RIPPLE SALVO… #874… THIS IS THE 53rd ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF THE MOST TRAGIC LESSONS OF THE AIR WAR CALLED ROLLING THUNDER… On 24 July 1965 the North Vietnamese scored their first SA-2 surface-to-air missile kill, only the third successful SAM firing in history. Surprise, Surprise, Surprise. Up to that date the Rolling Thunder warriors were forbidden from striking the enemy SAM sites by the policies and rules of engagement of the Johnson Administration in Washington. It was a wake-up call for the Tuesday Lunch Bunch that was doing the targeting and micro-management of the air war following a strategy of gradualism that turned out to be “gradual defeat.” The U.S. reaction to the first successful SAM kill since 2 American U-2 “Spy Planes” were nailed by the Soviet Union, was predictable. The Tuesday Lunch group called for, and President Johnson authorized, a punitive retaliatory strike on the SAM sites that were responsible for the 24 July kill of a 47th TFS F-4C out of Ubon. Three days elapsed before Operation Spring High got off the ground on 27 July 1965 in the form of 46 (of 48 that were scheduled) U.S. Air Force F-105s Thunderchiefs. Time enough for the North Vietnamese to move their SAM battalions to other sites and set-up dummies and multiple AAA batteries at SAM sites 6 and 7, which is exactly where the Air Force strikes were directed. SHAZAM. Six Thuds in the ground and five warriors KIA or POWs, downed by AAA. Bomb damage assessment photos showed that neither of the two sites attacked contained SAM vans, launchers or missiles. The micromanagement of combat operations by the suits in Washington is well documented, but there are few, if any, more clear-cut examples than Operation Spring High. Know it. Speak it. Learn from it….but first…
GOOD MORNING… Day EIGHT-HUNDRED SEVENTY-FOUR of immersion in the captivating history of the 1960s and Operation Rolling Thunder, the sole offensive operations conducted by the United States against the homeland of the North Vietnamese. Jabs without hooks and uppercuts!
HEAD LINES from the OGDEN STANDARD-EXAMINER on 27 July 1968…
THE WAR: Page 1: “U.S. BASE IN THAILAND RAKED BY GRENADE-TOSSING REBELS–REDS HURL EXPLOSIVES, WRECK 2 YANK AIRCRAFT”… “About 20 guerrillas hurling explosives, battled their way into the largest U.S. Air Force base in Thailand Friday night, wrecking two planes, killing a Thai guard and wounding four Americans. The two-hour long attack on Udorn Air Base, about 300 miles north of Bangkok, marked the first time a U.S. base in Thailand has come under attack… Enemy troops also struck in South Vietnam, rocketing for the third straight night the big Danang Air Base, 375 miles north of Saigon, another base for attacks against North Vietnam. Two planes were wrecked when a rocket scored a directly hit on a Marines hangar. In Saigon, the U.S. Command announced the loss of two more fighter-bombers during strikes over North Vietnam’s southern panhandle. It raised to 872 the number of American warplanes downed in combat over the North during the war… The announcement had been delayed since the downed aviators were thought to be alive and evading capture.”… Page 1: “U.S. TO FREE THREE RED PRISONERS”… “The American military command will release several North Vietnamese prisoners in response to the release of three U.S. Air Force pilots…Hanoi has announced the pilots imminent release but at last report they were still in North Vietnam.”…
PEACE TALKS: No coverage of talks in Paris…
Page 1: “HUMPHREY VOWS TO PUT U.S. ON ROAD TO PEACE–VICE PRESIDENT ADDRESSES UTAH DEMOCRATS AT STATE CONVENTION”… “Vice President Humphrey, still with what was pictured a five possible running mates after Senator Edward M. Kennedy took himself our of the running, said today he is prepared to walk a ‘long and arduous’ road to peace if elected president. Humphrey presumably was disappointed by Kennedy’s announcement that he would not accept a vice presidential nomination, thus spoiling the dreams of Humphrey aides for a Humphrey-Kennedy ticket.”… Page 2: “THREATS TO LBJ INCREASE BUT MANY AREN’T SERIOUS”… “men who wish to prove the violence of American society, the unpopularity of President Johnson or simply the insanity of the age have reported of late statistics aimed at proving a great increase in threats on the President’s life….Serious threats are now running at the rate of one a week…”Page 3: “JUSTICE FORTAS RIFF GROWING MORE VOCAL”… “The controversy over President Johnson’s nomination of Abe Fortas as chief justice is growing more vocal even though formal Senate debate and a possible filibuster are more than a month away….at issue: a serious of decisions that have ‘practically destroyed community moral standards,’ said Senator Jack Miller, R-Iowa.”