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For educational purposes
This episode covers the early years of the Air War with American and South Vietnamese pilots flying tandem to the beginning of the Rolling Thunder campaign.
This episode covers the early years of the Air War with American and South Vietnamese pilots flying tandem to the beginning of the Rolling Thunder campaign.
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LearningTranscript
00:10To be continued...
00:36THE END
00:51THE END
01:10THE END
01:18Operation Rolling Thunder sent American warplanes against heavily defended targets.
01:25It was a destructive and costly battle as both sides used ever more sophisticated weapons and tactics.
01:38In Rolling Thunder, American aircraft dropped over 650,000 tons of bombs on North Vietnam.
01:46There were also massive operations in South Vietnam, supporting American ground troops and against Communist supply lines and bases in
01:55Laos and Cambodia.
02:04The air war in Southeast Asia was more than a contest between the United States and North Vietnam.
02:12From the start, America's Cold War enemies, China and the Soviet Union, were backing the North with weapons, advisors and
02:20support personnel.
02:28For U.S. leaders, that raised the most difficult question they had ever faced.
02:33Could the air war be won without sparking off a wider and infinitely more dangerous conflict?
03:06The United States Air Force began its work.
03:09The U.S. war in Southeast Asia more than three years before American combat troops set foot in Vietnam.
03:19In late 1961, President John F. Kennedy ordered more help for the South Vietnamese government in its war against the
03:26Viet Cong guerrillas.
03:36U.S. U.S. backing included new equipment and more than 3,000 military advisors and support personnel.
03:47Soon, U.S. Army and Marine helicopters were flying South Vietnamese government soldiers and their American advisors into combat against
03:55the Viet Cong.
03:57U.S. Air Force transport planes helped with troop deployments and supplies.
04:09Meanwhile, reconnaissance aircraft searched for guerrilla units and interceptors defended South Vietnamese airspace against North Vietnamese or even possibly Soviet
04:19or Chinese intruders.
04:23Amongst the first U.S. U.S. Air Force units sent to Vietnam was a small detachment of helicopters disguised
04:29in South Vietnamese markings.
04:33Under special rules of engagement, codenamed Farmgate, the aircraft were flown by U.S. personnel but had to have a
04:40South Vietnamese Air Force officer on board.
04:44Unofficially, they were flying combat missions against the NLF.
04:57In spite of American efforts, the NLF inflicted a series of defeats on the South Vietnamese Army in 1963.
05:06Guerrilla numbers were rising, and they were better armed and led than ever.
05:14With each month that passed, the NLF was getting more weapons, ammunition, and trained men from North Vietnam.
05:41With each month that passed, the NLF was getting more weapons, ammunition, and trained men from North Vietnam.
05:44The main supply route from North Vietnam, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, ran inside Laos and Cambodia to the NLF's
05:52base areas in the South.
06:01The trail was manned by North Vietnamese Army troops with the help of Laotian guerrillas, who were waging their own
06:07war against the Lao government.
06:22The NLF guerrillas were concentrated in the Mekong Delta, around Saigon, and in the central and northern parts of Vietnam.
06:37It was near these areas that the Americans stationed helicopter companies to carry South Vietnamese troops into battle.
06:47The detachment, operating under Farmgate, was based at Benhua near Saigon, and there was another important base at Tan Sinut.
06:58Three smaller airfields also supported fixed-wing operations.
07:12By the end of 1963, Farmgate pilots, soon known as air commandos, were flying more than 80 missions a week.
07:20They attacked Viet Cong base areas and river traffic, and were credited with killing hundreds, maybe thousands, of guerrillas.
07:38Operation Ranch Hand flights, spraying a deadly herbicide to destroy jungle cover, were also flown under Farmgate rules.
07:50The spraying, which began in early 1962, cleared the vegetation alongside highways.
07:57Viet Cong ambushes would then be far easier to spot.
08:09Ranch Hand's mission was soon extended beyond preventing ambushes.
08:14Vast tracts of forest were sprayed with Agent Orange, a herbicide containing the deadly chemical dioxin.
