- 4 months ago
For educational purposes
The U.S. air offensive in Vietnam was the most awesome display of aerial firepower yet seen.
From the mighty B-52 bombing runs over the north to gunship strikes against the Vietcong guerrillas, it spanned almost every type of mission and an extraordinary range of aircraft.
It was also the most filmed war ever and this documentary uses the pick of the combat footage to tell the full story, from the first U.S. advisor missions in the early 1960s to the massive and sustained operations a few years later.
The U.S. footage is mirrored by that from North Vietnamese sources, which shows their anti-aircraft defences in action and the effects of the U.S. bombing.
AIR WAR IN VIETNAM is a unique records of this extraordinary conflict and has a detailed script by leading aviation authority Bill Gunston.
The U.S. air offensive in Vietnam was the most awesome display of aerial firepower yet seen.
From the mighty B-52 bombing runs over the north to gunship strikes against the Vietcong guerrillas, it spanned almost every type of mission and an extraordinary range of aircraft.
It was also the most filmed war ever and this documentary uses the pick of the combat footage to tell the full story, from the first U.S. advisor missions in the early 1960s to the massive and sustained operations a few years later.
The U.S. footage is mirrored by that from North Vietnamese sources, which shows their anti-aircraft defences in action and the effects of the U.S. bombing.
AIR WAR IN VIETNAM is a unique records of this extraordinary conflict and has a detailed script by leading aviation authority Bill Gunston.
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LearningTranscript
00:00THE END
00:30More than ten years after it ended, the Vietnam War might seem a remote little affair.
00:35In fact, it was an enormous conflict, the longest war in American history,
00:40and the only one from which the USA did not emerge victorious.
00:44During it, a greater tonnage of bombs was dropped than in World War II.
00:48Hundreds of thousands of rockets were fired, and millions of cannon shells and bullets expended.
00:54It was the war in which the helicopter came into its own, and where every type of aircraft was used.
01:00In 1962, as the USA tried to help South Vietnam resist being taken over by the Communist North,
01:07it seemed a job for modest, propeller-driven aircraft, such as the Helio U-10A Courier,
01:13the famed Douglas C-47, and the bigger Curtiss C-46 Commando.
01:19The last two, both of Second World War vintage.
01:21There was also the agile North American T-28 trainer, and the speedy Douglas B-26B invader, yet another World War II veteran.
01:36A special force of USAF air commandos was created, with a new uniform which included a bush hat.
01:45After training at the Air Force's biggest stateside base, Eglin, in Florida,
01:49they went to South Vietnam, where they began to train the infant VNAF, the Vietnamese Air Force.
01:56The VNAF used aircraft insignia resembling that of the USA, but with sidebars of red and yellow, instead of blue and white.
02:11Much of the early tactical instruction was done in the T-28D, a trainer with performance similar to that of a World War II fighter.
02:24It could carry unguided rockets, hundreds of rounds of ammunition for .50 caliber heavy machine guns, and various bomb loads, including light practice bombs.
02:41Big 5-inch high-velocity aircraft rockets and 100-pound bombs could easily be loaded onto the pylons under the wings of a B-26B.
02:54These versatile attack bombers were often older than their pilots, but, against ill-equipped troops, they were formidable.
03:18Together with the smaller T-28D, they began the process of plastering Vietnam with rockets,
03:24gunfire, and bombs, and, if they could see a target, weapons delivery could be quite accurate.
03:39Many training missions were also flown by both types, and, though hitting the targets on the ranges was a world away from in-country airstrikes, it was useful practice.
03:47One weapon that hardly needed accuracy was napalm, a tank full of jellied naphtha and palm oil that, if it hit human skin, would go on burning even underwater.
03:54One weapon that hardly needed accuracy was napalm, a tank full of jellied naphtha and palm oil that, if it hit human skin, would go on burning even underwater.
04:01Air transport was obviously going to be important in Vietnam, where there were few roads.
