DOCSLIB.ORG

The War in South Vietnam the Years of the Offensive 1965-1968

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The War in South Vietnam the Years of the Offensive 1965-1968 THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA The War in South Vietnam The Years of the Offensive 1965-1968 John Schlight Al R FORCE Histbru and 9 Museums PROGRAM 1999 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Schlight, John The war in South Vietnam: the years of the offensive, 1965-1968 (The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia) Bibliography: p. 385 Includes Index 1. Vietnamese conflict, 1961-1975-Aerial operations, American. 2. United States. Air Force-History-Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975. I. Title. 11. Series. DS558.8.S34 1988 959.704'348"~ 19 88-14030 ISBN 0-912799-51-X ii Foreword This volume, the latest published by the Office of Air Force History in the United States Air Force in Southeast Asia series, looks at the Air Force’s support of the ground war in South Vietnam between 1965 and early 1968. The book covers the period from the time when the United States began moving from an advisory role into one of active involvement to just before the time when the United States gradually began disengaging from the war. The final scene is the successful air campaign conducted during the Communists’ siege of the Marine camp at Khe Sanh. While the actual siege lasted from late January to the middle of March 1968, enemy preparations for the encirclement-greatly increased truck traffic and enemy troop move- ments-were seen as early as October 1967. A subsequent volume in the Southeast Asia series will take up the story with the Communists’ concurrent Tet offensive during January and February 1968. Air Force assistance in South Vietnam during the war was principally of two kinds: close air support of troops on the battlefield, by both tactical fighters and B-52s, and the airlift of supplies and personnel. In addition to close air support and airlift, the Air Force performed many other important missions ancillary to the ground war, including reconnaissance, intelligence, psychological warfare, defoliation, destruction of enemy reinforcements and supplies, medical evacuation, and pacification and civic action. Historically, close air support has occupied a lower priority in the hierarchy of Air Force missions than strategic bombing and interdiction. In theory since the 1930s, and in actuality since World War 11, the Air Force has seen itself primarily as the strategic deliverer of destructive force on the industrial and economic heartland of an enemy. Preventing the flow of enemy reinforcements by interdicting them far from the battlefield was also considered an inherently important and effective function of air power. Close air support, for a variety of historical and doctrinal reasons, had been deemed a less fruitful use of air resources. As a consequence, more attention has been paid by historians of the conflict in Southeast Asia to the bombing campaigns against North Vietnam and the interdiction efforts against the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos than to the less dramatic but no less important air efforts within South Vietnam. In this volume Col. John Schlight, formerly Deputy Chief of the Office of Air Force History, describes the many issues that were ... 111 FOREWORD awakened when the Air Force was forced to adapt some of its resources and doctrine to a jungle war in South Vietnam. Among these issues was the question of who would command and who would control the air instrument. The Southeast Asia war was the second major test of America’s unified command structure for theater warfare since its formal adoption in the National Security Act of 1947. The earlier test in Korea had shown the command structure to be effective but cumbersome and had resulted in some serious disagreements between the services. It was hoped that the unified command system could be improved in Vietnam and that American air resources could be kept intact for more effective use. As this volume shows, several major obstacles rendered this search for unity and centralization extremely difficult. The use of airlift was a less contentious issue, but it shared somewhat in the command and control tension. The creation since Korea by the U.S. Army of an airmobile division with its own helicopters presented a serious challenge to the Air Force’s airlift mission. Colonel Schlight traces the stages by which accommodation was reached on this issue as the war progressed. The Air Force adapted to the realities of Vietnam on many levels. In some cases, long-abandoned production facilities had to be resurrected. Aircraft, weapon systems, and munitions were modified to meet the demands of the alien environment. Personnel and training practices, geared for nuclear warfare, were revamped for a war that harked back to an earlier age. Jet fighter pilots, trained for nuclear war, flew observation planes at 100 miles an hour; fighter-bombers and B-52s, designed for nuclear strikes, dropped iron bombs on enemy troops; training planes served as fighter-bombers; transport planes were employed as gunships, dropped flares, and defoliated the thick jungle underbrush; and radar for scoring practice bombing from the ground was used in reverse to direct fighters and bombers to their targets. These and other anomalies form the basis of the jet-age Air Force conducting a limited war against an enemy fighting an