Bear Taylor 
COMMEMORATING THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIETNAM WAR (1961-1973)… and honoring the gallant Naval Aviators, Naval Flight Officers and air crews that carried the war to the heartland of North Vietnam in the years of Operation Rolling Thunder (1965-1968) from the carrier decks in the Gulf of Tonkin…
GOOD MORNING. WHEN NAVAL AVIATION ROARED… Tale #9…
USS ENTERPRISE and the A-6 Intruder aviators of CARRIER AIR WING NINE, the Black Panthers of VA-35, conducted a coordinated night attack on the Thai Nguyen steel mill 37-miles north of Hanoi, North Vietnam. This was the first Navy attack on this major JCS Alpha Target. This is their story… (Source: Author’s notes from review of CINCPACFLT awards files stored at Navy Annex, Suitland, MD in 1985)…
USS ENTERPRISE (CVA(N)-65) and CVW-9 were on the second of six combat deployments to the Gulf of Tonkin. They departed Alameda and home fields on 19 November 1966 and returned home on 6 July 1967. The ship and embarked air wing spent 132 days on the line. On 25 March 1967, the day of this tale, the ship was at the start of their second of five line periods. During the deployment the ship/air wing lost 14 aircraft, 8 in combat, and 14 aviators, four of whom returned in March 1973 after nearly six ugly years as POWs of North Vietnam.
THE MISSION. On the night of 25 March 1967 USS Enterprise and CVW-9 were ordered to strike the Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Combine in North Vietnam. The steel mill was the largest in North Vietnam and had not been struck by Navy aircraft to this point in the war. Along with an annual output capacity of 100,000 metric tons of crude steel, the facility produced ammonium sulfate fertilizer, coal chemicals, including materials for producing plastics, dyes and pharmaceutical products. The iron and steel combine was at the top of the JCS Target List and its destruction was ordered by President Johnson at one of his late Feb/early March 1967 Tuesday luncheons at the White House…
THE ENEMY DEFENSES. The target was located in the heart of North Vietnam, 37 miles north of Hanoi. The area was defended by nine hard surface-to-air missile sites, four of which were known to be occupied and active at the time of this strike. There were sixteen known 85mm/100mm anti-aircraft gun sites with 96 barrels and twenty-seven 37mm/57mm sites with 162 barrels. Also active in and around the steel plant were numerous automatic weapon sites and an estimated ten fire control radars. In addition, the target was defended by MiGs based at three bases within 5-minutes flight time (Phuc Yen, Gia Lam and Kep). The entire network was integrated and supported by early warning radar. It was the most lethal gauntlet of air defenses anywhere in the world at the time. There were no easy days, or nights.
PLANNING. The VA-35 strike on Thai Nguyen on 25 March 1967 was planned, briefed and led by the squadron commander, COMMANDER ART BARIE and his Bombardier-Naviagator LT GEORGE MALLEK. The plan they conceived called for a seven A-6A Intruder stream strike with individual runs closely timed to hit the target within a 90-minute period. This required the strike force forego Iron Hand and flak suppressors. Further, COMMANDER BARIE’s choice of tactics called for the careful coordination of his seven bombers streaming to the same target at night in very bad weather, where each aircraft was free to maneuver independently and freely. COMMANDER BARIE formed his strike force into two elements of four and three aircraft, respectively, with the second element hitting the target 90 minutes after the first. This plan also provided optimum use of supporting KA-3B tanker aircraft. Each A-6 required 4,000-pounds of fuel to be received prior to coast-in. Prior to briefing the strike pilots and B/Ns, COMMANDER BARIE and LT MALLEK conducted a thorough study of the sprawling iron and steel target complex and its defenses to determine the most effective low level routes to and from the target with special consideration for radar significant navigation, initial points, and target offset points. From this study it was planned that the first element of four A-6s led by COMMANDER BARIE would outflank the target by making a coastin near the Chinese border, proceeding west and turning south to attack their targets in the complex from the north. This required more than 30 minutes of very low level night instrument flying in mountainous terrain in very bad weather. At the same time, a single A-6 would attack at very low level by following the Red River from the southeast, turning north to pass Hanoi a few miles to the east and striking the target from south to north. The second element of three aircraft would follow within 90-minutes the path to the north taken by CDR BARIE’s first element. Final system attack headings varied to hit assigned targets in the complex and to complicate enemy defensive fire. Voice calls at the IPs were made by each aircraft to ensure a one minute separation over the target. Each aircraft was armed with 22 MK-82s to be released from 2,500-feet crossing their respective targets in the complex…