04:08The little U-10A could drop up to six paratroops.
04:15Another advantage was that it could operate from short and rough airstrips.
04:22The bigger C-47 could carry far more men and equipment.
04:28It was used, particularly in the early years, for the transport of Green Beret Special Forces,
04:43it was important to see the battalmone in the U-10A fleet ofankiA 팬 and T-18A�� reduce inventory.
04:51support of the Vietnamese Civilian Irregular Defense Group program.
05:03Especially on a hot day, a loaded C-47 would have to make a RATO, a rocket-assisted takeoff.
05:10When the rockets had burned out, they would be jettisoned.
05:14As for the whale-like C-46D, this needed every ounce of thrust from its 2,000 horsepower
05:20engines to make a full load takeoff.
05:25Only one combat parachute jump was made in March 1967 by the 173rd Airborne Brigade during
05:33Operation Junction City near the Cambodian border.
05:44Meanwhile, in the early years, the T-28Ds and the B-26s kept up their sustained attacks
05:50on the elusive enemy in South Vietnam.
05:52The US was becoming progressively more involved in the war, both on the ground and in the air.
06:00Helicopters of all kinds played a central role throughout the war.
06:12The oldest were the Sikorsky H-34 piston-engined transports, and many were given to the VNAF.
06:20Powered by a 1,500 horsepower cyclone engine, the H-34 could typically airlift 16 troops and
06:26their equipment.
06:41Flying at low level, at about 90 miles per hour, it was usual to leave the side door
06:45open and fit a heavy 50-caliber machine gun.
06:50Supply missions were flown to the many fortified hamlets with which the government forces sought
06:54to control the countryside.
07:01Because the hamlets were mainly in remote areas, most supplies were brought in by helicopter,
07:06and these included sacks of rice and, on occasion, camp followers.
07:17Altogether, more than 10,000 helicopters were used in the Southeast Asia Theatre, where they
07:21became the workhorse of the infantry.
07:24Few of them made it back to the USA.
07:33In 1965, the US Air Force, which had not itself bought the neat little Northrop F-5 Freedom
07:39Fighter for its own use, leased a dozen of these supersonic machines and formed them into
07:44a unit called the Scoti Tigers.
07:47Initial training was done at Williams Air Force Base in the States, and they left for the
07:51Vietnam in October 1965.
07:56Two months later, they were in action against Viet Cong positions near Saigon.
08:01The useful load of 750-pound bombs and rockets had a devastating effect against VC ambush positions
08:08along South Vietnam's highways.
08:18Reported enemy concentrations were also the subject of airstrikes with both bombs and cannon.
08:26Increasingly, the US involvement was becoming full-scale war.
08:37Big and bold, the North American F-100 Super Sabre bore a mighty burden in both the attack and
08:44fighter roles.
08:45In 1953, it had been the world's first supersonic fighter.
08:50Thirteen years later, it was still in front-line service.
08:55In 1966, F-100s of the 531st Tactical Fighter Wing at Bien Ho Air Base were flying almost round
09:03the clock.
09:07They were never parked in the open, but in blast-proof revetments.
09:10Safe, except for a direct hit from above against VC mortar or rocket attacks.
09:18Armed with snake-eye retarded bombs, the Super Sabres were adept at low-level strike missions.
09:30Most of the US Army's aircraft were helicopters.
09:33An exception was the twin turboprop Drummond OV-1 Mohawk, a battlefield reconnaissance plane
09:40with about the speed and agility of a wartime Spitfire and the ability to use short, rough
09:45airstrips.
09:53Slow-flying Mohawks often sustained damage.
09:57With one engine dead, an emergency landing was necessary, as at Binh Toi Air Base.
10:06Some Mohawks carried weapons, but their main purpose was to use the big bug-eye windows
10:11and cameras to keep the generals literally in the picture.
10:20The C-47 was also used in the Psi War role.
