To All,
Good Thursday Morning October 17, 2024. The painters are back this morning and they should make some good progress today.
Regards,
skip
Make it a good Day
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This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)
Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/. Go here to see the director's corner for all 83 H-Grams
Today in Naval and Marine Corps History
October 17
1863 Sailors from the Union screw steam gunboat Tahoma and side-wheel steamer Adela board the blockade runners Scottish Chief and Kate Dale at Old Tampa Bay, Fla. and destroy them. During the battle, five of the landing party are killed, 10 are wounded and five are taken prisoner. This mission also diverts the real attention from the shelling of Tampa, Fla.
1918 German submarine U-155 torpedoes and sinks the freighter S.S. Lucia in the Atlantic. Despite being rigged with buoyancy boxes to render her virtually unsinkable, a torpedo penetrates the engine room, killing two men and sinking her the next day. USS Fairfax (DD 93) rescues her crew and transfers them to armored cruiser No. 5 USS Huntington.
1922 The Vought VE-7SF, piloted by Lt. Cmdr. Virgil C. Griffin, makes the Navy's first carrier takeoff from USS Langley (CV 1), anchored in York River, Va.
1941 Before the United States' entry into World War II, German submarine U-568 torpedoes and damages USS Kearny (DD 432) near Iceland, killing 11 and injuring 22.
1942 USS Trigger (SS 237) sinks the Japanese freighter Holland Maru near the mouth of Bungo Strait off Kyushu, Japan. Lost in action with all hands later in the war, Trigger receives 11 battle stars for her World War II service and the Presidential Unit Citation for her fifth, sixth, and seventh war patrols.
1943 USS Tarpon (SS 175) sinks German auxiliary cruiser Michel (Schiffe No. 28) off Chichi Jima, Bonin Islands.
1944 Naval forces land Army rangers on islands at the entrance to Leyte Gulf in preparation for landing operations on Leyte Island.
1962 Operation Blue Moon—low-level reconnaissance flights over Cuba to help verify Soviet military deployments to that country—becomes operational. VFP-62 initially prepares ten photo variant RF-8A Crusaders with aerial cameras for high-speed, low-level photo missions, and places four of the jets on four-hour alert at NAS Cecil Field, FL, but subsequently shifts the Crusaders to NAS Key West, FL.
1986 Aboard USS America (CV 66), Lt. Cmdr. Barry D. Gabler of VFP-206, the Navy's last photoreconnaissance squadron, makes the final catapult takeoff and carrier landing of an RF-8G Crusader.
1989 An earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale devastates northern California killing 62 people. HM-15 Detachment 3, HC-1, and HC-11 Detachment conduct lifts of food, water, and relief materials to the heavily damaged areas from ammunition ship Flint (AE 32) and fast combat support ship Kansas City (AOE 3). Amphibious assault ship Peleliu (LHA 5) provides food and shelter to 300 homeless earthquake victims.
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Today in World History October 17
1244 The Sixth Crusade ends when an Egyptian-Khwarismian force almost annihilates the Frankish army at Gaza.
1529 Henry VIII of England strips Thomas Wolsey of his office for failing to secure an annulment of his marriage.
1346 English forces defeat the Scots under David II during the Battle of Neville's Cross, Scotland.
1691 Maine and Plymouth are incorporated in Massachusetts.
1777 British Maj. Gen. John Burgoyne surrenders 5,000 men at Saratoga, N.Y.
1815 Napoleon Bonaparte arrives at the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, where he has been banished by the Allies.
1849 Composer and pianist Frederic Chopin dies in Paris of tuberculosis at the age of 39.
1863 General Ulysses S. Grant is named overall Union Commander of the West.
1877 Brigadier General Alfred Terry meets with Sitting Bull in Canada to discuss the Indians' return to the United States.
1913 Zeppelin LII explodes over London, killing 28.
1933 Due to rising anti-Semitism and anti-intellectualism in Hitler's Germany, Albert Einstein immigrates to the United States. He makes his new home in Princeton, N.J.
1941 The U.S. destroyer Kearney is damaged by a German U-boat torpedo off Iceland; 11 Americans are killed.
1956 The nuclear power station Calder Hall is opened in Britain. Calder Hall is the first nuclear station to feed an appreciable amount of power into a civilian network.
1972 Peace talks between Pathet Lao and Royal Lao government begin in Vietnam.
1989 The worst earthquake in 82 years strikes San Francisco bay area minutes before the start of a World Series game there. The earthquake registers 6.9 on the Richter scale--67 are killed and damage is estimated at $10 billion.
1994 Dmitry Kholodov, a Russian journalist, assassinated while investigating corruption in the armed forces; his murkier began a series of killings of journalists in Russia.
