Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #755… SELECTING THE TARGETS FOR VIETNAM AIR STRIKE OPERATIONS… THE WHITE HOUSE LUNCH BUNCH GETS BENCHED… With the President’s announcement that Operation Rolling Thunder Operations would henceforth be limited to targets below the 20th and then the 19th parallel of North Vietnam, on 1 April 1968 the selection of targets moved to Blue Chip–7th Air Force–at Tan Son Nhut AND the warriors looking through the glareshields and canopies of Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps aircraft… but first…
GOOD MORNING: Day SEVEN HUNDRED FIFTY-FIVE of History 401: The air war called OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER and a remembrance of the gallant men who carried the Vietnam war to the enemy homeland for 40 months (1965-68) …
HEAD LINES from The New York Times on Saturday, 30 March 1968…sunny in New York…
Page 1: “SEARCH CONTINUES FOR F-111A LOST IN VIETNAM RAID”… “The search for the F-111 jet fighter-bomber that failed to return on Thursday from a mission in North Vietnam continued yesterday (29th) without success. The Hanoi radio announced that the aircraft, the newest and fastest American warplane had been shot down near Laos about 100 miles north of the demilitarized zone… Page 1: “THE GROUND WAR”… “In the fighting near Trangbang…the enemy had suddenly opened fire on a force of Government infantrymen and American armored cars and tanks as they swept along a bank of the Vam Co Doing River. The allied troops were part of the 50,000-man force that has been maneuvering around the edges of Saigon in the largest allied offense of the war. … Trangbang sits astride a major infiltration route that may have been used by many of the 8,000 to 10,000 enemy soldiers believed to be in the vicinity a month ago.
Page 1: “PRESIDENT OFFERS U.S. AND TO CITIES IN CURBING RIOTS–RESPONSES TO MEMPHIS STRIFE WITH A WARNING AGAINST MINDLESS VIOLENCE–Capital Wary Of March–Reassessment On Protests By Doctor King Is Sought By Negro And White Leaders”… “President Johnson offered Federal help today to states and cities that need it to control urban rioting. He vowed that ‘mindless violence’ would ‘never be tolerated in America.’ the President responded to the violence in Memphis yesterday in two speeches and in a formal statement from the White House. He spoke out as the nation’s capital, the next major target of a nonviolent protest campaign by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., reacted to the Memphis event with anger and apprehension.”…. Page 26: “CHURCHES TO ACT ON RACIAL TENSION–National Council to Fight Problems of Injustice”… “Responding to the report of the National Advisory commission on Civil Disorders, the National Churches has announced a program to attack root problems of racial injustice and the growing urban crisis…34 Protestant and Orthodox denominations in the Council were calling on their constituent churches to initiate emergency study and action programs to meet tensions of the racial issue.”… Page 31: “DR. KING TO MARCH IN MEMPHIS AGAIN–Aims To Show That Protest There Can Be Nonviolent”… “The Rev. Dr. Marin Luther King, Jr. promised today that he would mount a ‘massive’ civil rights demonstration in Memphis soon to show that protests can be conducted without violence.”…
Page 1: “FIRE EXCHANGED SIX HOURS BY ISRAELIS AND JORDANIANS”… “Israel and Jordan exchanged artillery fire today along an 85-mile front in a six-hour clash that included Israeli air strikes It Israelis said that one of their jets had been downed; by Jordanian antiaircraft fire but that the plane had crashed in Israeli held territory and that the pilot has bailed out successfully.”… Page 11: “U.S. Frees 3 Captives After Discussion With Hanoi”… “The United States has held a new round of direct contacts with North Vietnamese representatives. The talks culminated in the return today of three captured North Vietnamese sailors captured during naval action in the Gulf of Tonkin in July 1966.”…
30 MARCH 1968… THE PRESIDENT’S DAILY BRIEF (CIA TS-SI) SOUTH VIETNAM: The series of attacks forecast in “N-Day” messages hs not yet materialized, but communist intercepts still point to early wide-ranging actions…. JORDAN-ISRAEL: Yesterday’s exchange turned out to be short-lived, but it was fairly intensive while in progress. In addition to the artillery duel all along the Jordan valley, Israel planes strafed Jordanian artillery positions… Both Jordan and Israel have called for a Security Council meeting. The council is expected to meet at 10:30 this morning… LAOS: Fighting has tapered off recently, but the Communists are capable of resuming their dry season offensive at any time. In the northeast, they have not yet made their expected attacks against two key government guerrilla bases, but we believe they will before the monsoon season starts in late may. Heavy truck traffic from North Vietnam Toward the Plains des Jarres indicates that the Laotians may be on firmer ground than usual this year in making their annual prediction of a Communist offensive in that area…. NORTH KOREA: Satellite photography of 16 March suggests the North Koreans have begun to take the Pueblo’s electronic gear apart. Although the major antenna gear apart. … At the rate the dismantling process seems to be going so far, the North Koreans will probably have to hold the Pueblo for quite some time if they plan a full study of the ship and its gear. (Humble Host reminds: Pueblo is STILL being used as a museum by North Korea and is unlikely to be coming back, ever.)