insurgency in a jungle environment. The study of this war, particularly that portion fought in the skies over South Vietnam in the years 1965 to 1968, has much to teach those who will apply air power into the twenty-first century. RICHARD H. KOHN Chief, Office of Air Force History iv In times of war, air power contributes to a nation’s objectives in a variety of ways. It is used to disrupt the enemy’s psychological equanimity at home, observe his military preparations and activities from above, impede his movement of military resources to the battlefield, strike his ground forces as they close with friendly troops, ward off his attacks from the skies, and transport friendly troops and supplies to and from the battlefield. During four air wars in Southeast Asia between 1961 and 1973, American aircraft, at different times and in different arenas, performed the functions of strategic bombing, reconnaissance, and interdiction over North Vietnam; reconnais- sance and interdiction of the trails in southern Laos; reconnaissance, interdiction, and close air support in the war waged by Laotian tribesmen against the Communists in northern Laos; and close air support, airlift, reconnaissance, air defense, and attacks against enemy supply lines and reinforcements in support of American and South Vietnamese ground forces in South Vietnam. This volume describes the U.S. Air Force’s roles in the latter of these four air wars during the period of greatest intensity, between 1965 and early 1968. Other volumes in this series round out the story. Before the war, close air support, because it ceded much control of aircraft to ground commanders, was not a favored mission of the Air Force. Anchored for decades in the strategic nuclear mission, many airmen viewed direct support of ground forces as the least efficient use of the air weapon. Despite their conviction that enemy resources were more effectively dealt with before they arrived at the battlefield, it became necessary from time to time and for a variety of reasons to use aircraft for close air support. The conflict in South Vietnam was one of those occasions. This study examines not only the results of employing air power this way, but also the tactics and techniques that evolved in an unfamiliar jungle environment, the relationship of the close air support mission to other types of missions being flown, and the interplay between the Air Force’s activities and those of the other air forces that were fighting the Communists. A special word of thanks is due to John Huston and Dick Kohn, who, as directors of the Air Force’s history program, provided a sufficiently contemplative atmosphere for research and writing. David Chenoweth labored mightily in making the text publicly presentable. A special tribute is V PREFACE in order here for Ken Sams, without whose imaginative historical work in Southeast Asia the story of the Air Force in South Vietnam would be incomplete. John Schlight vi The Author From the early 1950s, when he flew aircraft in support of the French in Indochina, through his final assignment as Deputy Chief of the Ofice of Air Force History, Col. John Schlight’s 3 1-year Air Force career bracketed America’s involvement in the Southeast Asia conflict. In Southeast Asia again in 1969 and 1970, he was in Vietnam as Deputy Director of Project CHECO (Contemporary Historical Evaluation of Combat Operations), one of the Air Force’s historical efforts in the war. Possessing the MA and PhD degrees from Princeton University, he has taught military history at the United States Air Force Academy, the National War College in Washington, D.C., and at several universities in the United States and overseas. From 1977 to 1981 he directed the Vietnam War section at the Air Force History Office. In addition to articles in both medieval European and modern American military history, he is the author of Monarchs and Mercenaries (1968) and Henry II Plantagenet (1973) and the editor of The Second Indochina War (1985). He is currently Chief of the Southeast Asia Branch at the US. Army’s Center of Military History. vii United States Air Force Historical Advisory Committee (As of December 1, 1987) Mrs. Anne Foreman Dr. Norman A. Graebner The General Counsel, USAF University of Virginia Dr. Dominick Graham Dr. Ira Gruber University of New Brunswick Rice University Lt. Gen. Charles R. Hamm Dr. Haskell Monroe USAF (Committee Chairman) Superintendent, USAF Academy University of Missouri-Columbia Dr.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Measuring US Army Effectiveness and Progress in the Vietnam
    Chapman University Chapman University Digital Commons History Faculty Books and Book Chapters History 6-1-2011 No Sure Victory: Measuring U.S. Army Effectiveness and Progress in the Vietnam War Gregory A. Daddis Chapman University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/history_books Part of the Asian History Commons, Cultural History Commons, Diplomatic History Commons, Military History Commons, Other History Commons, Political History Commons, Public History Commons, Social History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Daddis, Gregory A. No Sure Victory: Measuring U.S. Army Effectiveness and Progress in the Vietnam War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the History at Chapman University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Faculty Books and Book Chapters by an authorized administrator of Chapman University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MEASURING U.S. ARMY EFFE VEN SAND PROGR IN THE VI NAM WAR Gregory A. Daddis OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS ---------~--- - ______ .......,. ________________________ _ UNIVERSITY PRESS Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright© 20II by Gregory A. Daddis Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • CHPA 2020 Qtr 2 Newsletter.Pub
