TheList 5308

The List 5307 TGB




Good Monday Morning May 4. I hope that you all had a good weekend



Regards,

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This day in Naval History May 4



1917 Destroyer Division 8, commanded by Cmdr. Joseph K. Taussig, arrive at Queenstown, Ireland, to protect convoy escorts against German U-Boats.



1942 Battle of the Coral Sea begins when TF 17 attacks the Japanese Tulagi Invasion Force at Tulagi, Solomons.



1945 During the Okinawa Campaign, the Japanese attempt to land on Okinawa but are repulsed by the Allied naval forces. Kamikazes attack and sink: USS Luce (DD 522), USS Morrison (DD 560), USS LSM 190, USS LSM 194. Damaged by the suicide bombers are USS Birmingham (CL 62) and USS Sangamon (CVE 26).



1961 Cmdr. Malcolm D. Ross, pilot, and medical observer Lt. Cmdr. Victor A. Prather, Jr, ascend in two hours to more than 110,000 feet in Strato-Lab 5, setting altitude record for manned open gondola.



2013 USS Anchorage (LPD 23) is commissioned in her namesake city. The San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock is the second ship to be named after the Alaskan city.



Thanks to CHINFO



Executive Summary:

• San Diego Union-Tribune reported that experience from previous COVID-19 outbreaks helped the Navy respond quickly to the outbreak aboard USS Kidd.

• Multiple outlets reported on USNS Comfort's return to Norfolk on Saturday following its COVID-19 deployment to New York City.

• Numerous outlets reported on the re-emergence of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and an exchange of gunfire between North and South Korea inside the demilitarized zone.





Today in History May 4



495

Pope Gelasius asserts that his authority is superior to Emperor Anastasius.


1568

French forces in Florida slaughter hundreds of Spanish.


1855

Macon B. Allen becomes the first African American to be admitted to the Bar in Massachusetts.


1859

France declares war on Austria.


1863

The Battle of Chancellorsville rages for a second day.


1865

President Abraham Lincoln's funeral train arrives in Springfield, Illinois.


1926

U.S. Marines land in Nicaragua.


1952

The first airplane lands at the geographic North Pole.


1968

After three days of battle, the U.S. Marines retake Dai Do complex in Vietnam, only to find the North Vietnamese have evacuated the area.


1971

James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassin, is caught in a jail break attempt.


1979

Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman prime minister of Great Britain.


1982

A British submarine sinks Argentina's only cruiser during the Falkland Islands War.




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The Battle fo the Coral Sea Thanks to NHHC



. The Bomb That Changed the Course of the War



On 8 May 1942, 24 SBD Dauntless dive bombers from USS Yorktown (CV-5) commenced an attack on the Japanese fleet carrier IJN Shokaku in the Coral Sea. As each bomber nosed over in near-vertical dives from 18,000 feet on the wildly maneuvering Shokaku, their windscreens and bomb sights fogged over so badly during the descent that the U.S. pilots were blinded, forced to release their bombs "by memory." Although one bomb hit the Shokaku very near the bow and started a serious fire, one bomb after another missed. Finally one SBD, piloted by Lieutenant John Powers (U.S. Naval Academy '35), his wing on fire after being hit by canon fire from a Japanese Zero fighter, pressed his dive well below the standard minimum pull-up altitude. Power's bomb hit Shokaku nearly dead center and caused horrific and nearly fatal damage, starting massive fires and killing over 100 Japanese sailors. Unable to pull up in time, Powers flew through the frag pattern of his own bomb and crashed alongside the Shokaku. Although 15 dive bombers off the USS Lexington (CV-2) would later manage to hit the Shokaku with one more bomb, it was Power's bomb that knocked Shokaku out of action for the rest of the battle, leaving her unable to recover aircraft, and with damage so severe that she was unable to participate in the critical and decisive Battle of Midway one month later, where her presence could have easily turned that battle into a catastrophic defeat for the United States. By the sacrifice of his life and that of his radioman-gunner (Radioman Second Class Everett Clyde Hill), Powers quite likely prevented the loss of the Yorktown at the Battle of the Coral Sea and changed the outcome of two of the most important battles of World War II. For his valor, Powers was awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously. Hill's parents received his $10,000 G.I. life insurance policy payout.



