War and Remembrance
Christmas ’72 Stories: (6) “We had been there too long!”
As I write this post, it is fast approaching 0659 30 December 2012 in Hanoi – 40 years exactly from the end to Linebacker II. President Nixon’s decision – the Linebacker II campaign – in the face of world wide denunciation and in opposition to many in his own cabinet has left NVN militarily “Winchester” – without the SAMs. Indeed Snako noted in Not on My Watch that in his memoirs published in 2007, General Giap, the highly respected leader of the NVA and victor at Dien Bien Phu, included the following quote: “What we still don’t understand is why you Americans stopped [...]
Christmas ’72 Stories: (5) What did we know? When did we know it?
Bob ‘Hippo’ Hipps (334 Tactical Fighter Squadron): The night of Dec 17, 1972 our F-4E squadron (the 334TFS had deployed from Seymour Johnson, AFB, NC — which is the only Air Force base named after a Naval Aviator) stood down and we were all in the club asking, “WTFO?” Then, one of our maintenance officers came in and told us we were getting wall-to-wall ALE-38 chaff dispensers loaded on our jets. Since laying chaff corridors in RP-VI had been our primary mission in the previous Linebacker fun and games, this was our first clue that the following day was not going to [...]
Christmas ’72 Stories: (4) MiG-CAP & Roman Candles
Perspective from John Chesire – VF-151 Switchboxes – flying MiG-CAP around Haiphong. Of my nearly two years combat flying in SEA (Southeast Asia), the most spectacular and memorable sight occurred on December 20, the third and worst night of the of the historic Linebacker II Christmas Raids, designed to end the war. Although we (F-4’s) never flew ‘planned’ night MiG-CAP “feet dry” overland, some of us were now tasked for this major strike to do so. My RO “TA” and I set up our CAP station in the vicinity of Haiphong, and hopefully on the outer ranges of their SAM sites. Fortunately, [...]
Christmas ’72 Stories: (4) Snako’s Two Night LB II Hat Trick
One of the motivators for Remembered Sky is that the writing about USS Midway and her airwing/squadrons is piecemeal. Some histories and stories barely mention Midway and some have completely left her out, particularly related to Linebacker II. This despite the fact that Midway/Airwing Five set the record for most number of days “on the line” in the Vietnam war and were one of only four carriers in the whole war to be awarded the unit equivallent of a Navy Cross – the Presidential Unit Citation. Kelly Note: Interestingly, history hasn’t recorded MIDWAY’s participation in the Linebacker II. Some official [...]
Christmas ’72 Stories: (2) Night time in the Red River Valley
Linebacker II from 18-29 December 1972 is commonly understood as the B-52 strikes over Hanoi that brought the NVN back to the negotiating table in Paris, leading to the end of the war, a treaty- The Paris Peace Accords – and the return of America’s Prisoners of War. Given that the aim of LB II was not a military one, but rather was a political campaign that used physical damage to send a message, it is not surprising that the highly visible /high press interest missions of the first use of B-52s night after night at such scale in the [...]
Christmas ’72 Stories: (1) The “Ornaments” from Ghosts of Christmas Past
With this post I begin a multi-story process centered on Linebacker II and Christmas 1972 as part of Remembered Sky’s overall reflection on the 40th anniversary of the end of that war and USS Midway/Carrier Air Wing Five’s war cruise in the Vietnam War. Midway/CAG 5 was the most experienced carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin as President Nixon determined to bring the war with full force of air power to Hanoi in December 1972 as peace negotiations broke down. Scheduled for Christmas R&R in Singapore, Midway remained on station flying Linebacker II operations until the morning of December 20th. Bob Hope [...]
