RIPPLE SALVO… #447 (2)… GOING DOWNTOWN with TOM TAYLOR and a few Walleyes on 21 May 1967… but first…
Good Morning: Day FOUR HUNDRED FORTY-SEVEN of a remembrance of war–the air war over North Vietnam fought fifty years ago…
26 May 1967… HEADLINES from The New York Times on a nice day in NYC…
Page 1: “Soviets Reported to Oppose Talks By Big 4 On Crisis in Mideast”...”Qualified diplomatic sources said today tat the Soviet Union was unwilling to join the United States, Britain and France in four power action to prevent the outbreak of war in the Middle East. These sources said that Soviet influence in the Arab world was being directed toward reducing war tensions, but there was no indication that the Kremlin ws ready to take any active diplomatic steps to resolve the confrontation.”… Page 1: “Eban on U.S.Trip Appeals For Help”… “Israel’s Foreign Minister Abba Eban, flew here today to seek assurances that the United States would keep the Gulf of Aqaba open to international shipping. He spoke of an American commitment to do so. The seriousness with which Washington viewed the situation was reflected in the decision was reflected in the decision to remove the dependents of American officials stationed in Israel and the United Arab Republic. In addition, the U.S. Navy has delayed indefinitely its plans to send the carrier USS Intrepid through the Suez Canal. The Intrepid, on her way to Vietnam, is in the Eastern Mediterranean. Twice in the last week the Navy has fixed tentative transits and both times the schedule has been cancelled. The Intrepid carries 60 to 80 fighter bombers.”…
Page 1: “Marines Return to Buffer Zone”… “Fighting broke out anew yesterday inside the demilitarized zone between North and South Vietnam…the report came a day after the United States command announced that heavy fighting and North Vietnamese shelling in and near the zone last week resulted in the highest American casualties of any week of the war. In the seven days ended Saturday (20 May), 337 Americans were killed, 2,282 were wounded and 31 were listed as missing. The losses brought the United States casualties in Vietnam to 10,253 killed and 61,425 wounded since January, 1961. In the new fighting in the DMZ, two battalions of United States Marines, about 1,200 men, assaulted a hill complex just inside the buffer zone about three miles west of Conthien.”…
26 MAY 1967…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER...New York Times (27 May reporting 26 May ops)...Page 1: “In the air war Navy carrier pilots blasted the Kep airfield, 37 miles northeast of Hanoi for the second time in a week while Air Force pilots struck the Hoalac airfield 20 miles west of Hanoi. A spokesman said the main runway and taxiway at the Hoalac field were again cratered keeping the field inoperable…Pilots from the aircraft carrier Hancock set off two explosions in protected aircraft parking areas containing three MIGs at the Kep field…Two miles west of Haiphong, pilots from the carrier Enterprise dropped 1000-pound and 2000-pound bombs on a thermal power plant. The plant was last attacked and severely damaged on May 9. The Enterprise attack pilots destroyed the main building that was left standing after the last raid. Pilots from the Bon Homme Richard bombed another thermal power plant 14 miles north-northeast of Haiphong setting the boiler house and generator hall afire…In other raids Air Force Thunderchief pilots attacked a surface-to-air missile training facility 4o miles north of Hanoi, with pilots reporting six buildings destroyed or damaged.”
“Vietnam: Air War” (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 26May 1967…
(1) LTJG READ BLAINE MECLEARY was flying an A-4E of the VA-93 Blue Blazers embarked in USS Hancock as a flak suppressor on an air wing strike on the Kep airfield. LTJG MECLEARY’s A-4 was hit by 85-mm AAA fire as the strike group approached the Kep area. The aircraft was observed to be streaming fluid and shortly thereafter LTJG MECLEARY lost full control of the aircraft. He was however able to regain some control and exit the target area before the aircraft began rolling uncontrollably. LTJG MECLEARY was seriously injured while ejecting from the rolling and diving Skyhawk. He was captured immediately and held as a POW until 1973.
RIPPLE SALVO… #447… A WAR STORY IN TWO PARTS… “A DART IN THE HEART”… Part I…
Operation Rolling Thunder was the code name for the “air war” with and over North Vietnam.” The American strategy was labeled “gradualism.” The thinking was that the bombing of the North would start slow and escalate by measures determined by the wise at weekly luncheons in the White House. By gradually increasing the intensity of the air war the increasing pressure would cause North Vietnam to seek a peaceful settlement to the war in South Vietnam. Starting with a few targets “down south,” below the 20th parallel, the targeting proceeded to move north and the target systems–bridges, choke points, POL, thermal power, rail, manufacturing plants, vehicles and vessels, MIG bases–were added to the list of authorized targets as deemed supportive of the “gradualism” strategy by the Tuesday Lunch bunch.
By May 1967 everything in North Vietnam was on a target list with the exception of mining and bombing the port of Haiphong, two MIG bases, and the thermal power plant in downtown Hanoi, which was less than a mile from the center of the capital city. The Hanoi TPP became the target of choice and final target ahead of a major decision on the future direction of the ROLLING THUNDER bombing campaign. Would intensification and a no-holds barred attack on North Vietnam be more effective in supporting the war in the south and getting Uncle Ho to say “uncle,” or would a change to concentrate all bombing below the 20th parallel to more effectively interdict the flow of support –men and material– be a better alternative? Or, should we just keep doing the same– interdiction with random strikes in Route Packs 4, 5 and 6. The big decision would follow the strike on the Hanoi TPP–arguably the toughest target in North Vietnam.
