4. Vietnam II (5 page)

Captain William Bell

F-15 Driver

We were a week into the campaign as we flew in circles near the border.  Four other F-15s did as well.  The air war was going badly for the Vietnamese.  They were outmatched in every way.  The planners expected the VPAF to fly their fighters to friendly airfields in Vietnamese occupied Cambodia so we had been stationed to intercept them.

“Bulldog Flight, AWACs.  How copy?”  An AWACs weapons director hailed us on the radio.

“AWACs, Bulldog has you loud and clear.”  West answered.

“Any bandits or unknown riders in your area?”

“You tell me.”  West said with a spoonful of snarky.

“Have you seen anything visually?”  The weapons officer explained.

“It’s been quiet.  Why do you ask?”

“Command center at Hickam wanted to know.”

“Why?  We about to get busy?”  West asked.  We were all asking that question in our minds.

“They didn’t say.”  The AWACs controller replied.

“We’re ready.  Bring them on.”

West and I continued flying our pattern and watching the Cambodian border below.

24 January 1991

RTAF F-16s vs. VPAF MiG-21s

Lieutenant Colonel Carol Madison

U.S. Air Force Intelligence Officer

In what was the only one of its kind of the war the Vietnamese Air Force attempted a rare offensive bombing operation using two MiGs loaded with incendiary bombs.  Destined for coalition air bases in Thailand the MiGs attempted to destroy F-15s, F-111s and F-16s on the ground.

The Royal Thai Air Force sent up two F-16As to intercept the bombers.  One of the F-16s maneuvered behind the MiGs and shot them both down with AIM-9 missiles.

Our only involvement was offering AWACs support.  The coalition considered it an internal Thai sovereignty issue and not part of our overall air campaign.

26 January 1991

USAF F-15Cs vs. VPAF MiG-21s

Senior Airman William Lydecker

E-3 SENTRY Weapons Director

Four F-15Cs engaged in what was a textbook beyond visual range or BVR kill.  As four MiG-21s took off from a VPAF airbase they were picked up by AWACs.  One of the MiGs diverted back to base with mechanical problems, a move that saved his life, while the other three pressed on. 

AWACs tracked the remaining three MiGs and guided four F-15Cs into targeting range. The F-15s lined up, were assigned targets and fired four AIM-7 missiles at the enemy formation, destroying all three MiGs simultaneously.  Only three of the F-15C pilots were granted kills. 

The fourth F-15 driver went home empty handed as the fourth missile from the last F-15 didn’t strike the MiG until it was already crashing to the ground.

Lieutenant Colonel Carol Madison

U.S. Air Force Intelligence Officer

The story about the POW some operators found in the interior came out while I was getting my twelve hours off.  The snake eaters found him rotting in some old Vietnamese prison keeping time with some forgotten political prisoners.  I knew about it two weeks prior.  They were holding off on releasing his name because they had not identified him yet.

POW FOUND led the headlines on the cable news networks.

Problem was he was not on any of our lists of missing personnel.  The lid was supposed to be kept on the whole thing until we could sort it out.

Somebody talked.

That was not the only bad news for me that day.  My husband had taken the kids and moved back to Texas with his mother.  He said that he never signed up for me to be away from home this much.

This was back when a normal deployment was 45 days and an extended deployment was 90 days.  It was years before the War on Terror.  Someone in the Air Force being away from home for over six months was unheard of.

My day got worse when I got to work.

“Where did all the fighters go Madison?”  The Air Boss asked not seeing any other Intel officers to abuse.

“I just walked in.  I don’t know what you are talking about.”  I told him.  I was getting very comfortable with the words “I don’t know” in the last few months.  It was better than misleading leadership.

The confirmation had come in just after midnight of the VPAF fighter evacuation.

“Did they cut into Cambodia?  How many got through?” I asked Elway when I got to my station.

“All of them.”  He told me.

“Shit.”

“How did that happen?  We were supposed to be ready for that.”  Dickens asked.

“We were.  They took them north.”  Elway explained.

“What?  China?”  I was surprised.  They were enemies.  It had not even crossed my mind.  It had not crossed anyone’s mind.

“Landed in the People’s Republic not three hours ago.  And were immediately impounded.”

“Something happening.  Why are all these fighters fleeing to China?  It’s not like they are allies.”

“They’re giving up.”  Dickens added.

“I’ve got good news and bad news.”  A weapons controller who was doing staff work at the center came running up.

“We’ve shot down or forced down four yesterday and two today.”

“Good.  What’s the bad news?”

“This is a list of how many have gotten away to China.”  He handed me a piece of paper with entirely too much writing on it.

I took one look at it and passed it on to the Senior.  The Colonel turned red as he reviewed it.  He could take the damn thing to the General.  I had enough bad news for one day.