… Page 1: “STRIKE PERIL PRECEDES STEEL TALKS”… “A threat of a wildcat strikes hangs over the basic steel labor negotiations even if a big industry-wide settlement is reached before midnight Wednesday. It issue is incentive pay–a bonus originally given some workers for extra production but now a crazy-quilt pattern of wage boosts that can make men working side-by-side take home vastly different paychecks.”… Page 1: “NEGRO GANGS BEAT 9 WHITES IN MICHIGAN FLAREUP”… “Eight white persons, including an Army officer and his wife, were pulled from cars and beaten and a Negro woman was shot in the arm in a racial flareup in Grand Rapids Friday night and early today. A white man was also beaten and robbed by Negroes in a parking lot some two miles from where the other whites were beaten. Nine persons were arrested in the flareup
27 JULY 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… The OGDEN STANDARD-EXAMINER…(28 July reporting 26 & 27 July ops) Page 1: “HEAVY RED BOAT LOSSES–CARRIER-BASED JETS CATCH CONG (sic) CRAFT IN PANHANDLE AREA”… “Navy warplanes, flying from three carriers off the coast of North Vietnam, sank or damaged 232 enemy supply bots Saturday in what a U.S. spokesman described today as the ‘largest bag of boats for the war.’ The nearly 200 Navy aircraft ‘pursued the boats and barges’ on rivers, canals and coastal waterways through southern panhandle of North Vietnam sinking 132 boats and damaging another 100…Ranging from the carriers Intrepid, Bon Homme Richard and a third unnamed ship (America), the U.S. planes caught the supply boats in a wide area stretching from the 19th parallel, the boundary for bombing in the North, to Cape Mui Ron, 75 miles to the south. The spokesman said bomb damage to road and bridges in the southern panhandle below the 19th parallel had forced the enemy to depend increasingly on boats to move its supplies southward. The heavy attack was in response to this change in strategy. The raid followed announcements Saturday followed announcement Saturday that two more American planes have been downed in the air war over North Vietnam, raising to 872 the total of U.S. aircraft lost on combat missions there. In a delayed report, a U.S. spokesman said a Navy F4 Phantom and a Marine A-6 Intruder were downed by enemy ground fire in North Vietnam’s panhandle Thursday. Three of four crew members are listed as missing, and a fourth was rescued after surviving 20 hours in enemy territory. Major Curtis Lawson, 37, of Sharon, Ps., the Intruder pilot, parachuted into a North Vietnam antiaircraft battery. He hid in a river and directed air strikes against the enemy guns until they were silenced and a rescue helicopter was able to reach him.”(See RTR for 25 Jul 68)…
VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 27 July 1968…
(1) MAJOR ELWIN REX SHAIN was flying an F-100D of the 510th TFS and 3rd TFW out of Bien Hoa on a close air support mission and spotted a boat full of enemy troops on a river 10 miles northeast of Song He City. He rolled in and ran a stream of 20mm through the boat and troops who responded with small arms fire that hit an set aflame MAJOR SHAIN’s Super Sabre. The aircraft impacted the ground and MAJOR SHAIN was killed before he could eject. He is remembered on this 50th anniversary of his last flight in the service of our country… He was killed in action, a braveheart facing the enemy with extraordinary fighting spirit…. glory gained, duty done…
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) OVER THE NORTH ON THE FOUR 27 JULY’s of the campaign…
1968… NONE…
1967… NONE…
1966… NONE…
1965… OPERATION SPRING HIGH (27 JULY 1965)… CAPTAIN WALTER B. KOSCO, USAF… (KIA)… and… CAPTAIN KILE DAG BERG, USAF… (POW)… and… CAPTAIN WILLIAM J. BARTHELMAS, USAF… (KIA)… and… MAJOR JACK GRAHAM FARR, USAF… (KIA)… and… CAPTAN ROBERT BALDWIN PURCELL, USAF… (POW)… also downed but rescued to fly and fight again CAPTAIN FRANK J. TULLO, USAF… (SURVIVED)… Humble Host included a brief summary of the 27 July 1965 SPRING HIGH operations in Rolling Thunder Remembered posted on 26 March 1966, Ripple Salvo #26.
