Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #415… NO SKIES FOR OLD OR TIMID MEN… and don’t miss the MIGHTY THUNDER POST by MiG KILLER Denny Wisely in an “exclusive”… and a bonus couple of Ed Rasimus paragraphs from his golden pen to describe that six to ten seconds of coming downhill to lay a rack-full of bombs on an angry enemy… but first…
Good Morning: Day FOUR HUNDRED FIFTEEN of a return to the air war with North Vietnam called Rolling Thunder…
24 APRIL 1967… HOME TOWN HEAD LINES and leads from The New York Times on a rainy Monday in NYC…
Page 1: “U.S. Marines Go Ashore Near Demilitarized Zone”… “United States Marines have landed in an area of northern South Vietnam in which enemy pressure has been building steadily. The amphibious operation was made Saturday 21 miles southeast of the DMZ. No contact had been made with the enemy since the operation began. In other operations in I Corps, 46 Marines were killed and 105 were wounded over the weekend during a bitter battle with North Vietnamese regulars. The enemy lost 96 killed with an unknown number wounded. The battle took place west of where the added troops came ashore southeast of the DMZ.”…
Page 1: “Junta In Greece Says Coup Balked Papandreou Plot”... “The regime that seized control of Greece in a coup d’etat Friday said today that it did so to prevent a revolution fomented by Premier George Papandreou. King Constantine was in accord with the Government of Premier Constantine Kollias. The spokesman said the King had signed a decree declaring a state of siege and suspending a number of constitutional guarantees. Asked to show a signed copy of the decree, the spokesman Nicholas Farmakis said, ‘The government does not have to prove anything in writing. The King remains silent and out of public view. A source in Denmark reports that King Constantine is held house arrest.’ “... Page 1: “Mao Is said to Criticize Lui and Teng by Name”... “A Red Guard newspaper reports that Chairman Mao Tse-tung has issued his first direct written attack on the Chinese head of state Liu Shoo-che and the Communist Party’s General Secretary Teng Hsiao-ping. Reporting what it described as a supreme order by Chairman Mao, the newspaper quoted the party leader as having condemned a book written by Mr. Liu as ‘a classic in revisionism.’ Mao said the book, ‘How to Be a Good Communist,’ had exerted a bad influence in China and all over the world and should be thoroughly criticized…it is anti-Marxist.’ “… Page 1: “2nd Space Shot Hinted in Soviet”... “The Soviet Union’s new spacecraft Soyuz 1 continued circling the earth today with its lone crewman amid reports that another large spaceship would be launched to attempt a rendezvous in orbit.”…
Page 14: “Dr. King Starts His Peace Crusade”... “The Rev. Dr. Marin Luther King, Jr. called today for an ‘escalation of our opposition to the war in Vietnam’ as he helped inaugurate a nationwide peace effort called ‘Vietnam Summer.’ Dr. King said, ‘I give my absolute support to those who initiate this move.‘ The civil rights leader was seconded by Dr. Benjamin Spock, the pediatrician, who said ‘I welcome this opportunity to urge all communities to voice their objections to the war.’ They spoke at Christ Church Parish House off Harvard Square.”… Page 1: “Cleveland To Crack Down on Riotous Negro Gangs”… “This city has decided to put down its Negro street gangs–the young vandals, arsonists and looters whose repeated acts of rage have left few persons here opposing harsh countermeasures. Community leaders including many Negroes say they believe a crackdown is necessary.”