2001 Rehavam Ze'evi, Israeli tourism minister and founder of the right-wing Moledet party, assassinated by a member of the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP); he was the first Israeli minister ever assassinated.
2003 Taipei 101 is completed in Taipei, becoming the world's tallest high-rise.
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. ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear … Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
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From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com .
Thanks to Micro
From Vietnam Air Losses site for ..October 17 another F-111 story
17-Oct: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=3034
This following work accounts for every fixed wing loss of the Vietnam War and you can use it to read more about the losses in The Bear's Daily account. Even better it allows you to add your updated information to the work to update for history…skip
Vietnam Air Losses Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War . Listed by last name and has other info https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
MOAA - Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Servicemembers Killed in the Vietnam War
The site works, find anyone you knew in "search" feature.
https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/ )
By: Kipp Hanley
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.From the archives. I remember my first computer that started up with a C prompt and then you had to work from there. When you were working on a document you had to save it all the time because when it dumped and it did all the time you had to start all over again. Then I got on a Mac and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Skip BTW Turkey Tucker built me my first home computer a PC around 1987.The drive was so big 40 kb or maybe MB that he had to do some magic to make it work. This was around 1987.
Thanks to Interesting Facts
8 Surprising Facts About the World Wide Web
Every time someone uses the words "internet" and "web" interchangeably, a computer scientist sheds a tear. All jokes aside, the internet, first conceived in 1969, refers to the system of networked computers which makes things like web browsers, web pages, and other applications possible. In other words, the internet is the mostly invisible infrastructure that supports all the wonders of the World Wide Web.
A popular analogy to describe the difference between the two is to picture the internet as a system of highways and the web as the objects you see on those highways, such as buildings, gas stations, or billboards. All the vehicles that travel those highways, stop at stores, and drive to other locations are the data packets zooming around the network and, by extension, the entire world. So while you are technically using the web when you're watching YouTube, for example, it's really the internet that makes it possible.
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The Very First Website Belongs to CERN (Yes, That CERN) Today, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, is best known for its Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest particle accelerator which is currently exploring the frontiers of physics. But few know that it's also where the World Wide Web got its start.
Much like in 1969 - when the first internet connection was established between Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles - the web was created for the primary purpose of sharing information between scientists working at universities and institutes around the world. As a computer scientist at CERN, Berners-Lee submitted an early proposal for information management outlining what would eventually become the web, but after reading the paper, his supervisor wrote in the margins "vague, but exciting." Berners-Lee continued working on the project until finally launching the world's first website on August 6, 1991. Less than two years later, CERN released the software into the public domain, and the World Wide Web took off. In 2013, CERN launched a program dedicated to preserving the world's very first website: info.cern.ch.
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The Web Was Almost Called the "Mesh"
Although the name "web" is a surprisingly accurate descriptor for how the technology works, it wasn't the original moniker. Berners-Lee threw around a few ideas, such as the "Information Mine" or the slight variation "Mine of Information," but in its early stages, he referred to his creation simply as "mesh." It wasn't until sometime in 1990, when Berners-Lee was writing the code, that he opted for the name "World Wide Web," since "mesh" sounded too similar to "mess." Today, the word "mesh" commonly describes a local network of nodes, usually in reference to a Wi-Fi network, in which each node connects seamlessly with a central node instead of using various extenders to repeat a signal.
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The First Web Server Was a Steve Jobs Creation In the history of computing, Steve Jobs tends to show up in the most unlikely of places. When Jobs left Apple in 1985, the famous tech guru formed NeXT, Inc., the company responsible for building the NeXTcube. CERN approved the purchase of a NeXTcube so Berners-Lee could flesh out his idea for the web. When the web finally launched, the NeXTcube became the world's first web server. Strangely, it also meant that if the computer were turned off - the entire web went down with it. Maybe that's why the original NeXTcube, now housed in the London's Science Museum, has a handwritten note
warning: "This machine is a server. DO NOT POWER DOWN!!"
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The Dreaded "404 Error" Is Immensely Important Most people groan when met with a pesky "404 not found" error message on a website, but the web itself couldn't exist without it. The web's major innovation was its ability to connect various information with hyperlinks - and also its ability not to. In the proto-web days, hyperlinks were added to a central database to make sure they always supplied the correct information; if the link changed in any way, it was updated in the database.
This worked for small computer networks, but as the internet grew, it became nearly impossible to keep an accurate register of all hyperlinks simultaneously.
Berners-Lee came up with a simple yet groundbreaking solution: just don't keep track of them. Similar to how the concept of zero revolutionized mathematics, so too did the idea that a hypertext link could just lead to an error message. Although this led to an increased rate of "link rot" (half of all online links cease to work in five to 10 years), it untethered the web from the restrictions of a centralized register.
