Southeast Asia War: Rolling Thunder – 34
1100 Spaatz Street, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433-7102 www.nationalmuseum.af.mil Southeast Asia War: Rolling Thunder – 34 Although the U.S. Air Force began sending advisory personnel to South Vietnam in 1961, and carried out combat missions in South Vietnam shortly thereafter, U.S. forces did not initially strike North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese Navy attack in the Tonkin Gulf in August 1964, however, led to retaliatory raids by U.S. Navy aircraft. The U.S. Air Force made its first strike against North Vietnam on February 8, 1965, in response to a Viet Cong attack against Pleiku Air Base, South Vietnam. OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER: 1965-1968 On March 2, 1965, the U.S. Air Force began a systematic bombing campaign against North Vietnam named ROLLING THUNDER. Planners hoped to provide a morale boost to South Vietnamese forces, interdict the flow of supplies going south and discourage North Vietnamese aggression. Flying from bases in South Vietnam and Thailand, the U.S. Air Force started hitting targets near the demilitarized zone, or DMZ, between North and South Vietnam. By advancing the target areas northward across North Vietnam, planners intended to apply gradual pressure and halt bombing raids as incentives to negotiate. Sanctuaries and Bombing Halts To avoid the possible entrance of Chinese or Soviet forces into the conflict, Washington tightly controlled these bombing operations. Limitations included no bombing in the “sanctuaries” around Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam, Haiphong, North Vietnam’s main port, and a buffer zone along the Chinese border. Moreover, many types of targets remained off limits early in the campaign, including enemy airfields, surface-to-air missile, or SAM, sites and petroleum facilities.
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