24 April 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (25 April reporting 24 April ops) Page 1:
“American F-4C Phantom jets shot down two MiGs late yesterday in raids against the air fields where enemy jet interceptors are based. The two MiGs brought to 42 the number of communist planes shot down in North Vietnam. North Vietnam MiGs have shot down 11 American aircraft.”…
“The bombing in the vicinity of Hanoi called into question American military statements that the three raids yesterday against the airfields did not constitute another step in the escalation of the air war. Unlike the Haiphong raid, which was clearly, if reluctantly, labeled an escalation in this war by American officials here, the bombing of the airfields was described by American officials as a limited response to increased MIG activity in the last few days. The oil storage dump 3 1/2 miles from the city center was last hit on 29 June 1966.”…
Page 1: “Speaking of yesterday’s raids against Hoalac airfield 19 miles west of Hanoi and Kep airfield 37 miles northeast of Hanoi, a U.S. spokesman said: ‘This is not escalation. This is simply a continuation of hitting selected military targets.’ Never-the-less, a high American civilian officer said: ‘We’ve been laying off hitting the MIG fields because of the possibility the North Vietnamese would shift the MiGs to bases in China. If they flew out of Chinese bases we’d be faced with a pursuit problem. Noting that the military spokesman had stressed the limited nature of yesterday’s raids, the civilian official said: ‘We’ve still got psychological inhibitions. But this is part of cranking up. Just a reminder that we can and will hit the MIG fields.’ …Two or three flights of Thailand based Air Force Phantoms bombed Hoalac. The exact number of carrier based Navy A-4 Skyhawks and A-6 Intruders that bombed the Kep base was not immediately disclosed. But the spokesman doubted that the Navy raids were substantially larger than the Air Force’s”…
“Later in the evening Navy A-6s from Kitty Hawk returned for a second raid on the Kep airfield and reported their bombs had set off large secondary explosions. The Navy pilots reported they had destroyed an unspecified number of antiaircraft and surface-to-air missiles and aircraft revetments, the concrete and steel protected bays that protect individual aircraft on airfields. In addition, the Navy planes struck a maintenance building, a control tower and peripheral support buildings. The Air Force pilots who bombed Hoalac reported all their bombs on target. There was no mention of aircraft losses in the raids by the U.S.”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson): There were four fixed wing aircraft lost in southeast Asia on 24 April 1967…
(1) LCDR CHARLES EVERETT SOUTHWICK and ENSIGN JIM W. LAING were flying an F-4B of the VF-114 Aardvarks embarked in USS Kitty Hawk were part of a major strike on Kep airfield, the first of the war. Here is how Chris Hobson tells the story in his mammoth account of the air war… …
“After two years of political indecision the first major strike on the MiG bases took place when Kep and Hoa Lac airfields were attacked on the 24th resulting in the loss of two naval aircraft at Kep. The strike force was protected by a TARCAP flight of six Phantoms led by LCDR SOUTHWICK and ENSIGN LAING. As the Phantoms and the strike force approached Kep they came under heavy and accurate fire. LCDR SOUTHWICK’s aircraft was hit by AAA as he escorted the first wave of bombers out of the target area. The aircraft appeared to be little damaged, but in any case the crew were faced with a more pressing problem when they were attacked by eight MiGs from the 923rd Fighter Regiment. The Phantoms reversed course and headed towards the MiG-17s, four low down and four at the same altitude of the Phantoms. One of the MiGs passed over the Phantoms and SOUTHWICK reversed his course again, caught up with the MiG and shot it down. However, there was little time for celebration as SOUTHWICK’s wingman warned him of another MiG-17 that was on his tail. A VF-114 Phantom flown by LT DENNY WISELY and LTJG GARY ANDERSON destroyed the MIG-17 before it could do any more damage to the SOUTHWICK Phantom. As the Phantoms retired to the Gulf of Tonkin LCDR SOUTHWICK discovered that he could not transfer fuel from the wing tank. Unable to reach a tanker in time, SOUTHWICK and LAING ejected over the sea 20 miles south of Hon Gai and were rescued by a Navy helicopter.”…FOR ANOTHER ACCOUNT: See Denny Wisely’ great piece in today’s MIGHTY THUNDER post on this website…
(2) LTJG LEWIS IRVING WILLIAM and LTJG MICHAEL DURHAM CHRISTIAN were flying an A-6A Intruder of the VA-85 Black Falcons embarked in USS Kitty Hawk were on the Kep strike in the bombing elements. Approaching the target and hit by an 85mm the aircraft burst into flames, LTJGS WILLIAMS and CHRISTIAN ejected out of the fireball and reported to the airborne strike leader they were OK on the ground but facing imminent capture. Both aviators were interned at POWs and released in 1973.