ALPHA Strike (Part 3): Snako’s MiG Kill
My MIG Kill at Kien An Airfield Continuing excerpts from Not on My Watch, by Dave ‘Snako’ Kelly Despite the official story, I did ‘kill’ a MIG. (And I have photographic evidence to back it up!) There is, however, some background information that predicates this story. There has always been strife between the Attack and Fighter communities within Naval Aviation. The fighter pilots have their inflated self-image, as ‘cold-blooded, steely-eyed killers’. They feel their purpose in life is to kill MIGs, and anything that prevents them from fulfilling that destiny is a ‘senseless activity’. Unfortunately in the real world periodically [...]
ALPHA Strike (Part 2): Snako and Boris doing “Bidness” on same strike near Hanoi
Continuing excerpts from Not on My Watch, by Dave ‘Snako’ Kelly The following are some of my more memorable Alpha Strikes of the 1972-73 cruise. Remembered Sky Note: On 22 July 1972, Schoolboy launched a major 30 plus plane Alpha Strike to the Ca Chau buried petroleum facility just across the Red River from Hanoi. CDR Neil Harvey, Commanding Officer of the VA-56 Champs was the strike leader. Myself and Smokey Tolbert were his wingmen. Given the buried and hidden nature of the target, each pilot was given an aim point so as to cover the whole of the suspected area. [...]
Smokey- For love of the game
This post was originally done for Memorial Day 2012. It includes a link to the eulogy to Smokey, read into the Congressional Record by another of my VA-56 pals, and another of Smokey’s great friends, Max Carey. I have brought it over from the blog on Project White Horse 084640 as part of Remembered Sky in honor of Smokey Tolbert, my great friend and fellow Champ during the Midway/CAG 5 1972 war cruise. Smokey was shot down over North Vietnam on November 6, 1972. Those of us who came home will never forget those who did not. […]
Schoolboy: Essence of Winning and Losing (6/6)
Just a little bit of repeat by way of summary to make sure a point or two gets highlighted: Twilight Launch by Jim Horsely, VA-115 pilot On the “day after” – morning of 25 October – USS Midway launched strikes into North Vietnam. For a warship, survival on your “own terms” means carrying out your mission, in this case sending combat sorties over the North. […]
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War and Remembrance
Christmas ’72 Stories: (6) “We had been there too long!”
As I write this post, it is fast approaching 0659 30 December 2012 in Hanoi – 40 years exactly from the end to Linebacker II. President Nixon’s decision – the Linebacker II campaign – in the face of world wide denunciation and in opposition to many in his own cabinet has left NVN militarily “Winchester” – without the SAMs. Indeed Snako noted in Not on My Watch that in his memoirs published in 2007, General Giap, the highly respected leader of the NVA and victor at Dien Bien Phu, included the following quote: “What we still don’t understand is why you Americans stopped [...]
Christmas ’72 Stories: (5) What did we know? When did we know it?
Bob ‘Hippo’ Hipps (334 Tactical Fighter Squadron): The night of Dec 17, 1972 our F-4E squadron (the 334TFS had deployed from Seymour Johnson, AFB, NC — which is the only Air Force base named after a Naval Aviator) stood down and we were all in the club asking, “WTFO?” Then, one of our maintenance officers came in and told us we were getting wall-to-wall ALE-38 chaff dispensers loaded on our jets. Since laying chaff corridors in RP-VI had been our primary mission in the previous Linebacker fun and games, this was our first clue that the following day was not going to [...]
Christmas ’72 Stories: (4) MiG-CAP & Roman Candles
Perspective from John Chesire – VF-151 Switchboxes – flying MiG-CAP around Haiphong. Of my nearly two years combat flying in SEA (Southeast Asia), the most spectacular and memorable sight occurred on December 20, the third and worst night of the of the historic Linebacker II Christmas Raids, designed to end the war. Although we (F-4’s) never flew ‘planned’ night MiG-CAP “feet dry” overland, some of us were now tasked for this major strike to do so. My RO “TA” and I set up our CAP station in the vicinity of Haiphong, and hopefully on the outer ranges of their SAM sites. Fortunately, [...]