08:22Guerrilla trails and base areas were exposed, and crops that might feed Viet Cong units were destroyed.
08:31By the summer of 1971, Operation Ranch Hand had sprayed 11 million gallons of Agent Orange, containing 240 pounds of
08:41dioxin,
08:41and destroyed 6 million acres of South Vietnam.
08:45One-seventh of the country's total area was laid waste.
08:51Herbicides containing dioxin were banned for use in the U.S. by the Department of Agriculture in 1968.
08:58In Vietnam, the spraying continued until 1971.
09:14Between April and June 1964, American air power in Southeast Asia was massively reinforced.
09:23Two aircraft carriers arrived off the Vietnamese coast.
09:27The move was prompted by an NVA offensive in Laos.
09:37To help Laotian government forces, U.S. aircraft mounted a big reconnaissance effort, codenamed Operation Yankee Team.
09:52Soon after Yankee Team began, two Navy planes were lost to anti-aircraft fire over Laos.
09:59The Air Force retaliated by hitting the enemy gun positions in the first jet bombing raids in Southeast Asia.
10:13As well as photographing the activities of the Laotian guerrillas, American aircraft over Laos were monitoring the Ho Chi Minh
10:21Trail.
10:22It was clear that North Vietnam was sending more men and supplies to the southern guerrillas than ever before.
10:37In Washington, the new U.S. president, Lyndon Johnson, was being pressed hard by his military commanders to punish the
10:44North.
10:46So far, Johnson had refused to sanction official direct attacks on North Vietnam.
10:53However, covert attacks were being conducted over Vietnam near the Laotian border.
11:00It was an incident in the Tonkin Gulf that finally lit the fuse.
11:04In bad weather conditions, the captain of an American destroyer thought he was fired upon by North Vietnamese patrol boats,
11:11an attack that actually never happened.
11:14But on August 5th, 1964, the president ordered retaliation.
11:33Operation Pierce Arrow was launched by the carriers Ticonderoga and Constellation.
11:43Aircraft from Constellation bombed North Vietnamese naval facilities at Hong Gai and Loch Chau with the loss of two American
11:53aircraft.
11:58Fuel storage tanks and a patrol boat base at Vinh and another base at Khoang Khe were attacked by aircraft
12:05from Ticonderoga.
12:11Later, a follow-up strike completed the devastation at Vinh.
12:33In North Vietnam, the American bombing raids immediately triggered a secret plan.
12:38For years, the North had been creating an air force with Soviet-built jet fighters.
12:43The force had been based in China.
12:46The day after the American bombings, the fighters were called home.
12:58Even as the North Vietnamese fighters began to patrol out of their new base, the Americans rushed their own reinforcements
13:04to the region.
13:12The air force deployed more than 70 planes to Vietnam and Thailand.
13:19The Navy sent two more carriers steaming towards the Gulf of Tonkin.
13:31As tension in Southeast Asia rose sharply, U.S. intelligence learned of an ominous development.
13:38In October 1964, China, Vietnam's neighbor and ally, successfully tested an atomic bomb.
13:58In the closing weeks of 1964, American aircraft launched a new campaign in Southeast Asia.
14:05The aim was to find and destroy North Vietnamese transport and installations on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos.
14:13For the Americans, Operation Barrel Roll was the start of an attempt to cut off supplies to the NLF that
14:20would last for a full eight years.
14:33By February 8th, 1965, NLF guerrillas in South Vietnam had launched a series of attacks on U.S. installations and
14:41personnel.
14:43The United States was determined to hold North Vietnam responsible.
14:58Carrier aircraft had been kept ready to retaliate if the President gave the order.
15:02On February 7th, 1965, they were unleashed against North Vietnamese targets.
15:27Operation Flaming Dart was launched from the carriers Ranger, Hancock and Coral Sea, and from airfields in South Vietnam by
15:36both U.S. and South Vietnamese planes.
15:42The targets were North Vietnamese Army barracks and the 325th Infantry Division's training base at Dong Hoi.
15:52Because of bad weather, only one target was hit in strength at the cost of an aircraft shutdown.
16:04In the next five days, more retaliation raids again hit Army barracks.