Chris Hobson reported SPRING HIGH as follows… I quote…
“27 July 1965 turned out to be one of the blackest days of the war for the USAF, particularly for the close knit F-105 community. Following the shocking downing of the USAF Phantom on 24 July by an SA-2 missile, the SAM sites at last came off the restricted list. The first attack on the North Vietnamese SAM system took place three days later, on the 27th, and involved a force of 48 F-105s attacking the two confirmed sites near Hanoi. A SAM site on the banks of the Song Bac Giang (Black River) about 30 miles west of Hanoi and only 10 miles from the Ho Lac airfield ws designated as SAM Site Number 7 by the USAF. In the initial stage of the battle against SAM site No7 the F-105s used conventional bombs, unguided rockets or napalm and all these weapons were used on the raid. Two raids were made against SAM Site No7 and two of the F-105s were lost at or near the target. Both aircraft were thought to have been shot down by AAA. CAPTAIN KOSLO was flying one of four F-105s in the first wave and radioed that his aircraft had been hit and that there was smoke in the cockpit. He ejected and his parachute wa seen by other members of the flight as it floated down towards the Black River. A search later revealed an inflated life raft but no sign of CAPTAIN KOSCO. After the war investigations indicated that CAPTAIN KOSCO had drowned in the river and his life raft had been recovered and used as a fishing boat by a local man for a number of years until it deteriorated. WALTER KOSCO had survived being shot down a few weeks earlier on 5 June when his aircraft was damaged over Laos forcing him to eject over Thailand.
“One hour after CAPTAIN KOSCO was shot down another flight of F-105 attacked SAM Site No. 7 and another aircraft was lost. This F-105 was flown by CAPTAIN KILE BERG and was shot down by ground fire near the target after dropping napalm. CAPTAIN BERG ejected and was taken prisoner. He survived his years if captivity (2700+ days) and ws released on 12 February 1973.
“Two more F-105s were lost in a raid on SAM Site No. 6 close to Site No. 7 (<10 miles). CAPTAIN BARTHELMAS’s aircraft was damaged by ground fire soon after leaving the target area. The captain flew his damaged aircraft back across North Vietnam and Laos into Thailand but was killed when the aircraft crashed near Ban Kut Do. The other aircraft lost on this mission was flown by MAJOR JACK FARR and is thought to have collided mid-air with CAPTAIN BARTHELMAS 15 miles southeast of Ubon after incurring combat damage over the target.
“As the main F-105 strike force left the area of the SAM sites, a last flight of Thuds (Dogwood flight) arrived with the intention of destroying anything that had been left by the main force. As Dogwood flight approached a SAM site at low level a volley of SAM missiles was fired at the aircraft. The flight maneuvered to avoid the SAMs but in doing so flew right over a AAA position and CAPTAIN TULLO’s aircraft was hit. The F-105 burst into flames and CAPTAIN TULLO jettisoned his ordnance and fuel tanks to obtain the last ounce of performance in the hope of getting as far away as possible. A short while later the aircraft started to nose down and TULLO had to eject. He landed in tall elephant grass near Hoang Trung, about 5 miles west of the Black River.