2. Carrier vs. Carrier (Us Versus Them)

American and Japanese carriers and carrier air groups had significant strengths and weaknesses relative to each other. Most histories "mirror image" Japanese doctrine and tactics with those of the United States, which frequently leads to an inaccurate understanding of the battle. There are two recent books that superbly describe Japanese carrier operations and are worth a read: Shattered Sword by Parshall and Tully, and Kaigun by Evans and Peattie. Both are over 500 pages long, so if you read my synopsis (derived from those books and many others) in attachment H-005-2 you will become a lot smarter about the relative capabilities of the United States and Japanese carriers and air groups at the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, in a much shorter period of time, and the battles might make more sense to you.

3. The Battle of the Coral Sea, 7–8 May 1942

The Battle of the Coral Sea was the first carrier versus carrier battle in history; opposing surface forces never sighted each other. The battle occurred because U.S. naval intelligence provided Admiral Nimitz with sufficient warning and understanding of Japanese intent and capability that he chose to commit the two carriers Lexington (CV-2) and Yorktown (CV-5) against a Japanese force expected to consist of 2–3 carriers (Shokaku, Zuikaku and the small carrier Shoho.) Nimitz committed the Enterprise (CV-6) and Hornet (CV-8) as well, but they were unable to reach the area in time, due the timing of the Doolittle Raid (see H-Gram 004). The battle was a tactical draw (some accounts argue a tactical U.S. loss) but a strategic victory for the United States. The Japanese force failed in its objective to capture Port Moresby, New Guinea, which would have threatened the northeast coast of Australia. Although the Japanese had previously suffered setbacks, this was the first time that proved permanent. In addition, the Japanese carrier Shokaku was severely damaged, and attrition to the air groups of both Shokaku and Zuikaku caused both carriers to miss the decisive battle of Midway a month later, which almost certainly changed the course of that battle, and of the war. The Japanese also lost the small carrier Shoho on 7 May to a gross over-kill of U.S. carrier torpedo and dive bombers, and was the first carrier lost by either side in the war. The cost to the United States was high. The carrier USS Lexington was sunk as a result of secondary explosions following torpedo and bomb hits, the Yorktown was damaged by a bomb (but not hit by torpedoes, which was the critical factor in her being repaired in time for Midway), and the oiler USS Neosho (AO-23) (which had survived being moored right in the middle of the attack on Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor) was sunk, along with the destroyer USS Sims (DD-409). At the end of the second day of battle, the air groups on both sides were severely depleted with extensive losses, with Lexington sinking and Shokaku out of action. Both commanders, Rear Admiral Frank "Jack" Fletcher and Vice Admiral Takeo Takagi, opted to withdraw, which resulted in years of criticism of both by other naval officers and armchair historians (Takagi was pilloried by Admiral Yamamoto; Fletcher merely criticized, mostly behind his back). Please see attachment H-005-3 for more detail on the Battle of the Coral Sea.

Attachment H-005-4 shows USS Lexington (CV-2) at the Battle of the Coral Sea on 8 May 1942 in a photo taken from a Japanese aircraft. Lexington has been hit by two torpedoes (the first proved fatal) and two bombs, and is bracketed by numerous other near misses.





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1911: The War Department decided to send the Army's first Wright plane to the Smithsonian Institution.

(24)



1916: Katherine Stinson gave a short aerobatic show over New York at night. At first, she planned a

daytime show at the Sheepshead Bay Speedway, but she arrived too late in her biplane to be assembled

for the show. To keep from disappointing her audience, she took off, climbed to 3,000

feet, and performed two loops that could be traced from her plane's lights. She landed on the racetrack

below by using red flares as lights. (7)



1927: Capt Hawthorne C. Gray (Air Corps) flew a free balloon to 42,470 feet at Scott Field. (24)



1929: Two Navy officers, Lt Thomas G. W. Settle and Ensign W. Bushnell, won the National Balloon