10:24Working the country with leaflets was part of the policy of winning the hearts and minds
10:28of the population, and especially the VC soldiers.
10:32The U-10B was also used for this purpose and could carry a powerful loudspeaker, as well
10:38as bundles of leaflets.
10:50As the war went on, leaflets tended to be replaced by firepower.
11:07The air war in Vietnam saw the introduction of a weapon unique in warfare.
11:12Because of the difficulty of never seeing the enemy among the foliage, Operation Pink
11:16Rose was mounted to determine the techniques and conditions needed to defoliate the jungle.
11:29Some experiments were made to destroy the vegetation by fire.
11:33In the main though, specially equipped UC-123B transports holding formation at low level put
11:39down wide swaths of chemical defoliant.
11:50Particular attention was paid to suspected VC lines of communication, and these naturally
11:55included the hundreds of miles of trails in the highlands and also the coastal waterways
12:00in South Vietnam.
12:06Between 1962 and 1971, over 19 million gallons were sprayed in what were called ranch hand missions.
12:14Nobody appreciated at the time that Agent Orange, the commonest chemical used, would have adverse
12:20medical effects on millions of people, including probably the US veterans of Vietnam.
12:31Of all aircraft in action in Vietnam, the greatest was unquestionably the McDonnell F-4 Phantom.
12:39It was first built as a high-altitude, carrier-based interceptor for the Navy and Marines.
12:47Among those Air Force units which flew the F-4C version in Vietnam were the gunfighters
12:51of the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing.
12:55Their Phantoms carried four big Sparrow air-to-air missiles, six Mark 82 bombs, a centerline gun pod,
13:03and two drop tanks.
13:07For example of flying at twice the speed of sound, the Phantom could knock down North Vietnamese
13:12MiG fighters as well as making effective ground attacks.
13:17The gunfighters were based at Da Nang, one of the huge permanent air bases constructed
13:23by the US in Vietnam.
13:29To support the war's continuous air operations, vast tonnages of bombs had to be assembled and
13:35stored.
13:45When getting ready for a mission, the selected mix of bombs were jacked up and attached below
13:50the aircraft.
14:00To maximize the load the aircraft could carry, special multiple pylons were often used where
14:06three bombs could be fitted to the same hard point.
14:11Once the bombs were safely attached to the aircraft, the fuses were armed and fitted in the nose
14:16of each weapon.
14:21Da Nang was also home to Martin B-57Bs, the US version of the British Canberra light bomber,
14:28which was also flown in Vietnam by the Royal Australian Air Force.
14:38The B-57s put down 1,000-pound bombs on targets in both North and South Vietnam and could also
14:44straff targets with their four 20-millimeter cannon.
14:57The B-57 featured a heavy bomb load, amazing agility for such a large aircraft, and the ability
15:03to spend a long time at low level over the target.
15:14A special version, the B-57G, was packed with sensors, which enabled it to make precision
15:19attacks on the darkest of nights.
15:37The tough C-123 providers, as well as defoliating the jungle, flew thousands of frontline resupply
15:43missions.
15:44You call, we haul was their motto, and they could fly in stores and equipment, and up
15:49to 61 troops.
15:53On the return trip, 56 casualties could be brought out.
15:58Occasionally, the return cargo also included the scared kids who typified a high proportion
16:04of the V.C. Irregular Forces prisoners.
16:11Such prisoners also arrived by Sikorsky HH-3C helicopter and were taken away for interrogation.
16:34Often, the C-123s were also called upon to paradrop supplies.
16:41However, it can't have been too often that the loads included live cows.
17:01Some way off the coast of Vietnam, usually in the Gulf of Tonkin, giant carriers of the
17:06U.S. Navy made a massive contribution to American air power over Vietnam.
17:12Here aboard the mighty USS Constellation, the windshield of a Vought A7A Corsair II is polished,
17:19ready for another mission with a load of Mark 82 bombs.
