Wild, wild West sent this in last week to be included in today’s Gunday Monday and I convinced him to let it stand on it’s own and tried to set up and post last Wednesday the 18th. I had problems with a few of the pictures that would not load correctly and I finally figured out how to post them. I am presenting it today as a supplement to the regular Gunday Monday and as a reminder of what could be happening soon. I have always believed the saying: To avoid tyranny, read and study history. Wild, wild West did a remarkable job and I compliment him for the time and effort he put into it. He stated he wants to do other posts and I encouraged him. Thank You Wild, wild West, Cederq.

On December 18th in 1972, Richard Nixon ordered massive bombing of North Viet Nam in reaction to stalled peace talks.  The name of the operation became Linebacker II.  For there to have been a Linebacker II, there had to of course been an earlier Linebacker, although it was not known at that time that there would be a second, so calling the first series Linebacker I is not really correct.

The first Linebacker was in response to the NVA Easter Offensive in April of 1972 and consisted of an aerial and naval bombardment of the North that went on for several months.  Eventually our reigning czar King Richard of Nixon decided to declare that operation completed.  Talks resumed in Paris and Henry Kissinger was able to announce that “Peace is at hand” but the North Vietnamese sensed panic in the American program, became obstructive and eventually walked out of the talks altogether.  It should be noted that the South Vietnamese were not exactly overjoyed at the way things were going either, sensing betrayal in the program and were later proven right.

Nixon reacted to the North Vietnamese walking out of the peace talks in Paris by bombing the living Bejesus out of the Hanoi and Haiphong areas with massive waves of B-52 bombers and Air Force and Navy fighter-bombers.  There hadn’t been anything remotely like it since WWII.  Linebacker II and was also referred to as “The Christmas Bombings” because they stretched nearly to New Year’s, with a short 36-hour pause to allow the participants to celebrate the birthday of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ before going back to killing each other by the bushel.

Eventually the Air Force and Navy ran out of targets, the North Vietnamese ran out of surface-to-air missiles, and everybody went back to the negotiating table in Paris to hammer out a somewhat cynical peace treaty that was distinctly not to South Viet Nam’s advantage.  It was, as was said in a political cartoon of the time, “all over but the shooting.”  Peace remained “at hand” just long enough for the US to withdraw all forces.  It took the Vietnamese another two years to settle the issue, but that’s another story.

A lot more to it than that, but that’s all the time we have for you today, folks.  Here are some pics of the festivities

1. B-52s at Andersen AFB, Guam.

2) Briefing before the first mission.

3) Loading up the BUFF(Big Ugly Fat Fucker.)

4) Guam was a long way to fly

5) U-Tapao in Thailand was a lot closer.

6) It wasn’t all B-52s, F-111s also flew missions.

7) A-6 Intruders carried a lot of bombs.

8) Air Force A-7D Corsair II

9) Air Force, Navy and Marine F-4 Phantoms flew night and day.

10) F-105 Wild Weasels hunted SAM radars.

11) KC-135 passes gas to the F-4s of the 555th Tactical Fighter Wing.

12) Maintenance crews worked impossible hours.

13) Hitting Hanoi was called ‘Going Downtown.’

14) Poor planning and tactics caused too many aircraft losses the first several days

15) Pilots window in B-52 damaged by shrapnel.

16) Fifteen or so BUFFs were shot down de[ending who did the counting. B-52 wreckage on display in Hanoi.

17) An Air Force HH-53, Jolly Green Giant like this one was shot down flying a rescue mission.

18) The North would nearly run out of Soviet supplied SA-2, Surface to Air Missles.

19) MiG 21 tangling with an F-4.

20) MiG-19 of the North Vietnamese 925th Fighter Regiment.

21) A major surprise of the air war was the effectiveness of the old MiG-17 against the sophisticated American aircraft.

22) B-52 tail gunners shot down two MiGs.

23) The bombing continues after Christmas break.

24) After a near revolt by bomber crews, better tactics and early expenditure of SAM Sites brought better odds.

25) Bomb damage assessment.

26) Individual bomb shelters were common. One size fits most.

27) Kham Thein Street in Hanoi.

28) Hanoi Jane was unfortunately not on Kham Thein Street that night.

29) Participation Trophy.

30) Not exactly…

31) Required reading.

32) More reading.

Contributed by Wild, wild West and Don’t mind me.

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