Dead is Dead The Thread......

[Carter28 92]

8MAR65.

It was a prestrike mission to Bac Giang this time. 

Just like the first mission it was launch off the catapult then a climb to 20,000ft while heading for the beach. Since i was going in first there wasn't much in the way of delaying before reaching the push over. Right about at the mouth of the Red river, it was showtime. Drew scattered fire at first but it started getting serious as i overflew Nam Dinh heading upriver. 

Once past that it was a break of sorts as only the occasional AAA position opened fire before reaching the turning point slightly SW of Hanoi. From there it got to be a steady stream of AA fire all the way to the primary target. I thought maybe it would lessen as the Doung river was crossed but nothing of the sort occurred. Enemy fire grew even more intense across the river and all the way to, over, and on the turn onto the egress route. 

There was a brief respite as the distance toward the ridge was covered but once there and onto the final leg the groundfire was the worst that had been experienced during the mission. AAA was so intense that over the north side of Haiphong the decision was made to go full burner until feet wet and to zoom climb to 10,000ft once over the water. AA fire was still steady until about three miles off the coast though.  

[Carter28 92]

16May65

Ensign Roger Kirby was shot down by ground fire over the target. A good chute was seen and Kirby was taken prisoner as soon as he reached the ground.

[Carter28 92]

Started a new campaign but found out after 2 missions that the squadron wasn't in-theatre for over a year after the starting date so i cancelled it and treated them as training sorties.

[Carter28 92]

OK, so i started a new campaign and got three missions in. This one is the toughest i've flown in a long time. 

First two missions were successful though we had losses, losing single aircraft from two flight formations attacking ground targets. The third was a massacre. Four aircraft shot down in an area where we just previously had suppressed the enemy defenses, three to ground fire and one to a Mig, though the pilot, ENS Luther Diederich somehow managed to down the Mig that got him.  It is possible that weapons loadout and delivery played a part as to deliver the napalm load the pilots had to fly lower and closer to their targets. So it looks like it''l be prudent to revert to a rocket loadout.

[Carter28 92]

Much better this time.

Was tasked with hitting a target at the Hanoi Thermal Power Plant so in light of recent losses and figuring that the guns had been reinforced it was decided that I would launch with ENS Wilkerson.

As it turns out we were so far ahead of schedule that we ended circling at 12,000ft thirty miles from the coast in point for a time. Then of course, we ended up being far behind instead of far ahead. Still, we went feet dry between Haiphong and Thai Binh and increased speed as we turned on the heading towards Hanoi in the distance. If anyone has to get in deep this is the way to go. In the open area between Hanoi, Haiphong, and Nam Dinh there isn't much in the way of AAA. Here we are, putting along at 250 knots and not drawing a shot while the fast movers down below had the whole world open up on them it seems. Even Tampa, another pair of Spads also at altitude and doing flak suppression for us, are doing just fine ahead of us. 

Well, about a quarter of the way there something new happened. There had been scuttlebutt about the North Vietnamese installing SA-2 missiles and now talk became reality because in the distance at 11 low near Bac Mai we saw this smoke column rise up with something streaking away from it. Next came the radio calls. If there's one one site, there's sure to be another somewhere. As we got in close, sure enough there was another launch. This one from around the Gia Lam air base. Well it seemed no one was paying much attention to us so on we went closing in on Hanoi. We could see Tampa ahead by the bursts of smoke as flak opened up on them as they flew over the Hanoi city limits. As we closed in ourselves, it didn't seem to bad until Tampa two took a direct hit and was blown in half. Watching him go down got us focused damn good and so we got ready to face the AAA as we were going to pass over the exact same area. Sure enough, they opened up on us nd all we could do was hope for the best. 

The fun times were over when we pitched over into the bomb run.

The actual attack wasn't too bad even though they were firing like hell at us. It got really bad when we went to get the hell out of there. You see, the target, which we hit all nice fine and dandy, was on the backside of Hanoi from out flight path and so naturally, we would have to turn back and overfly the city on the way out. At low level, with everyone and their grand mama-san shooting at us. Needless to say it was hot and heavy from 4000ft to 7500ft as there wasn't a second of time where the flak wasn't exploding around Wilkerson and i. The initial goal was to just make it over the Red River, hopefully not being shot full of holes. and if that happened, hoping the engine would last long enough to reach the coast. 