Lieutenant Colonel William Carter

Air Force Intelligence Officer

Office of Records

“You’re back.  Great!”  Major Brian Carpenter said with a sarcastic smile as I entered the records floor.

“How are things?”  I asked not really wanting to hear the answer.

“Other than living with fucking 60 Minutes and Nightline great.”  Carpenter looked more tired than the last time I had seen him.

“I need to know about Vincent MacArthur.”

“You and everyone else.  I have his information all ready for you.  In fact I ran a hundred copies for interested agencies and the press this morning.”

“Let’s have it.”  I said.

“Six years and forty five days of Army service.  One page.”  Carpenter handed me his DD Form 214.  The 214 was a form that every service member was issued when leaving the service.  “He was a Vietnam Vet.”

“How can you tell?”  I asked.

“The Southeast Asia service medal.”  He pointed at the section that outlined decorations.  “Bronze star too.  They tried to get anyone who’d seen combat one of those back then.  It was fairly common.”  Carpenter explained.

“Was he a POW?”

“Not according to that.”  Carpenter said indicating the records.  “He didn’t get the medal anyway.”

“Why was he in a Vietnamese prison?”  I asked.

“Hell if I know.”  Carpenter said with a shrug.

THE WALL

Senior Airman William Lydecker

E-3 SENTRY Weapons Director

When word of the escapes to China reached the command center, a new strategy was formulated.  Now a virtual wall of F-16 and F-15 blocked the air route into China.  That left the PAV air force with three choices.  They could stay in Vietnam and get themselves and their aircraft captured.  They could make a run for it and die a horrible death.  And finally they could disassemble their aircraft, and assuming they could find a passable road, they could drive it to China on the back of a truck.

Bottom line was we owned their air force.  They had no good moves.

27 January 1991

USAF F-15Cs vs. VPAF MiG-21s and SU-17

Two F-15Cs caught a four ship fleeing to China.  They engaged and managed to get kills on three MiG-23s and one SU-17 which they brought down with AIM-9 and AIM-7 missiles respectively.

29 January 1991

USAF F-15C vs. VPAF MiG-21

An American F-15C shot down a MiG-21 with an AIM-7 missile while it was fleeing to China.

USAF F-15C vs. VPAF MiG-21

A USAF F-15C eliminated a MiG-21 in a short-lived dogfight with an AIM-7 missile.

Lieutenant Colonel Carol Madison

U.S. Air Force Intelligence Officer

“The Chinese aren’t giving them back?”  I asked.

It was on the news.  CNN was already on the ground filming the MiGs that had gotten away.  They were parked in rows at Guangzhou Air Base.

“No.  They have been locked up and their pilots detained.  Intel estimates say that VPAF fixed wing operations are over.”  The Senior told us.

“We control the air.”  I said.

“Except for some errand helicopters.”  Dickens confirmed.  “Yes.”

With air to air operations at an end the air war had become entirely a bombing campaign.  It was up to our bomber units dropping iron to get the Vietnamese to the negotiating table.

Lieutenant Commander Mark Wolf

F-18 Naval Aviator

We were on an offensive bombing run against the Ho Chi Minh highway bridges.  The effect was to create a bottleneck and prevent PAV armor from escaping north to fortify Hanoi.  The Vietnamese were prepared to lose every city except that one. 

The F/A-18 Hornet attack aircraft with bomb fire control systems so good that they could regularly place bombs within a 30-foot circle.  This meant I could put a dumb bomb within roughly a tenth of a football field of the intended target.  Before V2 we thought that we had an effective weapons system.

We could not have been more wrong.

For example when attacking bridges we had to hit the precise point on the roadway above the supporting member of the bridge frame.  Otherwise we would just end up with a roadway with a bunch of holes in it and a bridge that was still standing.  The fire control system was not good enough. 

Well along came the laser designator and smart bombs to solve that problem and create a larger one.  Where a precision guided dumb bomb could hit a target within feet a smart bomb could do it within inches.  These things were like a sniper rifle for bomber pilots.  If used correctly we practically could not miss. 

Now here is the problem.  The Hornet could not return to the carrier with a full bomb load.  If the Hornet ran into maintenance issues or aborted the bomb run for any reason then all the unused bombs would have to be jettisoned into the sea before returning to the carrier.  That was not a big deal with cheap dumb bombs.  It was quite another thing for pricey laser guided smart bombs.  That meant when we aborted a bombing run we either had to waste a lot of taxpayer’s dollars or we carried less bombs.  Most of the time we carried less bombs so that even if we do not drop our load we can still land back at the carrier.

A lot of people asked if I got shot at in V2.  In fact I did more than once.  It was sporadic at best.  However, my biggest worry was the price tag on those expensive bombs.  We had to account for everything.