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A New York Librarian Coined the Phrase "Surfing the Net"
In 1981, Jean Armour Polly convinced the Liverpool Public Library near Syracuse, New York, to purchase an Apple II Plus for public use. At the time, the small library was one of only two libraries in the U.S. with a computer. While her colleagues argued that computers weren't a "core mission" of the library, Polly forged ahead and became one of the internet's earliest pioneers.
In 1992, Polly used her newfound knowledge to write a guide about how to use the internet called Surfing the Internet: An Introduction. Although gaining little attention at the time, Polly shared the article again when working at nonprofit research group NYSERnet, one of New York's first internet providers. This time, it went "viral" so to speak - Polly's "surfing"
terminology stuck, and in 2019, the small-town New York librarian, known to history as the "net-mom," was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame.
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Today, There Are Nearly 2 Billion Websites It all started with just one small website in 1991, but in the decades since, the web has blossomed into nearly 2 billion websites, as of 2022. The number of registered websites hit the 1 billion mark in 2014, as commemorated by Berners-Lee himself, but the amount nearly doubled in only eight years.
Estimated projections show that in 2050, the World Wide Web will contain 37 petabytes (a petabyte is a massive unit of data equal to 1 million gigabytes). To put that in perspective, the Wayback Machine - a digital collection of past web pages maintained by the Internet Archive - contains over 700 billion pages and only clocks in at about 70 petabytes (as of 2020). And when it comes to global traffic, the numbers are even more astounding. According to the networking company Cisco, web traffic will reach 1 zettabyte in 2022 - that's 1 trillion gigabytes if you're keeping count.
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The Web's Creator Has Mixed Feelings About It When Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, his vision was purely utopian - to create a place where anyone could access the best and most reliable information in the world at any time. Of course, over the past three decades, the web has evolved in other directions since then, from scammers and hackers to the spread of misinformation. Although disappointed, Berners-Lee hasn't given up on that original utopian dream. For the web's 30th anniversary in 2019, Sir Tim (he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in
2004) called for companies and governments to safeguard the web, saying, "It's no longer a simple, star-spangled, unicorn-sky world.[but] it'll be worth the effort to make sure the web is a nice and constructive place, because it'll be so wonderful to be in."
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This Day in U S Military History
1777 – General John Burgoyne with British forces of 5,000 men surrendered to General Horatio Gates, commander of the American forces at Schuylerville, NY. In the fall of 1777, the British commander Gen'l. Burgoyne and his men were advancing along the Hudson River. After Burgoyne had retreated to the heights of Saratoga, the Americans stopped and surrounded them. The surrender was a turning point in the American Revolution, demonstrating American determination to gain independence. After the surrender, France sided with the Americans, and other countries began to get involved and align themselves against Britain.
1781 – Cornwallis was defeated at Yorktown. Cornwallis' options had been running out. He had even tried sending blacks infected with smallpox over enemy lines in an attempt to infect the American and French troops. After a futile counterattack, Cornwallis offered to surrender.
1814 – The crew of USRC Eagle, which had been driven ashore near Negros Head, New York in an encounter with the British brig HMS Dispatch, dragged the cutter's guns up a bluff in an effort to continue the battle. The New York Evening Post gave an account of what happened next to the out-gunned cutter: "During the engagement between the Cutter EAGLE and the enemy, the following took place which is worthy of notice. Having expanded all the wadding of the four-pounders on the hill, during the warmest of the firing, several of the crew volunteered and went on board the cutter to obtain more. At this moment the masts were shot away, when the brave volunteers erected a flag upon her stern; this was soon shot away, but was immediately replaced by a heroic tar, amidst the cheers of his undaunted comrades, which was returned by a whole broadside from the enemy. When the crew of the Cutter had expended all their large shot and fixed ammunition, they tore up the log book to make cartridges and returned the enemy's small shot which lodged in the hull. The Cutter was armed with only 6 guns, 4 four-pounders and 2 twos with plenty of muskets and about 50 men. The enemy being gone and provisions scarce the volunteers from this city left Captain Lee and his crew and arrived here on Thursday evening the 13th instant, in a sloop from Long Island. . .We have since learned that Captain Lee succeeded in getting off the Cutter and was about to remove her to a place of safety when the enemy returned and took possession of her. She was greatly injured, but it is expected that the enemy will be able to refit her to annoy us in the sound."