16:11Three American aircraft were lost.
16:30Up to now, the American airstrikes on the North had been in retaliation for particular incidents.
16:37However, many in Washington believed that bombing should have a much bigger role to play.
16:44They argued a sustained campaign of attacks could make North Vietnam stop supporting the war in the South.
16:57Military planners had long ago been given permission to prepare a major bombing offensive.
17:04It was codenamed Operation Rolling Thunder.
17:07On February 13th, 1965, the White House gave the go-ahead.
17:17Two weeks later, on March 2nd, after a series of delays, the Americans launched the first raid of the new
17:23campaign.
17:25The initial plan was to launch two or three strikes every week.
17:29But by March 19th, with Rolling Thunder 7, the airstrikes became a sustained and regular effort.
17:43Rolling Thunder got off to an uncertain start.
17:46The first mission, flown by more than a hundred aircraft, hit an ammunition dump in the Quang Khe Naval Base.
17:58Five U.S. aircraft were lost.
18:03In the following weeks, North Vietnamese radar, railway bridges, and military bases were attacked.
18:10But more American aircraft were shot down.
18:14Already, it looked like an air war over North Vietnam might prove far more costly than anyone had expected.
18:51The American president, Lyndon Johnson, doubted that bombing North Vietnam would be enough to save the South.
19:01By now, he was resigned to using American troops to fight the guerrillas.
19:09The first combat units had already landed.
19:17Johnson's biggest worry, shared by his defense secretary, Robert McNamara, was that bombing North Vietnam might spark off a much
19:25bigger war.
19:33The Soviet Union and China had been supporting the North with financial and military aid for years.
19:40If the American bombing was too fierce, they might be forced to come to its defense.
19:45After that, anything could happen.
19:57Johnson's fears that the war in Vietnam could spiral out of control were not shared by his military leaders.
20:09The Joint Chiefs of Staff did not believe that the Chinese or the Soviets would intervene no matter how hard
20:16the U.S. hit the North.
20:18What they wanted was a quick and devastating campaign.
20:33Whatever the doubts of his military leaders, Johnson was sure that massive bombing of North Vietnam would draw in the
20:40Chinese.
20:41The only course the president could see was to keep strict control of the offensive himself.
20:50Each week, the list of targets to be struck would have to be approved by him at the White House.
21:17The first American bombing raids had come as a severe shock to the leaders of North Vietnam.
21:23Neither the president, Ho Chi Minh, nor his government had expected the Americans to go so far.
21:29But there was no question of giving in.
21:37On April 8, 1965, Premier Pham Van Dong replied to a peace overture from the American president with his own
21:44list of uncompromising demands.
21:51For ten years, Ho Chi Minh's aim had been to reunite the two halves of Vietnam under communist rule.
21:59Now the NLF guerrillas in the South were so close to victory, he saw no reason why he should negotiate.
22:12The problem was, if the North were bombed into oblivion or invaded by American and South Vietnamese forces, all would
22:20be lost.
22:31Only with massive help from the Soviet Union and China could North Vietnam hope to survive.
22:39The two superpowers had already given nearly a billion dollars worth of aid over ten years, but Ho was appealing
22:47urgently for more.
22:49Ho meant to play on the bitter rivalry between the two powers to get all the help he could.
23:08At first, the Soviet Union under Premier Alexei Kosygin had urged Northern leaders to look for a peaceful solution.
23:19But Kosygin was actually in Hanoi in February 1965 when rolling thunder began.
23:26The Russian position hardened.
23:30The Soviets now promised sophisticated radar, air defense missiles and more jet fighters.
23:47China under its leader Mao Zedong went much further than the Soviet Union.
23:52Mao promised to send combat infantry if the country were invaded.
24:02Meantime, to help the North defend itself against the bombing, he promised anti-aircraft units.
24:12Mao meant to guarantee the survival of his neighbor, whatever the risks.
24:37From the start, the American bombing offensive against North Vietnam was meant to meet a whole range of different objectives.
24:48The military chiefs, including Admiral Sharp, the commander of U.S. Pacific forces, wanted to wreck the North's capacity to
24:55make war.
