Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #462… MEET AUDIE MURPHY IN A SKYRAIDER versus “The Guns of Sam Son”… but first…
Good Morning: Day FOUR HUNDRED SIXTY-TWO of a trip back to 1965-68 and the unfriendly skies of North Vietnam…
10 JUNE 1967…HEADLINES from The New York Times on a nice day in Central Park…
Page 1: “Nasser Says He Is Resigning–But Assembly Rejects Action–Forces of Israel Invade Syria..”… “Gamal Abdel Nasser said last night that he had decided to resign as President of the United Arab Republic and ‘return to the ranks of the public.’ However, the National Assembly met later and voted not to accept the resignation. Ditto the Cabinet. Mr. Nasser is to appear before the assembly to discuss his resignation. In a televised resignation speech Mr. Nasser took entire responsibility for Egypt’s grave setback on the field of battle this week. Crowds shouted ‘Nasser, Nasser, we want Nasser.’ “… “ISRAELIS INVADE SYRIA-THRUSTS GO DEEP–HEAD OF TANK COLUMN REPORTED 35 MILES FROM DAMASCUS”… “Israel armored and infantry forces smashed deep into Syria today after Syrians, according to Israel, had broken the cease-fire on the northern front and had shelled along the 48-mile frontier…At El Quneitra the Israelis would be beyond the hill region (Golan) from which the Syrians, deeply dug into the rocks have pounded Israeli settlements since Monday morning when the war broke out between Israel and the Arab States. All day every available plane of the Israeli Air Force, which established air superiority in the first hours of the war, poured rockets and bombs on Syrian gun positions and emplacements on the roads ahead of their advancing troops in a blitzkrieg attack.”... Page 1: “Soviet Bloc Bids Israel Pull Back”... “Communist leaders of Eastern Europe have pledged ‘everything necessary’ to help the people of Arab countries to administer a resolute rebuff’ to Israel if the Israelis do not withdraw from the territories they have occupied. This pledge was contained in a joint statement published by TASS…The statement was tough in its wording and for the first time the Communist bloc put primary responsibility for ‘Israel’s aggression’ on the United States charging it with having acted in collusion with other ‘imperialistic forces.’…’It is the duty of the United Nations to condemn the aggressor,’ the seven nation statement said. ‘If the Security Council does not take the proper measures, grave responsibility will rest with those states that fail to fulfill their duty as members of the Security Council….’ “… “Struggle For Control in Cairo Seen Behind Nasser’s Moves”… “A struggle for the control and direction of the Government of the United Arab Republic is now apparently in progress in Cairo.”…
Page 1: “House Unit Votes Defense Outlay of $70.3-Billion–$20-Billion for War But A Rise Is Expected”... “The House Appropriations Committee approved today a record $70.3-billion defense appropriations bill, including $20.3-billion attributable to the war in Vietnam…Although the money bill was large, the committee said in its report that more funds would probably be required for the war in fiscal 1968.”... Page 2: “Hope in Vietnam Seen By Senators”… “Several Senators expressed hope today that Soviet-American cooperation in the Middle East crisis could be extended toward reaching a settlement of the war in Vietnam...These Senators included Mike Mansfield, J.W. Fulbright and Thurston Morton of Kentucky. Mansfield: ‘It appears to me that the United Nations cannot work effectively unless the two great powers work in concert. It looks as if we are veering in the direction two power concerts. We might see a new approach in Vietnam. Maybe a de-escalation of the bombing. I would not be too surprised if that happened.’ Fulbright: Called for quiet diplomacy looking toward the possibility of a conference with the Soviet Union.”…
Page 1: “Foe in Vietnam Shells 2 Cities Killing 28 and Wounding 102”... “Enemy gunners fired 127 mortar rounds today at the Central Highlands city of Pleiku and nearby American and South Vietnamese bases. A military spokesman said 2 Americans and 24 Montagnard tribesmen had been killed.”…
10 June 1967…The President’s TS Daily CIA Brief… ARAB STATES-ISRAEL: The Security Council convened at 4:00 AM this morning in response to an urgent plea which emphasized that Israeli forces were pushing on toward Damascus. We know that the Israelis have captured a town on the main highway 40 miles south of the Syrian capital. Bombing of military installations around Damascus has been going on since noon yesterday. A late press item from Tel Aviv claims that Damascus is encircled…We have no confirmation of a story in the Washington Post which says that some 400 Russian advisors are participating on the Syrian side…On the Egyptian front, the cease-fire remains in effect…There were mass demonstrations in Cairo last night aimed at urging Nasir to stay on as president. Other Arab heads of state have joined the appeal. The matter is still scheduled to be discussed today in the Egyptian National Assembly….There was a statement out of Moscow last night on the Middle East following a hastily called Communist “summit meeting” in the Soviet capital. The statement was essentially propaganda. It contained no specific commitments and provided no indications that increased aid to the Arabs is being planned…No major problems in the evacuation of US citizens from the Middle East were reported over night.…NORTH VIETNAM: Ho Chi Minh’s unusual absence from the public scene is leading to speculation that North Vietnam’s aging president may be ill. The 77-year old Ho has been seen only once in the last three months–the longest he has been off-stage in seven years. Ho may be ill, but it is quite possible he is taking a lengthy vacation, he has done this in the past… HAITI: The government radio has announced that 19 military officers arrested late last month for “high treason” were executed on Thursday. Some of these people had been close to Duvalier regime’s ruthlessness could well backfire if other military aides–distinguished in the past solely by their loyalty–now begin to have doubts about their future.”…
10 June 1967…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… The New York Times (11 June reporting 10 June ops) Page 1: “U.S. Planes Bomb a Plant in Hanoi: One Jet Downed”... “Navy planes from the carrier Bon Homme Richard today (9th) bombed North Vietnam’s most important electric power plant which is only 1.1 miles from the center of the city. It was the third strike of the war against the plant on the banks of the Red River. The previous raids, also by Bonnie Dick, took place on May 19 and 21. In the first attack moderate damage was reported. In the second attack direct hits were said to have been scored on the generators and the boiler house. No report on the extent of damage on the latest raid. Planes from the other two carriers Constellation and Enterprise struck out at the missile storage depot and the motor-pool at Van Dien, five and seven miles respectively, from Hanoi. A military spokesman described the attacks as coordinated, apparently in an effort to divide the intensive anti-aircraft defenses around the targets. Even so, a Navy F-8 Crusader (LTJG TOM HALL, POW) was brought down by gun-fire and the pilot was listed as missing in action. It was the 577th American plane lost in air action over the North. American pilots flew 90 missions over the North yesterday…. Air Force planes from Thailand hit the Kep railway yards 38 miles northeast of Hanoi and Bacle yards 50 miles northeast of the capital and bridges 28 and 34 miles east of Hanoi.”
