Operation Rolling Thunder – Part II

A Followup – Operation Rolling Thunder

From 1965 to 1968, the 7^th Air Force conducted “graduated bombing” of North Vietnam targets to persuade the enemy to come to terms dictated by the LBJ administration to end the war and limit their ability to conduct the war.

The backbone of the operation was the Wild Weasel F-105 crews flown out of airbases in Thailand along with F-4 target suppression aircraft out of carriers in Yankee Station and other land- based airfields using electronic jamming devices.

Through no fault of the pilots, the operation failed on both objectives for many reasons that I’ve documented in previous blogs.

• Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War – 1945 -1975
• Political Interference in the Vietnam War
• Vietnam War’s Operation “Rolling Thunder” 
• “Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics”

Despite dropping 643,000 tons of bombs on North Vietnam, North Vietnam fought seven more years until we officially withdrew due to political considerations outlined in my links above.

Basically, Vietnam was a political loss, not a military one, because of LBJ’s administration’s micromanagement restricting targets and rules of engagement. Perfidy played a detrimental role, bordering on treason. Operation Rolling Thunder cost more than a billion dollars.

We lost 922 aircraft and 1,054 wounded or captured (KIA, MIA, WIA). Critical targets in Hanoi, Haiphong, airfields, Soviet missile sites, and hydroelectric dams were off limits. Our pilots could not believe it!

If you do not believe me, get this information firsthand from some of pilots who survived those missions over North Vietnam. Their testimonies are my purpose of writing this blog.

Call your attention to: OVER WAR – CADE MARTIN PHOTOGRAPHY

I guarantee reading their short stories on this very professional site will be well worth your time.

For more insights on the Vietnam War, I refer your to the over forty blogs I have written.  And, if you have more time, read my historical novel, RECALL.

Your comments are invited, if civil.