Bear Taylor 
COMMEMORATING THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIETNAM WAR (1961-1973)… and honoring the intrepid Naval Aviators, Naval Flight Officers and air crewmen 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… USS INTREPID and CVW-10 wipe out a North Vietnamese army barracks and SAM storage site seven miles from downtown Hanoi on 8 July 1967…
WHEN NAVAL AVIATION ROARED… #7… USS INTREPID (CVS-11) and Attack Carrier Air Wing TEN attack and devastate the Ban Yen Nhan Barracks complex and SAM storage area seven miles southeast of Hanoi, North Vietnam on the morning of 8 July 1967.
The INTREPID/CVW-10 team departed their East Coast bases on 11 May 1967 and returned on 30 December 1967. On 8 July they were in the first of their five line periods and would log 103 days on the line at Yankee Station on the deployment. Cruise losses were 12 aircraft in combat and two to operational losses. Six Naval Aviators were left behind: three MIA/KIA and three POWs…
THE MISSION. On the morning of 8 July 1967, USS INTREPID and CVW-10 were ordered to attack the Ben Yen Nhan Barracks complex near Hanoi. The JCS target had not been previously struck and had become an active surface-to-missile storage, assembly and maintenance facility in addition to a major enemy barracks and training area. USS CONSTELLATION and CVW-14 were to provide F-4B TARCAP since CVW-10 lacked F-8s and F-4s. Designated a CVS, INTREPID’s air wing included a third A-4 squadron designated Anti-Submarine Squadron THREE (VSF-3)… (“When you’re outta’ F-8s, you’re outta’ fighters!”)… A-4Bs with AIM-9s was the best the Navy could do for INTREPID…
NORTH VIETNAMESE DEFENSES. The planned route to and from the target and the city of Hanoi was defended by twenty SAM sites, eight of which were active on 8 July, and 31 AAA emplacements of multiple barrels of 37mm/57mm/85mm artillery. Phuc Yen Airbase, less than 20 miles to the north of Hanoi, was home base to more than 20 MiGs that had been active on 7 July. The entire defense system was integrated by radar and communication networks. In addition, countless automatic weapons could be expected to oppose the striking aircraft from rooftops and unmarked sites along the route and target area, especially near Hanoi. The gauntlet in the Red River Valley was primed and ready for CVW-10s A-4 Strike Force…
THE PLAN. The strike was planned, briefed and led by CDR William K. CARR, Commanding Officer of Attack Squadron FIFTEEN. The strike force was composed of three divisions of bombers (eleven A-4s), each assigned a section of the barracks complex. The A-4s were armed with four Mk-82s and 2 Mk-81s reflecting the limits of both the old WWII carrier INTREPID and the A-4Cs and Bs of CVW-10. The strike force was supported by two flak suppression divisions of A-4s. One division was armed with LAU-3 rocket pods and the second division with CBU-24s or LAU-3s. An Iron Hand division composed of two sections or AGM-45 Shrike missiles were to precede the strike force into the target area by five miles to identify and counter enemy efforts to disrupt the strike force’s approach to the target. The 26 A-4s of VA-15, VA-34 and VSF-3 were provided TARCAP support by four F-4Bs from USS CONSTELLATION. The final approach to the target was from the east, veering north just short of the target to develop separation between the three divisions of bombers and to setup an attack from north to south on the three areas of buildings in the complex. Retirement from the Hanoi area was to the southeast maintaining section or division integrity to feet-wet and return to INTREPID.
EXECUTION. After an expeditious rendezvous over the carrier CDR CARR led the strike group to landfall south of Haiphong and headed west at altitude to the planned turning point 5 miles east of the target. The flak suppressors and Iron Hand separated as planned to present early targets for enemy opposition and pounced as planned to silence a few of the dozens of active AAA sites in or near the Hanoi area. As the three divisons of bombers approached their respective roll-in points for the three pronged attack, the air defense network came alive with barrage, aimed fire and radar controlled fire. Clouds of 85mm, 57mm and 37mm antiaircraft fire enveloped the sky around, over and under the eleven A-4s. As the striking bombers commenced their diving attacks three SAMs roared through the A-4s, exploding well above them. Seconds later while in their dives two more SAMs crossed through the bombers. The Shrike shooters were able to locate and attack two of the firing SAM sites and no further SAMs were encountered on the mission. Despite the distraction of five missiles all eleven bombers put their MK-82/81s into their assigned areas of the target complex. Columns of smoke and flames energized by occasional secondary explosions billowed from all three of the target areas. Pilots of the Shrike sections remaining over the target to cover the retirement of the bombers confirmed with hand held photography the extensive damage–confirmed later by RVAH-12 A-5 photos– inflicted by the CVW-10 strike force. During the retirement enemy fighters were active west of Hanoi and the enemy gunners continued to track and fire at the exiting strike aircraft during the entire 60 mile flight southeast to feet wet. No aircraft were hit or damaged in the execution of this highly successful strike on a “virgin target” of considerable significance.