(3) LCDR EDWIN BYRON TUCKER was flying an F-8C of the VF-24 Checkertails embarked in the USS Bon Homme Richard providing flak suppression for an airwing strike on the Hon Gai railroad yards. His Crusader took a direct hit from an 85mm shell and LCDR TUCKER was seen in his parachute but never heard from again. Later intelligence reports stated that he was fatally injured and died under treatment at a North Vietnamese hospital in Hon Gai. LCDR TUCKER’s remains were returned in 1987 and he was buried in Arlington in 1988, the full military honors he so well deserved…
(4) MAJOR HERMAN LUDWIG KNAPP and 1LT CHARLES DAVID AUSTIN were flying an F-4C of the 433rd TFS and 8th TFW out of Ubon on a strike on Hoa Lac airfield or a bridge near Hanoi, and while flying at very low altitude was hit by ground fire and disintegrated in two pieces that hit the ground 20-miles west of Hoa Binh. There was no ejection. MAJOR HERMAN KNAPP and 1LT CHARLES AUSTIN were Killed in Action on the attack and lie today where they fell 50 years ago today. Left behind, but not forgotten. The search goes on, Humble Host hopes…
RIPPLE SALVO… #415… Humble Host defers to Denny Wisely’s account of the two VF-114 MIG kills on 24 April…see Mighty Thunder post… However, to balance the storytelling –fighter and attack– here are a couple of paragraphs for F-105 Strike-Fighter Ed Rasimus’ great journal “When Thunder Rolled.” Here is one of the best accounts of a dive bomber’s perilous few seconds from roll-in to clearing the target, as only Rasimus can tell it… page 217…
The strike is a flight of four F-105s led by Bill Loyd with Ed Rasimus on his wing, and the section led by Karl Richter with Joe Vojir #4 in Musket flight. Ordnance: 2-3,000 pounders each and the target to be determined due to weather. The airborne choice was an oil tank on the rail yard at Cam Pha.
“Musket’s got the target, low on our left. I’m up and rolling in left in ten. I’ll be off left and hold the turn ’til everyone’s aboard.” I slid across behind Loyd’s airplane to take spacing and watched Richter pull further right to establish his own run. The afterburner blazed on Musket Lead as he pulled slightly and rolled into the bomb run. I stroked the burner and check-turned into the target to set up about 20 degrees off Loyd’ run-in. the RHAW buzzing was continuous now and black clouds of 85 mm were popping where Lead had just been. the bursts tracked his dive down then backup, following through into the pullout. Black dots enunciated where Musket Lead had been and gone.
“I pointed the airplane at the ground and checked my dive angle. I was at about 35 degrees with the pipper in the middle of the tracks with three thousand feet to go until release altitude. I could let the sight drift up to the tank and should be right at 30 degrees when I get to thirty-five hundred feet on the altimeter. The guns were alive now. Everything that wasn’t rail yard was muzzle flashes. I was stunned to see red footballs coming past the canopy. Glowing red and looking like passes from Joe Namath, the 85mm shells in flight were passing my right wingtip and over my canopy, closer than I ever thought possible. I left the AB cooking and pressed the attack as Loyd’s bombs went off short of the tank. I’d never considered the possibility that one could see bullets in the air, but if the bullets were four inches in diameter and the perspective was one of head-on closure, then it was definitely possible.
“The combination of steep and fast meant that my two bombs went just long of the target, hitting the water’s edge. Richter and Vojir were in their dive behind me, and I hoped they would do better. I joined hard right as soon as the nose of my aircraft came level with the horizon, trying to avoid the cloud of 37-mm puff-balls ahead of my flight path. Loyd’s airplane was coming left about two miles ahead of me covered in the white vapor that indicated he was pulling hard and going fast. I rolled back left to get some cutoff, still in afterburner and scrambling for altitude to get clear of the small guns. I heard Karl call off the target, then ‘Lead in sight.’ Vojir’s call came just a few seconds later. A quick glance back over my left-wing showed clouds of bomb smoke covering the entire south half of the rail yard, and the two mist shrouded 105s arcing across the turn to close back into tactical.”
“It took mere seconds to get clear of the target area and out of gun range…” oohrah…
Those were the days of iron sights and iron men. No computers, just experience, study and practice–skill. And of course, fortitude, lot’s of fortitude…
Lest we forget…. Bear