    Combat Helicopter Pilots Association CHPA Quarterly 2020 2nd Qtr 2020 Annual Conference in October, Houston TX area, see page 7 CHPA Member Spotlight PO Box 2585 Peachtree City, GA 30269 - www.chpa us.org Ruminations: hq@chpa -us.org on Vietnam and Afghanistan 800.832.5144 by Graham Stevens Terry Garlock hen the TV talking heads mention CHPA Newsletter Editor America’s push for a negotiated deal editor@chpa -us.org 770 -630 -6064 Eastern time with the Taliban in Afghanistan so ______________________________ we can bring our troops home, I get a queasy feeling that we didn’t learn much from Vi- James Wilhite, President etnam. Even among Vietnam vets, not many president@chpa -us.org realize how much our strength dissipated and attitudes changed in Vietnam over time. Jack Bailey, Chairman chairman@chpa -us.org In my first Vietnam tour 1969 -70, we had about 500,000 troops in -country and our re- sources seemed almost unlimited. For a serious situation we could and did bring enormous fire- power to bear. As just one small example, fellow member Terry Garlock has told you about being shot down in a Cobra in III Corps near Lai Khe in 1969. I was in the other Cobra in that fire team. We landed nearby in that hot area and I broke through the canopy to drag Terry out of the cockpit by the collar of his flight suit since his legs didn’t work. He was lighter then! From Mayday radio calls we made before landing to help our buddies IN THIS ISSUE .
    [Show full text]
  • United Nations Peacekeeping Missions Military Aviation Unit Manual Second Edition April 2021
    UN Military Aviation Unit Manual United Nations Peacekeeping Missions Military Aviation Unit Manual Second Edition April 2021 Second Edition 2019 DEPARTMENT OF PEACE OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT OF OPERATIONAL SUPPORT UN Military Aviation Unit Manual Produced by: Office of Military Affairs, Department of Peace Operations UN Secretariat One UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017 Tel. 917-367-2487 Approved by: Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Department of Peace Operations (DPO). Atul Khare Under-Secretary-General for Operational Support Department of Operational Support (DOS) April 2021. Contact: PDT/OMA/DPO Review date: 30/ 04 / 2026 Reference number: 2021.04 Printed at the UN, New York © UN 2021. This publication enjoys copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless, governmental authorities or Member States may freely photocopy any part of this publication for exclusive use within their training institutes. However, no portion of this publication may be reproduced for sale or mass publication without the express consent, in writing, of the Office of Military Affairs, UN Department of Peace Operations. ii UN Military Aviation Unit Manual Foreword We are delighted to introduce the United Nations Peacekeeping Missions Military Aviation Unit Manual, an essential guide for commanders and staff deployed in peacekeeping operations, and an important reference for Member States and the staff at United Nations Headquarters. For several decades, United Nations peacekeeping has evolved significantly in its complexity. The spectrum of multi-dimensional UN peacekeeping operations includes challenging tasks such as restoring state authority, protecting civilians and disarming, demobilizing and reintegrating ex-combatants. In today’s context, peacekeeping missions are deploying into environments where they can expect to confront asymmetric threats and contend with armed groups over large swaths of territory.
    [Show full text]
  • December 1965 O.P
    Valparaiso University ValpoScholar Campus Commentary University Archives & Special Collections 12-1965 December 1965 O.P. Kretzmann Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/campus_commentary Recommended Citation Kretzmann, O.P., "December 1965" (1965). Campus Commentary. 15. https://scholar.valpo.edu/campus_commentary/15 This Newsletter is brought to you for free and open access by the University Archives & Special Collections at ValpoScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Campus Commentary by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at [email protected]. campus commentary December, 1965 Dear Brother: For many years I have written a Christmas letter to one of my sons. I am sending one to you this year in the hope that it may help you in your meditations for the Children's Service on Christmas Eve. It was written more than twenty years ago: "Dear Son: This year you are still too young to know much about Christmas, both what God wanted it to be, and what we have made it ... You will look open-eyed at the lights, and you will rock quietly as you hear sweeter music than you have ever heard before ... I am sure, too, that you will wonder, as little children everywhere have always wondered, at the strange beauty of Christmas ... the happy people, seemingly so much happier than they are at any other time ... the music, the carols, the lights in every window throwing a warm promise on the snow ... I think that I should like to tell you something about it.