Race for subclass A-7 through A-9 balloons (1600-4000 cubic meters with a FAI distance

record of 952 miles) from Pittsburgh, Pa., to Savage Harbor, Prince Edward Island. Their flight

also set a 43-hour, 20-minute FAI duration record for subclass A-6 (1200 to 1600 cubic meter)

balloons. (9) (24)



1942: BATTLE OF CORAL SEA. Through 8 May, the Battle of Coral Sea featured the first naval

engagement fought by aircraft as the opposing ships made no contact. Although both sides lost

a carrier (the Japanese Shoho and the USS Lexington), the U.S. successfully thwarted a Japanese

invasion of Port Moresby, New Guinea, where they would have been able to launch an invasion

of Australia. (20) (21)



1952: KOREAN WAR. In air operations, 25 F-86s strafed and destroyed 5 of 24 YAK-9s parked in

revetments at Sinuiju Airfield in extreme northwestern Korea. (28)



1961: Cmdr Malcolm D. Ross and Lt Cmdr Victor A. Prather (both Navy Reserve) reached a FAI

record balloon altitude of 113,739.9 feet in a two-place open gondola. Launched from the USS

Antietam near the Mississippi River mouth, the balloon reached its maximum altitude in 2 hours

36 minutes. The death of Commander Prather, who fell from the recovery helicopter's sling after

being pulled from the water, marred this achievement. (9)



1962: At Lowry AFB, the 725 SMS became the first Titan I unit to achieve alert. (7)



1968: Gen Carl Spaatz (USAF retired) received the Thomas D. White National Defense Award for



1963: A TWA Boeing Star Stream established a record for a jet- powered passenger transport by covering

the San Francisco to Paris route in 9 hours 55 minutes.



1970: A SAC task force of four B-52s won the Blue Steel Trophy for the best combined bombing and

navigation results in the RAF Strike Command's bombing and navigation competition at RAF

Station Marham, England. (26)



1979: The A-10B flew its first flight at Edwards AFB. (3)



1982: Through 8 May, the E-3A Sentry AWACS deployed to Turkey for the first time. (16) (26)



1989: During a 4-8 May mission, Air Force Maj Mark Lee on the Space Shuttle Atlantis released the

Magellan probe that would map Venus with synthetic aperture radar. (20)



1990: The Hughes/Raytheon AIM-120A Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile demonstrated

its ability to achieve multiple kills against multiple targets. On the Gulf Test Range near Eglin

AFB, an F-15 flying 650 MPH at 15,000 feet fired two missiles at two QF-100 drones at 10,000

feet and two more at two drones at 5,000 feet. The test resulted in three direct hits and one pass

within lethal distance. (20)



1999: Operation ALLIED FORCE. An F-16CJ shot down a MiG-29 over Kosovo. It was the fifth

and last USAF aerial victory in the operation. (21) Operation ALLIED FORCE. Through 6 May, the 161st Air Refueling Wing (Arizona ANG)

deployed nearly 300 members and six KC-135s o Europe to support NATO's war against

Yugoslavia. (32)



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Thanks to David



Nasal Radiator POW Interviews.

- good stuff…



https://vimeo.com/398056592



The Return with Honor Film project is a series of in depth interviews with a group of Navy and Marine airmen who were captured and systematically tortured as Prisoners of War during the Vietnam War. Theirs is an incredible story of human courage, military discipline, the struggle to survive and fulfill one's mission and extraordinary dedication to principle of honor and commitment. This trailer is a brief glimpse into their stories.



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This Day in Aviation History" brought to you by the Daedalians Airpower Blog Update. To subscribe to this weekly email, go to https://daedalians.org/airpower-blog/





May 3, 1952

Maj. Donald E. Adams, 16th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, and Capt. Robert T. Latshaw, Jr., 335th FIS, downed two Mig-15s each to become aces during the Korean War.



May 4, 1962

With Louis W. "Lou" Schalk Jr. at the controls, the A-12 (prototype for later versions of the Blackbird) was flown on its first supersonic flight, reaching Mach 1.1 at 40,000 feet.



