Rolling Thunder - 94 Thunderchiefs Attack the Dragon's Jaw Bridge, 1965

at 7:00 a.m. on the 3rd of April 1965 North Vietnamese radar operators detect a small group of unidentified aircraft approaching Anam province in North Vietnam the aircraft briefly loiter above the city of tanoa to take photos before retiring to the south at Noby Airbase north of the capital of Hanoi the commander of the Vietnam people's Air Force Colonel general f Tay Thai orders a stage one alert and sends the pilots to their aircraft six Mig 17f fighter interceptors of the 921 fighter regiment wait in their cockpits until 9:40 a.m. when they are scrambled to intercept an incoming air raid of American aircraft the North Vietnamese Air Force is about to do battle against the United States for the first time but first a quick word on this week's sponsor World of Warships a free-to-play naval Warfare themed game available on PC fight in 600 warships aircraft carriers battleships Cruisers Destroyers and submarines an exciting real-time Combat on over 40 unique maps in a large active 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States Air Force initiated Operation Rolling Thunder a bombing campaign intended to North Vietnam's ability to wage war Rolling Thunder will Target the North Vietnamese Transportation Network and its logistical hubs the destruction of which will interrupt supply to the Viet Kong and its forces fighting in South Vietnam the hope is that extended aerial bombardment will break North Vietnam's will to continue the war a primary objective of this bombing campaign is the large and well-built tan ha Railway and highway bridge over the Mah River the bridge nicknamed ham Rong or dragon's jaw by the North Vietnamese is a major line of communication connecting Hanoi and the key port of high Fong to the southern provinces of the country to underline its importance the North Vietnamese have moved five air defense regiments into the area to defend the bridge between 150 and 237 mm and 57 mm anti-aircraft guns along with sand batteries surround the bridge making it one of the most heavily defended locations anywhere in the world furthermore the dragon's STW is anchored on both sides by tall mountains which severely limit the Ingress route taken by attacking aircraft simply put the bridge will be an extremely difficult Target to destroy nonetheless a US Air Force strike package of 79 aircraft approaching from Thailand and South Vietnam will attempt to do just that 30 f105 Thunder Chiefs armed with 750b bombs and 16 with agm2 Bullpup air to ground missiles will deliver the main blow while 21 F100 super saers provide fighter escort and suppression of enemy air defenses two rf11 Voodoo reconnaissance aircraft will document the damage at the same time US Navy aircraft from the USS hanok and Coral Sea are launching their own attacks three a4c Skyhawks will approach dragon's draw from the Gulf of tonken to further suppress enemy air defenses the US Navy will send 32 a4s 12 f8s and four F4 Phantoms to hit a different but equally heavily defended bridge at dong F Tong 10 Mi to the north this is to be a maximum effort mission to oppose them the vpaf has only a small number of mostly old Soviet Fighters North Vietnam has yet to receive the new mig21 Interceptor and must instead rely on its Fleet of subsonic Mig 15 and MiG 17 Fighters whereas the United States is about to attack the dragon draw bridge with 86 aircraft the entire vpaf totals just 36 jet fighters in fact the US Air Force does not regard North Vietnam's tiny air force as a major threat especially with the Advent of air-to-air missiles which many commanders believe will make aerial dog fighting a thing of the past Lieutenant fam Lan leads his flight of six Mig 17s from noi by towards The Intruders just as the US Air Force aircraft are entering the combat area at 9:40 a.m. with the bridge in sight strike package Commander Lieutenant Colonel Robinson Risner leads the first 16 f-105s nicknamed thuds by their pilots on their attack run while the F-100 split off to engage enemy air defenses the American aircraft dive into a hurricane of anti-aircraft fire as 37 mm and 57 mm tracers crisscross the sky in the lead aircraft Risner fires off his first Bullpup and guides the rudimentary Precision missile towards the bridge using a small joystick in the cockpit the Bullpup explodes right on target as the rest of the missile armed thuds follow riser's lead one after another they launch their ball pups and each pilot scores a direct hit however each f105 will need to make two passes in order to launch both missiles when all 16 of the thuds have launched Risner leads them in a turn to attack again meanwhile the f100s are having difficulty hitting North Vietnamese AA positions due to the heavy volume of fire and rugged terrain first lieutenant George C Smith is attempting to suppress a flag site near the bridge when he takes a direct hit the super saber spirals into the ground with no shoot cited and Lieutenant Smith becomes the first American killed attacking dragon's jaw Lieutenant Colonel Risner is leading the second wave and fires off his second ball pup just as he guides it into the span he also takes a hit and his cockpit fills with smoke despite a serious fuel leak Risner remains