STATE DEPARTMENT. OFFICE OF HISTORIAN. Historical Documents. Foreign Relations. 1964-68. Vietnam: One document dated 30 March 1968 of note. Document 157 is a one pager that records the final meeting of his closest advisors before he gives the speech. Issue is whether to activate 48,000 Reservists as part of the speech or delay it due to the reaction it will surely get. Consensus is wait until later… 3-STARS… Read at:
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d167
30 MARCH 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (31 Mar reporting 30 Mar ops) … Page 1: “SECOND F-111 JET FIGHTER DOWN IN SOUTHEAST ASIA”…”A second swing-wing F-111A fighter-bomber crashed yesterday (30th) a United States spokesman said today. The spokesman said that the plane crashed ‘after an in-flight emergency.’ The two crewmen were rescued. The spokesman said he could not elaborate on the statement, which was made simultaneously in Washington….The spokesman in Saigon said there had been no change in the status of the F-111A that had been missing since early Thursday. The command maintained that it could not deviate from its earlier statement that the first plane was overdue on a mission in Southeast Asia…The Hanoi radio said that the first plane was shot down in Hatinh Province,which abuts the Laotian border about 100 miles north of the demilitarized zone…Hanoi sent a congratulatory message to the people of Hatinh for their ‘brilliant’ efforts in bringing down the fastest and newest American fighter-bomber, which costs more than $5-million….The F-111As flew their first combat missions Monday… Page 4: “CRASH SITE IS PUT IN THAILAND”… “Authoritative sources said here today that the F-111A had crashed in Thailand. Defense Department would neither confirm or deny the report.”… Page 4: “PILOT PRAISES F-111 AFTER RAID IN NORTH”… “A United States Air Force senior pilot who flew the new F-111A in its first combat missions over North Vietnam said yesterday that the performance of the controversial fighter-bomber ‘has been outstanding.’…’I was a little skeptical at first because of the electronic sophistication of the various systems that have to work together,’ Major Charlies Arnet of New Richone, Ohio said in an interview. ‘My impressions before were that the failure rates would be high and the maintenance problems numerous. But Major Arnet said, ‘It proves to be as easy to maintain as any other modern fighter. All of the systems have demonstrated an extremely high degree of reliability. It proved my impressions are valid.’…”
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were two fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 30 March 1968…
(1) A C-123K of the 315th ACW out of Phang Rang suffered a mechanical failure on take-off and crashed. The four men in the cew survived…
(2) MAJOR ALEXANDER A. MARQUANDT and CAPTAIN JOSEPH W. HODGES were flying an F-111A of “Detachment I”, 428th TFW out of Takhli on a night strike mission in North Vietnam. Shortly after take-off while the aircraft was still over Thailand the aircraft developed a control problem forcing the crew to eject. They were rescued from a position in Thailand and returned to Takhli by an Air Force HH-3E..
Humble Host flew #127. Led a flight of four. Worked with a FAC in Steel Tiger and put 3 Mk-83s and 2 MK-82s (x4) on his smoke to get “two road cuts with slides” southwest of Tchepone in clear weather.
RIPPLE SALVO… #755… The various fighter-bombers in the US inventory in the 1960s were multi-mission machines–as they are 50 years later. The aviators who operated them were flexible warriors always eager to master their respective machines through the full envelope of capabilities the manufacturers and test pilots have determined are safely achievable. Rolling Thunder provided opportunities to employ the full range of capabilities of their tactical aircraft, including strategic bombing. “Going Downtown” into a sophisticated integrated defense system to bomb thermal power plants and industrial facilities in the heartland of the enemy was strategic by definition. The JCS Target List was a strategic target list. In addition, the fighter-bombers of the Rolling Thunder air forces carried out interdiction, close air support and armed reconnaissance missions top fulfill the objectives of Operation Rolling Thunder. With the President’s decision to limit the bombing to the panhandle of North Vietnam and the shelving of Washington control of the strategic JCS Target List, with a start date of 1 April, Rolling Thunder took on a new look that continued until the bombing of the North was halted on 1 November 1968. Concurrently, the control of the air war was consolidated under one hat at Seventh Air Force in Saigon. The role of CINCPAC was reduced. The role of the Lunch Bunch was abandoned. The daily frags from Blue Chip included both targets and armed reconnaissance missions that enabled flight leaders to cruise for lucrative targets and, in essence, do their own targeting. If it moved, hit it. The defense system of the enemy south of Thanh Hoa relied on antiaircraft guns in big bunches but lacked the MiGs, the ground control radar, and a gauntlet of SAM sites of Route Packs III, IV, V and VI. Most flights launched with a specific interdiction target assignment– railroad yards, bridges, bridge bypasses, storage areas–to be followed by reconnaissance of road segments. It was not unusual for flights to spend 20 to 30 minutes cruising the infiltration routes in the panhandle. The enemy response was to shift more guns south and employ a few mobile SAM battalions. Rolling Thunder was a new game. In addition, the number of missions to work with FACs in Steel Tiger — “Hit my smoke”– increased significantly. The weather cleared up early in April and continued until the 1 November end date for the air war over North Vietnam.
Rolling Thunder in 1968 was as much fun as flying gets… Deadly serious, but exhilarating fun…
RTR Quote for 30 March: GENERAL ADOLPH GALLAND: “Flying is more than a sport and more than a job; flying is pure passion and desire, which fill a lifetime.”…
Lest we forget… Bear
