Bear Taylor 
COMMEMORATING THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIETNAM WAR (1961-1973)… and honoring the intrepid Naval Aviators, Naval Flight Officers and air crews who carried the war to the heartland of North Vietnam in the years of Operation Rolling Thunder (1965-1968)….
GOOD MORNING. I have another Yankee Air Pirate tale to tell…WHEN NAVAL AVIATION ROARED… Episode #2…
USS BON HOMME RICHARD (CVA-31) and CVW-21 Strike on two bridges at Hai Duong on 1 JULY 1967…
BONNIE DICK and CVW-21 were on their third Vietnam war deployment to Yankee Station to participate in Operation Rolling Thunder operations. They departed Alameda Naval Air Station in Oakland, California on 26 January 1967 and returned on 25 August 1967. They logged 121 days in combat operating from Yankee Station and would be awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their sustained performance in carrying the war to North Vietnam. In the process the Air Wing would lose 21 aircraft in combat. Three pilots were killed or listed as missing in action and ten others were captured and imprisoned as POWs. Three POWs perished in captivity. In addition, five lives were lost in operational accidents. Air Wing pilots bagged nine MiGs on the cruise. During the summer of 1967 BONNIE DICK and her Air Wing were flying three Rolling Thunder strikes per day in addition to several armed reconnaissance and photo reconnaissance missions. This is the story of one of those ROLLING THUNDER Alpha strikes…
THE MISSION. On 1 July 1967, COMMANDER MARVIN QUAID, CO, VA-212, led a four aircraft (A-4Fs) against the railroad bypass bridges located at Hai Duong, North Vietnam. The two bridges are located 19 miles west of Haiphong and about 20 miles east of Hanoi. The area is a highly defended zone and an important link in the rail line between the port city of Haiphong and the capital city of Hanoi.
THE DEFENSES. The two bridges are protected by numerous active enemy 37mm, 57mm and 85mm antiaircraft gun sites, including several controlled by radar. There are also 12 active Surface-to-Air missile sites within range of the targets of this mission. MiG bases east, north and west are within five minutes flying time from the Hai Duong target complex.
PLANNING. The weapons of choice for this mission were AGM-62 WALLEYEs, which were introduced to the war in the summer of 1967 by the Rampant Raiders of Attack Squadron 212. The WALLEYE was a “precision guided” launch-and-leave smart-bomb that could be guided via a television assisted guidance system. Employment of the weapon required careful planning in order to create the dark-light contrasts required for lock-on. For this mission, COMMANDER QUAID and his three delivery pilot wingmen carefully studied the two targets to take advantage of the sun angles and shadows for pin-point aiming and lock-on of the WALLEYEs, as well as the most vulnerable features of the two bridges. COMMANDER QUAID and his wingman, LCDR STEVEN R. BRIGGS, were to attack the northernmost of the two bridges on a northerly attack heading. LCDR MICHAEL C. CATER and his wingman, LCDR RICHARD S. THOMAS, were to attack the southernmost bridge on a northeasterly heading. The exact separation point for the two sections, the roll-in points, dive headings and angles were calculated and plotted in detail. The flight briefed extensively on the procedures and contingencies for the mission into the heart of the heavily defended Red River Valley.
EXECUTION. The flight, a division of VA-212, AGM-62 carrying A-4F Skyhawks, launched, rendezvoused and proceeded to feet-dry between Thanh Hoa and Haiphong. The flight over the delta region was flown without visible opposition. When within range of the 85mm antiaircraft guns near the target the four Skyhawks were subjected to intense and accurate radar directed fire. Jinking clear of the enemy opposition the flight separated into two sections exactly as planned and both section leaders maneuvered to the planned rollin point from which to make their attacks. Despite the increasing opposition that now included 57mm and 37mm antiaircraft fire the four RAMPANT RAIDERS commenced their attacks simultaneously. The relatively small size of the two by-pass bridge targets required that the weapons be carried down almost to minimum slant range in order to insure hits in the desired vulnerable locations on the two bridges. Satisfied that their respective lock-ons were as desired, they released their weapons nearly simultaneously and recovered from their gliding attacks. On pullout LCDR BRIGG’s aircraft was struck in the canopy by AAA shrapnel. He reported he had been hit. On joinup with COMMANDER QUAID it was discovered that his aircraft had also been damaged by AAA. All four aircraft returned to BONNIE DICK and made uneventful OK-2 landings…
POST-FLIGHT. BDA photography revealed the southern bypass bridge suffered one span destroyed and the northern bypass bridge had two spans rendered unserviceable by the coordinated AGM-62 attack.