May 5, 1961

Navy Cmdr. Alan B. Shepard Jr. manned space capsule Freedom 7 during the flight of Mercury-Redstone 3 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The crew of an HMRL-262 HUS-1 Seahorse from Marine Aircraft Group 26, embarked on board Lake Champlain (CVS 39), visually followed the descent of Freedom 7. The Seahorse recovered the capsule at sea, and transported the spacecraft and Shepard to the carrier. After a preliminary medical and technical debriefing, a helicopter flew the astronaut to Grand Bahama Island for two days of complete debriefings. Shepard became the first American to ascend into space during this initial of two suborbital Mercury missions. Shepard, who retired as a rear admiral, was a Daedalian Life Member until his death in 1998.



May 6, 1892

Samuel P. Langley launched Aerodrome No. 5, the first pilotless, engine-driven, heavier-than-aircraft, at Quantico, Virginia. The device managed to fly from a catapult mounted on a houseboat for a distance of 3,300 feet and 2,300 feet in two flights.



May 7, 1969

U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Melvin J. Hartman, pilot, and Lt. Larry Minor, copilot, in an HC-130H Hercules designated Coast Guard No. 1453, flew the first Coast Guard aircraft directly over the geographic North Pole from CGAS Kodiak, Alaska. The record was achieved during an ice reconnaissance flight along a potential route to transport oil from the North Slope of Alaska by way of the Northwest Passage.



May 8, 1911

Capt. Washington I. Chambers of the Bureau of Navigation prepared requisitions for two Curtiss biplanes. One, the Triad, was to be equipped for arising from or alighting on land or water; with a metal-tipped propeller designed for a speed of at least 45 miles per hour; provisions for carrying a passenger alongside the pilot; and controls that either the pilot or passenger could operate. The machine described became the Navy's first airplane, the Curtiss hydroaeroplane A-1 (later AH-1). Although these requisitions lacked the signature of the Chief of BUNAV — necessary to direct the General Storekeeper to enter into a contract with the Curtiss Co. — they indicated Chambers' decision as to which airplanes the Navy should purchase. The Navy thus considers May 8, 1911, the date upon which the service ordered its first airplane, and the official birthday of naval aviation.



May 9, 1926

Pilot Lt. Cmdr. Richard E. Byrd Jr. and Aviation Pilot Floyd E. Bennett made the first flight over the North Pole in Fokker trimotor Josephine Ford. After circling the Pole, they returned to base at Kings Bay, Spitzbergen, Norway, completing the round trip in 15.5 hours. Byrd was Daedalian Founder Member #10364.



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More Border Wall thanks to Dutch.

I remember running the border near El Centro on a very low level in 69 or 70 and all of a sudden there were a ton of people coming north in a deep arroyo I pulled up and came back lower for another low pass and then climbed up and called center and told them about it and the reply I received was less than interested and I doubt the info I asked to be sent to the border patrol was passed on. So I went back down and Popped a Burner light over the top of them.











15 Miles of Additional Border Wall Completed in California





Contractors completed 15 miles of a new border wall system in the El Centro Sector of Southern California, Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott announced.



















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thanks to Doctor Rich





If you haven't visited my website before or if it's been a while, I'd like to invite you to take a few minutes to peruse it. No charge!



Let me know your thoughts. I'm always looking for ways to improve things. …and I'm always adding a story or two.



https://captainbillywalker.com









When you link-up: https://captainbillywalker.com



Click on AIRCRAFT & PARTS FOR SALE to see the airplanes, nifty sports cars, motor home, & even a nice house for sale!



Click on Aviation Stories & Really Cool Stuff — there you'll see, presently, 83 stories about old pilots and old airplanes. Each story is guaranteed to thwart insomnia! I like to be helpful!



Thank you for checkin' in! Please feel welcome to make it a habit and, for sure, give me your thoughts.



