RIPPLE SALVO… #192… WHEN THE WINGMAN TAKES THE LEAD… but first…
Good Morning: Day ONE HUNDRED NINETY TWO of remembering the years of Operation Rolling Thunder…
9 SEPTEMBER 1966… THE NEWS ACCORDING TO THE NEW YORK TIMES… “The Gray Lady” speaks on a happy Friday…
Page 1: “Johnson Acts Against Inflation By Asking Congress to Suspend Tax Credit Granted To Business”…”Proposals Draw Criticism From The Business World”…”Spokesmen say a rise in income taxes would have more impact on inflation–but end of indecision is hailed.”…”President Johnson moved against inflation and high interest rates today by asking congress to suspend tax incentives for business investment in new equipment and construction for 18-months. The President recommended a temporary suspension of tax credits granted to business in recent years to stimulate growth. He hopes thus to slow down the rate of corporate expansion, ease the demand for loans, halt the rise in the cost of living, regain the confidence of the financial community and restore calm in the stock market… Page 1: “Curb On Interest”…”The House passed today a bill backed by the Administration to give three Federal agencies more authority to regulate interest rates. The bill would have no effect on the rates paid to borrowers. The bill will have no impact on rates paid to the great majority of savers.”… “The business community expressed sharp criticism yesterday of President Johnson’s new program to combat inflation. Industrialists and bankers generally agreed that an increase in income taxes would be more effective than the suggestion suspension in the 7-per cent investment credit and in accelerated depreciation. On Wall Street stockholders were undecided about the program on psychological grounds noting that it constituted a definite course of action. ‘The thing that Wall street hates most is indecision,’ said David Jackson, Chairman of the board of the American Stock Exchange.”…
Page 18:…Text of President’s Tax Credit Suspension Statement: “The steps I have taken and recommended today are needed to keep the American economy on the safe course of stable prosperity it has enjoyed for the past one and a half years. Decisions made elsewhere influence our defense needs in Vietnam. Because we cannot control or predict these outcomes, we cannot blueprint our fiscal measures in the months ahead. But should additional fiscal measures be required to preserve price stability and maintain sound fiscal policies, I will recommend them. By continuing in a prudent course in our private and public policies and by preserving our capacity for stable growth, we can look forward to continuing growth. We can make that progress within the framework of a free economy. We do not want to resort to controls. If we take the necessary actions, next year should bring new heights in consumer living standards, in savings for the future, in our progress toward the Great Society. I urge the Congress to exercise prudent restraint in appropriating public funds and to act promptly on the legislative proposals I have set forth in this message. “
Page 1: “Kennedy Airport Will Expand 25%”…”A $150 million expansion program to help keep Kennedy International airport ‘keep pace with the phenomenal growth of air traffic and help curb airline departure and arrival delays,’ was announced yesterday by the New York Port Authority. The plan would increase passengers and aircraft operating areas by 25% over the next ten years.”...”Gemini 11 Ready For Flight Today”…”Gemini 11 is ready to go into space tomorrow morning for a fast chase after a target satellite, a link-up during the first orbit and a climb to record altitude. ‘Everything–even the weather–appears to be go,’ said William Schneider, the mission director. The double count-down for the three-day Gemini mission, the nation’s 15th manned space flight, ticked into the night without a hitch. All components were pronounced ‘flight ready.’ The Agena target vehicle was poised atop an Atlas rocket for launching at 8:48 AM and the Astronauts are to follow at 10:25 AM in their Gemini 11, boosted by a two stage Titan.”… “84% Of Collegians In A Sampling Pass Test On Deferment”…”A 10-per cent sampling of the scores on the Selective Service College qualification test showed that 84% of the undergraduates who took the test might be eligible for deferment. They did so by scoring 70 or better. A score of 70 or above does not provide a statutory exemption. The final decision rests with the local draft board.”