1859 – Abolitionist John Brown leads a group of men in a raid to capture the federal arsenal located at Harpers Ferry, Virginia with the intent to arm slaves he would lead in revolt against their masters. His plans are foiled by local town's people attacking his party and forcing it into the firehouse. They are soon surrounded by militiamen from Jefferson, Berkeley and Frederick counties. One such unit, the "Continental Morgan Guard" from Winchester, VA, is still an element in the Virginia Guard today. As word of the raid spreads other militia troops arrive by train, some from as far away as Richmond. However, U.S. Marines under the command of Army Colonel Robert E. Lee arrive and storm the "Brown's fort" killing or capturing the raiders. Brown is captured and later tried for treason, convicted and quickly hung in Charlestown, VA (now WV). During this period he is guarded by several hundred Virginia militia against the possibility of other raiders trying to free him, though no such attack was launched. Because of his raid and the fear of other attempts to get the slaves to rise in revolt, the growth of volunteer militia units in the southern states rose sharply in the months leading up to the Civil War.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
There is a lot of talk over the years of the validity of this first one by those that were there. Including his attitude in a Japanese prison camp….We have had it in the List before.
BOYINGTON, GREGORY
Rank and organization: Major, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Marine Squadron 214. Place and date: Central Solomons area, from 12 September 1943 to 3 January 1944. Entered service at: Washington. Born: 4 December 1912, Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. Other Navy award: Navy Cross. Citation: For extraordinary heroism and valiant devotion to duty as commanding officer of Marine Fighting Squadron 214 in action against enemy Japanese forces in the Central Solomons area from 12 September 1943 to 3 January 1944. Consistently outnumbered throughout successive hazardous flights over heavily defended hostile territory, Maj. Boyington struck at the enemy with daring and courageous persistence, leading his squadron into combat with devastating results to Japanese shipping, shore installations, and aerial forces. Resolute in his efforts to inflict crippling damage on the enemy, Maj. Boyington led a formation of 24 fighters over Kahili on 17 October and, persistently circling the airdrome where 60 hostile aircraft were grounded, boldly challenged the Japanese to send up planes. Under his brilliant command, our fighters shot down 20 enemy craft in the ensuing action without the loss of a single ship. A superb airman and determined fighter against overwhelming odds, Maj. Boyington personally destroyed 26 of the many Japanese planes shot down by his squadron and, by his forceful leadership, developed the combat readiness in his command which was a distinctive factor in the Allied aerial achievements in this vitally strategic area.
*VAN NOY, JUNIOR
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Army, Headquarters Company, Shore Battalion, Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment. Place and date: Near Finschafen, New Guinea, 17 October 1943. Entered service at: Preston, Idaho. Birth: Grace, Idaho. G.O. No.: 17, 26 February 1944. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy near Finschafen, New Guinea, on 17 October 1943. When wounded late in September, Pvt. Van Noy declined evacuation and continued on duty. On 17 October 1943 he was gunner in charge of a machinegun post only 5 yards from the water's edge when the alarm was given that 3 enemy barges loaded with troops were approaching the beach in the early morning darkness. One landing barge was sunk by Allied fire, but the other 2 beached 10 yards from Pvt. Van Noy's emplacement. Despite his exposed position, he poured a withering hail of fire into the debarking enemy troops. His loader was wounded by a grenade and evacuated. Pvt. Van Noy, also grievously wounded, remained at his post, ignoring calls of nearby soldiers urging him to withdraw, and continued to fire with deadly accuracy. He expended every round and was found, covered with wounds dead beside his gun. In this action Pvt. Van Noy killed at least half of the 39 enemy taking part in the landing. His heroic tenacity at the price of his life not only saved the lives of many of his comrades, but enabled them to annihilate the attacking detachment.
*DURHAM, HAROLD BASCOM, JR.
