RIPPLE SALVO… #157… CARRIER AVIATION–PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE…
Good Morning: Day ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-SEVEN of a great odyssey into the past, back to Rolling Thunder…
5 AUGUST 1966… PAGE ONE OF THE HOME TOWN NEWSPAPER... NYT…A cloudy Friday with possible showers…
Page 1: “October Draft Is 46,200, Biggest Since Korean War”…”The Defense Department issued a draft call today for 46,200 men in October–the highest monthly figure since the Korean War. It also increased its previous request for 31,300 in September by 6,000 to 37,000, citing a decline in voluntary enlistments into the Army. The call came as the House Armed Services Committee announced that it would defer further hearings on the working of the Selective Service system until early next year… Page 1: “New Truce Guard In Vietnam Urged”…”India is seeking an expansion of the International Control Commission’s role in the demilitarized zone between North and South Vietnam to prevent a further spread of the war into the buffer zone. India, which supplies the commission’s chairman, favors the establishment of several teams that could move around and verify allegations of misuse of the zone. (AP: U.S. B-52s raided the DMZ for the fourth time in a week.) The commission only has one small team in the zone. It is stationed at a bridge over the Benhai River and has not been patrolling outside its base. In addition to the mobile teams, India favors a new effort to revive joint military commission, with representation from both the North and South.”…
Page 1: “Black Power Idea Long In Planning”…”A position paper, written last winter by dissident members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and still considered confidential, shows that the organization’s new ‘black power’ philosophy was the product of months of planning. The document is the first detailed explanation of the thinking behind the ‘black power’ concept to become available to the public. It was used by the dissidents to reverse the student committee policy on the role of whites in the civil rights movement. ‘If we are to proceed toward liberation we must cut ourselves off from the white people,’ the document says. ‘We must form our own institutions, credit unions, co-ops, political parties, write our own histories. Negroes would instinctively champion all-black teams if they opposed all-white teams,’ the paper says. ‘The same principle operates for the civil rights movement as it does for baseball: a mystique must be created whereby Negroes can identify with the movement.‘ The members who prepared the paper said they expected to be accused of being ‘racist’ but were prepared to give up white financial support because they felt such support would ‘entwine them’ in the tentacles of the white power that controls this country. Because it was compiled by a committee with at least some divergent views, the paper is alternatively conciliatory and angry toward whites, but all of those who joined in writing it concluded that white should have at best only a minor role in civil rights activity or in political organizations among Negroes.”…
Page 3: “Frenchman Says Haiphong Raid Killed Civilians”…”A French news agency dispatch from Hanoi said today that Tuesday’s bombing of oil installations in the outskirts of the North Vietnamese port of Haiphong appear to have been the costliest so far in civilian lives. In addition, the raid seemed to have failed to hit any military objectives. the United States said after the raid when the North Vietnamese protested that populated areas had been bombed, that the targets had all been military, and that all bombing had been on target. The dispatch was signed by Jean Raffaelli of Agence France-Press. He quoted witnesses as having indicated the attack was thrown off by ‘an enormous barrage of anti-aircraft fire.’ The barrage hit a tight formation of 50 bombers coming in from the sea at medium altitude. Five American planes were hit and disappeared enveloped in smoke. He quoted officials as having said 40 people were killed in one section of the city alone.”…Page 3: “Pentagon Disputes Report”…”The Pentagon said today that both pilot reports and later reconnaissance photos indicated that all bombs dropped in Tuesdays raid in the Haiphong area were on target. This a spokesman said refuted the reports from Hanoi of high civilian casualties.”…Page 3: “Halt In Oil Flow Seen”…”United States strikes appear to have halted oil shipments o Haiphong which once handled 95-per cent of North Vietnam’s petroleum imports. Communist bloc tankers have steered clear of the port since the first bombing of oil installations there and at Hanoi on 29 June. It was reported that at least one tanker was diverted to a Communist China port where presumably its oil was trans-shipped to North Vietnam by rail.”…
Page 3: The weeks battle casualties: American–90 KIA, 578 WIA… and total for war to date: 2,691 KIA, 15,012 WIA. Total enemy KIA: 30,049…
5 August 1966… The President’s Daily Brief… CIA (TS sanitized)… South Vietnam: The economic situation is encouraging. the steady price rise kicked off by the devaluation in June was broken after about a month. The latest retail price index for Saigon–for the week ending August 1 — shows prices generally steady or slightly lower that in the previous week. Labor is still a problem, however. Pressure for substantial wage increases is building up….
5 AUGUST 1966… Operation Rolling Thunder… NYT… ( 6 August reporting 5 August ops)… Page 1: “U.S. Planes Strike In Haiphong Area Eluding 6 Missiles”…”American fighter-bombers attacked oil depots and radar sites in the Haiphong area yesterday (5th) and eluded six Soviet made missiles…carrier based Navy airplanes bombed the Doson oil depot 17 miles southeast of Haiphong and reported several hits in several storage tanks. The fliers said they left the area on fire. Simultaneously, the Air Force planes attacked radar sites 10 to 15 miles northwest of the port city. Results of these strikes were not announced. During these raids the enemy forces fired six surface-to-air missiles in the Haiphong area. A United States spokesman said no planes were shot down yesterday by either missiles or anti-aircraft fire. In other attacks over the North Air Force planes hit a truck convoy on Highway 1 eight miles north of the DMZ. Pilots reported 25 secondary explosions indicating hits on ammunition or fuel. In another raid in southern North Vietnam, Navy pilots struck at an oil depot 45 miles southwest of the coastal city of Vinh. Pilots reported a large secondary explosion… “Vietnam: Aircraft Losses” (Chris Hobson)…There were no fixed wing aircraft lost by the U.S. on 5 August 1966…. oohrah…
RIPPLE SALVO… #157… 60TH TAILHOOK CONVENTION…8-11 SEPTEMBER 2016… RENO/SPARKS, NEVADA…
The Tailhook Association knows how to host a thoroughly professional convention. World class, as it should be. For six decades the event has been one of continuous improvement. The Tailhook Convention is just the right mix of social and athletic events, tours, world class exhibits, aviation industry booths, presentations, speakers, and symposia. This is not just an annual reunion– it is an annual showcase for one of the mighty elements of our National Defense– Naval Aviation and the carrier Navy. This is an event not just for Tailhookers, but anybody who loves, and is proud of, our country. If you have never attended this annual event, I most strongly recommend you get cracking and get to Reno/Sparks by 8 September. If you do, you will come away knowing why you love, and are proud of, your country.
One month to go… TAILHOOK CONVENTION 2016, 8-11 September 2016, Nugget Casino Resort Hotel, Sparks-Reno…
Registration: Tailhook Association: http://www.Tailhook.net… by phone: 800-322-HOOK … or 858-689-9223…
Hotel and site of event : Nugget: at 800-648-1177, and if you are too late for a bunk or two at the Nugget, as I was last year, not to worry– great resort hotel one mile away and Tailhook runs an hourly shuttle to and fro the Nugget….
The theme for this 60th annual muster is most appropriate– “CARRIERS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE” — and my money is on CARRIERS FOREVER…
LEST WE FORGET…. Bear ……… –30– ………..