    [Show full text]
  • GENERAL AGREEMENT on 6 March 1965 TARIFFS and TRADE Limited Distribution
    RESTRICTEDL/2377 GENERAL AGREEMENT ON 6 March 1965 TARIFFS AND TRADE Limited Distribution CONTRACTING PARTIES Twenty-Second Session EUROPEAN FREE TRADE ASSOCIATION AND THE ASSOCIATION OF EFTA AND FINLAND Information Furnished by Member States European Free Trade Association 1. The EFTA countries have undertaken to provide, as the Association develops, additional information in accordance with Article XXIV:7(a) of the General Agreement. 2. In March 1964, at the twenty-first session of the CONTRACTING PARTIES the member States of EFTA submitted their third report on the progress made in implementing the Stockholm Convention. A brief outline of the development since the last session is given below. More detailed information is given in the Fourth Annual Report of the European Free Trade Association for the period 1 July 1963 to 30 June 1964, and the booklet entitled "EFTA Trade".¹ 3. As in previous years, the EFTA countries have worked together to contribute to a harmonious expansion of world trade and to the creation of a large and outward- looking European market. As regards the first, EFTA countries have actively participated in the Kennedy Round negotiations where their identity of purpose and harmony of outlook on the main issues have enabled them to reinforce the efforts to attain the full objectives of these trade negotiations. In the same spirit, the EFTA countries participated in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. As regards the second, the EFTA countries have found that the best way to further their common objectives for the present is to continue to strengthen the co-operation among themselves.
    [Show full text]
  • Wildlife in an Ethiopian Valley by Emil K
    342 Oryx Wildlife in an Ethiopian Valley By Emil K. Urban and Leslie H. Brown On several flights and safaris in the lower Omo River valley the authors and others recorded the numbers of larger mammals they saw. The results showed no regular general migration pattern, although certain species showed trends, notably eland, zebra, elephant and Lelwel's hartebeest which moved into the area after the rains and out again when the grass died. Dr Urban is working in the Department of Biology in the Haile Sellassie I University in Addis Ababa. Leslie Brown, well known Kenya naturalist, is a UNESCO wildlife consultant. HERE are large numbers of mammals in the plains and foothills on T either side of the lower Omo River, including game animals, some in large concentrations, that have been reduced or are extinct eleswhere in Ethiopia. These mammals, their seasonal movements and population den- sities have not been documented and are very little known, although it is suspected that their movements in the lower Omo plains are related to more widespread movements in the Sudan. This paper reports scattered observations of larger mammals in the area between January 1965 and June 1967. They are, needless to say, inadequate for a full picture of the migratory game movements. Between us we made five trips: January 1965, LHB and Ian Grimwood; March, EKU; September, EKU; December, EKU and John Blower; and March 1967, LHB. In addition John Blower, Senior Game Warden of the Imperial Ethiopian Government's Wild Life Conservation Depart- ment, visited the area in October 1965 and February 1966, and G.
    [Show full text]
  • Transcript of Oral History Interview with Dave Jansen
    Oral history interviews of the Vietnam Era Oral History Project Copyright Notice: © 2019 Minnesota Historical Society Researchers are liable for any infringement. For more information, visit www.mnhs.org/copyright. Version 3 August 20, 2018 David Jansen Narrator Douglas Bekke Interviewer April 16, 2018 Bemidji, Minnesota Douglas Bekke —DB David Jansen —DJ DB: Minnesota Historical Society Vietnam Oral History Project interview with Dave Jansen. In Bemidji Minnesota on 16 April 2018. Mr. Jansen can you please say and spell your name? DJ: David L. Jansen. D-a-v-i-d L J-a-n-s-e-n. DB: And your birthdate? DJ: I was born October 30, 1949. DB: And where were you born? DJ: I was born here, in Bemidji. DB: Okay. DJ: The old Lutheran hospital. DB: Okay. And what do you know about your ancestry? DJ: I know that both — on my father’s side, my grandmother and grandfather both came from Holland and settled in Stearns County — where the land is flat like Holland. And on my mother’s side, French and German. DB: Did you know your grandparents? DJ: I did. I knew all of them. DB: And did they influence your life? Did you have good relations with them? DJ: My grandfather on my maternal side lived up here when I was a child so I spent a lot time with them — a lot of fishing. And hunting, and — my grandfather on my dad’s side was well 30 educated and had a library in his home. He had a farm, but he didn’t do much farm work.