After what seemed like an eternity, the Red was crossed and away we went, though ground fire from 6 O'clock was bad enough that we went down to 2000ft as we poured on the coals. It was rather smooth sailing, with the exception of the time we got accurate fire NE of Hung Yen. That made us go down to 900 ft and we learned in the future it'd be best if we flew at 500ft or lower. 

Finally we went feet wet and that was that. The rest was a routine flight home.

Edited August 19, 2021 by Carter28

[Carter28 92]

Flew two missions, both of them relative milk runs but only got the debrief for the second one.

Was tasked to hit the Transshipment south of Than Hoa. Seeing as it wasn't very far it was decided that we would forgo external fuel tanks for this mission and substitute ordnance instead. As it was only a pair of us, new guy ENS Bruning was chosen for this. He is easily the least skilled nugget and apparently barely qualified at every stage of pilot training. Word is that he was shunted off to A-1s on the basis that when he inevitably got in over his head beyond hope of recovery,  he wouldn't take a multi million dollar jet with him. Apparently, even the Rotorheads kept him away from their little club.

So off we went. One thing for sure, Bruning did need more time than usual to form up and was behind the aircraft when we quit circling about 10 miles from the IP but obviously he learned something in training since his drop was pure devastation. I added something with my load but it was a mere pittance as target was well worked over even before my bombs added to the mayhem below.  Groundfire was steady high above on top and negligible during the dive. Was warmer heading back to the beach but nothing all that serious. 

 

The Vihn strike was like a training mission.  Scarce AAA and we barely spent time over the beach. That one was a walk in the park.

 

Edited August 20, 2021 by Carter28

[Carter28 92]

Had a good one at Thai Nguyen.

Was a long haul but it was worth it. Went up with LtJg Phil Sprick and we took the long way at 12,000ft passing east the north of Cat Bi. Heard plenty on the radio but no SAM calls so we had that going for us. As it turns out, AAA was meager during the entire mission. Nice that we can get an easy one see deep into North Vietnam.

[Carter28 92]

Well, the good times came to an end.

Went after a supply point just SW of Quang To and it was a rough one for a quick in and out strike.  Was up with LtJg. Ron Miller and everything was going just as planned until about 10 miles from the coast in point. Flights ahead of us reported SAM activity and sure enough we were able to see launches from two sites SE and S of Quang To. Needless to say, where there's SAM there is AAA. Despite it all we did well until about 10 miles from the target. Two SAMs came up at us from the SE site and only one was a threat which we outmaneuvered by a quick dip at the right time as we saw it coming all he way. The flak started in as we closed on the target and was with us on the way out. Very intense fire. Much more than we expected for the area. It was about 7 miles from the coast when Miller got it.  Maybe 10 more seconds and he would have made but that's how it goes.  Perhaps if were were using the external tank we could have continued on the the hills and turned south. who knows, no use second guessing ourselves now.  It seems from Thanh Hoa north we should be thinking of alternate routes?

[Carter28 92]

This one was pretty wild. 

Ens. Bruning and i went up after the power plant at Hong Gai and it go sorta crazy. We passed the target to the east then swung west in order to hit it from behind and have a straight run out over the water. Things were a bit tense for a while as we got word that MIGs were up and heading our general direction. As we went feet dry there was a call about SAM but other than noting where the site was in the Haiphong area it was no threat to us. By the time we began to roll in, there was a hell of a brawl going on between our F-4s and MIGs so we figured we might just get away clean on this one. 

Of course it wasn't that easy. The attack went as planned and we smashed the target but oh my lord was there an absolute storm of AAA down below. Must be some gunnery school down there because the amount of 37mm fire was unreal. Also 14.5 and 23mm. It was so bad, Bruning got hit about 8 times by 14.5 mm. What led us to go so low (about 800ft) was a swarm of MIG21s that we actually flew right under. Yeah, i got an easy visual on 5 of them and there were more. All within 2 miles of us as we set our gunsights for a fight if they turned in on us. Nothing happened of course, though a little bit later we did get to confirm Trout One's MIG kill as we no doubt saw the MIG-21explode and go down into the water. At that time, twice we had MIGs that we were thinking of breaking on since they were getting pretty close (by that time we were at 5,000ft) but our fighters had them defensive. And so it went and to home we did fly.

