Barthelemy Pass and at least ten AAA guns 30 miles south of the SAM sighting, near Dong hoi. Chris Hobson’s “Vietnam Air Losses” lists four aircraft lost in SE Asia on 2 June…
(1) CAPTAIN J.D. WHIPPLE of the 333RD TFS and 355TH TFW at Takhli was hit by ground fire on a second strafing run on a boat in a river 30 miles northwest of Dong hoi and was forced to eject in the area of Ban Karai. He was subsequently rescued by Air Force helicopter…
(2) CAPTAIN JOSEPH FRANK ROSATO and 1LT C.R. OGLE of the 558thTFS and 12thTFW at Cam Ranh Bay were flying an F-4C on an armed reconnaissance mission 10 miles north of Dak To in the Central Highlands when hit by ground fire and immediately becoming an airborne fireball and crashing onsite. The back seater barely got out and CAPTAIN ROSATO was Killed in Action. 1LT OGLE was recovered with minor injuries.
(3) CAPTAIN B.H. WITTERMAN and LCOL M.D. MARSHALL of the 23rdTASS and 505thTACG at Nakhon Phanom in an O-1F and were shot down in southern Laos. CAPTAIN WITTERMAN was able to land the crippled aircraft and was subsequently picked up by an Air Force helicopter.
(4) An F-105D was lost by the 421st TFS and 388th TFW at Korat due an engine failure. The unnamed pilot was rescued.
RIPPLE SALVO…. “WHAT TOOK SO LONG?”… NYT first week of June 1966… “All U.S. aircraft carriers are installing flood lights on their flight decks,” including Hancock, Ranger, Kitty Hawk and Intrepid in the Gulf of Tonkin. The signature of a carrier in the 1940s was about as far as a periscope could see. So the carriers operated in the dark. The very dark. Not even white light flashlights were allowed on the old dark deck nights. We did everything with red lens flashlights. We tripped over tie down chains, got lost looking for our go birds, and occasionally a pilot would fall overboard. When the bos’n announced, “Let no light shine outboard.” That’s the way it was. We didn’t want those stalking submarines to find us, fix our position, and fire at us… But as the years went by and the ships at sea began filling the skies with electronic emissions that went over-the-horizon, the white lights became the least of a carrier’s attempts to avoid detection by anybody, including submarines. That became to case in the 1950s, but it was this week in June 1966, that the decision was made to “turn on the lights.” And what a difference it made. Faster aircraft movements, less time into the wind. A lot of help with pilot depth perception on the last and most critical five seconds of flight before touchdown. Fewer bumps, bruises and maintenance mistakes on a lighted deck. Oh, what a difference. Night flying made fun? Not entirely, but certainly a little easier. Fewer accidents? Ubetcha…. Let there be light… Thanks Lakehurst and Pax River and everybody who made carrier night ops safer by adding white lighting.. Carrier flood deck lighting is 50-years old today… Celebrate good times, Tailhookers.
Lest we forget…. Bear ……….. –30— …………