The Hanoi TPP required a precision, surgical, strike since it was located in the heart of downtown Hanoi. The development of such a weapon was nearing completion at the Navy’s weapons engineering and testing facilities at China lake, California. The project officer for the Walleye in Air Development Squadron (VX-5) was Lieutenant Tom Taylor. Testing in the desert complete, LT Taylor and Walleye were detailed to deploy with VA-212, the “Rampant Raiders” on USS Bon Homme Richard, for operational testing of the new smart “TV Guided” weapon. In March 1967, when the President visited Guam to confer with his wartime leaders a briefing by the Commanding Officer of VA-212, Commander Homer Smith, was included in the agenda. The President was persuaded that the Navy had the precision weapon required to take out the Hanoi TPP without civilian casualties, a high priority of President Johnson. The Rampant Raiders, including Homer Smith, Tom Taylor, Marv Quaid, Mike Cater, Bill Greene and Rex Rackowicz, were the warriors to deliver the darts to the most heavily defended target in all of North Vietnam in May 1967.
Throughout the month the squadron delivered several Walleye weapons on targets in the “southern panhandle” of North Vietnam, including an enemy radar site and barracks at Sam Son on the banks of the Song Ma just east of the Thanh Hoa Bridge. The Operational Test was complete. The Hanoi TPP was authorized for destruction by the President on or about 18 May and the stage was set. The initial attack was flown on 19 May and was a bust due to adverse weather–low clouds and little sunlight limited the contrast the Walleye requires for a hard and fast lock-on– damage was light and a re-strike would be required.
On 20 May Commander Smith led a flight of four Walleye “shooters” on a strike on the thermal power plant at Bac Giang. The strike was executed as planned and damage to the plant was total. unfortunately, Commander Homer Smith was hit by ground fire clearing the target and forced to eject in the target area. He was seen on the ground but was captured and died in captivity. The devastating blow to the VA-212 band of brothers was absorbed and they marched on–to the Hanoi Thermal Power Plant on 21 May 1967–to deliver a “dart to the heart” of Hanoi and North Vietnam.
On 21 May Commander Marv Quaid in his second day as CO of VA-212 led his Walleye team into the guns of Hanoi to deliver the dart– a formation of Walleyes–to the heart of the enemy. Mike Cater, Bill Greene, Rex Rackowicz and Tom Taylor were the “shooters.”
Humble Host has opted to use the cockpit of LT Tom Taylor to tell the story as it is written in the summary of action submitted with a recommendation “for the award of the Silver Star for his conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in aerial flight”on 21 May going downtown.
THE TARGET and the PLAN OF ATTACK… On 21 May 1967 Lieutenant Thomas Franklin Taylor of VX-5, temporarily assigned to VA-212 embarked in USS Bon Homme Richard, was engaged as a wingman piloting an A-4E in a strike group consisting of four A-4E and 12 F-8E aircraft in an attack on the Hanoi Thermal Power Plant, located in the city of Hanoi, North Vietnam. The power plant had been attacked two days prior by Attack Squadron Two Hundred Twelve with two Walleye weapons. The previous attack had been hampered by low clouds in the target area and the damage inflicted had been less than required. The location of the power plant made it a highly sensitive target that precluded any attack until the development and fleet introduction of a highly accurate, precision guided weapon, such as the Walleye could occur. If the target were attacked with conventional ordnance damage to residential areas and civilian casualties was virtually assured.
The successful destruction of the plant would deprive the enemy of the prime source of electrical power in the city of Hanoi. The generating capacity of the plant was rated at 32,000KW and its removal would seriously curtail the enemy’s ability to manufacture needed war materials to support the war in South Vietnam. This power plant was the largest in the North Vietnam and generated about 22% of the national electrical power capacity. It was the only plant in the city and supplied the industries there with the bulk of their power requirements. In addition, the dramatic effect of destroying an industrial complex located in an area of civilian dwellings without damage to civilian property of lives could be expected to give pause to the North Vietnamese, and the world at large, that no target in North Vietnam was safe from precision attack by the United States.
In order to execute the attack with precision, extreme and painstaking planning was required. The target was studied in detail until all members of the division of delivery pilots could draw from memory the location and appearance of the targets in the center of the city approaching from any direction. All strike pilots were briefed on contingencies and the extensive defenses in the approach and the target areas. The area was heavily defended by all types of antiaircraft guns, 23 surface-to-air missile sites, and protected by more than 70 MIGs. The main generator hall was selected as the aim point for two of the Walleyes and the boiler house for the other two weapons.
The attack had to be planned for nearly simultaneous weapon release in order to prevent interference between Walleyes. Each member of the division was charged with knowing the entire plan so that in the event of the loss of the leader the attack would continue.The specific tactics for evading surface-to-air missiles were planned for each segment of the flight. The delivery maneuver was planned and repeatedly briefed until ingrained in the mind of each pilot. The division carefully planned the navigation to the pull-up and roll-in points carefully studying all the possible check points along the route across the relatively featureless plain that surrounds the city of Hanoi in the Red River Valley.
The strike group was to follow a diversionary group into the Hanoi Plain. After rendezvous and tanking from pre-positioned aerial tankers the group proceeded to the rendezvous with the diversionary strike aircraft…
TO BE CONTINUED: Part II of “Dart to the Heart”– RTR 27 May 1967…
CAG’s QUOTES for 26 May: CHURCHILL: “There is no middle course in war.”… PATTON: “We must keep moving. Do not sit down. Do not say, ‘I have done enough.’ Always see what else you can do to raise hell with the enemy. You must have a desperate determination to continually go forward.”…
Lest we forget… Bear