BITS OF RIBBON. All four warriors were recommended for awards–bits of ribbon–for this mission into an extremely heavily defended area. The award submission included this description of their combat action. “The courage, devotion to duty and expert airmanship of these officers was responsible for the successful interdiction of this vital railroad line. Their calm determination in the face of such strong enemy defenses and their perseverance in pressing home their attacks ensured the success of this important mission. Their actions were at all times in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”… At the time, COMMANDER MARV QUAID had already been awarded the Air Medal (12 awards and a Navy Commendation Medal with VALOR device. In addition, he had been recommended for the Navy Cross, Silver Star, DFC, Air Medal (13th award) and a 2nd NCM. LCDR MIKE CATER had already been awarded the DFC, Air Medal (11th award), and two NCMs with Vs. In addition, he had been recommended for awards of the Navy Cross, Silver Star, DFCs 2 and 3, Air Medal 12 and 13, and four additional awards of the NCM with combat V. LCDR DICK THOMAS was on his first combat tour and had received five awards of the Air Medal and was awaiting approval of the Silver Star, two DFCs, a 6th Air Medal and six awards of the NCM with combat V. LT STEVE BRIGGSs had received the DFC, eighteen Air Medals, an NCM wV, and the Air Gallantry Medal (SVN) with Bronze Star. He was awaiting approval of a 2nd DFC, 19th AM and three more NCMs with combat V. And the cruise had two long line periods at Yankee Station to go…
RAMPANT RAIDER by Stephen R. Gray. Get it and read it. ENSIGN STEVE GRAY was not only the junior pilot in CARRIER AIR WING TWENTY-ONE, he was the youngest. He spent a lot of time flying wing and learning from the leathered leaders of VA-212. He learned his trade from some of the best, and he took a lot of notes while he was under fire. His extraordinary journal is the meat of his 2007 Naval Insititute Press book RAMPANT RAIDER: An A-4 Skyhawk Pilot in Vietnam. Steve Gray is a great writer. To make the point, Humble Host posts a few paragraphs from his telling of an April 1967 flak suppression mission supporting a VA-212 Walleye attack on the Thanh Hoa Bridge…. I quote from pages 204-206 of his book. …
“The Walleye operational evaluation strikes were going well, and the testing program was almost completed. The data link recordings of the Walleyes flying unerringly into their targets were enthralling. The weapon’s starshaped warhead had been predicted to be very effective in cutting steel support girders on bridges, and the tests had so far borne this out. Walleyes had taken down several bridges, and the weapon was proving itself to be a very potent addition to our arsenal. The skipper (COMMANDER HOMER SMITH) decided to use the first purely operational weapons against the most famous bridge in North Vietnam, the Thanh Hoa Bridge….
“In many ways this alpha strike was similar to the Thanh Hoa power plant strike we had made several days earlier except there were many more flak suppressors. I was in my usual position as number two in the lead flak suppression element of six A-4s. My target was a hard-riveted 37-mm gun site containing six guns that was south of the bridge and a little east of the road. We had recent photographs showing which gun sites were occupied, and my site was relatively easy to spot. I had six CBU bombs, three on each TER, slung under my wings.
“The flak suppressors broke away from the Walleye group (led by COMMANDER SMITH) and began our run-in to the pop-up point. We were at thirty-five hundred feet, and I could see the outline of the Thanh Hoa Bridge up ahead as we crossed the coast and armed our switches. Heart pounding and mouth dry, I could see the bridge clearly as we arced up and over the bombing altitude. The lead pilot split off to begin his attack on his flak site, and I frantically scanned the area south of the bridge for my target. There! There it is, I thought as the first muzzle flashes from the guns outlined the site. The target was directly ahead of me at twelve o’clock, so I had to execute a roll-ahead maneuver, rolling upside down with the nose high and pulling the nose down until the target touched the top of the canopy bow, then rolling upright and finding the target in the gunsight. The site was winking with muzzle flashes as the guns poured out rapid fire. The flak gunners could figure out an attacker’s intent just as soon as the airplane’s nose aimed at them in the dive. At that point it became a them or you situation and they would shift fire to concentrate on the incoming plane. The easiest moving target to shoot at is a no-deflection shot. All the gunners have to do is aim straight at the diving airplane. The flashes seemed to grow and merged into one continuous flicker as I got closer. White streaks of tracer flashed through the gun sight, and I could hear a staccato pop, pop, pop even through my helmet as the shock wave from near-miss bullets struck the canopy.
“On reaching release altitude, I punched the bomb pickle and felt the plane jump as the bombs came off the wings. I jammed the stick back and rolled hard left as soon as the nose came above the horizon, then hard right for a few seconds, then hard left again to try to destroy their tracking. Rolling left, I looked back to see my hits. I had missed seeing the bomblets explode, but little puffs of smoke and dust dotted the flak site, and the guns were silent. I never saw a flak site keep shooting after a CBU attack.