25:08The U.S. ambassador in Saigon, Maxwell Taylor, saw the raids as a morale booster for South Vietnam.
25:14The defense secretary, Robert McNamara, meant them to put on pressure, which could be stepped up gradually until the North
25:21agreed to U.S. demands.
25:30The first targets of the rolling thunder campaign had been chosen mainly for their political and psychological impact.
25:37However, to justify the mounting toll of lost pilots and aircraft, McNamara now wanted more concrete results.
25:47He argued that the campaign against North Vietnam should be much more closely linked to the war in the South.
26:15The new American plan for Operation Rolling Thunder focused on the part of North Vietnam between the demilitarized and North
26:23Vietnam.
26:23It was a localized zone separating North and South and the 20th parallel.
26:32Inside this area, railway lines, bridges, and a vital rail yard at Vinn were all used to send supplies and
26:40reinforcements to guerrilla units in the South.
26:47These lines of communication were to be cut in a three-week campaign which would steadily move North.
26:56Armed reconnaissance would then destroy the transport trapped by the broken bridges and rail lines.
27:21To U.S. military leaders, the decision to attack North Vietnamese transport was a move in the right direction.
27:27But it was nowhere near as destructive as the campaign they wanted.
27:38The Joint Chiefs still argued for an all-out offensive to destroy North Vietnam's military centers, air defenses, power stations,
27:45and ports.
27:58President Johnson and Robert McNamara were adamant that there would be no all-out campaign.
28:04This was to be a limited war to achieve limited objectives.
28:08In any case, McNamara and other officials argued, the most valuable targets should be kept as hostages.
28:15To save those, North Vietnam would have to agree to negotiate.
28:18to save.
28:47When the Rolling Thunder campaign had begun,
28:50North Vietnam's leaders had feared that in a very short time,
28:53their country could be bombed into rubble.
29:03The air defense system was still primitive.
29:06If the Americans meant to launch an all-out offensive,
29:09there was little the fledgling North Vietnamese air force could do to stop them.
29:15North Vietnam hoped that open support from its allies,
29:18particularly the Chinese, could save it from full-scale attack.
29:22There was every sign the Chinese meant what they said
29:25about coming to the North's aid if necessary.
29:28In fact, China was taking the situation in Vietnam so seriously,
29:32it had changed its whole national defense strategy.
29:48Mao Tse-tung had long recognized that by helping North Vietnam,
29:52he was risking a direct clash with the United States.
29:59He was determined to prepare.
30:01Mao ordered a massive defense program
30:03to ensure China could withstand even a nuclear attack by the United States.
30:07He called it the Third Front,
30:09and by March 1965, it was already well underway.
30:39The first stage of the Third Front program
30:42had been to take China's way.
30:43China's industries mostly concentrated around the big cities
30:48and split them in two.
30:56The duplicates were then moved deep into the interior.
31:02Already, fortifications were being built for defense in depth,
31:06and every province was creating its own light armaments industry.
31:14Meanwhile, North Vietnam's defenses against American bombing
31:17were also being reinforced.
31:30China had already moved four full-air divisions
31:34and an anti-aircraft division to its border with Vietnam.
31:40It built airfields close to the frontier
31:43as sanctuary and repair facilities for North Vietnam's jet fighters.
31:51Inside Vietnam, new airfields would be built
31:54and old ones repaired.
32:01Chinese logistic teams were already constructing
32:04or upgrading 12 roads north of Hanoi.
32:14Chinese logistic teams were already constructing
32:29in the north of Hanoi.
32:31In North Vietnam, full-scale mobilization
32:32was being carried out at a frantic pace.
32:35Many believed that an invasion might follow the air assault.
32:41A million people were organized
32:43into repair and construction teams.
32:48In a massive program,
32:49they dug thousands of miles of trenches
32:51and millions of single-person air raid shelters.
32:55Soon, in Hanoi,
32:57there would be a shelter on average every 20 feet.
33:13To the leaders of the north,
33:15building defenses and acquiring advanced weaponry
33:18was only one part of the strategy.