17:28On a carrier, every man on deck has a shirt whose color tells his job.
17:33Red shirts are ordnance men, and they live with bombs, fuses, and all that's dangerous.
17:39Everything on deck is choreographed like a ballet to get perhaps 90 planes loaded and blasted
17:58off in quick succession by the mighty steam catapults.
18:11As with land-based aircraft, various weapon loads could be fitted to the Navy's carrier-borne aircraft.
18:17Particularly hard work was loading the pods of the massive 5-inch rockets.
18:38The pilot will do his final walk-round check of his aircraft and its armament before he climbs aboard.
18:45It is up to him to check that all his weapons are ready for use.
18:54Every Navy pilot knows that a catapult launch, or cat shot, is so powerful that it would fling his loaded plane off the carrier's bows at full flying speed, even if his wheel brakes were locked.
19:07Different types of aircraft leave the carrier.
19:10An F-4J Phantom is slammed off the deck like a toy.
19:18Next is an A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft, followed by another F-4.
19:28And then a huge RA-5C vigilante reconnaissance plane.
19:58The A-7 subsonic attack aircraft was developed from the F-8 Crusader supersonic fighter.
20:11Both types saw action over North Vietnam.
20:17In many of these attacks, mighty Zuni rockets were fired from F-8E Crusaders.
20:23Their Navy pilots were trained to shoot down other aircraft, with guns and missiles.
20:28Diving at the jungle was less satisfying, because while a Zuni made an impressive bang, you never knew if you hit anything.
20:40In reality, the rockets followed such an erratic course, there was never any possibility of actually making them hit a particular spot.
20:48In any case, there were always plenty of people down below firing back.
20:52At first, the North Vietnamese defenses were weak, but they gradually built up to become the strongest ever assembled,
21:07especially in the area around Hanoi and its port at Haiphong.
21:11Even in the 1960s, thousands of light AA guns would fire on every attacker, just as the Soviet troops did on German aircraft in World War II.
21:26In exactly the same way, the sheer number of bullets and shells caused an unexpected number of American losses.
21:33Accordingly, the U.S. aircraft then tended to stay up about 10,000 feet, but the flak got heavier, with guns of 37, 57, 85, and even 100 millimeters caliber reaching up to them.
21:48The U.S. aircraft then came into the forest.
21:51The U.S. aircraft, and the U.S. aircraft, and the U.S. aircraft, and the U.S. aircraft...
21:55U.S. Navy
22:24number 150826 had been a costly RA-5C vigilante, which automatically relayed back to the fleet
22:33pin-sharp radar pictures of the target. It would transmit no more.
22:43Up above, it was as tough for the Navy and Marine Corps flyers as for anyone else. The
22:48attackers, flying F-8Es, put down napalm on supposed VC concentrations in the jungle.
22:54Occasionally, one of the napes would break apart, a fragment arcing high into the sky.
23:09Usually, the attack was just marked by the huge orange fireball.
23:16Douglas A-4C Skyhawks of Navy Squadron
23:19Douglas A-4C Skyhawks of Navy Squadron
23:23Douglas A-4C Skyhawks of Navy Squadron
23:29VA-76 were also in action, making steep diving attacks on North Vietnamese ground installations.
23:36Douglas A-4C Skyhawks
23:43Douglas A-4C Skyhawks of Navy Squadron
23:46VA-76 were also in action, making steep diving attacks on North Vietnamese ground installations.
23:51Douglas A-4C Skyhawks of Navy Squadron
24:06Other A-4s were at work, pulling round in a turn to the left that becomes a half roll to the inverted position,
24:12before lining up for an attack on the target area at San Lin.
24:16You're still beneath that island, You're not eligible, so you're still behind the bend!
24:26Waterboard crewmen and the geopol من number 05...
24:33eigenlijk haven't encountered them in notice of a trap.
24:39Cheering to make a Latinx injury without over $ LOLadin mientras you've got Zakha.