BOMB DAMAGE ASSESSMENT. The USS CONSTELLATION RVAH-12 BDA showed: the ammunition storage area of the complex completely destroyed; numerous damaged surface-to-air missile canisters; five buildings leveled; and a dozen other buildings severely damaged. In addition, damage to two flak sites and two SAM sites was assumed due to the observed rocket and Shrike hits on the four sites, all of which were silenced by the Iron Hand and flak suppression elements.
BITS OF RIBBON. CINCPACFLT was impressed by the CVW-10 performance and responded to the INTREPID/CVW-10 awards request with a SILVER STAR for CDR Bill CARR; a DFC for LTJG James Isaac VAN LIERE, VA-34–who was “Tailend Charlie” in the gaggle of eleven bombers, and credited with the most destructive attack; and, sixteen (16) individual Air Medals and four (4) Navy Commendation Medals with “Combat V.” Recipients of a “bit of ribbon” for their run through the North Vietnamese gauntlet to pound the enemy in or near his hometown on the morning of 8 July 1967 included: CDR Georges E. LE BLANC, VSF-3; LCDR Pete SHOEFFEL, VA-15; LCDR Jerry O. TUTTLE, VA-15; LCDR Ron “Moon” MOREAU, VA-15; LCDR Ed MARTIN, VA-34; LCDR Craig COLLIER, VA-34; LCDR Ray FOX, VA-34; LCDR Ted MERRY, VA-34; LCDR Fred HOERNER, CVW-10 Staff; LCDR Bill BEST, VSF-3; LCDR Skip LEUSCHNER, VSF-3; LCDR George BLOSSER, VA-34; LTJG David CULLER, VA-15; LTJG Sid ATKINSON, VA-15; LTJG Ben Franklin HEALD, VA-34: LTJG Carl LAWLEY, VA-34; and LTJG Dan SWINFORD, VSF-3. Apologies to the three brave ones I don’t have in my notes…
Humble Host has requested old squadronmate MOON MOREAU to dig around and see if anybody on the 8 July hit on the barracks has a tale to tell about this trip to Hanoi… I will pass on anything that I am fed by those who were there…
NOTE OF INTEREST. …Two Air Medals in the same day… LCDR Jerry TUTTLE, VA-15, was awarded individual AIR MEDALS for meritorious service in combat on BOTH of his Alpha Strikes on 8 July 1967. In the morning he was leading a division of VA-15 Valions in the strike on the barracks and SAM storage area seven miles from Ho Chi Minh’s sauna, and in the PM he ducked a bunch of SAMs while leading a division of A-4 bombers against the rail lines and spurs west of Haiduong. On that strike he was the first to resume the attack after the strike force was loosened up by the SAMs and his bombs enabled the remaining bombers to quickly locate and attack the target after maneuvering to avoid the SAMs. Humble Host salutes the Light Attackers in the A-4 squadrons on the “little decks” who regularly flew three Alphas for days on end. A 27C Skyhawk aviator could count on “two-a-day” to “downtown” or Haiduong, Haiphong, or somewhere else in Route Pack 6B or 4 every day on the line during the summer/fall of 1967. For the 27Charlie attack carrier guys, it was a long, hot summer. The toughest of the war…. Hats Off to all who cruised in INTREPID, HANCOCK, TICONDEROGA, SHANGRI-LA, BON HOMME RICHARD and ORISKANY who flew the 0600-1800 (10-2-4 Doctor Pepper) schedule…
(Webmaster note: “27Charlie” carriers were WWII-era, straight-deck carriers (~27,000 tons) that had undergone upgrades to operate heavier and modern turbine aircraft. However they were still somewhat substandard for long stays on Yankee Station. For instance, the lack of air conditioning in many spaces below deck that were saunas during the hot Tonkin Gulf months.)
NEXT POST. Tale #8… NAVAL AVIATION ROARS… A tale of “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity.” An HS-2 crew’s adrenaline-juiced rescue mission into North Vietnam on 21 May 1967…
Lest we forget… Bear