“I was streaking for the safety of the Gulf to rejoin the other flak suppressors when an ear-piercing, drawn out, gurgling scream lanced through my headset. Jesus! I thought. Somebody caught one in the throat and is dying over the air. So chilling was that sound that I almost pissed my pants. The memory of the scream and the certainty that somebody had died lasted until the debriefing when the screamer was revealed to be none other than the skipper, COMMANDER SMITH, venting his rage and frustration at the Thanh Hoa bridge. The three Walleyes had struck almost simultaneously in the exact spots he had designated, but the bridge remained standing. Three black smudges on the girders showed where the Walleyes had hit. The good news was that everyone had once again made it safely back to the ship.
“Charles Schultz’s famous Peanuts cartoon character Snoopy was very popular at the time, and the next day a cartoon showing Snoopy flying his bullet-riddled doghouse away from the Thanh Hoa Bridge was hanging in the ready room. Snoopy was shaking his fist at the bridge, and the word balloon read, ‘ARRRG, if there’s ever one thing I hate more than a kite-eating tree, it’s a Walleye-eating bridge!'”… End quote from RAMPANT RAIDER by Steve Gray, Attack Pilot… Thanks, Steve…
COMMANDER HOMER SMITH, CO of the Rampant Raiders, and leader of the squadron’s Walleye Team —The Succulent Six— was forced to eject over North Vietnam on 20 May 1967–his 200th Rolling Thunder mission–while leading an Alpha strike on the Bac Giang thermal power plant about 25 miles northeast of Hanoi. He was captured and tortured to death by his North Vietnamese captors on 21 May 1967. His remains were returned to the United States coincident with the homecoming of the POWs in March 1973. He rests in peace at the United States Naval Academy Cemetery, glory gained, duty done. COMMANDER MARV QUAID succeeded COMMANDER SMITH as Rampant Raider ONE…
(Webmaster note: As detailed in chapter three of my book Across the Wing, Commander Smith was scheduled to rotate out of command prior to the 20 May 1967 mission to Bac Giang TPP. However, he delayed the rotation in order to lead his squadron, as he felt his experience was critical to this very dangerous mission. His commitment to duty and to his men cost him his life, but likely saved others under his command)
HUMBLE HOST END NOTE. Here’s a good substitute for whatever else you had on your ROLLING THUNDER Reading List. Here are a few I have thoroughly enjoyed, in no special order…
Stephen Coonts FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER. Then go for the whole set of all ten of his Jake Grafton novels. I saw a set of eight of them on Amazon for as little as $35. Or you can go for the “like new” set of 8 at $1,000.
Stephen R. Gray’s RAMPANT RAIDER: An A-4 Skyhawk Pilot in Vietnam… Belongs in every Vietnam warrior’s library… You can find a signed first edition on line for about $50… I’ll race you for it…
Stephen Coonts and Barrett Tillman’s DRAGON’S JAW: An Epic Story of Courage and Tenacity in Vietnam… A good read well written by an incomparable combination of writers of Naval Aviation history and fiction… Lot’s of copies on line… Ten bucks for a used copy…
Denny Wisely’s GREEN INK: Memoirs of a Fighter Pilot… While you wait for mail delivery of other books, get this on Kindle and get started on your quest for adventure, tailhooker style here…
Jeffery L. Levinson’s ALPHA STRIKE VIETNAM: Navy’s Air War, 1964-73…Jeff includes the verbatim testimony of 23 Yankee Air Pirates to tell his story… You can find this on the used book lists for as little as $2 and it is as fun to read as any on this short list… lot’s of Light Attack: Jeff wrote for the Lemoore newspaper… Big on ROLLING THUNDER, light on LINEBACKER…
John B. Nicolls’ and Barrett Tillman’s ON YANKEE STATION: The Naval Air War over Vietnam…Gets better with time…Copies available on line for less than $5… been around for more than 32 years…
Zalin Grant’s OVER THE BEACH: The Air War in Vietnam… For the fiction change of pace… Lot’s of copies at abebooks.com, cheap… been around for 34 years…
Peter Fey’s BLOODY SIXTEEN: The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 During the Vietnam War… Great story of how to live and operate under heavy clouds of misfortune and come out fighting… good inspiration for the dreadful situation the epic coronavirus has imposed on our beloved country… fight on… This great story, well told, is available on Kindle for $16.99… Great place to start your marathon absorption of the Rolling Thunder story.
Next Post: Naval Aviation Roars…USS INTREPID and ATTACK CARRIER AIR WING TEN go bridge killing near Thanh Hoa on 8 November 1967…
Lest we Forget… Bear