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Battery C, 6th Battalion, 15th Artillery, 1st Infantry Division . Place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 17 October 1967. Entered service at: Atlanta, Ga. Born: 12 October 1942, Rocky Mount, N.C. Citation: 2d Lt. Durham, Artillery, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the cost of his life above and beyond the call of duty while assigned to Battery C. 2d Lt. Durham was serving as a forward observer with Company D, 2d Battalion, 28th Infantry during a battalion reconnaissance-in-force mission. At approximately 1015 hours contact was made with an enemy force concealed in well-camouflaged positions and fortified bunkers. 2d Lt. Durham immediately moved into an exposed position to adjust the supporting artillery fire onto the insurgents. During a brief lull in the battle he administered emergency first aid to the wounded in spite of heavy enemy sniper fire directed toward him. Moments later, as enemy units assaulted friendly positions, he learned that Company A, bearing the brunt of the attack, had lost its forward observer. While he was moving to replace the wounded observer, the enemy detonated a Claymore mine, severely wounding him in the head and impairing his vision. In spite of the intense pain, he continued to direct the supporting artillery fire and to employ his individual weapon in support of the hard pressed infantrymen. As the enemy pressed their attack, 2d Lt. Durham called for supporting fire to be placed almost directly on his position. Twice the insurgents were driven back, leaving many dead and wounded behind. 2d Lt. Durham was then taken to a secondary defensive position. Even in his extremely weakened condition, he continued to call artillery fire onto the enemy. He refused to seek cover and instead positioned himself in a small clearing which offered a better vantage point from which to adjust the fire. Suddenly, he was severely wounded a second time by enemy machine gun fire. As he lay on the ground near death, he saw two Viet Cong approaching, shooting the defenseless wounded men. With his last effort, 2d Lt. Durham shouted a warning to a nearby soldier who immediately killed the insurgents. 2d Lt. Durham died moments later, still grasping the radio handset. 2d Lt. Durham's gallant actions in close combat with an enemy force are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for October 17, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
17 October
1907: Capt Charles DeForest Chandler and James C. McCoy in Signal Corps Balloon No. 10 became the first winners of the Lahm Cup. Leaving St. Louis, their flight ended 20 hours 15 minutes later at Walton, W.Va., after covering 473.56 miles. (24)
1918: Brig Gen William "Billy" Mitchell briefed General John J. Pershing, Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, on a plan to airdrop elements of 1st American Infantry Division behind German lines. General Pershing tentatively approved this concept, but World War I ended before the plan could be developed. (18)
1922: Lt Virgil C. Griffin in a Vought VE-7SF made the first takeoff from a US Navy carrier, the USS Langley (a converted coal collier) at anchor in the York River, Va. (20)
1949: Boeing delivered the first C-97A to MATS. (24) 1954: Flying a Sikorsky XH-39 at Bridgeport, Warrant Officer Billy I. Webster (USA) established a world helicopter altitude record of 24,500 feet. (24)
1950: KOREAN WAR. FEAF Combat Cargo Command began airlifting fuel and rations to Sinmak, less than 50 miles southeast of Pyongyang, N. Korea, to sustain a UN offensive toward the North Korean capital. The command also began aeromedical evacuations from Sinmak to Kimpo. (28)
1955: At Edwards AFB, Lt Gordon Gray (USN) flew a Douglas A4D-1 Skyhawk to a 695.127 MPH world record for a 500-kilometer (310 miles) closed course. (24)
1963: A 341 SMW crew from Malmstrom AFB launched the first Minuteman I (Model A) missile from Vandenberg AFB in an operational test that was only partially successful. (6)
1967: The USAF accomplished the final balloon launch in a series to test the feasibility of using parachutes with the Voyager capsule for a soft landing on Mars. Maj William J. Knight flew the X-15 to 277,000 feet to qualify for his astronaut wings. (3)
1989: Through 24 October, MAC aircraft delivered more than 250 tons of relief equipment and 100 passengers to the San Francisco Bay area after a 7.1 earthquake. (16)
2001: Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. Elements of the 186th Air Refueling Wing (Mississippi ANG) and the 117th ARW (Alabama ANG) formed a composite unit at Incirlik AB, Turkey, to support this operation. The wings switched lead unit status every 90 days. (32)
2005: AMC sent a C-5B (Tail No. 87-0035) from the 436 AW at Dover AFB to the 439 AW, an AFRC wing at Westover AFB. This transfer marked the first time an active-duty "B" model C-5 was assigned to an AFRC unit. (22)
2006: AMC declared an initial operating capability for the C-130J. The command equipped a combat delivery squadron to its full Primary Aircraft Authorized (PAA) limit and manned that unit with trained aircrews and maintenance members to support the mission to reach that capability. (USAF Aimpoints, "AMC Declares C-130J Operational," 17 Oct 2006)
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From the archives
B-52 over Hanoi
I will add the article in a day or so on the AF General who told the brass that his crews were not going to fly the same profile again. It killed his career but saved pilots and crews.
Long read but that was what it was like
Thanks to Chuck
I ran into a friend from college that was a B-52 pilot and he had a ton of missions over the north down by the DMZ. He made every one of those over Hanoi and Haiphong over the Christmas of 1972. He was pretty fed up with what the brass was telling them about having to stay wings level so the EW gear would be effective. The only time he was wings level was when he was dropping his bombs. SKIP
A B-52 BOMB RUN Op OVER HANOI... GREAT READ....
Got this from a friend who is in the 91st. SRW. Assn.
Vietnam Magazine
Nightmare up North – B-52s Over Hanoi in Linebacker II
By Paul Novak
Truly it was "one of the most awesome armadas ever assembled," as Major Bill Stocker, in command of the lead B-52, later described it. The roar could be heard and vibrations felt 10 miles away when our 78 giant bombers went to full throttle on all eight turbojet engines, one after the other, over 2½ hours, and took off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.
Thousands of observers cheered the spectacular sight – the complex choreography of the largest launch of B-52s ever undertaken. The 26 three-ship cells of aircraft moved from 5 miles of walled-in, fortified parking areas and taxiways into position on the runway. The spectators included the crew of a Russian trawler off the coast of Guam.