33:20There was also the political battle.
33:28There would be a major propaganda offensive
33:31to pressure the Americans into restricting
33:33or even stopping their attacks.
33:59For more than 20 years,
34:01American military planning
34:02had given the highest priority
34:04to strategic bombers.
34:15The U.S. had built a huge force
34:17of long-range aircraft
34:18able to attack targets deep inside the Soviet Union
34:22with nuclear weapons.
34:25As the conflict with North Vietnam had intensified,
34:28Strategic Air Command
34:29had modified its giant B-52s
34:32to carry conventional bombs.
34:40Although the B-52s had been stationed
34:43ready to attack North Vietnam,
34:45in the end,
34:46they had been kept out of rolling thunder.
34:55The White House believed
34:57that the massive, high-altitude bombers
34:59were just too destructive.
35:00They could be seen
35:01as a massive escalation of the war.
35:17Instead, the smaller and more accurate tactical bombers
35:20would fight the strategic campaign
35:22against the North.
35:24They would also carry out their normal role
35:26by supporting ground operations
35:28in South Vietnam.
35:38While the Air Force and Marine aircraft
35:40would fly most missions
35:42inside South Vietnam,
35:44a large part of the strikes
35:45against the North
35:46would be mounted by the Navy.
35:56The U.S. Navy had 16 strike carriers
35:59and deployed more aircraft
36:01than all the world's other navies combined.
36:09By the end of 1965,
36:1210 different carriers would have taken part
36:14in rolling thunder operations
36:16over North Vietnam.
36:33U.S. Naval Air Power off Vietnam
36:36was under the command of Task Force 77.
36:46Its carriers would operate from two areas,
36:49codenamed Yankee and Dixie stations.
36:56Aircraft from Yankee Station
36:58would attack targets in North Vietnam and Laos,
37:01while planes from Dixie
37:02would fly over South Vietnam.
37:14American Air Force units were controlled
37:16by the 2nd Air Division.
37:21In 1965, the division operated
37:24from two main airfields in Vietnam
37:26and five in Thailand.
37:32The 1st Marine Air Wing
37:34would deploy fighter aircraft
37:36aircraft at another two airfields
37:38in northern South Vietnam,
37:40while B-52 wings of Strategic Air Command
37:43operated from Guam in the Pacific
37:46and later from Thailand
37:48with refueling tankers from Okinawa.
38:05U.S. Air Commanders had a limited say
38:08in how the battle over North Vietnam was fought.
38:15The White House was not only choosing the targets,
38:18but deciding on almost every other detail
38:20of each attack, Washington specified the day
38:23and often the time of each mission
38:25and sometimes even the type of bombs to be used.
38:39From the approved list,
38:41American pilots were given a target
38:42and one or two alternatives.
38:44Only those targets could be attacked.
38:51The monsoon weather was still enveloping North Vietnam,
38:55making some targets impossible to hit
38:57at the time specified in Washington.
39:00Air commanders had no authority to improvise.
39:31The main burden of the U.S. air
39:32U.S. Air Force's war against North Vietnam
39:35would fall on a single aircraft type.
39:37The F-105 Thunder Chief was originally designed
39:41as a supersonic long-range nuclear bomber.
39:46The single-seater could carry up to five tons of bombs,
39:50more than a World War II B-17 flying fortress.
39:58As a fighter escort and for light attack,
40:01the Air Force had the F-100 Super Sabre.
40:04The F-100 could carry almost four tons of bombs.
40:07It was also armed with air-to-air missiles
40:10and four 20-millimeter cannon.
40:23For bombing missions,
40:25the U.S. Navy still relied heavily
40:26on the propeller-driven Sky Raider.
40:33Although the aircraft had been in service
40:35more than 20 years and was very slow,
40:37it could carry a heavy load of bombs and rockets.
40:40It also had astonishing endurance
40:43and was able to stay over a target area
40:45for hours at a time.
41:01As rolling thunder developed,
41:03the Sky Raider would be gradually replaced
41:05in the Navy's attack squadrons by the A-4 Skyhawk.