    [Show full text]
  • Protest at the White House
    Classroom Resource Packet Protest at the White House INTRODUCTION For more than 100 years, people have exercised their First Amendment rights to speak out using the White House as both their stage and audience. Many of these protests have influenced legislation and encouraged government action. Demonstrations at the White House have taken the form of nighttime vigils, marches, picketing, and other peaceful activities. CONTEXTUAL ESSAY The United States Constitution provides for “the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” Lafayette Park, located on the north side of the White House, has become an important place for public exercises of the First Amendment, which protects Americans’ freedom of speech (Image 1). Advocates of a wide variety of causes have long understood the relevance of the location and used it in their attempts to effect change. Sometimes their campaigns changed the views of fellow citizens including government decision makers. In 1916, the National Woman’s Party moved their headquarters to Lafayette Square. Suffragists, wanting to confront President Woodrow Wilson about women’s voting rights, gave speeches, marched with banners demanding the right to vote, and stood with picket signs in front of the White House gates (Images 2-4). Supportive onlookers cheered; others hissed and accused the protestors of “bad manners and mad banners.” Hundreds of women were arrested, charged with inciting unlawful assembly and obstructing the sidewalk. In August 1917, an unruly crowd, upset by a banner labeling the president “Kaiser Wilson,” threw eggs and Image 3 tomatoes at the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage headquarters, and a bullet was fired through a second-floor window (Image 5).
    [Show full text]
  • In November, 1965, and the Results Were Compared with 1960 Census Statistics
    DOCUMENT RESUME .ED 022 589 RC 002 576 NEGROES AND MEXICAN AMERICANS IN SOUTH AND EAST LOS ANGELES, CHANGES BETWEEN 1960 AND 1965 IN POPULATION, EMPLOYMENT, INCOME, AND FAMILY STATUS; AN ANALYSIS OF A SPECIAL U.S. CENSUS SURVEY OF NOVEMBER 1965. California State Dept. of Industrial Relations, San Francisco. Fair Employment Practices Commission. Report No-76123-501-12-66-2M Pub Date Jul 66 Note-40p. EDRS Price Mr-'41025 HC-$1.68 Descriptors-ECONOMIC DISADVANTAGEMENT, *EMPLOYMENT LEVEL, EMPLOYMENT STATISTICS, *FAMILY STATUS, GFETTOS, HOUSING DEFICIENCIES, LOW INCOME GROUPS, MARITAL STATUS, *MEXICAN AMERICANS, *NEGROES, ONE PARENT FAMILY, POPULATION DISTRIBUTION, *URBAN AREAS, URBAN POPUt ATION Identifiers-California, *Los Angeles, U.S. Bureau of the Census A special survey of South Los Angeles (predominantly. Negro) and East Los Angeles (predominantly Mexican-American) was taken by the U.S. Bureau of the Census in November, 1965, and the results were compared with 1960 census statistics. Although total population declined in both areas, further "ghettoization" took place as percentages of major culture groups increased. Housing conditions and family status deteriorated in both areas. Increases were shown in women heads of households and children living in one-parent homes. Unemployment rates decreased slightly, but not in keeping with the nationwide drop in unemployment. Although median family income increased slightly in both areas, purchasing power fell significantly at a time when real income in both the nation and the west increased. In addition to widespreadproblems of education and job preparation, cultural discrimination was a major problem in South and East Los Angeles. (JH) huT NEGROES AND MEXICAN AMERICA in South and East Los Angeles CHANGES BETWEEN 1960 AND 1965 IN * POPULATION * EMPLOYMENT * INCOME * FAMILY STATUS .
