Bear Taylor 
COMMEMORATING THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIETNAM WAR (1961-1973)… and honoring the courageous Naval Aviators, Naval Flight Officers and air crewmen who carried the war to the heavily defended heartland of North Vietnam in the years of Operation Rolling Thunder (1965-1968)…
GOOD MORNING. Faithful Scribe has another tale to tell: An attack on the Dragon’s Jaw — the bridge across the Song Ma River at Thanh Hoa, North Vietnam– that has escaped the notice of the great war historians, a tale of some importance.
WHEN NAVAL AVIATION ROARED. Tale #16 from the awards file of CINCPACFLT as recorded by Faithful Scribe in 1985 when the records were available at the Naval Annex in Suitland, Maryland. On 17 June 1965 the “world famous Golden Dragons” of VA-192, embarked in USS BON HOMME RICHARD (CVA-31), at the direction of CINCPACFLT, conducted an evaluation of a new motion picture pod (Mopix) to record the effectiveness of the Navy’s participation in Operation Rolling Thunder. USS BON HOMME RICHARD (CVA-31), with Attack Carrier Air Wing 19 embarked, departed Alameda Naval Air Station on 21 April 1965 and returned on 13 January 1966. The ship spent 136 days on the line at Yankee Station and lost 17 aircraft, 14 in combat. Eight warrior-aviators perished and two were left behind as POWs. On 17 June the ship was in the middle of the second of five line periods. The target chosen for the Mopix pod camera evaluation was the Thanh Hoa bridge, the Dragon’s Mouth, and the weapon chosen for the introduction of the pod to combat was the AGM-12B, Bullpup missile. The skipper of VA-192 took the mission.
CDR Allen (Boot) HILL was not the first to guide a Bullpup into the Dragon’s Jaw. In April and May of 1965, the first month’s of Rolling Thunder, the Air Force launched five multi-aircraft missions against the vital bridge at Thanh Hoa. On missions flown on 4 and 5 April the Air Force targeted the bridge with both Bullpups and bombs, a total of 384 weapons, and left the bridge damaged, but serviceable. Historians Steven Coonts and Barrett Tillman write in their book, Dragon’s Jaw, An Epic Story of Courage and Tenacity in Vietnam, that this barrage of air delivered ordnance left both approaches cratered, slabs of concrete in the bridge flooring blown out and “one or two spans to sag visibly.” The Air Force lost six aircraft on the two missions. On 7 May the Air Force gave it another go, skipping the AGM-12B Bullpups and going with 28 F-105s loaded with 750-pound bombs, and supported by 36 other aircraft. Two more missions were flown by the Air Force against the bridge that day. The clouds of 750-pound bombs hit on, and all around the bridge, but when the day was done the Dragon’s Jaw still spanned the Song Ma River. On 31 May the Air Force Thuds gave it another try, this time with just four F-105s dropping a total of 32 750-pounders. The bridge sustained “only moderate damage, although the bridge was briefly closed to road and rail traffic.” More than three hundred tons of bombs and missiles delivered by the Air Force in April and May failed to break The Jaw. The Air Force was less than impressed with the AGM-12B– a 250 pound warhead– and was looking forward to delivery of ‘Big Bullpup,’ AGM-12C missile with a 970 pound warhead that closed on the target at 1.8 IMN and could be fired from several miles away…
Quoted from page 86 of Dragon’s Jaw: “Early Navy missions against the Dragon’s Jaw were much smaller, more informal affairs than the Air Force strikes. The Navy launched its first strike against the bridge on June 17, 1965, from the USS MIDWAY and USS BON HOMME RICHARD. The bombers were A-4s from the Bonnie Dick, and the MiG CAP was composed of six F-4 Phantoms belonging to VF-21 aboard the Midway.”
On that day the VF-21 fighters downed two MiG-17s 35 miles northwest of Thanh Hoa to dazzle the world with great news. Especially since they were Sparrow kills. Meanwhile, the Bonnie Dick bombers had a good day rendering the Dragon’s Jaw “unserviceable.” In addition, the VA-192 Golden Dragons pleased the bosses with the successful introduction of the Mopix pod camera to record combat operations. Not quite like killing MiGs, but a notable achievement never-the-less.
CDR “Boot” HILL led a “small Alpha” of a dozen A-4s to conduct the ordered (by CINCPACFLT) evaluation of the camera pod developed at Naval Air Station, Pt. Mugu, under project officer LCDR Thomas FRIEDRICH, who was temporarily assigned to VA-192 for the evaluation flight. The mission required that the camera pod “obtain a photographic record of the Navy’s effectiveness in combat.” CDR HILL would fire the AGM-12 B and LCDR FRIEDRICH, flying an F-8E with the camera pod, would capture the launch, flight and impact of the Bullpup on the Thanh Hoa bridge. Both were recommended for the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross based on the results of the evaluation flight. The Citation for CDR HILL’s DFC tells the story…
“For heroism and extraordinary achievement while attached to and serving with Attack Squadron ONE NINETY TWO on 17 June 1965. Commander HILL was assigned as an A-4C Bullpup ‘B’ strike pilot to launch from USS BON HOMME RICHARD (CVA-31) in an Air Wing strike on the extremely heavily defended Thanh Hoa railroad and highway bridge (Ho Chi Minh Birthday Bridge) located … in the Democratic Republic of North Vietnam. This mission was also to be the first strike filmed by the Pt. Mugu Mopix pod camera. The necessity of obtaining a photographic record of the Navy’s combat effectiveness had received the highest priority from the Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet. Exhibiting extraordinary skill and professionalism while under anti-aircraft fire, Commander HILL guided his Bullpup ‘B’ missile to a direct hit on the bridge. The impact was at the exact point selected from pre-strike photography which would inflict the greatest damage to the vital link in the enemy’s transportation system. The spectacular results achieved received personal acclaim from Commander SEVENTH Fleet and the documentary film, dramatically showing the Navy’s combat effectiveness, was later released to network television for nation-wide viewing. Additionally, since this was one of the first occasions on which Bullpup ‘B’ missiles were used (by the Navy) in a combat environment, Commander HILL’s success clearly demonstrated the exceptional reliability and destructive capabilities of the weapon. The success acquired during an urgent and most demanding assignment was due to Commander HILL’s extraordinary skill, initiative, bold action and his truly professional performance while in the face of great personal danger, which was in keeping with the highest traditions of the Naval Service.”…
BITS OF RIBBON. In addition to CDR HILL’s DFC, LCDR FRIEDRICH and LTJG Neil B. TAYLOR were also recommended for DFCs. LCDR FRIEDRICH for operation of the pod camera, and LTJG TAYLOR for matching the direct hit of his leader CDR HILL, all on film… But the MiG killers of VF-21 and MIDWAY went one better. CDR Louis PAGE, LT John C. SMITH, LT Jack E.D. BATSON, Jr., and LCDR Robert B. DOREMUS were each awarded SILVER STAR medals for their 17 June 1965 MiG-17 kills. Three days later LT Charles HARTMAN, VA-25, flying a A-1H Spad downed a MiG-17 to earn the SILVER STAR the hard way– down a MiG jet while looking through a prop…. That’s another story…
END NOTE. The Stephen Coonts and Barrett Tillman book DRAGON’s JAW about the Thanh Hoa bridge is most highly recommended and belongs on your summer reading list.
NEXT POST. Tale #17. ENTERPRISE and CAG-9 find and destroy a mobile SAM battalion in the mountains southwest of Hanoi on 7 June 1967.
Lest we forget… Bear