41:10The Skyhawk could carry four tons of bombs,
41:13but it was a slow aircraft,
41:14able to reach only 670 miles per hour.
41:19Skyhawk raids were usually escorted
41:21by Crusader fighters,
41:22armed with both cannon and air-to-air missiles.
41:40By April 1965,
41:42the Americans' most versatile aircraft
41:44was already deployed in Southeast Asia
41:47by Air Force, Navy, and Marine units.
41:53The F-4 Phantom was a big aircraft
41:55and was able to fly at more than twice
41:57the speed of sound,
41:581,400 miles per hour.
42:00It could also carry a bomb load
42:02of up to eight tons.
42:18As Phantom units took on a bigger role
42:21in the war against North Vietnam,
42:23one unforeseen shortcoming would soon emerge.
42:26The F-4 had been designed to depend
42:28for self-defense on its missiles.
42:30It had never been fitted with cannon
42:32for close-range air combat.
43:00Every aircraft deployed by an Air Force fighter wing
43:03or a U.S. Navy carrier
43:05depended on more than 30 men
43:07to keep it flying.
43:13A carrier had a crew of around 4,000
43:16crammed into the ship alongside planes,
43:18bombs, and stores.
43:22Because the carrier was operating 24 hours a day,
43:25the men worked in shifts up to 16 hours long.
43:40In Thailand and South Vietnam,
43:43conditions for Air Force personnel were easier.
43:46All the same, heat and humidity
43:48took a heavy toll on men and machines.
43:51To add to the burden,
43:53higher command often measured the success of a unit
43:55by the sheer number of sorties it could fly.
44:11Whether Navy or Air Force,
44:13morale was high amongst the air crew
44:15who were going into combat over North Vietnam.
44:18Aircraft and pilots had been lost,
44:21and the enemy's air defenses
44:22were still being developed.
44:35The monsoon weather still enveloping the North
44:37was often a bigger concern
44:39than the anti-aircraft guns.
44:41So, too, were the strict rules of engagement
44:43that pilots had to memorize.
44:52Washington had ordered
44:53that only confirmed military targets could be hit,
44:56and then never in civilian areas.
44:59Enemy aircraft had to be identified visually
45:02before they could be attacked,
45:03in case they were Chinese.
45:09And there was a host of other restrictions.
45:12such rules had never been part
45:14of the training of U.S. pilots.
45:16But crew were left in no doubt
45:18that infringements would lead
45:19to serious disciplinary action.
45:48so, too, call him.
45:51100,000 men in 13 regular divisions. All divisions had their own anti-aircraft guns.
45:58So did the units operating in Laos, building and running the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
46:14The Navy played a role in air defense, too. Its fleet of East German gunboats was stationed on
46:20the sea and river approaches to important targets.
46:30From its beginnings, the North Vietnamese Air Force was part of the Army. As well as its planes and a
46:36small number of helicopters, the Air Force controlled the Anti-Aircraft Command, a specialized
46:42anti-aircraft artillery formation. It also controlled an increasingly sophisticated early warning radar
46:50system, supplied by the Soviet Union and China.
47:11North Vietnam's only fighter wing, the 921st, was based at Noi Bai Airfield, 40 kilometers from Hanoi.
47:22A second wing, the 923rd, was planned for the airfield being built at Kep.
47:32There was also a training wing and a wing of Ilyushin bombers at Kat Bai and Fuk Yen.
47:44The anti-aircraft gun batteries of the Air Defense Force were organized into four brigades, concentrated
47:51around areas of strategic importance.
47:57The main road and rail junctions, the industrial centers around Hanoi and Haiphong, and the main
48:05supply routes to Laos and the south were most heavily defended.
48:16Anti-aircraft units were also deployed along the irrigation system of the Red River Valley.
48:36Although North Vietnam's air defenses were still weak, they would soon become amongst the most
48:42formidable ever assembled anywhere. The plan was to coordinate the efforts of radar sites and observation
48:48posts, anti-aircraft guns, and the fighter interceptors.
48:54The planes would try to ambush the enemy, and if they couldn't shoot him down,
48:58at least force him to fly through heavy ground fire.