24:45Popularly called the Scooter, the Skyhawk was a brilliantly simple jet attack aircraft, which was in production from 1954 to 1979.
24:56Continuing their attacks, the leading Skyhawk lets go a Zuni, which wobbles and oscillates until it hits in the jungle pretty much where it was meant to.
25:15The lucky ones got back. An A7a slams onto Constellation's deck and is brutally stopped by the arrestor cable.
25:45It was the last Navy attack mission against the North, prior to a bombing halt ordered from Washington on 20th November 1968.
26:02One group who never stopped were the Huey drivers.
26:05The Bell UH-1, officially the Iroquois, but universally called the Huey, was the most widely used aircraft in the entire theater of war.
26:14A tough, medium-sized helicopter, most of those in Vietnam had a turboshaft engine generating a little over a thousand horsepower and could carry 14 troops or six liter casualties at about 113 miles per hour.
26:30Many in Vietnam were fitted with an armament scheme comprising four M60 machine guns, two on each side, and two seven-tube rocket launchers, all firing ahead.
26:43The 2.75-inch folding fin aircraft rockets were part of the armament of the UH-1Bs of Navy Hilo Light Attack Squadron No. 3, known as the Sea Wolves,
26:56who were tasked with keeping the VC from infiltrating the canals and villages in the extensive Mekong Delta area.
27:03Operating in conjunction with small warships and hovercraft, the Sea Wolves had the advantage of mobility and could cover large areas of water, beach, mudflats, and often densely forested land.
27:23Targets, if there were any, were usually in the jungle. This was a central problem throughout the long Vietnam War.
27:43Nobody had invented a simple sensor able to detect the VC or even the regular army of North Vietnam as they stealthily moved through the top.
27:52Some attempts had been made, the devices relying on body heat or even perspiration, but the pilots and gunners up aloft had no such help.
28:04All they could do was try to imagine where the enemy might be and blast the area with rockets and the forward-firing M60s.
28:12Meanwhile, the door gunner had his own M60 mounted on a pintle to pivot through a wide arc.
28:20Even this crewman, who had an almost perfect view, rarely caught sight of the enemy. Statistically, some of the countless rounds fired must have hit someone.
28:32If the enemy was spotted by the infantry on the ground or from the air, smoke markers were put down to indicate a likely aiming point.
28:41Though by the time firepower arrived, it didn't necessarily mean that the VC were still there.
28:46They were still there.
28:58The enemy was stabbed in the state of the bench.
29:00There was no, no.
29:01It was there.
29:02It was so important that the enemy was done, to drive the enemy's wing and fight to make the enemy.
29:03The enemy was done.
29:04The enemy was from the destroying another wall to the FCC indeed.
29:07The enemy was done in the company's wing.
29:08The enemy was done in the company's wing and walks away from the enemy's wing.
29:11The enemy will be caught by the enemy's wing.
29:13The enemy was Н.
35:32Other casualties were Marine Corps A-4 Skyhawks.
35:44Almost before the pilots' feet touch the ground, a Sikorsky HH-3C Jolly Green Giant hurries
36:01out to rescue him, saving him from five years of ill-treatment as a prisoner of war in what
36:05everyone called the Hanoi Hilton.
36:14In World War II, many airdrops went down on the wrong place, making a present of vitally
36:35needed supplies to the enemy.
36:37At Khe Sanh, the Herkybirds aimed their 20-ton loads with an accuracy measured in feet, and
36:43this was repeated during other airdrops in the following months.
37:13Following the raising of the siege, the Army's Sikorsky CH-54 Tarhe flying crane helicopters
37:21brought in howitzers slung underneath.
37:23Precision drops by C-130s continued while Air Force Phantoms flew top cover.
37:43Occasionally, for example, to collect casualties, C-130s had to run the gauntlet and make a landing.
37:58Full reverse thrust from the propellers on the rough dirt airstrip surrounded the big aircraft
38:03in dust, but that did little to spoil the aim of the NVA guns and mortars.