Blue Skies & Tailwinds…















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Thanks to THE Bear





ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED… When Naval Aviation Roared… Tales of the Brave and Bold… #5…

May 3, 2020

COMMEMORATING THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIETNAM WAR (1961-1973)… and honoring the intrepid Naval Aviators, Naval Flight Officers and air crews that carried the bloody war to the heartland of North Vietnam in the years of Operation Rolling Thunder (1965-1968)…

GOOD MORNING. It is Monday, 4 May 2020 and I have a tale to tell. But first, a remembrance of this week fifty years ago (4 through 10 May 1970). On 4 May 1970 the war came home to America as the student demonstrations on the Kent State University campus led to the Ohio National Guard firing more than 70 rounds of live ammo into the protesters. Four were killed and a dozen more wounded. The event infused overpowering energy into antiwar demonstrations throughout the nation. Combined with the President's 30 April call for support for our intrusion of ground forces, including American Army troops, into Cambodia, support for the war and the President began a cataclysmic decline. It was a gloomy day in American history. Read and weep as you read "Kent State Shootings" at:

http://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Kent_State_Shootings

https://www.history.com/news/kent-state-shootings-timeline

On the other battlefield, South Vietnam, during this week in May 1970, more than 100 American fighting men perished helping the South Vietnamese fight off the Viet Cong and 40,000 North Vietnamese invaders. The total loss of Americans passed 42,000 (16,000 more would die over the next three years of unwinnable war). More than 400,000 Americans remained engaged in the fight. In the air over Southeast Asia eight fixed wing aircraft were lost. Miraculously, all 12 American aviators involved survived. Details of the losses at:

https://www.vietnamairlosses.com … then search the dates 4-10 May 1970…



WHEN NAVAL AVIATION ROARED… Tale #5… Source CinCPACFLT Awards Files (Author's notes made in 1985 at the Suitland, Maryland, Navy Annex, where the entire collection of CinCPACFLT Vietnam war award recommendations were held awaiting disposition)…

USS KITTY HAWK (CVA-63) and Attack Carrier Air Wing ELEVEN respond to Presidential tasking and obliterate North Vietnam's sole cement plant located one mile from the center of Haiphong on 25 April 1967. Surgical removal required. Mission accomplished…

USS KITTY HAWK and CVW-11 were on the second of six combat deployments to Southeast Asia. They departed North Island, San Diego on 5 November 1966 and returned 12 June 1967. They spent 118 days on-the-line at Yankee Station. During the cruise the fighter guys bagged 4 MiGs and the Air Wing lost 14 aircraft in combat and 3 in operational losses. Nine aviators were left behind as POWs, eight were Killed-in-Action and three others died in the operational losses. Two were originally listed as MIA but later added to the KIA lists. War is a bloody business. Details of these losses were noted in earlier RTR blogs. The details of these losses may also be found at Vietnam Air Losses by searching USS Kitty Hawk. Dave Lovelady has organized his website to facilitate rapid recall of every fixed wing air loss in the war… Try it, you'll like it. Then visit the Vietnam Veterans's Memorial Fund, "Wall of Faces" site and leave a remembrance for one or more of the CVW-11 fallen…. Try it, you'll love it…

https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/

INTREPID and CVW-11 began their fourth of five line periods on 12 April 1967. The intensity of the air war was increasing by the day as the monsoonal weather cleared the skies over the heartland of North Vietnam exposing two hundred JCS targets for Navy and Air Force strike operations. In addition, USMC A-6 Intruders made nightly runs into the Red River Valley. Strike plans discussed at the 22 April 1967 White House Luncheon in Washington were approved for immediate execution, to include the Haiphong Cement Plant. Readers are encouraged to read in detail the notes of a meeting with President Johnson held in the White House on Friday, 17 February 1967. The document is an extraordinary example of the conversations concerning the lead participation of President Johnson in controlling the targeting of North Vietnam during the war, and includes reference to the Haiphong Cement Plant. Take a few minutes to read the minutes of the 17 Feb 67 meeting at:

https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d84



THE MISSION. The Haiphong Cement Plant was the only plant of its kind in North Vietnam. It produced 95% of the nations requirement for concrete to repair bridges, highways and buildings. Its destruction would force the North Vietnamese to add cement to the long list of materials required to be imported by rail from China or through the Haiphong harbor facilities. Its destruction was delayed for two years due to the location of the facility–one mile from the center of the port city of Haiphong. The plant was surrounded by non-military targets. The cement plant area of 700-feet by 1300-feet consisted of a crusher building, kilns, storage buildings, warehouses, slurry tanks, cement silos, barge off-loading areas, a dust precipitator, washing basins, water towers, conveyers, and road and rail accesses. The mission was to surgically remove the plant thereby destroying the ability of North Vietnam to produce concrete internally. Civilian casualties and collateral damage were deemed unacceptable.

