For three and a half years, from March 1965 to October 1968, the United States deployed a large number of air forces to carry out a long strategic bombing of North Vietnam. The bombing was codenamed Operation Rolling Thunder.
This was the longest and largest bomb-dropping bomb in the history of human warfare, but it did not achieve its goal and ended in nothing. Let's introduce you to the process of "Operation Rolling Thunder".
(i)
After the Geneva Conference in 1954, the situation of North and South Vietnam was formally formed. However, unlike North and South Korea, the North and South Korea were unable to provide assistance to the guerrillas in the South, so the North guerrillas in South Korea were quickly wiped out. Unlike Vietnam, North Vietnam could easily support the southern guerrillas through the Laotian border. Therefore, the guerrilla armed forces in South Vietnam became more and more and stronger, coupled with the extreme corruption and incompetence of the South Vietnamese government and army, so the South Vietnamese regime was stormy and unpredictable.
The United States had intended to rely on military and economic aid to maintain the regime in South Vietnam, but most of the money went into the private pockets of South Vietnamese President Diệm Diệm's family, and the situation did not improve. By 1963, the guerrillas controlled 70 percent of South Vietnam's territory, and the South Vietnamese regime was in jeopardy.
Under such circumstances, the United States has no choice but to play in person. On August 2, 1964, two U.S. destroyers were attacked by North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats in Tonkin Bay, North Vietnam. The United States took the opportunity to announce the increase in troops in South Vietnam, and the Vietnam War broke out in full force.
After the outbreak of the war, the U.S. military proposed bombing of northern Vietnam, especially the supply lines of the north to the southern guerrillas, and President Lyndon Johnson was hesitant to provoke China to enter the war. Later, at the repeated request of the military, he finally approved a plan to bomb the area south of the 19° north latitude (the north-south dividing line is 17° north latitude) for eight weeks, codenamed "Operation Rolling Thunder".
And just like that, a large-scale bombing that lasted three and a half years began. The United States sent ground troops to fight in South Vietnam and used aircraft bombing in the north, which China figuratively called "South Bombing North Bombing." This "northern bombing" is "Operation Rolling Thunder".
By the way, the chief of staff of the US Air Force at that time was Curtis Leme. That's right, it's the general who grilled Tokyo, and now he pays homage to the four-star general, and he is going to barbecue Vietnam again.
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Li Mei
On March 2, 1965, 19 A-1 Skywalker attack aircraft of the South Vietnamese Air Force first launched an attack on a North Vietnamese military warehouse, kicking off Operation Rolling Thunder. As a result, during this operation, six aircraft were shot down by anti-aircraft guns, which foreshadowed future fate.
Subsequently, a large air force with the 2nd Division of the United States Air Force and the United States Navy as the core began bombing North Vietnam. The aircraft participating in the U.S. war include B-52 "Stratofortress" strategic bombers, F-105 "Leigong" fighter-bombers, F-101 "Wizard" fighter-bombers, A-4 "Skyhawk" attack aircraft, A-6 "Invader" carrier-based attack aircraft, and F-4 "Phantom" fighters.
At the beginning of the bombing, the North Vietnamese were caught off guard and in a mess. But the range of U.S. bombing was very limited, so it was not effective. Vietnam is a country with almost no industry, and the US military simply cannot find many worthy targets to bomb. The "Ho Chi Minh Trail" used by North Vietnam to aid the south was hidden in the dense mountains and forests, and could not be found. Therefore, the first stage of Operation Rolling Thunder really did not have any results. On the contrary, the Vietnamese took advantage of the fact that the US military did not bomb the area north of the 19° north latitude to launch a counterattack against the US military, and the results were quite good.
(ii)
The North Vietnamese Air Force had just over 60 Soviet-aided MiG-17 Mural fighters. MiG-17 is a high-subsonic fighter, belonging to the level of first-generation fighters, and the United States has many supersonic aircraft, F-4 "Phantom" can fly twice the speed of sound, it stands to reason that the US Air Force has an absolute advantage, but the actual combat performance surprised the Americans.
