RIPPLE SALVO… #543… C.R. “Dick” ANDREGG… “F-105 and F-4 pilots (and A-4 Skyhawk tailhookers), never short on ego, thought they were pretty good at dropping bombs in combat.”… but first…
Good Morning: Day FIVE HUNDRED FORTY-THREE of a 1000-day odyssey into the history of the air war fought in the skies of North Vietnam fifty years ago… an era and record of extraordinary American courage…
31 AUGUST 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times (from the old days when it was a great newspaper) on a rainy Thursday in New York City…
SUMMER IN AMERICA 1967: “SENATE CONFIRMS THURGOOD MARSHALL AS THE FIRST NEGRO JUSTICE–10 SOUTHERNERS OPPOSE HIGH COURT NOMINEE IN 69 TO 11 VOTE”… “Thurgood Marshall was confirmed today in the Senate as the 96th Justice–and the first Negro justice of the United States Supreme Court–69 to 11. The overwhelming Senate approval of Mr. Marshall’s nomination came after almost six hours of speeches in which the former chief legal officer of the NAACP was criticized for being too liberal and unqualified for the job… Nine southerners opposed the nomination and were joined by Robert Byrd of West Virginia (former KKK leader). Opposed: James O. Eastland of Mississippi; Sam Irvin, Jr. of North Carolina; Lester Hill of Alabama; Russell B. Long of Alabama; Allen Ellender of Louisiana; Spresser Holland of Florida; Herman Talmage of Georgia and Senator Byrd. The only Republican opposing was Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, formerly a Democrat.”…
Page 1: “Regents Propose Full College Aid to Poor Students–Seek $250-Million Program to Cover Bulk of Fees and Expenses by 1975–Grants For Teenagers–Scholarships For Needy High School Pupils Urged–Competitive Test Dropped”… “The New York Board of Regents proposed a major expansion of the state’s scholar incentive program yesterday.”… Page 1: “U.S. Provides Site For Model City Built By Industry–President Sees Washington Project as First of Many to Aid Urban Housing”… “President Johnson announced that a privately financed ‘new community’ for families of all incomes would be built on a 335-acre plot of Federal land here. the site is now occupied by the National Training School for Boys, which will be moved to Morgantown, West Virginia… The ‘new community’ will house 25,000 citizens and will be under construction next summer.”…
MIDEAST: Page 1: “Nasser and Hussein Urge Compromise With Israel At Arabs Summit Parley–Egyptian Gloomy–Says He Would Fight But Lacks Enough Money For Arms”… President Gamal Abdel Nasser and King Hussein of Jordan told other Arab chiefs of state here today that the time had come to seek a ‘political’ or compromise resolution of the impasse between the Arabs and Israelis…Nasser spoke in closed session with the chiefs, who reported that he had painted a black picture of the economic and military situation in his country and in Jordan.”… Page 1. “Aide Of Tito Sees Johnson On a Mideast Peace Plan”… “The Yugoslav Foreign Minister arrived in Washington tonight to discuss with President Johnson possible ways of ending the stalemate between Israel and the Arab States.”…
VIETNAM: Page 1: “Vietcong Ambush a U.S. Battalion–8 G.I.s Killed–Assault On Troops Making a Helicopter Landing Sets Off 10-Hour Battle… on the outskirts of Saigon, killing 8 and wounding 34 others. The guerrillas caught the battalion from the 25th Infantry Division as it was making a helicopter assault 14 miles from Saigon. Additional troops reinforced the beleaguered troops. Only 3 guerrillas were reported killed.”… “Along the northern frontier where the United States Marines are bracing for an expected North Vietnamese offensive, B-52 bombers pounded infiltration routes and base camps in three raids. All activity centered on Conthien.”… Page 2: “HEAD OF MARINES ASKS LEGION’S AID–URGES HELP IN PROMOTION OF VIETNAM WAR PRIORITY”... “General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., Commandant of the Marine Corps, called on the American Legion today to help promote the priority of the Vietnam war as the ‘nation’s most pressing problem.’ Addressing a general session of the 49h annual convention at the War Memorial Auditorium…”If we do not possess the national will, and the power to halt this world revolution (Communism) and prove it will not work, then eventually we’re not going to have any city, problems or pocketbooks to worry about.’ American Legion is hearing three days of speeches, including Senator John Stennis: ‘It would be a grave mistake to halt or reduce the bombing of North Vietnam. Never before as a nation have we stopped in the middle of a war to debate how we got there, or why. We should not do so now.’ “…
31 August 1967… The President’s TS Daily CIA Brief…COMMUNIST CHINA: Peking’s first authoritative comment on the intensified US bombing in North Vietnam reflects continuing concern that Hanoi will not remain steadfast. The Chinese statement, broadcast yesterday, claims laboriously that no US or Soviet “plot” to bring about peace talks can possibly succeed in the face of North Vietnamese determination to defeat the US….The statement contains a strong iteration of Chinese support for North Vietnam but implies that the Chinese will become directly involved only if they are attacked by US forces…. ARAB STATES: The Arab summit moves into its third day. Jordan’s King Husayn is making a pleas for a rational approach to a settlement with Israel and Nasir appears to have concluded another agreement with Saudi Arabia’s King Faysal to end the civil war in Yemen. The Syrians have pulled out of the meetings and are sulking in their tents.