ENEMY DEFENSES. The target was defended by numerous surface-to-air missile sites, over 250 antiaircraft artillery pieces and inestimable numbers of automatic weapons and small arms located on almost every rooftop in the urban environment. All of the military airfields in North Vietnam were within intercept range of the target with Cat Bi Airfield located under the planned bombing pattern. The area was one of the most highly integrated defense systems in the world and the enemy was ready and waiting for CVW-11 and her brave, bold strike group.

TARGET PLANNING. Commander Hank URBAN, CAG-11, coordinated the strike. Commander Marion MINNIS, Commanding VA-112, planned and led the strike. Enemy defenses indicated that only a well coordinated, low-altitude approach with minimum exposure to the array of defensive fire would be successful. The proximity of civilian industries and densely populated areas on all sides of the 22-acre target demanded the utmost precision in delivery accuracy… COMPOSITION. The strike group was composed of: eight A-4 aircraft, each armed with two 1,000-pound bombs and one 2,000-pound bomb, and, three A-6 aircraft each carrying thirteen 1,000-pound bombs. Each Skyhwak pilot was assigned a specific aimpoint in the target complex and each A-6 Intruder crew was to lay a string of bombs through the area. If a pilot could not be sure of keeping his bombs within the 22-acre plant site, he was instructed to break off his attack and not release his bombs. To counter the SAM threat, two A-6s and four A-4s were to precede the strike group over the coast-in point by three minutes. This Ironhand group would both draw off enemy AAA and counter any missile sites observed firing. Suppression of AAA in the target area was assigned to seven F-4s carrying six rocket pods each. Selected 37/37mm gunsites at the target area were to be struck precisely as the strike group of A-4s and A-6s reached their respective roll-in points for their 45-degree dive attacks. BARCAP protecting the strike group from MiGs was provided by four F-4s flying barrier patrols north and west of the city of Haiphong. EW, RESCAP and tankers remained clear off-shore…. THE APPROACH and ATTACK. A high speed, low altitude thrust up the river channel through the harbor from Do Son at the coast setup a pop-up by the eight A-4s to achieve their roll-in points for a diving attack. The three A-6s would take interval for their follow-on line abreast run on the 22-acre target site, each dropping 13 1,000-pounders "inside the fence" from low altitude.