49:09In the early days of the air battle, close cooperation between radar, guns, and fighters would not be easy
49:16to achieve. There were too many different anti-aircraft commands.
49:28Soon, as Soviet-built anti-aircraft missiles became operational, another ingredient would be added
49:34to the already complex system. For a long time to come, North Vietnamese pilots would run a very high
49:41risk of being shot down by friendly fire.
50:08The mainstay of the North Vietnamese Air Force was the MiG-17 jet fighter. It was a
50:14aging design, a top speed of only 710 miles an hour, and was later replaced by the more advanced MiG
50:20-21.
50:23Yet the MiG-17 was still a formidable interceptor.
50:31It was one of the most maneuverable jets ever built, and armed with three cannon, it was deadly in a
50:37dogfight.
50:46By now, the Air Defense Force had a large number of Soviet and Chinese anti-aircraft guns.
50:52At the start of the battle, they were still simple types with optical sights.
50:57The 23 and the 37 millimeter twins could fire a hundred rounds a minute from each barrel,
51:02but could only reach targets up to 10,000 feet.
51:14The bigger 57 millimeter anti-aircraft guns had a ceiling of 18,000 feet. American pilots could avoid
51:21them by flying higher, but in the last moments of an attack, aircraft had to come in low.
51:26It was then that the 57 millimeter was an extremely dangerous weapon.
51:44The North Vietnamese regional militia now had half a million members and was equipped with large numbers
51:50of light machine guns. Against low-fying planes, they could be highly effective.
52:02Militia were even taught to use their rifles against enemy raiders, as even a chance hit by a single
52:08bullet could bring down a million-dollar aircraft in flames.
52:32The advanced weaponry supplied by the Soviet Union and China depended completely on skilled personnel
52:39personnel to operate and maintain it. North Vietnam was an agricultural country with little industry.
52:47200 North Vietnamese Air Force technicians had been trained in China, but it was barely enough.
53:01200 North Vietnamese Air Force technicians had been trained in China, but it was also a shortage of skilled radar
53:04operators.
53:11From the start of the American attacks, the pilots of the 921st Fighter Wing had been keen to get into
53:17combat.
53:26They had been training at a furious pace. Gunnery was given the highest priority.
53:32Pilots practice opening fire at ranges down to 150 meters to get a kill on the first pass.
53:46All the time, the emphasis was on close-in engagements to make the most of the MiG-17's agility.
53:54At the same time, the Air Force was training the next batch of pilots as fast as it possibly could.
54:09Most of the training of pilots, radar operators, and anti-aircraft gunners was being carried out
54:15by Soviet and Chinese military experts. Many had already taken part in combat operations,
54:20actually directing the defense.
54:25At a higher level behind the scenes, there were Soviet and Chinese staff officers working to improve
54:31the performance of every branch of the North Vietnamese Armed Forces.
55:00For the Americans, the first stage in stepping up the campaign against North Vietnam
55:04was to weaken its defenses. In the last week of March 1965, U.S. attack planes from the carriers
55:12Hancock and Coral Sea hit key North Vietnamese radar sites.
55:27There was a fierce reaction from Northern anti-aircraft guns and several U.S. planes were shot down.
55:42As the rolling thunder campaign built up, the attacks did boost the confidence of the South Vietnamese government.
55:51Government forces were doing better on the battlefield, too.
55:58Even so, in Washington, the mood was bleak.
56:05On March 29th, 1965, NLF guerrillas launched a daring bomb attack on the American embassy in Saigon.
56:14Two Americans and 20 South Vietnamese were killed.
56:24To many in Washington, the attack seemed to underline the need for much stronger measures to be taken in Vietnam.
56:34By now, President Johnson himself was pushing for vigorous action.
56:38He gave permission for the Marines already in Vietnam to be used in combat operations.
56:44Few doubted that more troop deployments would follow.
57:04Soon, U.S. aircraft would be faced with two missions in Southeast Asia.
57:09The continuing campaign against North Vietnam and supporting U.S. troops in a sharply escalating ground war.
58:07The
58:08War IIlerde
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