MiG-17 fighter
On April 4, 1965, four F-105 Thunder Gong fighter-bombers twice the speed of sound attacked Thanh Hoa Bridge, Vietnam. Suddenly intercepted by four MiG-17s of the North Vietnamese Air Force, two F-105s were shot down during the air battle, leaving the North Vietnamese Air Force unharmed.
On June 1, eight of America's then-most advanced F-4 Phantom fighters met six North Vietnamese MiG-17 fighters. At that time, the United States believed that air-to-air missiles could already eliminate cannons, so F-4 fighters did not install cannons, but each aircraft carried 4 Sparrow medium-range air-to-air missiles and 4 Sidewinder short-range infrared combat missiles.
The MiG-17 fighter took the initiative to descend to low-altitude combat, and the F-4's high-altitude and high-speed advantages could not be brought into play, and at the same time, the air-to-air missiles at that time were also very unreliable. The Sparrow medium-range missile could not "fire and forget" like the later AIM-120 missile, and required the pilot to manually manipulate it through the radar to hit the target; The Sidewinder infrared combat missile cannot be launched in all directions, and it is necessary to lock the target from the tail of the enemy aircraft. In this way, the F-4 fell completely downwind.
The F-4 fired more than a dozen missiles at the MiG-17, but none of them hit. In turn, the MiG-17 hit the target with a cannon in succession, and in the end, 4 F-4s were shot down, and the MiG-17 was unscathed. The North Vietnamese Air Force won 4–0.
F-4 "Phantom" fighter
The results of the air battle surprised the US Air Force, and they realized that the cannon could not be abandoned, so they hurriedly added cannon pods to the F-4 for emergencies.
The F-4's combat capabilities have improved greatly after being equipped with a cannon, but the F-4 is a heavy fighter, and when it was originally designed, it was less considered for hand-to-hand combat functions, so it was still very difficult to grapple with the light MiG-17.
It is also difficult for the F-4 to snipe the MiG-17 from a distance, because the MiG-17 is always kept at low altitude when fighting. At that time, the radar performance of the American AWACS aircraft EC-121 was not high, and the detection range for low-altitude targets was limited. On the contrary, the MiG-17 can grasp the enemy's dynamics in time through its ground radar. As a result, the F-4 was often at a disadvantage in air battles with the MiG-17. Had it not been for the limited number of the Vietnamese Air Force, the United States would have suffered even greater losses.
For their part, the North Vietnamese were intoxicated by the MiG-17's performance and became very dependent on the aircraft. So much so that later China planned to provide them with the J-6 imitation of the MiG-19, and they did not want it, and named the J-5 that copied the MiG-17.
(iii)
The first phase of Operation Rolling Thunder did not work well and suffered considerable losses, which greatly annoyed the US military. They have repeatedly demanded the President's approval to bomb the area north of the 19° parallel. However, the U.S. diplomatic and intelligence services are adamantly opposed to this.
After some wrangling, President Johnson finally made the decision to bomb the area north of the 19° parallel, but there were three restricted areas that were not allowed to be bombed. First, no bombing is allowed within 30 miles of the Sino-Vietnamese border; Second, the two cities of Hanoi and Haiphong are not allowed to be bombed within a radius of 10 miles.
President Johnson's explanation was that Hanoi, as the capital of North Vietnam, was bound to have a large number of military advisers from China and the Soviet Union, and if they were bombed, it would cause intervention by China and the Soviet Union; As the largest port in North Vietnam, Haiphong City was the main entrance to Soviet aid to Vietnam, and there were many local Soviet ships, so it could not be bombed.
The U.S. military was embarrassed by the president's rules, but had to comply. The problem was that the North Vietnamese Air Force's airfield was within the restricted area, and the U.S. Air Force could not attack it.
Beginning in September 1965, Operation Rolling Thunder expanded to cover all of North Vietnam, and all but those three exclusion zones were indiscriminately bombed by American aircraft.
In the face of American bombing, North Vietnam received significant aid from China, the Soviet Union, and North Korea.
China sent 300,000 troops to Vietnam, including engineers, railways, communications and anti-aircraft artillery, and also provided Vietnam with a total value of about $20 billion worth of various materials, of which 93.3% were gratuitous aid and the remaining 6.7% were interest-free loans.