EXECUTION. The CVW-11 Alpha Strike group launched and rendezvoused with the support forces as planned. Departure from overhead KITTY HAWK was made at a medium altitude allowing the group to slowly descend and hit the coast-in point abeam Do Son at 1117H on 25 April 1967. As the group entered the channel, fire from both sides of the harbor took them under attack. The A-6 division leader, LCDR Wendy MULLEN and his B/N, LTJG Tom MURPHY, provided CDR MINNIS navigation updates for the en route portion of the strike. Ten miles short of the city the flight observed puffs of black, white and orange AAA/SAM explosions that had been fired at a previous strike in the Haiphong area. As the Ironhand group led by LCDR Fred METZ and B/N LTJG Dante KOLIPANO preceded the strike group, as briefed, the antiaircraft artillery firing intensified. As the group turned west to approach the target and climb to attack altitude the group received a SAM warning and the subsequent firing of a single SAM. CDR MINNIS ordered the A-4s to maneuver to avoid the threat and a resume when the missile passed his group. The integrity of the group was maintained as two more missiles passed through the group. The F-4 flak suppressors pressed ahead and had no difficulty locating firing AAA sites for their individual attacks thereby silencing seven of the numerous sites actively countering the strike group. Flying directly into enemy AAA to make their respective attacks were: Division lead CDR Gerry BARKALOW and RIO LTJG Perry ROBERTS; LCDR Dick HUSTON and RIO ENS Dan HARBRECHT; LT Dave McRAE and RIO LTJG Ron ZIOLKOWSKI; LT Frank TILLOTSON and RIO LTJG Bob KERN; and LTJG Bobbie LOWELL and RIO ENS Wilson VOELKER. CDR Hank URBAN, CAG, and RIO LTJG DYER, as Strike Coordinator, operated independently. Breaking off from the group in the target area, they executed a rocket attack on a firing 57mm site before assuming last man out coverage as the group completed the strike. At attack altitude the 37/57/85mm gunfire grew more intense and continued at all altitudes as the A-4s followed their intrepid leader and his wingman LTJG John LOCKARD, into diving attacks on their respective targets in the cement plant complex at 1120H, as planned. The six A-4s chasing the lead section were flown by: LCDR Cliff RUTHRAUFF, LT Gerry ZIMMER, LCDR Bernie WHITE, LTJG Bob CURTIS, LCDR Nigel FRANCIS and LT Bob KAPP. The three A-6s, led by LCDR Wendy MULLEN and LTJG Tom MURPHY with LT George BURRIDGE and LTJG J.J. BURNS on one wing and LCDR Pete ANDERSON and LTJG Bill REDUS on the other, followed at close interval in their line abreast attack on the 22-acre target now exploding into smoke, fire and dust from the 24 MK83/84 bombs unleashed by the Skyhawks. The thirty-three MK83s dropped by the A-6s disappeared into the fire and smoke and created a climbing cloud of smoke and dust that reached 1,000-feet as the group turned and fled the target area headed for feet-wet. The exit was opposed by intense automatic weapon fire and two more SAMs, but all aircraft were feet wet at 1123H and accounted for as they returned to KITTY HAWK. CDR MINNIS reported mission success and "all weapons on target," a conclusion confirmed by post strike BDA. All 57 MK83/84s were delivered into the 22-acre box hosting the Haiphong Cement Plant. The plant was demolished and was out of commission for the duration of the war. The North Vietnamese solved the problem by importing their cement through the open port of Haiphong, until, of course, the harbor was mined in 1972.

BITS OF RIBBON. USS KITTY HAWK and CVW-11 recommended 43 of the air wing warriors in the air and participating in the extraordinarily successful Haiphong Cement Plant strike on 25 April 1967 for "bits of ribbon." A total of three medals were approved. Go figure… I guess the CinCPACFLT Awards Board figured with a coast-in at 1117H, on target at 1120H, and feetwet at 1123H– six minutes of extreme exposure– even with complete target destruction and zero collateral damage, in the face of intense opposition, failed to meet the criteria for "heroic, extraordinary or meritorious achievement." Not to worry, warriors, "success is it's own reward."… Press on, Bubba, you'll get another shot at glory and bits of ribbon tomorrow, and for dozens of days therafter… And they did…

SUGGESTED READING while staying-at-home to avoid the Wuhan Virus… BOMBING AS A POLICY IN VIETNAM: EFFECTIVENESS… a 34-page, post-Rolling Thunder Congressional Committee report at:

https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/reports/images.php?img=/images/212/2120110013.pdf

NEXT POST. Monday, 11 May 2020. NAVAL AVIATION ROARS… #6…

USS CORAL SEA (CVA-43) and Attack Carrier Air Wing FIFTEEN versus the bridges in downtown Haiphong executed on 18 September 1967.

Lest we forget… Bear



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MAX MARTINI: HOLLYWOOD MEETS THE MILITARY

If you love military movies, then it's safe to say you'd recognize Max Martini. While his film career doesn't only include military-centric roles, he's built a reputation among the military community as both a proud supporter of service members and one of the most badass actors ever to portray them on screen.





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He was wounded 37 times by bullets, shrapnel, a bayonet, and a rifle butt but his only thoughts were on those others who were hit on that day in May 1968. His actions saved eight other men's lives in Vietnam on that day.



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