Page 1: “Johnson Hopeful On Peking’s Stand”…”President Johnson said today he was encouraged by Communist China’s apparent shift toward the view that it did not face a military confrontation with the United States. ‘We are always glad when other nations feel that there is no reason for them to engage in a confrontation with us.’… Page 2: “Belgrade (Yugoslavia) Radio Reports Peace Feeler By Hanoi”… ‘Milika Sundic, the Belgrade radio correspondent in Moscow reported Monday night tht Premier Pham Van Dong of North Vietnam had asked the Soviet leadership during a recent visit to Moscow to help seek a peaceful solution to the Vietnam conflict. (In Moscow, Mr. Sundic said he had been misinterpreted. He said he had meant to suggest what might have happened at the Soviet–North Vietnamese talks.) The White House is silent on the reports.”
Page 1: “Carmichael Held In Riot Aftermath”…”Stokely Carmichael, chairman of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee was arrested and jailed here tonight in conjunction with the Negro riot Tuesday afternoon in Atlanta. He was charged with two misdemeanors–inciting to riot and disorderly conduct…there was no disorder in connection with the arrest.”… OPED… “The Riots In Atlanta”…”An artificially induced riot involving a few hundred susceptible Negroes shattered the calm of an Atlanta afternoon, and it may have shattered much more. There is no way of gauging fully its effect on a Southern community that had been deservedly considered a model in race relations. Particularly dismaying was the abusive treatment accorded Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. when he rushed to the scene and tried to calm the rioters. They had been whipped into a frenzy, reportedly by the so-called Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, espoused of the separatist and inflammatory slogan of ‘Black Power.’… To the degree that SNVCC in its new militancy was responsible for the violence, it has done a gross disservice to the evolution of racial harmony and the progress of the Negro in Atlanta and elsewhere in the South.”…
9 September 1966… The President’s Daily Brief… CIA (TS sanitized)… France: Preparations are going ahead for the third nuclear test in the Pacific tomorrow (rest redacted…)…South Vietnam: Prime Minsiter Ky has told ambassador Lodge that he forestalled a coup attempt last week in which Defense Minister Co and Fourth Corps commander Quang were implicated. Lodge notes that Ky maqy be laying the groundwork for getting rid of the two generalsw who have been at odds with Ky and other military leaders for several months. Saigon’s to security official recently scoffed at the possibility of a serious coup attempt (rest redacted…)…
9 SEPTEMBER 1966… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… NYT (10 September reporting 9 September ops). “In North Vietnam United States Air Force pilots smashed at two clusters of surface-to-air missile transport trucks and equipment 25 miles northwest of Dong Hoi for 13 hours. They reported that 250-pound bombs and Bullpup missiles had done extensive damage... “MIGs Attack U.S. Airplanes”… “Three MIG-21 jet fighters yesterday attacked two American planes over North Vietnam 30 miles south of the Communist border. The USAF F-105s escaped without damage. Three MIG-21s also pounced on Air Force airplanes during a raid 50 miles northeast of Haiphong…”…”Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) One fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 9 September 1966…
(1) CAPTAIN JOHN CHARLES BLEVINS was flying an F-105D of the 357th TFS and 355th TFW out of Takhli on his 85th mission, a strike on the railway system targets northwest of Hanoi. CAPTAIN BLEVINS’ aircraft was hit by heavy flak over a target 10 miles north of Kep. He was able to fly the heavily damaged aircraft but a few miles before he had to eject. He landed in a developed area and broke a leg precluding any evasion or time to organize a rescue and was captured almost immediately. CAPTAIN BLEVINS was nursed back to health by his fellow POW mates and was returned on 4 March 1973…
RIPPLE SALVO… #192… WHEN THE WINGMAN TAKES THE LEAD… Your Humble Host loves combat stories where the wingman gets the DFC…Send me some, and I’ll tell the story… Here is such a tale from the Ogden Mountain Library of TRUE War Stories… It is the story of LIEUTENANT ISAAC EMERON HARRIS, III, United States Naval Reserve, flying a VF-24 Checkertails F-8 Crusader on one of the biggest and most important Alpha Strikes flown in the summer of 1967 by the USS Bon Homme Richard and Carrier Air Wing 21…
