Bear Taylor 
Good Morning…Day FOURTEEN of our look back to Operation Rolling Thunder…FIFTY YEARS AGO…
14 MARCH 1966 (NYT)… ON THE HOMEFRONT…. Nice Monday in both Washington and New York, sweater weather…Front page had several short articles on the war. In the South, the ground war was relatively calm after the A Shau battle, and bad weather also limited ops by all sides. The loss of another aircraft at A Shau, the sixth in a week, was reported. Bad weather also hampered strike ops in the North. The Air Force flew nine missions. Navy aircraft flew 19 missions against bridges and road targets in the “panhandle.” Highlight was an attack on boats near Thanh Hoa that left them “smoking.”…Gemini 8 with astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott was announced ready to go on the 15th. On the Opinion page, William Shannon wrote, under the headline, “The President Under Fire”:… “Although President Johnson’s political situation has not seriously deteriorated, he is weaker than a year ago. The criticism of his Vietnam policy by the ‘peace Democrats’ in the Senate is the first sustained assault that he has had to withstand since entering the White House.”…Protests in and around Danang protesting the relief of LGEN Thi were getting attention, and the writer said: “Once again everyone concerned with the Vietnamese War has to face the unhappy truth that Saigon governments are unstable.”
14 MARCH 1966… ROLLING THUNDER… As noted above, the weather in the north curtailed most operations. The “event of the day” was the downing of an Air Force F-4C from the 480th TFS operating out of Danang, and the subsequent rescue effort near the island of Hon Nght Son 30 miles south of Thanh Hoa. The F4 was on an armed recce mission and encountered intense enemy fire from the island. The pilot MAJOR JAMES M. PEERSON AND R/C PILOT CAPTAIN LYNWOOD C. BRYANT were forced to eject from their burning aircraft close aboard the island. An HU-16B from the 33rd ARRS at Danang responded to the scene and made a sea landing near the downed pilots. Several North Vietnamese boats closed the rescue operation and in the ensuing gun battle the HU-16 was mortared and sunk with the loss of two lives, A1C ROBERT LARIE HILTON and A1C JAMES EDWARD PLEIMAN, Killed in Action. Two Navy SH-3s and one UH-1 affected the rescue of four of the HU-16B crew and the two F-4 pilots… In addition: an F-100D from the 90th TFS was downed while strafing a target in the Mekong Delta. The pilot, CAPTAIN KARL EDWIN KLUTE was Killed in Action; and, a Marine F-4B of VFMA-314 out of Danang was lost 70 miles west of Hue while conducting a Steel Tiger mission. The, pilot MAJOR E.C. PAIGE and back-seater, WARRANT OFFICER D.D. REDMOND ejected and were rescued by an Air Force helicopter.
RIPPLE SALVO…. GUEST AUTHORS ON THE TRIGGER TODAY…ENJOY the brilliance of a pair of great writers…. and warrior leaders...Let’s start with a little piece that we can all pretend we wrote, because we all lived this tale scores and scores of times… it is titled:
A ROUTINE STRIKE
“You approach North Vietnam from out of the southeast, from Yankee Station out in the Gulf of Tonkin.
“The coastline looms dull and flat through the haze. Huge gray streams looking like ribbons of silver flow toward the sea from the northwest. Rice fields filled with placid black water spread from the meandering rivers. Here and there a clump of trees and a covey of dwelling mark a village: a church spire rises from the middle. Dike-roads connect the clumps. A railroad devoid of traffic riding a levee slashes across the waterscape.
“In the far distance, silhouettes and shadows of mountains rise up. To the right sprawls Haiphong, it’s waterfront crowded with fat freighters. Dead ahead is Hanoi. Closer at hand, just off to the right, should be our target.
“Crossing the coastline the adrenalin begins to surge; the jinking begins. The fighter flak suppressors move ahead. Now, you double check your navigation; check your wingman; check your armament switches. All set. We press on.
“Suddenly, one of the fighters calls, “Flak at ten o’clock!” Checking left you see it’s not too bad, just a few puffs slightly low, no sweat. Then, another call, “Missile lifting at two-thirty, just by the bend in the river.” You’re lucky. You see this one lifting off: first a cloud of dust in at the launch point then a long, orange flame rising ever-so slowly up and toward the force. You maneuver to keep it in sight. Pulling hard you look for launches two and three. Seldom do they fire single missiles.
“The missiles pass clear exploding astern in great orange puffs. Meanwhile, a section of the strike group is ordered to detach and hit the launch site.
“There was a slight bit of altitude lost as evading the SAMs, but your wingman is still there and you’re nearing roll-in.
“Meanwhile, the target area is alive with black puffs, white puffs and sparklers, muzzle flashes from what seem like hundreds of guns. As we get closer the flak begins in earnest. It’s so thick you feel that your plane is being bounced around by detonating shells. There’s only one thing to do: roll-in on the target.
“You roll nearly upside down, pop speedbrakes, pull through to the desired bomb line and target angle, level your wings with the gunsight pipper on the center of the target and set up a steady dive. Seven thousand feet. Correct for drift. Tracers are thickening. Five thousand feet. Pickle!
“Pull hard! Roll left. You’re in more white puffs. Jink, and jink some more. Suddenly you’re clear, time to throttle back a bit, check in the mirror: your wingman has stuck close and it looks like good hits. What a relief to head for the coast and, “Feet wet.”
“Feet wet.” Happiness is feet wet over the Tonkin Gulf. Anything can happen there and you’re still okay. The last of the flight checks in feet wet; nobody missing, nobody hit, the bridge is down. It was probably your hits that did it. (Everybody feels that way about his own hits)! It was a successful strike. Recovery aboard ship routine. Now, what’s for chow?”
Written by: Hugh Magee, 1966
“Francis Hugh “Slugger” Magee was born on December 5, 1934 , and died after a long illness on January 11, 2016. He was a well-known and expert light attack pilot having served in VA-94, VA-55, VA-125, and VA-146. He was especially proud of having been a member of the VA-146 Blue Diamonds on two combat cruises to the Gulf of Tonkin in 1966 and 1967. In 1966 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. In personality he was forever optimistic and personally buoyed the morale of all those with whom he came in contact. He is sorely missed by his family and all the Blue Diamonds.”
Submitted by: Vice Admiral Bob Dunn, USN, (Retired), former CO of: the Blue Diamonds; a carrier air wing; the carrier U.S.S. Saratoga; the Navy Safety Center; CNOs Deputy for Naval Aviation; and the Naval Air Forces of the Atlantic Fleet. The Admiral is currently wordsmithing a new book on the history of Naval Aviation Safety… (I had the honor of reading an early draft, so I know it’s coming) Readers of this blog will enjoy the Admiral’s recounting of Naval Aviation’s across-the-board application of “Kaizen” to achieve the level of safety and readiness of the people, ships and aircraft of the Navy’s air arm currently are recording. Thank you, Skipper for your unsurpassed commitment to a lifetime of looking out for your country, your Navy, your family, and your wingmen. Youdaman… Love you: “Flash Dogbreath.”
Readers… Hugh Magee’s vignette, “A Routine Strike,” is, IMHO, a masterpiece. I know this: if one of my great-grand kids asks, “What did you do in the war, Grandpa?”…I now have an answer: “Child, this is what the warriors in my day did, and we did it over and over and over again…” Rear back and strut, Rolling Thunderers, you are experts in “fleeing forward.” Or as expressed by Hugh Magee… “There’s only one thing to do: roll-in on the target.” And after a short strut: do some remembering of those mates who can’t because they fell “fleeing forward” upholding the honor of their, our, country. Lest we forget, Bear
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