Bear Taylor 
…ONE MILE OF VULNERABILITY FINALLY UNDER THUNDERCHIEF BOMBS…
RIPPLE SALVO… #523… “THE PAUL DOUMER RAILWAY AND ROAD BRIDGE OF HANOI”… A compilation from multiple sources by W. Howard Plunkett… but first…
Good Morning: Day FIVE HUNDRED TWENTY-THREE of a journal of events and heroic performances from fifty years ago… the forgotten air campaign waged to bring North Vietnam to the Peace Table…
11 AUGUST 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a beautiful Friday in New York City…
SUMMER 1967 IN AMERICA: Page 1: “Riot Panel Urges Guard To Step Up Negro Recruiting–Johnson Commission Calls Percentage Low And Asks ‘Deficiency’ Be corrected–Pentagon is Informed–President Sends Report To McNamara As A Matter for His Immediate Attention”... “The President’s Advisory Commission on Civil Disobedience recommended today an immediate and substantial increase in the number of Negroes in the National Guard and the Air National Guard. Negroes make up 1.15-per cent of the officer and enlisted men in the National Guard–4,638 out of 404,996–and only 0.6-per cent of the officers and enlisted men and women of the Air Guard–461 of 77,078.”...Page 1: “8 GOP Governors Offer A Riot Plan–At Meeting in NYC They Urge states to Act Firmly–Social Needs Cited”… “Eight Republican Governors complaining that Federal programs for racially tense urban areas of the country were inadequate…presented their own ‘action’ program ‘against the tragic epidemic of riots.’ They had been summoned by Governor Rockefeller…group made 60 recommendations…Governor Romney: ‘…these are the most important sections of the document.’… LBJ has been playing politics…’the lesson of Detroit is that prompt action must be taken.’ “… Page 1: “11.4% Rise In Crime Reported By FBI”…”Crimes reported to the police in 1966 totaled 3,243,400, up 11.4% over 1965…% solved or dropped was down 8%”… Page 34: “H. Rap Brown Upset By Governor Kirk Visit–Florida Remains Calm After Encounter At Rally”… “Political Alliances With Whites Urged by Negro Leaders… 16 Negro Civil Rights leaders, including some associated with black power movement, called for the formation of political alliances with ‘progressive whites.’ “... “Killing Follows Mississippi Vote–Negro Slain, Whites Held–16 Negroes win elections. Peaceful demonstrations were led by Mr. Charles Evers of the NAACP in Mississippi”…
VIETNAM: Page 1: “Saigon General Discounts Value of Raids On The North–Chief of Staff Says allies ‘Fail To Meet’ Infiltration Through Cambodia-Laos Routes”... “General Cao Van Vien, Chief of Staff of South Vietnamese armed forces said today that he is convinced that the bombing of North Vietnam could never adequately control enemy infiltration. Charging that the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong had both used Laos and Cambodia as sanctuaries…’So long as we fail to meet these two problems, the problems of infiltration will remain basically insoluble…the war might last thirty years unless the flow of troops and supplies into South Vietnam could be cut off’ …He favors extending the war into Laos and Cambodia.”…Page 3: “No Flights Over Cambodia”… “General Westmoreland, reacting to the South Vietnamese Chief of Staff Cao Van Vien statement said: ‘We do not conduct either armed reconnaissance or bombing missions over Cambodia. We have for some time conducted armed reconnaissance flights over Laos at the request of the Royal Laotian government.’ ” …Page 1: “Senate Vote Bars Loans to Nations Shipping To Hanoi–Ban on Export-Import Bank Funds Could Prevent All Credit to 18 Countries–Move Backed 56 to 35–Senator Dirksen’s Plan to Prohibit Help in Communist Trade Defeated, 51-35...Bars loans to any nation that furnishes goods or supplies to North Vietnam.”…Page 1: “57 Democrats Bid President Warn Saigon on Election”... “To warn South Vietnamese military junta that unless it allowed a fair election the United States might undertake a serious reappraisal of its polities in Vietnam.”...Page 1: “7 Candidates Halt Campaigns In Vietnam Race–Civilian Candidates Refuse to Seek Votes Until Junta Ends Its Harassment.”… Page 1: “New F-111 Troubles Delay Combat Tests In Vietnam”... “The swing-wing F-111 airplane plagued by controversy and technical trouble since its inception five years ago has developed new problem–including excessive vibration–on the eve of its planned deployment to Vietnam. Three aircraft are in the test program–Harvest Reaper target date for deployment is now January.”… Page 3: “146 Americans Killed”… “U.S. spokesman in Saigon reported that 146 Americans were killed in Vietnam last week and 1,064 were wounded, an increase over the last weeks report. South Vietnamese casualties also rose for the week to 220 killed and 545 wounded. The losses for the week raise the American casualties in the war to 12,415 killed in action and 75,883 wounded in action.”…