LIEUTENANT ISAAC HARRIS was assigned as a wingman in a flight of eight F-8s to escort and suppress flak for a major A-4 Skyhawk “Walleye” attack on the Thermal Power Plant in Hanoi, North Vietnam.. The date was 10 June 1967 and it was a time of high operations tempo, ‘Katie bar the door’ on targeting with Alphas going downtown everyday, and a fully aroused and active enemy at the peak of his game–knocking down Yankee Air Pirates. The target was located in the center of the most concentrated air defenses anywhere in North Vietnam. The equal of any in the world in 1966-67. The TPP Hanoi is at the very center of a circle of defenses 30 miles deep in every direction. “Going downtown” was the “E” ticket of strike ops. In addition to the thousands of radar controlled anti-aircraft guns in the wide and deep perimeter of defenses there were twenty-three known surface-to-air missile sites and three air fields operating MIG 17 and 21 fighter aircraft piloted by increasingly formidable adversaries. It was a gauntlet like no other in the history of aerial bombardment, except maybe the B-17 and B-24 runs to the heartland of Germany in WW2.
LT HARRIS sat through the pre-flight briefs sucking up the words of wisdom from the strike group leader, intelligence nerds, and the leader of the Crusader fighter escort and cover element with a dual purpose of providing flak suppression . In other words, get in there and fly down the barrels of the busiest guns or active SAM site and silence them with your guns and rockets so the Walleye strike pilots can hang it out right over the TPP in downtown Hanoi for the 20-seconds those three or four sharpshooters must have to lock on their respective building in the TPP complex–the main generator house and the boiler housing– track their weapon, double check the lock on, and let her fly… the longest 20-seconds in a lifetime… LT HARRIS appreciated the extraordinary risk assumed by those three or four delivery pilots whose success depended on not just their own guts and skill, but on the entire strike group doing their respective jobs. LT HARRIS knew his job as he manned up. He was a wingman and mutual support for his section leader and division leader, all of whom were back in the pack behind the strike leader and those Walleye sharp shooters. Wingman. Hang in there and do what is right, especially maintaining section integrity, but always be ready to take the lead… He knew the route in and out, and the location of the principal AAA and SAM sites that might be active. He was ready. His mouth was dry already…
Off the Cat, climb to rendezvous, slide in on his section leader’s wing. A few orbits to gather the thirty plus aircraft in the strike group and off to “downtown.” First feet dry, switches hot, head on a swivel, all ears for MIG and SAM calls. Thumbs up from his lead, returned. As the strike group approaches the target, ten miles out, the entire group is taken under fire with volleys of surface-to-air SA-2s. Violent maneuvering scrambles the formation, but LT HARRIS holds a steady free cruising wing position on his section lead as they pull up, roll and dive down, before repeating, as three missiles go through their piece of sky. Problem. LT HARRIS’ leader loses his afterburner in the maneuvering and has to forego their rocket attack on one of the flak sites in the downtown gauntlet. The Walleye guys get direct hits and the strike group turns for the safety of a mountain ridge northeast of Hanoi–Thud Ridge– and a relatively safe corridor to feet wet. Not so fast. LT HARRIS sees a SAM site and a missile getting underway toward the exiting strike group. He tells his leader, “I have it, follow me,” and he heads directly to the hot SAM site with complete disregard for his own safety and carries his ZUNI rocket attack right into the heart of the site where he RIPPLE SALVOS his pods of ZUNIs, leaving the site in a cloud of smoke… Then the graceful exit (in burner) and rejoin with his leader for a return to Bonnie Dick… Now, that’s a WINGMAN… and that’s a well earned Distinguished Flying Cross… “Attaboy, Harris…not tighten it up, shut up and fly wing, will ya?”…
Lest we forget…. Bear ………. –30– ………..