Forty-two additional US bombers left later from the U-Tapao airfield in Thailand. We were all headed for Hanoi and the port city of Haiphong. The trawler's crew radioed Hanoi and gave the North Vietnamese hours of advance notice that the BUFFs (Big Ugly Fat Fellows) were on their way. The date was Dec. 26, 1972. All 120 Boeing B-52s plus dozens of Air Force, Navy and Marine support aircraft would reach their targets and drop thousands of tons of ordnance over a 15-minute period.
Some of us would not return.
I was an Air Force captain and the navigator of a six-man crew from Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts that included aircraft commander Captain Richard "Dick" Purinton, co-pilot Captain Malcolm "Mac" McNeill, radar navigator and bombardier Lt. Col. Jean Beaudoin, electronic warfare officer Major Bob Dickens and tail gunner Master Sgt. Calvin Creasser.
We were one of the lucky teams that made it "over the fence," safely out of enemy territory after hitting our target. The December 26 flight, part of Operation Linebacker II, which began December 18, was our second mission over the enemy's capital city and our third in North Vietnam.
Most Heavily Defended City
In 1972 Hanoi was considered the most heavily defended city in the world, protected by layers of air defense and the sheer massed quantity of Soviet-made supersonic surface-to-air missiles and MiG fighter aircraft. In previous air campaigns over North Vietnam – Rolling Thunder in the mid-1960s and Linebacker I in mid-1972 – the US military command had not allowed B-52s to attack Hanoi's air defenses.
The North Vietnamese used early-warning radar with a range of about 170 miles to spot incoming B-52s. The located target was handed off to fire-control radar that directed the SAMs and at about 40 miles provided more refined data on the position, altitude and speed of the arriving aircraft. Soviet-built MiG-17s, -19s and the technologically advanced -21s, strong competition for American fighters, were launched against the bombers to "pace" them and report altitude and speed to the SAM operators.
B-52s confronted the SAM threat with electronic countermeasures, such as jammers that created an "electronic cloud" over enemy radar and thus covered the aircraft's specific location. Flying in three-ship cells maximized this effect, hiding all three aircraft.
As the lead navigator, or "Nav," of our three-ship formation, I had to get those aircraft to the target within 30 seconds of our scheduled drop time in a coordinated attack with the 117 lumbering giants in the other cells.
We were coasting into Qui Nhon, South Vietnam, after a five-hour leg from Andersen and an air-to-air refueling over the Philippines, when I called out to Purinton, "Pilot, Nav, right to 3-4-0," giving our intended heading in compass degrees. The only sound in the aircraft was the comforting roar of the engines.
It was also my job to advise the crew of action points – entering the threat zone, the initial point of the bomb run and the time to target: "Crew, Nav, we're 25 minutes south of the Gulf of Tonkin, about one hour to the target." Those updates ensured that the items on the bomb-run checklists would be completed. Each crewmember performed critical tasks at designated points along the flight route. Missing one of these in hostile territory could prove fatal.
I was stationed on the windowless lower deck along with Beaudoin, a gray-haired Frenchman. As our radar navigator – "Radar" or just RN during flight – Beaudoin had to direct the rendezvous with the Boeing KC-135 air-to-air refueling tanker, prepare the bombing system, locate the precise aiming point for our target and release our 54,000 pounds of ordnance.
Trouble Over the Gulf
"Pilot, Nav, we've got a problem down here." My navigation position counters, which showed our latitude and longitude, had failed. The counters were continually updated by the radar navigator, who gets latitude and longitude figures by locating a known radar return on the ground and placing a set of electronic crosshairs on it, much like an arcade video game.
"Nav, Pilot, what's your plan?" Purinton asked
"We have the radar. We'll go range and bearing since I can't use the counters." This meant I would have to manually identify ground returns from my 5-inch radarscope. Then I would plot their range and bearing from the aircraft on my chart in order to initiate turns and call action points.
"You want No. 2 to take over navigation for the cell?" was the pilot's logical question. I wanted to remain as the lead navigator. I was trained to work without the counters and knew I could. We were 10 minutes from hostile territory.
"No problem. I can get us to the target," I replied. We were entering unfamiliar territory, and I realized it would be a challenge to identify radar returns. Many of the ground landmarks were built of wood, which does not reflect radar. This was, in fact, a big problem.
"Rog, copy," was the pilot's only response. He understood the situation and trusted us to get the job done. For the first time, a knot formed in my stomach.
"Crew, Nav, we're over water and into the Gulf of Tonkin." This first warning of hostile territory alerted everyone to keep a sharp eye as we made our way toward the coast of North Vietnam.