38:08This landing was in A-Sha Valley after the siege had been lifted in May 1968.
38:15One of the aircraft passed to the South Vietnamese was the Cessna A-37 Dragonfly, a light attack
38:21jet ideal for low straffing runs using its 7.62mm minigun against exposed troops east of
38:28Quang Nha City.
38:31The handover of this equipment was part of the policy of Vietnamization, where the South Vietnamese
38:37forces were progressively trained to take over the fighting of the war.
38:46Another aircraft handed over was the 100-mile-per-hour Cessna O-1E Bird Dog light plane.
38:53This pilot is briefed for a FAC, Forward Air Control Mission.
39:01And then inspects his airplane under the eyes of a U.S. instructor pointing out the big smoke
39:07marker rocket.
39:17Perhaps the most effective of all was the Douglas A-1 Sky Raider.
39:21Back in 1944, the Sky Raider had been designed by Ed Heinemann, whose many other designs included
39:27the wartime B-26 Invader and the A-4 Skyhawk.
39:32The A-1 Sky Raider was designed to fly off carrier decks on Navy missions, but in Vietnam they did
39:38just about everything, and carried everything.
39:41On one occasion, including a suitably inscribed kitchen sink.
40:05Typical of the NAF Sky Raiders operations were those from Bintai Air Base.
40:10They are using their 20-millimeter cannon, rockets, and bombs under the direction of the FAC,
40:17flying over the trees below them in his little O-1E.
40:21The NAF Sky Raider attacks were one of the highlights of the transfer of combat from America to South Vietnam.
40:40Republic Aviation's mighty THUD, properly called the F-105 Thunder Chief, was one of the most respected battle wagons of the war.
40:57Though it had only one engine and one seat, this U.S. Air Force attack fighter was bigger, heavier, and more powerful than many bombers.
41:05THUDs made more attack missions on heavily defended targets in North Vietnam than any other type, and their losses were in proportion to the task done.
41:14Some F-105Ds came from the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Korat Air Base in Thailand.
41:21Each carried six M117 bombs, which actually weighed much more than the nominal figure of 750 pounds.
41:29Thud attacks were made against the rail yards at Kep, Viet Tri, and Yen Bay.
41:35Typical of the operations flown were a bullpup radio-guided missile attack on a barge 30 miles northwest of Dong Hoa.
41:59At the receiving end, every available gun that could be brought to bear was used, including a Soviet-supplied DSHK of 12.7 millimeters caliber.
42:09HELLO
42:20HELLO
42:22HELLO
42:24As soon as there is a brief lull, all hands collect up the empties and perform essential
42:47maintenance on the gun.
43:01Fresh ammunition is brought up.
43:03In anticipation of further raids, the protecting revetment is built stronger and higher.
43:15Water-filled craters gradually became part of the normal Vietnam landscape.
43:20F-105s attacked the Kep, Khao Nung, and Lang Son rail yards north of Hanoi using 750-pound
43:27GP bombs.
43:29Plenty of flak was coming the other way from 37-millimeter AA guns.
43:34Then the thuds hit a rail bridge in the Bak Giang complex using rockets as well as bombs.
43:51In October 1967, the F-105s scored hits on the mighty Doomer Bridge near downtown Hanoi.
44:01This great bridge had resisted hundreds of attacks, but fell when finally the pinpoint laser-guided
44:07smart bombs of the Paveway type were brought into use.
44:14Airfields were always a target that nobody could miss, though it is not so easy to make
44:18a modern permanent airbase unusable.
44:22On this occasion, the thuds were assigned to hit the big airbase of Phukien.
44:27The main weapons employed were M-117 GP bombs, which each have an actual weight of around 825
44:34pounds.
44:36This was in 1967.
44:39After 1970, no thud or anything else would have dared loiter in this airspace for fear
44:45of getting at least one SAM, surface-to-air missile, up his jet pipe.