on station to direct the rest of the attack and is later able to land at dang Airbase Captain Bill me halt launches his ball pup which also impacts the bridge but is shocked to discover that the missiles are having no effect on the target although every single missile makes a direct hit the 250b Warhead on the ball pup is simply too weak to do anything other than Char the bridge 10 m to the north Lieutenant Lan's flight of six Mig 17s is approaching the bridge at dong fo which is under attack from the US Navy strike group The A4 Skyhawks and f8 Crusaders Dive In on the bridge in pairs raving heavy ground fire before releasing their Munitions Lieutenant Commander Raymond voden from the USS Hancock's VA 216 Squadron is making his bombing run when his Skyhawk is damaged by anti-aircraft fire with his aircraft leaking fluid Boden ejects and will be captured by the North Vietnamese at 10:09 a.m. Lieutenant Lan radios to vpaf air control that he has attained visual on the American Raiders the order comes back drop external fuel tanks and engage the enemy the migs quickly close the distance and are not detected by the unsuspecting US Navy Pilots the mix 17 Pilots find themselves intermixed with the American formation as the strike aircraft are making their runs on the bridge Lieutenant Lan and his wingman follow a pair of Crusaders preparing to Rocket the span completely unaware of the enemy aircraft behind them Lieutenant Lan squeezes the trigger and sends Cannon rounds into the Crusader in front of him piloted by Lieutenant Commander Spence Thomas the cannon rounds Shred the left wing and sever hydraulic lines but Thomas and His wingman are bought their run and quickly go to afterburner both Crusaders Escape but Lieutenant Lan claims what he believes is the first North Vietnamese kill of the war despite his barely functioning aircraft Lieutenant Commander Thomas is able to make an emergency landing at dang and his Crusader will eventually return to service after extend ensive repairs nonetheless the other migs Drive the American aircraft away from the bridge before it can be destroyed although they have not shot down any enemy aircraft the vpaf has scored an aerial Victory against the United States in their first attempt back at the dragon's jaw 30 Thunder Chiefs armed with eight 750lb bombs each are now making their attack runs the first wave of bombs misses due to a strong southwesterly wind but the later flights adjust their aim and put most of their Munitions On Target when the last flight pulls out of their run the bridge is blackened by the impact of 32 missiles and 120 bombs but is still standing one of the RF 101 voodo is documenting the lack of damage when it Strays too close to North Vietnamese AA defenses the voodoo piloted by Captain Hershel Morgan takes several hits and is shot down but Morgan survives he will be be captured and spend the rest of the war in a p camp although each f105 has dropped three tons of explosives more than what the American B17 Flying Fortress carried in the second world war they have failed to destroy the dragon's jaw another raid will be required the following day the 4th of April begins with more American reconnaissance missions over tan tipping off the vpaf to an imminent attack sure enough 48 Thunder Chiefs escorted by 21 super sabers are detected on North Vietnamese radar at 10:00 a.m. on route to the Dragon's jaw this time the thuds are only carrying the 750b bombs after the poor performance of the bull pups the previous day to avoid being surprised by migs again four super sabers will fly 60 Mi ahead of the main formation towards the vpaf Hanoi Airfield to act as a radar picket four others will cover the rear of the strike package the attackers will fly the same route at almost the same time they did the previous day but this time there will be no flax suppressors to attack enemy anti-aircraft batteries at around 10:00 a.m. the first flights of Thunder Chiefs spot the dragon STW bridge and begin their bombing runs the 48 strike aircraft are attacking in flights of four while the rest of the aircraft Circle to wait their turn visibility is worse than the day before and the anti-aircraft fire is once again Fier however the first flights of thuds put their Munitions On Target Captain carile Smith successfully bombs the bridge but is hit by ground fire as he pulls out of his dive he is forced to eject and is later captured by the North Vietnamese an A1 Skyraider piloted by Captain Walt Drager is on station to provide combat Air Patrol and attempts to Mark Smith's crash site for a later rescue operation but his aircraft is also shot down by enemy flag drer does not survive the impact meanwhile the8 Mig 17s of the 921 fighter regiment scramble from their base at noi by at 10:20 a.m. and head south to intercept the American formation yet the North Vietnamese have also changed tactics upon takeoff a decoy flight of four migs split off and fly south at a predictable heading to attract the attention of American radar the rest descend below radar and take a different route to the combat zone flying Southwest before turning East to engage the formation while the super saers are preoccupied tracking the decoy migs the North Vietnamese plan works exactly as designed with radar attention