RIPPLE SALVO… #547… CONTINUING THE SUMMARY REPORT OF THE AUGUST 1967 STENNIS HEARINGS ON THE AIR WAR…while Humble Host does Tailhook and Reno… but first…
Good Morning: Day FIVE HUNDRED FORTY-SEVEN of a 1000-day review of Operation Rolling Thunder a day at a time…
4 SEPTEMBER 1967…HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a very nice Labor Day Monday in New York City…
SUMMER IN AMERICA 1967…Page 1: “Education Cost In Suburbs Stirs Growing Concern–Taxpayers Are Scrutinizing Budgets As Area Spending Increases 11%”... “Taxpayers are in revolt against rising school costs that have cast a shadow over many suburban school systems as they prepare to open this week…”… Page 1: “The National New Politics Group Gives Equal Votes To Negro Minority”… “In a gesture of reparation and earnest of good faith, the Convention of American Radicals, in which white delegates outnumber Negroes by about 1,500 to 600, thus met in full the second major demand submitted in two days by the conventions Black Caucus as the price of unity…convention is a six-day conference of anti-war and civil rights organizations.”… Page 1: “Ruether Blames Ford For Impasse In Negotiations–U.A.W. Chief Says Failure of Company To Supply Data Could Force Walkout”… Page 15: “Dr. King Is Hailed By 1,500 at Fire Island Rally (Seaview, Long Island)”… “The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood amid the sand dunes here on Fire Island last night to discuss with vacationers: Vietnam, anti-Semitism and the need for a third-party.”…
VIETNAM: Page 1: “Thieu And Ky Are Victors In South Vietnam Ballot; 83% Of Electorate Votes–Two Generals Win–Their Goal Was 40% But They Get Only 27%–Consensus Of U.S. Team Of Observers Is That Voting Was Fair”… Page 1: “Terrorists Kill 26 During Voting–Vietcong Incidents reported in 21 of 43 Provinces–Polling Places Blasted.”….
4 SEPTEMBER 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (5 Sept reporting 4 Sept ops)… Page 6: “In the air war an Air Force F-105 Thunderchief was shot down yesterday (3 Sept: Captain H.W. Moore, KIA) by ground fire in the panhandle. It was the 672nd U.S. plane downed in the North. American pilots struck the Kep air base and hit rail yards and lines while flying 139 missions.”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were two fixed wing aircraft downed in Southeast Asia on 4 September 1967…
(1) MAJOR CARL DEAN MILLER and 1LT THOMAS PATTERSON HANSON were flying an F-4D of the 555th TFS and 8th TFW out of Ubon on a night armed reconnaissance and crashed while attacking trucks 15 miles southeast of Dong Hoi. They were both carried as missing in action for the duration of the war. Promoted in absentia, COL MILLER and MAJOR HANSON were presumed Killed in Action and their bodies remain behind where they perished on the battlefield fifty years ago today…
(2) LCOL MERK DEANE TURNER, Commander of the 19th ACS, CAPTAIN EDWARD LOUIS GOUCHER, A1CJAMES RUSSELL MAYO and Eight passengers were flying in a C-123K of the 19th ACS and 315th ACW out of Phan Rang that went down on a flight from Bien Hoa to Nha Trang and all aboard were killed. The aircraft and bodies were found and recovered on 6 September 1967… Four of the passengers were a Ranch Hand crew en route to pickup one of their aircraft undergoing battle damage repair. The Crew: CAPTAIN W.B. MAHONE, CAPTAIN V.K. KELLEY, TSGT J.M. BOATWRIGHT and MSGT H.C. COOK… A tragedy to never be forgotten… Twelve good men–gone…
RIPPLE SALVO… #547… Stennis Hearing Summary Report: Part II of IX: The History of the Air War…
“The bombing campaign against North Vietnam was authorized in February 1965. Shortly thereafter our military leaders, notably the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recommended a list of ninety-four targets for strike which they considered militarily significant. These targets were not approved . Instead, strikes were limited to a relatively small section in the southern area of North Vietnam and initially only a small weight of effort was employed.
“Throughout, the tempo of the air campaign has been based on a gradual and carefully controlled application of power. Through 1966, the great bulk of the effort was expended on attacking enemy lines of communication well south of the vital areas of Hanoi and Haiphong, while these important targets in the vital northeast quadrant of North Vietnam, where the bulk of its war-supporting resources are concentrated, remained relatively untouched. Only twenty-two of the 242 targets on the Joint Chiefs of Staff list were struck in 1966, and less than one percent of the sorties flown were directed against fixed targets on the JCS list.
“While it is clear that, at least through January 1967, the careful control and restrictive ground rules had resulted in the application of airpower in a manner which was of limited effectiveness, commencing in January 1967, the use of air power was gradually extended. More consistent attacks were authorized against the enemy’s more important targets, such as its transportation network and the war-supporting industries, particularly in the areas surrounding Hanoi and Haiphong. This important northeast area of North Vietnam contains industrial facilities, important military complexes, and key elements of the transportation system which are most important to North Vietnam in enabling it to support the aggression against South Vietnam.
“In the spring of 1967, certain important targets were approved for strike and the weight of the air campaign was intensified, particularly with respect to the vital northeast quadrant, including the Hanoi-Haiphong complex.Targets such as electric power systems, the steel industry, airfields, and some important segments of the transportation system were authorized for strike. Thus, military leaders stated that more had to be done in the past three months than was achieved in the previous eighteen months–all because significant targets were being approved, largely for the first time.
“Admiral Sharp testified on August 9, 1967, ‘During the last three months, with an expanded target list but ‘no significant departure from the restraints under which we have long operated, we have begun to hurt the enemy in his home territory.’ He quickly added that: ‘Now when the enemy is hurting, we should increase our pressures.’
“The weather over North Vietnam has been unusually good this spring and summer. It must be borne in mind that the northeast monsoon from mid-October to April cuts down severely on the number of targets that can be struck. Hence, in July, the military needed many profitable targets to employ its air forces effectively.
“It was with gratification that the subcommittee learned that on August 8, 1967, one day before the hearing commenced, additional important targets were approved, many for the first time. Notably the list included targets in the buffer zone along the Red Chinese border in which strike had long been prohibited. In addition, the vital Hanoi bridge over the Red River was hit for the first time. This bridge handles the rail traffic from Red China over the northeast railway and the vital shipments from the Haiphong to Hanoi.”
Tomorrow: Air War Developments…
RTR QUOTE for September 4: BACON, Apothegms; “Peace is better than war, because in peace the sons bury the fathers, and in war the fathers bury the sons.”
Lest we forget… Bear