ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED 25 MARCH 1966

Good Morning… Day TWENTY-FIVE of a long look back at Operation Rolling Thunder…Fifty Years Ago…

25 MARCH 1966 (NYT)…. ON THE HOMEFRONT…. Good weather all around, even clear in Washington…but the news on page 1 everywhere came under an attention getting headline…especially on every college campus in the country: “New Rules Issued on Student Draft.”…”The Selective Service Commission issued tonight its new criteria for deferment of college students under the 2-8 classification.” The new rules were announced by General Louis B. Hershey, Director of Selective Service. He said: “These list the class standing required for deferment in various college years for a student who does not elect to take the system’s college qualification test, scheduled to be given starting this spring. Students not qualified by class standing may obtain deferment from induction into military service by making satisfactory scores in the test, as can graduate students.” Let the dodging begin…

25 MARCH 1966… ROLLING THUNDER… Three aircraft lost. A USS Enterprise A-4C from VA-76 piloted by LTJG BRADLEY EDSEL SMITH was shot down on a Snakeye bomb run at a river crossing 15 miles north of Dong Hoi on Route 1A. LTJG SMITH was hit by ground fire in his run and ejected before impact of the aircraft. He was not observed by any others in the flight and was presumed KIA until a radio broadcast from Hanoi reported a captured pilot in the area. LTJG SMITH was a POW until released 12 February 1973. Chris Hobson in “Vietnam Air Losses” points out that the USS Enterprise lost 6 A-4s,  one F-4, and seven air crew KIA or MIA during the period March 18 to March 25. … The second loss was an F-8E from VMF(AW)-235 of Marine Air Wing- 11 operating out of Danang. 1LT JOHN BROOKS SHERMAN was Killed in Action while providing close air support attacks under FAC control against Vietcong troops five miles south of Phuoc An. 1LT SHERMAN’s body was recovered by a JTF-FA investigation team in 1993 and was identified in 1998… The third aircraft loss was a U10-B that crashed on takeoff at Nha Trang. Three personnel survived….

RIPPLE SALVO… A DFC for COMMANDER DAVID SPERLING… Dear readers…what follows is indicative of the detail of operations during Rolling Thunder that will disappear from the archives and history if it isn’t tracked down and made a part of the record. The advances in record keeping technology has opened new opportunities to fill in the gaps and make the heroic contributions of intrepid Navy, Air Force, and Marine pilots and air crews a matter of record… Dave Sperling gets this special attention tonight because I remembered losing a few bucks at a poker party at his home in Milton, Florida in 1958 when we were instructors at North Whiting. That was also my introduction to tacos…thanks Dave…Now do you remember this day in September 1967?……

On 3 September 1967 Commander David Sperling, serving with Attack Squadron 153, led a six plane flight from the USS Coral Sea to destroy the Trinh Xu Yen transformer relay station, a large multi-story control switching building located three miles southwest of Nam Dinh, North Vietnam. This target was a vital link in the electrical power supply to Ninh Binh. The flight was composed of two Walleye armed aircraft, two Iron Hand aircraft, and one photo recce aircraft with a fighter escort. Commander Sperling was responsible for the initial planning phases that included pre-strike photo analysis, en route and attack tactics, optimum dive angle, run-in heading, and release point based on sun elevation, azimuth and target dimensions. The very nature of the weapon being used required exact and precise determination of the initial acquisition, free flight tracking and eventual target impact point. While the ultimate objective of the mission was the destruction of the relay station, it was to accomplish a maximum stand off distance within the parameters set forth above, and with utilization of one weapon. Commander Sperling was designated primary delivery pilot, with a secondary pilot along as a backup should the Commander’s system fail. Commander Sperling led his flight through dense enemy AAA defenses, which included 17 medium and 8 light antiaircraft artillery emplacements comprising a total of 136 85mm and 48 37/57 guns within the target area. Four high threat SAM sites were also positioned in the Nam Dinh target complex. Arriving at the designated roll-in point, Commander Sperling acquired and locked his Walleye on the target at maximum standoff distance, pressed the attack to the intended release point, dropped the weapon, and exited the target area returning to the ship. The walleye was observed to track and enter the station as planned causing a large secondary explosion. Strike photography confirmed the accuracy and extensive damage wrought by Commander Sperling’s one strike aircraft and one weapon attack. BDA photography confirmed the explosion and towering column of smoke and fire from the precise attack. Commander Dave Sperling was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by Admiral John Hyland, Commander in Chief U.S. Pacific Fleet in the name of the President… Way to go Dave…     Lest we Forget…. Bear

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