The Soviet Union provided Vietnam with a large number of military equipment, including more than 2,000 tanks, more than 400 aircraft, 7,000 artillery pieces of various types, and massive ammunition, which was converted into US dollars, which also exceeded 20 billion.
North Korea sent air force to Vietnam to participate directly in the war, and one regiment of North Korean air force units even brought people and planes to North Vietnam, dressed as North Vietnamese air force to participate in the battle. Of course, South Korea also sent 50,000 ground troops to South Vietnam to participate in the war, and South and North Korea participated in the war together.
Thanks to the strong support of China and the Soviet Union, Vietnam's air defense capability was greatly improved. At the beginning of the war, North Vietnam had only 1500 anti-aircraft guns, and most of them were small-caliber; A year later, with the entry of Chinese anti-aircraft artillery units into the war, the number of anti-aircraft guns soon reached 7,000, and many of them were large-caliber anti-aircraft guns, as well as radar guidance.
The Soviets supplied North Vietnam with SAM-2 surface-to-air missiles, equipping 25 missile battalions. With the Sam-2 missile, the American B-52 bomber encountered its nemesis and could no longer shake its majesty at an altitude of tens of thousands of meters.
SAM-2 surface-to-air missile
The Soviet Union also provided North Vietnam with MiG-21 double-sonic fighters, and North Korea sent their MiG-21 fighters with pilots.
With the strong support of the Allies, North Vietnam became more and more powerful. In 1965, the United States lost 170 aircraft over North Vietnam; In 1966, the United States lost 245 aircraft; In 1967, the United States lost 362 aircraft; Before Operation Rolling Thunder ceased in October 1968, the United States lost an additional 184 aircraft.
(iv)
Of course, the United States is not a paper tiger, they summed up their experience in time, made full use of their high-tech advantages, and constantly introduced new tactics, causing even greater losses to the Vietnamese side.
Faced with the difficult MiG-17 fighter, the United States quickly found a way to cope. Although the MiG-17 is light and agile, it is slow and can only fly at subsonic speed, so American aircraft always adopt the "can't hit and run" tactic to deal with it. Once the U.S. supersonic fighter escapes at full power, the MiG-17 can only dry stare.
The Americans also found that the MiG-17, which had excellent low-altitude performance, did not work well when encountering the A-1 Skywalker attack aircraft. The A-1 Skywalker is a propeller fighter with better low-altitude performance than the MiG-17, and as an attack aircraft, the Skywalker has thick skin and strong strike resistance, which is more suitable for use against the MiG-17.
A-1 Skywalker attack aircraft
Therefore, the United States took the approach of pairing F-4 and other fighters with the A-1 to participate in the battle, and as a result, the A-1 Skywalker shot down the MiG-17 several times, creating a miracle that could still shoot down jets with propeller aircraft in the sixties.
As for the MiG-21, it is even less an opponent of the US military. The MiG-21 is a high-altitude high-speed interceptor that doubles the speed of sound, but it is a small comparison to the F-4. At that time, the MiG-21 did not have medium-range missiles, only infrared combat missiles, and the onboard radar was also not a good match, so it was not a match for the F-4 at all. In an air battle on January 2, 1967, the MiG-21, which had just completed training, took to the skies to meet the F-4, and was easily beaten 7:0 by the F-4.
How to counter North Vietnam's surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft guns, the United States also tried its best. Neither missiles nor anti-aircraft guns, nothing will be achieved without the guidance of radars. Therefore, the United States has focused its main efforts on how to restrain enemy radars.
Electronic warfare aircraft came into being, and this is the famous "wild weasel".
The U.S. military initially converted the F-100 fighter into the Weasel, which was soon changed to the F-105. The Wild Weasel is armed with the Hundred Tongue Bird anti-radiation missile, which is specially designed to deal with enemy radars. During each battle, the "wild weasel" will use its own radar to lock on to the frequency of the enemy's radar, and then launch the "Hundred Tongue Bird", follow the trail of the enemy's radar wave, find the radar antenna, and then destroy it in one fell swoop.