44:52In turn, the SAM missile and storage areas were later to become targets for U.S. air attacks.
45:00Probably half of all sorties flown after 1967 were directed against the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
45:15This was not one road, but many, and they wound their way through neighboring Laos on their
45:21way to South Vietnam.
45:23Sophisticated sensors were developed in the Igloo White program to warn of the passage of
45:28every truck or even a cyclist, but hitting the various trails was another matter.
45:35In the lowland areas, the trail was under repeated attack.
45:42In the highlands, choke points, such as the Mugai Pass, were major targets, as were easily
45:47identified roads.
45:50All types of missile were fired against these targets in an attempt to close the trail and
45:54prevent supplies from reaching the south.
45:57in the highlands.
45:58Unfortunately, multi-million dollar supersonic fighters were not the ideal weapons for the
46:04stopping people walking along tracks through the rocky hills and forests.
46:09Unfortunately, multi-million dollar supersonic fighters were not the ideal weapons for stopping
46:27people walking along tracks through the rocky hills and forests.
46:47It was easier when the target could be seen.
46:50And before long, many of North Vietnam's bridges were out of commission.
47:14They had no neat prefabricated military engineers' bridges.
47:19Everything was done the hard way, like the bridge of the River Kwai.
47:21And when parts of the Ho Chi Minh Trail were destroyed, instant detours were created through the surrounding
47:38forest to bypass the cratered sections.
47:43But the one thing that was available to the north was manpower.
47:47And with man and woman power, you can very quickly transform a local forest into a new bridge.
47:53The work on the trail, or the bridges, could be punctuated by fresh attacks, usually by F-4s flying at about the speed of sound at altitudes too high for the hail of local flags.
48:00But that still did not stop even rifles being brought to bear.
48:25That still did not stop even rifles being brought to bear.
48:28That still did not stop even rifles being brought to bear.
48:32Rifles would have had even less effect upon these monsters.
49:01The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, backbone of Strategic Air Command, played an increasingly important role in Vietnam, starting with the Arc light missions in June 1965.
49:14Designed to carry a nuclear weapon, they were gutted and rebuilt to carry vast tonnages of ordinary high explosive bombs.
49:23The B-52D was equipped to carry 84 bombs internally and 24 on long external pylons to a total weight of about 89,000 pounds.
49:38The rain of bombs from the B-52s was something the VC hated, especially as the bombers flew so high they could be neither seen nor heard.
49:48Typical of these attacks were the strikes against NVA positions at Loch Ninh, about 68 miles northwest of Saigon.
49:56After Arc light came the Rolling Thunder missions, most of them grueling 12-hour round trips from the slippery runways on the overcrowded island of Guam, about 2,800 miles to the east in the Pacific.
50:11Powered by eight big jet engines and with a crew of six, the B-52 added enormously to the tonnage of HE that was poured down on North Vietnam.
50:26As early as February 1965, shipments of Soviet SA-2 SAMs began arriving at the port of Hai Phong.
50:36Though these were among the most primitive and cumbersome SAM systems ever invented, dating from the early 1950s,
50:43they were gradually deployed in such numbers in North Vietnam that they became a serious menace.
50:49In the final Linebacker II raids of December 1972, roughly 1,000 SA-2s were fired, downing at least 15 B-52s.
51:06Any crew members who fell into the hands of the North were in for a rough time.
51:25Fortunately, by 1972, they were unlikely to be captives for long.
51:31The ill-treatment of prisoners, often extending to outright torture, was never far from the minds of Allied aircrew.
51:39As soon as word came in that a man was down, a rescue team would race to get him back.
51:46The usual team was made up of a Sikorsky HH-3C or 3E helicopter, commonly known as a Jolly Green Giant, especially equipped for the rescue job.
51:57It was escorted by a Sandy, a Douglas A-1E Sky Raider, which combined plenty of weapons with tremendous toughness and the ability to loiter for hours at low level in support of the rescue helicopter.