Christmas ’72 Stories: (4) Snako’s Two Night LB II Hat Trick
One of the motivators for Remembered Sky is that the writing about USS Midway and her airwing/squadrons is piecemeal. Some histories and stories barely mention Midway and some have completely left her out, particularly related to Linebacker II. This despite the fact that Midway/Airwing Five set the record for most number of days “on the line” in the Vietnam war and were one of only four carriers in the whole war to be awarded the unit equivallent of a Navy Cross – the Presidential Unit Citation. Kelly Note: Interestingly, history hasn’t recorded MIDWAY’s participation in the Linebacker II. Some official [...]
Christmas ’72 Stories: (2) Night time in the Red River Valley
Linebacker II from 18-29 December 1972 is commonly understood as the B-52 strikes over Hanoi that brought the NVN back to the negotiating table in Paris, leading to the end of the war, a treaty- The Paris Peace Accords – and the return of America’s Prisoners of War. Given that the aim of LB II was not a military one, but rather was a political campaign that used physical damage to send a message, it is not surprising that the highly visible /high press interest missions of the first use of B-52s night after night at such scale in the [...]
Christmas ’72 Stories: (1) The “Ornaments” from Ghosts of Christmas Past
With this post I begin a multi-story process centered on Linebacker II and Christmas 1972 as part of Remembered Sky’s overall reflection on the 40th anniversary of the end of that war and USS Midway/Carrier Air Wing Five’s war cruise in the Vietnam War. Midway/CAG 5 was the most experienced carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin as President Nixon determined to bring the war with full force of air power to Hanoi in December 1972 as peace negotiations broke down. Scheduled for Christmas R&R in Singapore, Midway remained on station flying Linebacker II operations until the morning of December 20th. Bob Hope [...]
ALPHA Strike (Part 3): Snako’s MiG Kill
My MIG Kill at Kien An Airfield Continuing excerpts from Not on My Watch, by Dave ‘Snako’ Kelly Despite the official story, I did ‘kill’ a MIG. (And I have photographic evidence to back it up!) There is, however, some background information that predicates this story. There has always been strife between the Attack and Fighter communities within Naval Aviation. The fighter pilots have their inflated self-image, as ‘cold-blooded, steely-eyed killers’. They feel their purpose in life is to kill MIGs, and anything that prevents them from fulfilling that destiny is a ‘senseless activity’. Unfortunately in the real world periodically [...]
ALPHA Strike (Part 2): Snako and Boris doing “Bidness” on same strike near Hanoi
Continuing excerpts from Not on My Watch, by Dave ‘Snako’ Kelly The following are some of my more memorable Alpha Strikes of the 1972-73 cruise. Remembered Sky Note: On 22 July 1972, Schoolboy launched a major 30 plus plane Alpha Strike to the Ca Chau buried petroleum facility just across the Red River from Hanoi. CDR Neil Harvey, Commanding Officer of the VA-56 Champs was the strike leader. Myself and Smokey Tolbert were his wingmen. Given the buried and hidden nature of the target, each pilot was given an aim point so as to cover the whole of the suspected area. [...]
Smokey- For love of the game
This post was originally done for Memorial Day 2012. It includes a link to the eulogy to Smokey, read into the Congressional Record by another of my VA-56 pals, and another of Smokey’s great friends, Max Carey. I have brought it over from the blog on Project White Horse 084640 as part of Remembered Sky in honor of Smokey Tolbert, my great friend and fellow Champ during the Midway/CAG 5 1972 war cruise. Smokey was shot down over North Vietnam on November 6, 1972. Those of us who came home will never forget those who did not. […]
Schoolboy: Essence of Winning and Losing (6/6)
Just a little bit of repeat by way of summary to make sure a point or two gets highlighted: Twilight Launch by Jim Horsely, VA-115 pilot On the “day after” – morning of 25 October – USS Midway launched strikes into North Vietnam. For a warship, survival on your “own terms” means carrying out your mission, in this case sending combat sorties over the North. […]