“Miraculously he was rescued by a CH-3C flown by CAPTAIN GEORGE MARTIN in what was the deepest penetration by a SAR mission so far in the war. The helicopter staged through Lima Six 36 in Northern Laos where he refueled for the long flight into the heart of North Vietnam. RESCAP was provided by flights of B-57s and Navy A-1s and two B-57s were slightly damaged by ground fire and had to recover to Udorn where they landed with minimum fuel. As TULLO was being hoisted into the helicopter the hoist snagged and CAPTAIN MARTIN had to land in a nearby field so that TULLO could be set down and climb aboard the helicopter. This was one of the first rescues performed by the recently arrived Jolly Green Giant helicopters and was so far into North Vietnam tht the helicopter crew did not even have map of the area on board.
“Five miles to the south of CAPTAIN TULLO’s position, CAPTAIN PURCELL was shot down while bombing barracks at Can Doi. He, however, was not as fortunate and was captured to spend the next seven years as a POW until his release on 12 February 1973. He had flown 25 missions up to the time of his capture.
“The loss of six F-105s and five pilots in 55 sorties was a bitter blow to the USAF and although the SAM sites were thought to have been destroyed, the trade off was very much in favor of the North Vietnamese. It was also becoming obvious that the greatest danger posed by the SA-2 ws not the kill capability of missile itself but the fact that its mere presence forced U.S. aircraft to fly at lower altitudes where the AAA and small arms fire became more deadly.”… End quote…
RIPPLE SALVO… #874… Humble Host suggests further reading on OPERATION SPRING HIGH … a “Doomsday Mission”… there are a number of fun reads written by participants in the creation of a “black day” in the annals of Rolling Thunder… Search for “OPERATION SPRING HIGH VIETNAM” and go from there.
(1) Start with the “Operation ‘Spring High’ Documentary” by K. Jakker… this is a 40- minute narrated simulation of the mission and the production that is worth a look. Vic Vizcarra was on the mission and has participated in this visual of a “bad day at black rock.”.. He is also trolling for participants in a follow-on project to create an upgraded documentary of the events of the day.
(Webmaster note: I am unable to find this documentary. You can view K. Jakker’s combatace.com profile here)
For an animated video of the events click on this link for a YouTube video.
(2) Frank Tullo was the lone F-105 driver that day who was rescued. His story is well-told by Robert Hanson in an Air and Space Magazine Article dated July 1997 titled “Tullo and the Giant.”… https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/tullo-and-the-giant-22068/?page=1
(3) The rescue is also included in a 60 page document I had trouble putting down. TALKING PROUD: HH-43 SAR pilot’s diary, 1964-65, Vietnam… The Tullo rescue is one of a bunch, each a great adventure…
(Webmaster note: I am unable to locate this document online. Readers can go to talkingproud.us and try contacting the webmaster, though most links on the homepage appear to be broken/nonfunctional)
SIX AIRCRAFT AND FIVE BRAVE AVIATORS were lost on the punitive fiasco labeled OPERATION SPRING HIGH… Left behind were a dozen “kids without fathers”… “We all knew that was a possibility, but those who came home had kids with fathers. Of all who suffer with the passing of a warrior in combat, it is the fatherless kids who suffer most. Humble Host shares “a remembrance” left by a man (the age of my son, the father of my grandkids) who lost his Dad on SPRING HIGH, that day fifty-three years ago… His note to his Dad goes about like this…
“MY FATHER, TOO LITTLE, TOO YOUNG, TOO LONG AGO”… “I was only 5 when he died for his country, fighting a war that was not to be popular, 6 weeks from retirement after resigning for an extra two years to make a higher rank that was not to happen. I only remember three times that were spent with him, as I was so young and he was gone so much time. I miss him all the time and wish he were here today. It was when I was 8 years old that I went to the porch of our new home that mom built for us kids that he left behind, sat and waited for him to come home for a long time, and realized that my Vatti was not coming home again, and I started to cry. He left many times before for months at a time, but always came back with a big hug and kiss for his baby boy. I watch the home movies to help me remember the great times we had in the short time that I knew him. He will always be my hero, my Vatti, my memory, my loss.”…
Less we forget… Bear