11 August 1967…The President’s TS Daily CIA Brief: SOUTH VIETNAM: Seven of the ten civilian presidential candidates have proclaimed a suspension of their joint campaign appearances until they get a satisfactory government reply to their complaints of early this week The candidates evidently think the current fuss is getting them better publicity than the planned campaign tours. A moderate government response, however, might still send them back to the campaign…. COMMUNIST CHINA: There are now reports of violence in still other areas of China, along with additional evidence that troops are actively involved in many of the disturbances… Bloody clashes involving regular army troops are said to be going on in several important industrial cities in the northeast…. CUBA: Castro’s three-hour speech last night, closing the Latin American Solidarity Organization conference, contained no surprises. Aside from the usual anti-US diatribes, there was special praise for Stokely Carmichael and predictions of “revolution” in the US…
AMONG THE BRAVE… On 11 August 1967 the clear skies over North Vietnam were full of warriors imbued with the spirit of attack and the Longbien Bridge was felled…
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM…LIEUTENANT COLONEL HARRY W. SCHURR, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE…the AIR FORCE CROSS…THE PETER DOUMER BRIDGE…11 AUGUST 1967…
“The President takes pleasure in presenting the AIR FORCE CROSS to HARRY W. SCHURR, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force, for EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM in connection with military operations against an opposing armed force as commander of a strike force of twenty F-105 Thunderchiefs against a heavily defended target in North Vietnam on 11 August 1967. On that date, though intense, accurately directed hostile fire had damaged his aircraft prior to reaching the target, Colonel SCHURR, with undaunted determination, indomitable courage, and professional skill, led the strike in a devastating attack against a key railroad and highway bridge. One span was destroyed and others heavily damaged. As a result, the flow of war material into the area was appreciably reduced. Through his EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM, superb airmanship, and aggressiveness in the face of the hostile force, Colonel SCHURR has reflected the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.”…
11 August 1967…Operation Rolling Thunder…New York times (12 Aug reporting 11 Aug ops)…Page 1: “U.S. Bombs Bridge That Links Hanoi to China and Port of Haiphong”… “United States fighter-bombers cut the rail and highway bridge across the Red River at Hanoi today–an important link to China, the port of Haiphong and the Hanoi airport...In a special announcement the Air Force fighter-bombers, Thunderchiefs and Phantoms–knocked out a section of the span called the Paul Doumer Bridge with four direct hits. …No planes were lost although the pilots flew through intense anti-aircraft fire and surface to air missiles…the bridge is a 19-section steel structure set on piles across a mile-wide river. An island divides the waterway into two channels of which only the eastern is navigable for deep water vessels. A section over the eastern channel was knocked out by the bombing…the pilots cut the capital off from China, Haiphong and the airport at Gia Lam. The Red River bridge was among a number of important targets that were immune to attack up to now. The list still includes the port of Haiphong, three MIG air bases, dikes, dams and number of industrial installations...the 10-mile restriction imposed by the President Johnson was lifted April 18 when strikes were made against a power plant on the edge of Haiphong city limits…except for an attack on a power plant inside the Hanoi City on June 10 American strikes have been well away from the capital. A number of targets have been hit within five miles of the city center of Haiphong. Pilots have hit major rail yards around Hanoi and the rail lines running northeast and northwest to the Chinese Communist border.
