What-If VPAF attack/intruder aircraft

[macelena 1,070]

I was thinking about some aircraft which the VPAF could have used to launch raids into US/RVN bases, either in South Vietnam, Thailand, or even Yankee Station. 

Il-28s seemed OKish, except for the speed, and i'm not sure Su-7s had the range for flying all the way and back fast and low enough to make it through in daylight. Yak-28s sprang to mind, could have been deemed "less sensitive" once one crashed in West Berlin in 1966.

Edited April 18, 2021 by macelena

[dsawan 613]

Mig-17's? They did attack a US ship. see here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Higbee

[Wrench 9,424]

they DID have Beagles, iirc, and then "retreated" them across the border. that's why we moved HAWK batteries to SEA

[Mike Dora 171]

You’re right Wrench, they had Beagles. Saw some in Phnom Penh in late 1979, when we were flying in supplies for the Red Cross just after the NVA had kicked out the Khmer Rouge. Also saw what looked like Farmers. Bit hard to tell with those, all the VPAF ac were on the opposite side of the runway from the civil ramp that we used for our Herc.

[dsawan 613]

An-2 colts?

The An-2 was adopted in bulk by both the Soviet Air Force and other Eastern Bloc military forces. It was first used in a military context during the Korean War of the early 1950s.^{[citation needed]}

The Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) was another prolific user of the AN-2; during the Vietnam War, the service occasionally used the type as an attack aircraft. During the 1960s, a single An-2 that was attempting to engage South Vietnamese navahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-2l units was shot down by a United States Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter, under the control of an Air Intercept Controller on the USS Long Beach.^[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-2

 

[macelena 1,070]

I had read about the attack on USS Higbee and the An-2 shoot down, I mean how could they have undertaken those kind of attacks more consistently, kind of like Bedcheck Charlie. I'm not sure it have been worth the losses, it is more about how to pull something like that off.

[Sokol 443]

hi,

AFAIK attack mission by the VPAF were very rare. given the overwhelming superiority - in quantity and most cases in quality - of the US-forces, given the geographical situation - a very long panhandle, surrounded by enemy forces  in the east, the west and the south, the VPAF had extreme difficulties to even protect their homeland, let alone perform counter-attacks.

But these did occur: not on a regular basis, but in guerilla-style - quick, unexpected, small numbers, without scheme. As mentioned above:

• il-28 bombers seem to have been used in Laos on various occasions
• An-2 were used against outposts (most famous is their attack on Lima-Site 85, later conquered by a NVA-regiment)
• MiG-17s attacked US-vessels
• MiG-21 are said to have been involved in air-to-ground missions in the final all-out offensive in 1975
• A-37 (and F-5 ?) were used in the final assault on Saigon

I guess there have been a lot more incidents like these, since the USA did not deploy Hawk-missiles and F-102 interceptors to Vietnam for nothing. eventually, time will show. the lack of an unbiased authorative book on the air-war in SEA is felt very heavy.

sokol

[+daddyairplanes 8,634]

if you want to go post american war, there was an An-26 that was converted to carry mk 80 series bombs

pic courtesy of the Soviet Aircraft Archive FB group

[+Gepard 10,239]

10 hours ago, daddyairplanes said:

if you want to go post american war, there was an An-26 that was converted to carry mk 80 series bombs

pic courtesy of the Soviet Aircraft Archive FB group

All AN-26 could carry bomb racks. This was not special for Vietnam.

[+daddyairplanes 8,634]

7 hours ago, Gepard said:

All AN-26 could carry bomb racks. This was not special for Vietnam.

the american mk 80s series bomb is what makes it special to Vietnam. the pylons do look pretty much factory standard