Fighters also had to identify their targets before shooting as blue-on-blue, also known as friendly on friendly or fratricide, attacks would have devastating consequences. During V1, the failsafe solution was to give the controllers onboard AWACs aircraft a veto over nearly all air-to-air engagements.  The CONOPS required that a fighter have two independent means of verifying a target’s identity.  The fighter’s three main means of identification was IFF, AWACs and visual recognition.

Naval fighters, which did not possess IFF interrogators, so they generally relied on orders from their carrier or E-2-borne controllers.  This created havoc during joint operations.

Major Wesley Clinton

B-52 Aircraft Commander

There was a strange sound coming from the aircraft.  It was a sucking sound that I immediately took for a decompression.  Out of pure instinct I grabbed my oxygen mask and prepared to dawn before I realized that I had just awoken from a hard sleep.

We were in the Battle Beast after shitcanning the Battle Sky.  The PAV missile did enough damage that the Battle Sky became a hanger queen and was probably out of the war.  It needed sheet metal and frame work.  The maintenance guys would just be happy if they did not have to sail it home on a boat.

I looked around the Battle Beast’s cockpit trying to find the source of the sound.  The copilot was asleep.  Looking back the EWO was passed out with his shoulders against his harness.  The Gunner was head down on his station snoring on hot mike.

“Oh no.  Not again.”  I said out loud.  There was no one awake to hear me.

I got on the interphone.

"Nav, where are we?"

Two squeaks followed on the intercom.  The Navs were asleep too and one of them was fumbling for the switch.

“Um,”

“Nav?”  I said again.

"I think we’re lost."  He finally replied.

"Fuck!”  I yelled.

Everyone was up now.

Air Force doctrine in the late 1980s moved to bombers and fighters attacking at low level.  B-1s, F-111s, F-4s, F-16s and A-10s all had a low-level mission training.  Of course our aircraft was as large as a building so most of the community thinks this is suicide.

The driving force for our strategy was penetrating Soviet air defenses.  Flying low made it hard for radar to find you.  The more terrain the better.  We would be lost in the ground clutter.  In addition the big SAMs couldn’t lock on and engage you if you were at a low altitude.

We could go down to 200 feet.  This was roughly the wingspan of the plane.  Of course we pushed it to fifty feet sometimes.

I had to admit that, in theory at least, low level attack had its advantages.

The disadvantages included making us more vulnerable to small arms.  This low and everyone and their brother were taking pot shots at us with everything from machine guns to AK-47s to shotguns.

The other problem was the terrain that was helping to hide us.  All it took was a hill or a plateau and if we didn’t react fast enough we would scrape into it.

We had two tools in the cockpit to keep us alive.  First there was the Terrain Avoidance Radar which gave us a cross section of the terrain right out ahead of us on a television screen.  I set a terrain level and the system would look ahead and tell me where to fly to maintain that clearance above the surface.  Second I backed this up with the radar altimeter which told us how high we were above the ground.

The Radar Navigator backed me up with terrain mapping radar.  He could look out way ahead of us and give me a good route through the terrain. 

We were behind enemy lines and not using any radar so we were stuck with our Night Vision Goggles and a map.  It was better than letting every SAM site know that we were coming by blaring our powerful radar.

V2 was the first time we used Night Vision Goggles (NVGs) operationally.  NVGs were brand new and I didn’t have much faith in them.  The first generation models were heavy and uncomfortable.  They had to be the front of your helmet and their battery pack was Velcroed to the back of the helmet connected by a bunch of wires.  If you had to eject in a hurry you had to lose the whole contraption or it would snap your neck when you left the aircraft.

We figured out where we were and got back on course.  Then we descended down for our bombing run.

The cool air coming out our vents was quickly replaced with hot air floating up from the jungle floor.  The air conditioner depended on forced ambient air from the upper atmosphere that was extremely cold mixed with air from the engine that was very hot in order to come up with something that humans would call comfortable.  Down low all the gunner could do was mix hot air from the engine with hot, humid ambient air from outside.

It became very bumpy at low altitude.  The heat from the jungle caused a lot of turbulence.  Our wings were designed to fly up in the stratosphere.  I could see the wing flex at the tip.  The copilot saw it too.  He looked white as a ghost.  I looked out again and saw the engine pods shaking like they were about to fall off and I couldn’t blame him.

I figured the best thing to do was ignore it unless it got worse.  I came back into the cockpit, got back on instruments and concentrated on the mission.

We cratered a highway and got out of there without incident.

Within minutes the cool air of the stratosphere was replaced with the sweltering heat of the jungle.  We moved on to our second target.

The Radar Nav was going through another bout of vomiting.  I hoped he could get it together for another bombing run.  He was running three bags full already on this mission.  Funny thing was he didn’t even eat breakfast that day.