Threat Area
"Pilot, Nav, left to 2-9-0. Crew, seven minutes to next turn. We're 60 miles from the coast. Seventeen minutes to target."
I instructed electronic warfare officer Dickens to watch for SAMs, even though I knew he was already focused on that activity: "EW, Nav, threat area at the turn."
"Crew, EW, I have launch on two: 1 o'clock and 9 o'clock. No uplink." An "uplink" meant the North Vietnamese ground radar was sending guidance signals to the missile. No uplink was good news for us. That meant it would be easier to dodge the two missiles.
"Pilot, Nav, right to 3-5-5. Crew, 20 miles from coast-in. RN let's get the checklists done."
We were 70 miles from Hanoi. "I've got a SAM!" Purinton called.
"EW has uplink."
SAMs suddenly came at us like an angry swarm of bees. We were told later that more than 200 of them were fired at the seven waves of B-52s that night. Our bombers couldn't run from them. We cruised at 450 mph; the SAM at 2,400 mph.
But no one panicked. When we realized we hadn't been hit, we instantly went back to work and got ready to unleash total destruction on the Van Dien vehicle depot, 18 miles south of Hanoi.
"Crew, guns," called tail gunner Creasser, who sat 140 feet behind the rest of us. "I have aircraft at 7 o'clock, tracking."
The tail gunner, manning four .50-caliber machine guns, each with 600 rounds of ammunition, used radar to track and target hostile aircraft. But the plane Creasser spotted this time turned out to be a friendly escort, a McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.
Our small tables on the lower deck were covered with maps, navigation plotters, checklists, stopwatches and a variety of other navigation equipment. Amid the mess, the radar navigator and I methodically kept the aircraft on time and on course for the bomb run to Hanoi.
"RN, Nav, confirm that return is Thai Binh," a city about 70 miles from Hanoi.
Beaudoin set the radar range at 100 miles, and Hanoi popped up at our 11 o'clock position, right where it should be. I stared at it for a moment wondering what was in store for us, certain that I didn't want to know the answer.
"You're right, Nav. It's Thai Binh."
"Pilot, Nav, left to 3-2-0. Crew, seven minutes to target. Radar, bomb run checklist."
The interphone chatter crescendoed as we neared the target. The co-pilot, gunner and pilot called out SAM launches and clock positions. The electronic warfare officer confirmed SAM reports and told us whether missiles had locked on to us. Beaudoin and I reported navigation points, times to target and the action points that alerted other crewmembers to the tasks they needed to perform. It was the organized chaos verbalized by a B-52 combat crew at war. Each crew member knew what needed to be done and accomplished it.
One might think fear would lurk about or even dominate the thoughts of a combat flight crew facing possible death or capture and torture. But it didn't. Perhaps the training, the necessity of getting a job done or the frenetic activity pushed such thoughts aside. I don't really know. I honestly don't remember feeling afraid. And in talking later with other crewmembers, I learned that fear had no home on that aircraft
Bomb Run
In six minutes our three-ship cell of B-52s was scheduled to unload 162,000 pounds of explosives on the vehicle depot, rendering it unusable to the North Vietnamese. To reach the target, we had to go through "wall-to-wall SAMs every step of the way," as one crew member said.
We started the bomb run with our three aircraft arranged in an offset triangle, separated by 1 mile of distance and 500 feet of altitude. The formation was crucial to obtain that "jamming" effect on enemy radar, which enhanced our chances of survival.
The radar navigator placed the electronic crosshairs on our aiming point for the target.
"Nav, confirm aim point," Beaudoin said.
I studied my radarscope for 10 seconds and replied, "Rog, that's it."
"Pilot, RN, center the PDI." The pilot direction indicator was a steering needle on Purinton's instrument panel tied into the bomb system. When the indicator was centered, the aircraft was aimed directly at the target.
Beaudoin and I worked our way through the checklist for releasing the bombs. The arming sequence did not start until a wire was automatically pulled from each bomb as it left the racks.
Dickens interrupted: "Crew, EW, multiple SAM launch, 12 o'clock."
"Pilots searching," co-pilot McNeill announced. Then "Bingo, have what looks like two, no, three, coming up from our 12 o'clock."
"Uplink!" replied the electronic warfare officer.
"EW, co-pilot, two tracking across."
The two missiles were moving across the pilot's line of sight and going away from us. The bad news was the third missile.
"Third one still has uplink."
"Damn, comin' straight at us," McNeill yelled the bone-chilling words.
"Crew, starting combat turns," Purinton said.
He put the aircraft into a series of steep banked turns left and right, a tactic meant to break the missile's lock on our aircraft. The turns also diminished the effectiveness of our electronic countermeasures, but the decision, with a missile headed straight for us, was easy for the pilot to make.