[Carter28 92]

Chanh Hoa was close by so it was decided to send everyone except for Ens Stackhouse. It turned out to be another wild one as it became a massive brawl between aircraft and and the guns below. A4s doing Iron Hand joined in and even some Air Force Thuds got in on the action. Was one hell of a fight.  Sole loss was LtJg Ed Miller, who was shot down by 57mm fire over by the Dinh river.

Edited August 27, 2021 by Carter28
Wrong pilot loss

[Carter28 92]

Didn't get a screenshot of the next mission. Went up to Haiphong with Stackhouse and despite a great setup we just slightly damaged the warehouse target with 4 MK84s. Was a hell of a lot of flak on the way out. Get 'em next time. 

[Carter28 92]

Flew two missions with good results but paid a heavy price on the second one.

First one was a recce over Vihn. Not much to speak about other than finding two spots by the hills due west off the water that need to be worked over. Came in from the back side upriver and dropped some CBUs on the POL tanks and dodged AAA out over the water. 

The next one was a doozy.

Was up with Chip Wilkerson to hit the power plant at Uong Bi. Everything seemed rather routine as went feet dry west of the target at 12,000ft. Plan was coast in, turn west and come in behind Phantom ridge, and swing in for the attack. And that's pretty much what happened except for some really serious MIG activity in the area. We knew they were up in force but figured they would be busy down below. and that's pretty much what happened until one came up just as we were set to begin our attack.

Down we went and the MIG (a MIG21) came after us and got Chip with what has to be the flukiest, lucky missile shot ever, according to what the fighter jocks described in their ready room.  I could only hope that  the MIG pilot would be happy with a single kill and avoid the flak, but he was intent on bagging me as well. For my part, i knew exactly what i was going to do. Seeing as the plan was to swing back over the ridge and head east for the water, i figured i'd take this guy back towards the high ground away from the AAA, which was pretty damn stiff, and i know he probably had a bit of trouble seeing exactly which way i would go due to all the jinking.

Well, it was over quicker than i ever would have thought. I know coming off the target i broke hard opposite direction to avoid the ground fire so that must have stymied him. As i jinked around some more heading for the ridge, he opened up the range some to allow himself some room to work with. All the time, i was jinking to the NE i had a good idea what he would do and had sight of him. As he set and began coming in, i whipped the aircraft around and hoped for one of two things...a 12 O'clock shot or failing that, reversing hard and seeing if i couldn't get a good setup on him seeing as he's out of his aircraft's element and fully within mine. And that's how it turned out to be.  We came near head on with him coming down shooting and i just about pulled the stick out whipping the Spad around as he whipped on by.  There was only so much he could do seeing as he was heading straight for the ridge. As he pulled up hard towards the left, the MIG mushed and i had about as good a chance as i was going to get. Pulled lead and gave it three good bursts and whoopie dee, his vertical stabilizer came off!  Got one hell of a MIG kill!

Soon after i was over the ridge and set course out of there and back home.

Edited August 28, 2021 by Carter28

[Carter28 92]

Well, this campaign is wrapped up. I'll not go into detail but let's just say the one up in RP6 was another insane mission. The next one was a big mistake in planning and execution and that was all she wrote. A big thing that i got out of it was it was very possible to head up to RPs 5 and 6 and actually get the bombs on the target with a Spad. With proper planning, tactics, loadouts, and timings, it was very doable.

Edited August 30, 2021 by Carter28

[Carter28 92]

I'll be back in action soon. Likely either once again in a Voodoo or a what the hell challenge flying a Huey. 

[Righteous26 70]

These are several storyboards from my attempt at the Easter Offensive Campaign in the B-57G TROPIC MOON. I will post more as I continue the campaign.

[Righteous26 70]

[Righteous26 70]

These are mission 7, 8 & 9.