EXECUTION. The first element of the strike force was launched and each aircraft made its respective coast-in time and flew the route with attention to course and speed in order to maintain separation. Weapon systems were updated at the coast-in and the attack plan was executed as briefed by each aircraft.The one-minute interval was maintained to the target and separation at the target was such to avoid the bomb fragmentation of the lead aircraft. Altitudes to and from the target were low enough to make the enemy tracking problem difficult or impossible, but high enough to safely clear the rapidily changing mountainous peaks and crests by 1,000-feet. The weather was WOXOF. They navigated using onboard inertial navigation systems. About halfway through the 110-mile mountain route enemy FIRECAN and FANSONG radar activity was detected by the aircraft ECM gear, but no gunfire or surface-to-air missiles were observed due to the cloud cover. The target was acquired on radar at 18 miles and a descent out of the mountains was commenced to level at the planned attack altitude of 2,500-feet. Heavy flak was encountered in the target area (from 10 miles in and out) by each Intruder in its turn, but each crew pressed home their respective attacks achieving automatic releases from their systems.. After release each aircraft broke hard to the east continuing to turn to the north to use the mountains to assist in covering their retirement from the target area. All aircraft reported altitudes at regular intervals to assist in safe separation. Exit navigation through 100-miles of mountains was by navigation system and dead reckoning. All seven Intruders returned from the mission, on suffered minor battle damage…
BOMB DAMAGE ASSESSMENT. Crew debriefs indicated all 150 MK-82s were delivered on target. However, low cloud cover over the target precludedd BDA photography for several days. When successful, the photos of the Thai Nguyen complex confirmed that the coke ovens had been destroyed; three blast furnaces were destroyed; the power plant was destroyed; and several structures were damaged or destroyed. The only aircraft in the world that was capable of executing this mission with these results was the A-6 Intruder, and the only all weather strike pilots in the world who could execute such a mission were the indomitable Intruder crews of CTF-77… oohrah… Gangway Intruder crews… “Intruder crews make history while fighter pilots make movies.”… Bear sends…
BITS OF RIBBON. Task Group Commander Admiral Richardson was very pleased with the execution and results of this high visibility mission. The White House was watching. Humble Host apologizes for not having the names of all fourteen VA-35 warriors who went flying in North Vietnam’s rolling mountains on the night of 25 March 1967. But these names I know: CDR Art BARIE (Awarded his 4th DFC), CDR Glenn KOLLMAN, LCDR Ron HYDE, LCDR Robert OWEN, LCDR Robert MORGAN, LT John GRIFFITH, and LT George MALLEK. No Silver Stars but several well earned DFCs…
HUMBLE HOST END NOTE. Two great articles on the A-6 Intruder are “Legends of Vietnam: Shoulder to Shoulder” published in Air&Space Magazine, May 2009. A second essay for your reading pleasure (good pix) is the Naval Aviation News piece in the Sept-Oct 1997 issue by Hal Andrews entitled “Life of the Intruder”… Good reads at:
https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/legends-of-vietnam-shoulder-to-shoulder-57611944/
NEXT POST. A couple of USS ORISKANY junior officers earn “Green Weenies” (Navy Commendation Medals with Combat V) for seeding a ferry crossing in downtown Hanoi with DST mines immediately after an ORISKANY strike force had demolished the ferries and landings in an air wing strike on 27 October 1967. The gunners were warmed up, frustrated and waiting for the JOs bringing up the rear…
Lest we forget… Bear