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were three fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 10 June 1967…
(1) COMMANDER PETER WOODBURY SHERMAN, Commanding Officer of the VA-56 Champions embarked in USS Enterprise was flying an A-4C and leading an Iron Hand element in support of an air wing strike on the Van Dien SAM support depot and was apparently downed by volley of SAMs. His wingman lost sight of him as they maneuvered to avoid the missiles in the target area. No parachute, beeper of radio call was heard subsequent to the evasive maneuver. COMMANDER PETE SHERMAN, one of the good guys, had assumed command of the squadron in March 1967. His remains were returned by the Vietnamese in 1991…. He has been in God’s hands fifty years today… and is remembered with great admiration…
(2) LTJG THOMAS RENWICK HALL was flying an F-8E of the VF-211 Checkmates embarked in USS Bon Homme Richard on a target cover mission for the mission striking the Hanoi thermal power plant. He was in low orbit south of the target and was hit by ground fire. He was forced to eject five miles south of Hanoi and was quickly captured and imprisoned. LTJG HALL had been shot down and rescued on a mission in the Red River Valley four days before. He had logged more than 100 missions before last flight. He returned home in the March 1973 Homecoming of the POWs…
(3) MAJOR C. ALLEN and LT B. BECKER were flying an F-4D of the 555th TFS and 8th TFW out of Ubon on a combat air patrol mission and an ran out of fuel. They were rescued after ejecting… no further explanation… oops…
RIPPLE SALVO… #462… Humble Host calls this tale “Audie Murphy in a Spad.” I hope I can do it justice.
On 29 May 1967 Lieutenant Commander JOHN DOUGLAS LANDERS, United States Navy ‘ attached to and serving as a Spad pilot with the Attack Squadron ONE HUNDRED FIFTEEN “Arabs,” was embarked in USS HANCOCK (CVA-19), at Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin.
In the late afternoon LCDR LANDERS planned and led a two A-1H Skyraider, Spad, naval gunfire spotting mission in support of USS HORTON (DD-948) and USS S.N. MOORE (DD-747) targeting a radar site on the North Vietnamese coast ten miles east of Thanh Hoa, one of the more highly defended areas of North Vietnam. The radar site was protected by surface-to-air missiles and an array of anti-aircraft artillery sites with multiple batteries, some radar controlled.
As the destroyers completed their firing mission, LCDR LANDERS and his wingman observed muzzle flashes from the beach and the plumes of water from shell landing near the two destroyers. He alerted the ships to the counter-fire and gave them a spot correction for their continued firing. He then became an invincible Audie Murphy in a heavily armed, but very vulnerable, Spad.
LCDR LANDERS went to max power and in a climbing turn toward “The Guns of Sam Son.” He noted six gun positions firing at the destroyers. From 3.500-feet he rolled in for a low angle dive attack with three of his six Mk-81 (250-pound) “Ladyfingers.” His dive was countered by 37-mm and automatic weapon antiaircraft fire. Nevertheless, he pressed his attack below 1,000-feet with his gutsy wingman hanging on, following the leader. They pulled off the attack on the first three sites in a maximum climbing turn and observed that their bombs had covered the three gun sites.
LCDR LANDERS barely reached 3,000-feet before he rolled in for a second bomb run on four guns in a second set of bunkers. Oblivious to the increasing AAA whizzing his way, he carried the second dive with his three remaining MK-81s (X2 for his wingman, who was still in the game) to a 1,000-foot release scoring hits on all four of the remaining sites. That was not enough.
Climbing to 2,000 feet he reversed back into the attack and emptied his several hundred rounds of 20-mm, firing four barrels, into the open port of a shore battery position. At that point LCDR LANDERS was “winchester” and turned seaward. As his flight exited away from the beach, more than 20-shore battery rounds were observed to hit the water in his exit path. Ammo minus, but with plenty of fuel, he turned back toward the beach to locate and pass the active gun position information to the on-coming cruiser, USS BOSTON (CAG-1), for a round of retaliatory shore bombardment by the cruiser. With his spotting help the cruiser destroyed one site and damaged two others…
The “Guns of Sam Son” were left to lick their wounds in wonderment… Who was that “A-rab.”…
That’s my story, and I’m sure of it… (source: impeccable)…. To: LCDR JOHN LANDERS… rear back and strut, that was and remains a story that should never die… I’m curious: Did your wingman on this spectacular 15-minute contest with the tiger ever fly with you again???
Lest we forget….. Bear
And Who was that wingman???