focused on the decoy flight the other migs slip in behind a flight of circling Thunder Chiefs undetected two of the four super saber Pilots to the South spot the Mig 17s rapidly climbing to attack the unsuspecting thuds and sound the alarm over the radio zinc flight break off break off you have migs behind you however the transmission is garbled and never reaches the Thunder Chiefs before they are set upon by the migs which have gained a decisive altitude Advantage Captain Tran Han opens fire on the flight leader major Frank Bennett with his 37 mm Auto cannon from a range of 1,500 ft Bennett's thud takes major damage and he decides to try an emergency landing at dang Airbase however he will lose control just short of the air base and will eject but his parachute will fail to open and Bennett will be killed his f105 is the first confirmed kill by the vpaf in the Vietnam War Captain Han's wingman also fires and hits Bennett's wingman zinc 2 piloted by Captain James Magnuson magnuson's Thunder Chief is mortally wounded and he will attempt to ditch in the Gulf of tonken however he will never be found after bailing out over the water a third Thunder Chief is damaged by the migs with the final thud in the flight manages to jettison its bombs and Escape despite their stunning success the vpaf migs are now faced with the remaining Thunder Chiefs and super saers which are now fully alerted to their presence three f100s moveed to engage the North Vietnamese Fighters which attempt to split up but the super saber Pilots do not fire their Sidewinder missile for fear of hitting a friendly aircraft Captain Don kilgus latches on to a MiG 17 which Dives towards the ground attempting to play a game of chicken where the lighter Mig can pull up faster than the super saber flying downward at nearly a 90° angle kilgus opens fire with his 20 mm Cannon and splashes the Mig becoming the first American pilot to shoot down a hostile aircraft in the war and the only airto a MIG Kill by an F100 during the conflict he pulls hard back on the stick and barely avoids striking the water meanwhile the rest of the migs retreat North but two more failed to return to base it is unclear what happened to them Captain tranan asserts they were shot down by American f-105s but no other US Air Force pilots claimed a kill on this day it is possible they were accidentally shot down by friendly anti-aircraft fire meanwhile the rest of the thuds finished Plastering the dragon draw bridge with their 750 lb bombs When the Smoke From the over 300 direct hits clears the structure is still intact much to the shock and dismay of the American Pilots the dragon's jaw has taken 32 missiles and around 420 bombs in Just 2 days but the US Air Force has only managed to close the bridge for just a few hours six aircraft have been lost to the intense ground fire and North Vietnamese Fighters the unsuccessful attacks on the bridge are a major disappointment which necessitates more costly missions from April to September of 1965 multiple raids will be carried out but none managed to destroy the span 19 more pilots are lost in the vicinity of the dragon's draw in this time period and it will be another 7 years before the bridge will finally be neutralized the Vietnam people's Air Force has also proven their ability to disrupt American missions US Air Force Chief of Staff John McConnell is furious that two f-105s have been shot down by relics from the Korean War complacency radar failures and faulty tactics have allowed the enemy to engage the US Air Force on relatively equal terms despite their technological inferiority soon the North Vietnamese will receive the modern mig21 supersonic Interceptor which proves to be a potent weapon against rolling thunder strike packages the United States is not winning the air over Vietnam and a change of tactics will be needed to restore the balance download and play World of Warships for free using my link in the description and during registration use the promo code dday 8th to receive a huge starter pack including 200 dubloons 1 million credits 7 Days of premium account time a free ship after you complete 15 battles and for a limited time only three special D-Day missions after nine bals thanks again to our amazing patrons without which we wouldn't be able to produce videos like this welcome to all our new patrons this month and a special thanks to our patron of the week Ashton gazley each week we choose our favorite patreon comments to shout out this week CLA schmitzer says awesome glad to see you're covering the Vietnam War do you plan on more of this time period the answer is yes we're doing a short three-part series covering the cat and mouse evolution of American and Vietnamese fighter tactics over the course of Operation Rolling Thunder if you'd like to support us please join our patreon and get access to exclusive benefits such as Early Access to videos add and sponsor free we'd love to have you as part of our community

Channel: The Operations Room

Views: 309,917

Keywords: History, Documentary, war, vietnam war, operation rolling thunder, us air force, us navy, dragon's jaw bridge, f-105 thunderchief, f-100 super sabre

Id: Dt4_YaOAz6k

Length: 18min 12sec (1092 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 14 2024