In addition, electronic jammers were soon born. During Operation Rolling Thunder, the U.S. Air Force's electronic jamming method was still passive jamming by throwing metal chaff strips, but the U.S. Navy has begun to mount electronic warfare pods on A-6 attack aircraft to carry out active jamming by transmitting electromagnetic pulse signals.
When bombing, the US military often poses in the following position: "wild weasel" and electronic jammers open the way in front, striving to knock out the opponent's radar first; A large number of bombers followed; At high altitude, the F-4 "Phantom" escort, and at low altitude, A-1 Skywalker and "Black Hawk" helicopters are accompanying them. Their main mission was to rescue parachuting pilots, while the A-1 also had a mission against the MiG-17. Behind the entire formation, EC-121 AWACS aircraft and KC-135 tankers served the entire formation.
Such a lineup had a great suppressive effect on the air defense capabilities of North Vietnam. Under the power of American high technology, the North Vietnamese operation became more and more difficult. In the case of the famous Sam-2 missile, an average of every 30 missiles fired at the beginning can hit one plane, but over time, it is difficult to hit a plane with 50 missiles.
In fact, wherever the US military wanted to bomb, they successfully bombed it; The targets on the bombing list were eventually destroyed. What was not destroyed, it was just that the United States did not want to bomb it at all.
(v)
Such intense bombing did not achieve its original purpose: to weaken North Vietnam's combat capability. North Vietnam, on the contrary, fought stronger and stronger.
The secret was that North Vietnam received strong support from its allies, especially China. As much as the United States bombs, China repairs as much as it wants. North Vietnamese roads, railways, and bridges have been destroyed many times, but each time Chinese engineers were able to miraculously restore them to their original state.
In June 1966, President Johnson finally allowed the Air Force to bomb military targets in those "no-go zones." As a result, the U.S. military dispatched a large number of bombers to bomb North Vietnamese airfields and important warehouses.
However, the North Vietnamese Air Force soon moved to airfields in China and continued to wrestle with American forces. The United States had thought that by bombing in August, they had destroyed 70 percent of North Vietnam's oil reserves and that the North Vietnamese army would run out of oil, but China quickly provided more fuel and helped North Vietnam build many small oil depots, no longer afraid of concentrated bombing by American troops.
In February 1968, the North Vietnamese army launched the Tet Offensive against South Vietnam, and 500,000 troops poured out and launched a large-scale attack, although it ended in failure, but this showed that the goal of Operation Rolling Thunder was completely unachieved, and the three-year bombing was just a wasted effort.
Under these circumstances, the U.S. government sought a compromise and began armistice negotiations with North Vietnam.
On April 1, 1968, the U.S. military stopped bombing the area north of the 19° north latitude. When the peace talks officially began, the US military officially stopped all bombing on November 1, and Operation Rolling Thunder died down.
In 1972, negotiations broke down and war resumed. The United States once again bombed North Vietnam, but it was another combat operation.
Operation Rolling Thunder lasted for three and a half years, with 300,000 sorties and 860,000 tons of bombs dropped, surpassing bombing records during the Korean War and World War II, and the largest strategic bombing in world history. The subsequent Gulf War did not reach that number either.
Operation Rolling Thunder is of great significance to the direction of the development of the US Air Force. Through this air battle, the United States has learned many lessons and improved them one by one. For example, air-to-air missiles are not omnipotent, and the maneuverability of aircraft is crucial, and based on this experience, the United States has developed fighters such as the F-16, which continue to monopolize the hegemony in the sky.
For example, through Operation Rolling Thunder, the United States realized that the era of bombers relying on high-altitude and high-speed penetration has passed, and it will take the road of low-altitude penetration in the future. As a result, the United States began to develop F-111, B-1 and other variable-sweep wing bombers, specifically towards the road of low-altitude penetration, stealth bombers, cruise missiles, precision guidance and other concepts were also proposed in the Vietnam War.
In the 1991 Gulf War, the U.S. Air Force faced a more advanced Soviet-style air defense system than the Vietnam War, performing exceptionally well and overwhelmingly victorious. All this is inseparable from the "Rolling Thunder Operation" of that year.