“In strikes yesterday Air Force pilots again attacked the Thainguyen railroad yard and a railyard at Kep, 38 miles northeast of Hanoi. An Air Force spokesman said the two yards have been struck so many times since the first strikes March 10 that we no longer keep a record of the number of raids.”
“Official tabulation of aircraft losses was given as 639 American planes have been lost–20 to MIGs, and 198 have been downed in the south. Eighty-two North Vietnamese MIGs have been shot down.
“In a late report a Marine QA-4 Skyhawk and an Army helicopter were shot down in the northern provinces. The Marine pilot (1LT BERUBE was reported killed.”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were three fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 11 August 1967…
(1) 1LT KENNETH ALLEN BERUBE was flying an A-4E of the VMA-211 Avengers andMAG-12 out of Chu Lai on a close air support mission 20 miles west of Tam Ky when hit by ground fire in a bomb run. The aircraft was observed to roll over and dive into the ground. 1LT BERUBE was Killed in Action fifty years ago this day and is remembered for his service and ultimate sacrifice–death in combat.
(2) MAJOR R.G. DILGER and 1LT G.L. RAWLINGS were flying an F-4C of the 390th TFS and 366th TFW out of Danang and conducting a n attack on a truck convoy 55 miles northwest of Donghoi when hit by a round of 57-mm. A good effort was made to get the damaged aircraft back to Danang but the crew was forced to eject south of Marble Mountain where they were recovered by helicopter.
(3) MAJOR KENNETH RICHARD HUGHES and 1LT H.B.COX were flying an F-4C of the 389th TFS and 366th TFW out of Danang. The Phantom crashed on landing at Danang returning from a combat close air support mission. MAJOR HUGHES perished in the crash, 1LT COX survived…
RIPPLE SALVO… #524… Humble Host is beholden to Howie Plunkett for his compilation of bits and pieces from a couple dozen sources to tell the story of the 11 August 1967 take-down of the Paul Doumer bridge by the F-105s from the 355th TFW and the 388th TFW at Takhli and the F-4s from the 8th TFW at Ubon. The following few paragraphs are extracted from his “34TFS: F-105 History“… From a few thousand words, here are a few hundred. Humble Host will return to this incomparable source for more in the future on light copy days… Thanks Howie…
“For the first time, F-105s from the 355 TFW and the 388 TFW, and the F-4Cs from the 8 TFW, struck the Hanoi Rail and Highway bridge (JCS 12)…on the Northeast rail line…North Vietnam. North Vietnam’s Paul Doumer bridge was an add-on target to the Rolling Thunder 57 strike package first approved on 20 July. The 19-span bridge, crossing the Red River near downtown Hanoi, was 5,532 feet long and 38 feet wide. It supported two highway lanes and a railline carrying an average 26 trains a day.”
“The bridge was named for Paul Doumer, the French Governor of Indo China between 1897 and 1902. In those five years, he exploited the country financially to favor French interests, building railroads and bridges (as well as opium dens) to transport goods and generate income for his home country. Understandably, the Vietnamese Communists renamed the bridge, calling it the Longbien bridge, but the U.S. military continued referring to the target under its french colonial name. (“Vietnam“, by Stanley Karnow).