    [Show full text]
  • A Chronology of the UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS 1965
    MARINE CORPS HISTORICAL REFERENCE PAMPHLE T A Chronology Of The UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS 1965-1969 VOLUME I V HISTORICAL DIVISION HEADQUARTERS, U . S. MARINE CORP S WASHINGTON, D. C. 1971 HQMC 08JUNO2 ERRATUM to A CHRONOLOGY OF USMC (SFTBOUND ) 1965-1969 1 . Change the distribution PCN read 19000318100 "vice" 19000250200. DISTRIBUTION: PCN 19000318180 PCN 19000318180 A CHRONOLOGY OF THE UNITED STATE S MARINE -CORPS, 1965-196 9 VOLUME I V B Y GABRIELLE M . NEUFEL D Historical Divisio n Headquarters, United States Marine Corp s Washington, D . C . 20380 197 1 PCN 19000318100 DEPARTMENT OF THE NAV Y HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS WASHINGTON . D . C. 20380 Prefac e This is the fourth volume of a chronology of Marin e Corps activities which cover the history of the U . S . Marines . It is derived from unclassified official record s and suitable published contemporary works . This chronology is published for the information o f all interested in Marine Corps activities during the perio d 1965-1969 and is dedicated to those Marines who participate d in the. events listed . J . R . C H Lieute O" General, U . S . Marine Corp s Chief of Staf f Reviewed and approved : 2 September 1971 ABOUT THE AUTHO R Gabrielle M . Neufeld has been a member of the staff o f the Historical Division since January 1969 . At the presen t time she is a historian in the Reference Branch of th e Division . She received her B .A . in history from Mallory College, Rockville Centre, N .Y ., and her M .A . in Easter n history from Georgetown University, Washington, D .
    [Show full text]
  • Airpower in Three Wars
    AIRPOWER IN THREE WARS GENERAL WILLIAM W. MOMYER USAF, RET. Reprint Edition EDITORS: MANAGING EDITOR - LT COL A. J. C. LAVALLE, MS TEXTUAL EDITOR - MAJOR JAMES C. GASTON, PHD ILLUSTRATED BY: LT COL A. J. C. LAVALLE Air University Press Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama April 2003 Air University Library Cataloging Data Momyer, William W. Airpower in three wars / William W. Momyer ; managing editor, A. J. C. Lavalle ; textual editor, James C. Gaston ; illustrated by A. J. C. Lavalle–– Reprinted. p. ; cm. With a new preface. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-58566-116-3 1. Airpower. 2. World War, 1939–1945––Aerial operations. 3. Korean War. 1950–1953––Aerial operations. 4. Vietnamese Conflict, 1961–1975––Aerial oper- ations. 5. Momyer, William W. 6. Aeronautics, Military––United States. I. Title. II. Lavalle, A. J. C. (Arthur J. C.), 1940– III. Gaston, James C. 358.4/009/04––dc21 Disclaimer Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Air University, the United States Air Force, the Department of Defense, or any other US government agency. Cleared for public release. Air University Press 131 West Shumacher Avenue Maxwell AFB AL 36112-6615 http://aupress.maxwell.af.mil ii TO . all those brave airmen who fought their battles in the skies for command of the air in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. iii THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK PREFACE 2003 When I received the request to update my 1978 foreword to this book, I thought it might be useful to give my perspective of some aspects on the employment of airpower in the Persian Gulf War, the Air War over Serbia (Operation Allied Force), and the war in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom).
    [Show full text]
  • HELP from ABOVE Air Force Close Air
    HELP FROM ABOVE Air Force Close Air Support of the Army 1946–1973 John Schlight AIR FORCE HISTORY AND MUSEUMS PROGRAM Washington, D. C. 2003 i Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Schlight, John. Help from above : Air Force close air support of the Army 1946-1973 / John Schlight. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Close air support--History--20th century. 2. United States. Air Force--History--20th century. 3. United States. Army--Aviation--History--20th century. I. Title. UG703.S35 2003 358.4'142--dc22 2003020365 ii Foreword The issue of close air support by the United States Air Force in sup- port of, primarily, the United States Army has been fractious for years. Air commanders have clashed continually with ground leaders over the proper use of aircraft in the support of ground operations. This is perhaps not surprising given the very different outlooks of the two services on what constitutes prop- er air support. Often this has turned into a competition between the two serv- ices for resources to execute and control close air support operations. Although such differences extend well back to the initial use of the airplane as a military weapon, in this book the author looks at the period 1946- 1973, a period in which technological advances in the form of jet aircraft, weapons, communications, and other electronic equipment played significant roles. Doctrine, too, evolved and this very important subject is discussed in detail. Close air support remains a critical mission today and the lessons of yesterday should not be ignored. This book makes a notable contribution in seeing that it is not ignored.
    [Show full text]