"EW dispensing chaff," Dickens said, referring to aluminum foil-like material ejected to fool the enemy radar and divert the missile.
In the midst of this, the radar navigator and I finished our checklist and concentrated solely on the target, just 90 seconds away.
"I'll need it straight and level at 30 seconds to go, Pilot."
This was essential so the bombing gyro would stabilize before the weapons were released. Without stability, the bombs could be tossed anywhere.
"Rog," was all Purinton had time to say. I could hear the strain in his voice. Maneuvering the steep turns was like driving a loaded cement truck with no power steering, no automatic transmission and no brakes
"Lost uplink," called the electronic warfare officer, his voice at a lower pitch. The missile missed us and wandered upward.
"Pilot, 60 seconds to target, straight and level, center the PDI," the radar navigator calmly requested.
"Rog, straight and level, PDI centered."
"Crew, Nav, 30 seconds to target."
I counted down. "Twenty seconds to target," speaking rather calmly, I thought.
"SAM launch dead ahead," called the electronic warfare officer.
"Searching," one of the pilots said to no one in particular.
"Bingo, have it. Looks like it could hit us right between the eyes."
A SAM traveling at 2,400 mph would take about 10 more seconds to reach the aircraft. At bombs away, it would hit the aircraft.
This time we couldn't execute combat turns to get out of the way. Our aircraft was a sitting duck.
"Ten seconds. Bomb doors open."
We didn't open the doors earlier because that would have created a bigger radar target for SAMs.
"EW dispensing chaff."
"Missile still tracking visually," McNeill said.
"Crew, prepare for bailout," Purinton announced, as calmly as a bus driver announces the next street.
"At bombs away, I'm gonna bend the fuselage" – put the aircraft into an almost impossibly steep turn.
"Five seconds," from the radar navigator.
"Holy Mother..." someone pleaded. (Maybe it was me....I don't remember.)
"Bombs away," Beaudoin said.
The aircraft shuddered as all the weapons departed simultaneously. The severe turn yanked me to the right, and the ejection seat shoulder straps burned into my skin through the flight suit.
Where was it? The bailout light? Where was it? Oh yeah, look up, Paul. My mind was doing things my body couldn't comprehend. All in the flash of an instant. Nav bails out first. How can we get this far and then get blown out of the sky? Ejection D-ring, find it, find it, gotta find it... there. Keep your elbows in. Brace your back. All galloping through my mind.
Not us. Why us? Stay with me, God. Tighten your seatbelt. Already did that. A voice. There's a voice. Foggy. Not making sense. A voice....
An explosion. A brilliant flash. The airplane vibrated and rocked from side to side. The SAM detonated far enough away that there was no damage.
"Crew, Pilot, keep your eyes open. We're not out of it yet."
What did the voice mean, keep my eyes open? How could I if I was dead?
"Nav, Pilot, heading?"
Heading... Heading... Nav... yeah... that's me... must not be dead... Heading...
"Crew, Radar, bomb doors closed."
What seemed like minutes of agony flashed by so quickly that no one noticed my slight hesitation responding.
"Left 2-6-0," I heard myself say.
"Everybody OK?" Purinton polled the crew and got a positive response.
We may have avoided the SAM because of the pilot's extreme hard turn, but we also surmised that the missile missed us because it never achieved uplink. If it had, the electronic warfare officer would have detected the signals. The SAM must have been launched visually, without radar guidance from the ground, as a desperation salvo
Later... Over the Fence
"Crew, Nav, out of the threat area," I announced. We could finally relax.
The pilot made his call to the airborne mission commander: "Over the fence with three."
As we turned south, the aircraft was silent. No interphone chatter, no activity. It was as if we had entered a different dimension – peaceful and quiet. The adrenaline left my body, and I sagged in my ejection seat. It was then that it all hit me: what we did, the danger and the magnitude of it. We were all drained.
At our debriefing we learned that two B-52s had been shot down. Two friends of mine weren't coming back. I had played golf with one of them 36 hours earlier. That made it personal. Before, it was a mission – a dangerous one –but it was a thing, a possibility, not the death of a golfing buddy you just had a pitcher of beer and a pizza with at the officers club.
Dick Purinton and I glanced at each other but never spoke of it. We couldn't do that. There were more missions to fly. "Guys, let's hit the roach coach and get a couple chili dogs," he offered. "I'll buy."
So we did... and he did... and everything was back to normal, at least until we launched again for Hanoi.
Four months after the Christmas bombings, Purinton was diagnosed with leukemia at his flight physical. He died in June 1974 – a true hero. The man's skill flying this nation's frontline strategic bomber saved my life.
Paul Novak, a decorated former B-52 navigator who teaches creative writing at an adult extension of Arizona State University in Phoenix, wrote about B-52 crews in his anthology, Into Hostile Skies.
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