“On the morning of August 11, 1967, Seventh Air Force told the F-105 wings at Takhli and Korat (that included the 34 TFS), together with the F-4 wing at Ubon, to bomb the Doumer Bridge that very afternoon. After the wings received the frag, the strike was delayed by an hour to allow weapons load crews to reconfigure the planes from 750-pound bombs to 3,000 pound bombs. (“To Hanoi and Back“)”
“Captain Richard E. Gould from the 333 TFS at Takhli recalled details of the bridge’s vulnerability used in mission planning at Takhli. The reason the Doumer was one of the easier, weaker, simpler bridges to drop, is because it has single cantilever tresses with non-cantilever (through thrust) spans between cantilever spans. Hit either end of non-cantilever through-thrust span, and that span of the bridge drops into the Red River. That knowledge, which I shared with Intel prior to the mission briefing, was one of my contributions to the dropping of the Doumer on 11 August 1967.'”
“The 31-plane strike force from Tahkli, consisted of a Wild Weasel flight (with call sign Barracuda), one flak suppressor flight (with call sign Kingfish), four bomb flights (with call signs Bear, Marlin, Scotch, and Shark), and cover, consisting of one F-4 MIG CAP from the 8 TFW.”….
“At 0901Z, the four 355 TFW F105Ds in Kingfish dropped 16 CBU-24s and four CBU-29s on flak sites 7,000-feet east end and 7,500-feet northeast of the bridge. The pilots did not see the results of their ordnance due to heavy AAA. While approaching their targets, the pilots saw two MIG-17s take off from Phuc Yen and circle the airfield. These MIGs were soon joined by two more. The pilots lost track of the MIGs among the many flights of F-105s. Two minutes before the target, while flying at 8,000-feet, the flight saw two SA-2s arch over them at 13,000 feet and explode at 20,000 feet in a white fireball. A minute later they saw another SA-2 launch straight up and explode at 25,000 feet.”
“At 0902Z, four 355 TFW F-105Ds in Scotch flight, followed one minute later by four others in Bear flight dropped 16 M-118 bombs on the bridge. Four bombs hit the center span of the bridge engulfing the structure in smoke. Strike film from Scotch 4.”
“Captain Richard E. Guild from the 333 TFS was Scotch 3. ‘We were mass-briefed to aim at the third pylon from the eastern shore of the bridge, which was one or two mid-span pylons between cantilever tress spans, i.e., the pylon was supporting two non-cantilevered spans . Bill MacDonald (Bear 1) was slightly long, Mal Winter (Bear 2) was slightly short. Dick Guild (Scotch 3) saw only those hits before he released and thinks he got it, as Bob Lindsey (Bear 3) saw the third set hit before he released, and he might also have hit it, and John Piowaty (Bear 4) stated he aimed mid-span and he might have hit it, too. In any case, we aimed to take out the second non-cantilevered span from the eastern shore, and that is what we got, which established Takhli’s claim as the 355th TFW ‘Bridge Busters'”…
“The 12 strike aircraft from the 355 TFW used 3,000-pound bombs todrop the number 5 span of the bridge. The 8TFW and 388 TFW, attacking several minutes behind the 355 TFW planes, dropped two highway spans on the northeast side of the bridge. The flak suppression flight dropped CBUs to knock out one 85-mm AAA site. The two F-105F and two F-105Ds of the SAM-suppression flight destroyed six SAM sites. During the mission 36 strike aircraft dropped 92 tons of bombs.”
“After leaving the target area, strike planes went supersonic and overflew the Hanoi Hilton POW prison.” oohrah and then some!!!
“The four lead pilots and Captain Shannon (EWO in LCOL McInerney, Jr. aircraft) were awarded the Air Force Cross.” ( LCOL HARRY SCHURR, LCOL JAMES MCINERNEY, LCOL RICHARD GIMMI, JR. and COL ROBIN OLDS, leader of eight F-4 MIGCAP…)
“By 3 October 1967, North Vietnam had repaired the bridge. F-105s returned to strike the bridge for the second time on 25 October 1967.”…
RTR QUOTE for 11 August: CONFUCIOUS: “In all things, success depends upon precious preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.”…
Lest we forget…. Bear