31 AUGUST 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (1 Sept reporting 31 August ops) Page 11: “Waves of carrier launched United States Navy jets yesterday set alight oil storage dumps on a North Vietnam airfield 155 miles south of Hanoi near the coastal city of Vinh…The pilots saw the secondaries after dropping their bombs and also watched a large fireball erupt from a nearby barracks area. More Navy planes bombed a surface-to-air missile site three miles from Baithong 20 miles west of Thanh Hoa. Air Force pilots reported destroying a rail bridge 36 miles north of Hanoi. A United States spokesman said two American airplanes, an A-1H Skyraider and an A-4 Skyhawk were shot down over the Southern panhandle yesterday raising the total of downed aircraft to 666. The pilot of the A-4 is missing. The losses come in a heavy day of air strikes.”
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were three fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 31 August 1967…
(1) LCDR HUGH ALLEN STAFFORD, A-4E, VA-163 Saints, embarked in USS Oriskany, POW…
(2) LTJG DAVID JAY CAREY, A-4E, VA-163 Saints, embarked in USS Oriskany, POW…
(3) LCDR RICHARD CLARK PERRY, A-4E, VA-164, Ghost Riders, embarked in USS Oriskany, KIA…
CHRIS HOBSON: “On the last day of the month the Oriskany dispatched 10 Skyhawks from VA-163 and VA-164 against a railway bridge at Vat Cach Thuong near Haiphong. A concerted campaign had started the previous day to isolate Haiphong through which about 85 per cent of the North’s imports arrived. As the ships bringing in the supplies could not be attacked or the harbor mined, the only other alternative was to try to cut all routes out of the city. About 13 miles southwest of Haiphong on the approach to the target the formation of Skyhawks encountered a volley of SAMs. One of the missiles exploded directly in the path of LCDR STAFFORD and his wingman, LT CAREY. LCDR STAFFORD was flying at about 16,000-feet and the force of the explosion blew him out of the cockpit of his aircraft still stripped to his ejection seat. Fortunately, his seat separated and his parachute deployed automatically and although badly injured, he was lucky to survive at all. LT CAREY, who was on his first mission over North Vietnam was also in trouble. His engine wound down and the rear end of his aircraft ws on fire. He ejected from the aircraft was on fire. He ejected from the aircraft and, like his leader, was quickly captured. LCDR STAFFORD and LT CAREY were both released from their imprisonment as POWs in March 1973.”
“A few minutes after the first two aircraft went down, the aircraft of LCDR DICK PERRY, the leader of the VA-164 element, was hit by another SA-2. Streaming fuel, LCDR PERRY turned out to sea and escorted by two other VA-164 aircraft. About two miles off the coast the aircraft became uncontrollable and LCDR PERRY ejected. A SAR helicopter ws already on the scene and a helicopter crewman saw LCDR PERRY hanging limp in his parachute. When he entered the water he failed to surface and when the pararescueman reached him he was found to be dead, probably from a chest wound. (This is debatable). As the parachute lines were twisted around the pilot’s body and the North Vietnamese were firing mortars at the helicopter from the shore, LCDR PERRY’s body had to be left in the water. The body was recovered by the Vietnamese, but it was not until February 1987 that LCDR PERRY’s remains were handed over to the U.S. Government.”…
HUMBLE HOST suggests reading this article on “Lady Jessie“. It is an eye watering classic that cannot be seen too many times… And LCDR DICK PERRY was among the bravest of the brave. He flew his last flight fifty years ago this day…
RIPPLE SALVO… #543… Humble Host has two more links for your consideration. The subject is Dive Bombing 101. The basics. “The Old Way” as labeled by Mike Benitez in his terrific “War on the Rocks” essay, “Taking Air Power for Granted: A Smart Bomb Story.” Here is the teaser… “Back in the early days of bombing, before fighters had computers, dropping a bomb accurately required skill, training, and a bit of luck.”… “The pilot also needed good reflexes. Traveling a 450 knots and aiming for the 50-yard line on an NFL football field, he had to hit the pickle, or release, button within 0.2 seconds of the planned release point to ensure the bomb hit between the two end zones.”… great essay by Mike Benitez and “The Old Way” at:
https://warontherocks.com/2017/08/taking-airpower-for-granted-a-smart-bomb-story/
The second link is a 211 page on-line book by C.R. “Dick” Andregg, “Sierra Hotel: Flying Air Force Fighters in The Decade After Vietnam.” Here is the teaser, a short paragraph from “Part I: The Vietnam School of Hard Knocks,” (from page 18 of 211):
“Of course, airplanes designed to drop nukes do not need to be especially accurate, since the large explosion compensates for aiming errors. However, in conventional bombs, bombing accuracy has to be very good. F-105 and F-4 pilots (and Humble Host must add–A-4 Skyhawk tailhookers), never short on ego, thought they were pretty good at dropping bombs in combat. They were not. A 500-pound bomb must hit within 25-feet to destroy a truck, yet the study of fighter-bomber accuracy revealed that the circular error probable (CEP) for all bombs dropped by the F-105 in combat was 323 feet.” The Andregg study is at…
https://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/29/2001329786/-1/-1/0/AFD-100929-043.pdf
Rolling Thunder was fought from cockpits devoid of digital technology and computers. We were analog, “iron sight,” and reticle limited — human calculators, as we “came down the chute.” No HUDs, no bomb fall lines, no help on release point… No $300,000 helmets… We did it “the old way.”… and enjoyed every minute of it… especially, that last eight seconds of tracking time fleeing forward, down the throat, into the guns, to the one precise pre-planned release point that nails the center span, the old way…
Post note: Al Stafford, who rests in peace, is in my thoughts this evening… We were sworn into the Navy together at Anacostia Naval Air Station in September 1955 and shared an Eastern Constellation flight from D.C. to Pensacola to join Naval Aviation Cadet Class 34-55 together… so long ago…
RTR QUOTE for 31 August: C.E. MONTAGUE, Disenchantment: “War hath no fury like a non-combatant.”…
Lest we forget… Bear