52:17After careful but quick briefing, the team would scramble and head for the spot on the map, which might be in the middle of the jungle.
52:26Many flight crew had small radio beacon. If they did not, the only hope was to spot a parachute among the treetops.
52:33The winch man would go down, sometimes using a heavy device called a jungle penetrator, to burst through the foliage and reach ground level.
52:42In seconds, an uninjured rescuee would be on his way back up.
52:48The first round is a way back up.
52:49Let's get started.
52:50We'll go back to school and get out of the jungle.
52:54The first round is a couple of walk.
52:57We'll buy one.
52:58The seventh round is a little bit of a fire.
53:02The first round is a big hill that the Schnall used to go and tie the patriarch with a shotgun in the middle of the battle.
53:09The first round is the one.
53:11The ninth round is the어나gin for the fire.
53:17The search was then on for the second crewman about a mile away, and with great good luck,
53:26his parachute is clearly visible.
53:48Very quickly, the second man has been hoisted up from certain captivity, ready for debriefing and getting back to operations.
53:57Later, Sikorsky developed a monster helicopter, the HH-53 Super Jolly, with more than double the power, extensive armor and weapons,
54:25and in its final HH-53H form, the ability to rescue pilots at night, in fog or in a blizzard.
54:38Throughout the Vietnam War, the beloved C-47 Goonie Bird flew all kinds of missions.
54:45However, nobody expected that it would take its place in the battle line and hit the enemy with firepower.
54:51The AC-47 version, called Spooky, or Puff the Magic Dragon, was fitted with three 7.62mm miniguns, aimed from the left side windows.
55:02Each was able to pump out 100 bullets per second.
55:06The concept was that, as the pilot kept the aircraft slowly orbiting in a bank to turn to the left,
55:12the three miniguns would pour down a hail of fire upon a target on the ground.
55:17Early experience with this pioneer gunship was encouraging.
55:25Next came a conversion of a jet-boosted version of the C-123 transport.
55:30And finally, a real battleship of the sky.
55:34The 18,000 horsepower AC-130 Hercules was like no other combat aircraft before or since.
55:43Its guns still fired out to the left as the monster made slow orbits round its target.
55:57Circling around meant that the target was hit from all directions.
56:01But this aircraft was equipped with radar, sensitive infrared detectors, low-light TV, and even a laser.
56:22On board, the crew could see from their various screens everything happening on the ground on the blackest night or in the worst weather.
56:52Four-knotes, friendly locate a load of them.
56:55I do not know.
56:56The Autism of the Rock
56:57When it comes to the right, it is an incredible graphic of the dodgeball uses.
56:58In the first time they are looking to the right to find a target to find a brand new target.
57:00In the first time they care to find a target to an air!!!!!
57:02Theuits of the local machine is a great example between a fish and a sea level.
57:04In the first time they can identify the샷 that can look for it from failing to to dijo from the distance.
57:05It is not so bad, but in the first time the way they should start off and try to find out the ground.
57:07The next time was this main-set to maintain a target they could only provide that impidougat once or the target was on the ground.
57:12And theject system can look for it too often.
57:13Finding a target, they could open up with a battery of guns arranged like those of an
57:26old-time galleon.
57:29Early versions had four miniguns and four Vulcan 20mm cannon pods.
57:34But today's AC-130H has two Vulcan pods, a 40mm Bofors gun, and a massive 105mm howitzer.
57:43Against an enemy ill-equipped with anti-aircraft weapons, such an onslaught was totally devastating.
57:54Tens of thousands of men fought in the skies above Vietnam, and millions of rounds of ammunition
57:59were fired for very few tangible results.
58:03Almost all the aircraft were on one side, but the war was stern and hard.
58:10It is highly unlikely that such a one-sided war in the air on such a scale will ever be
58:16fought again.
58:17The End
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