I was the gunner on Lavender 1, (G model) that night. It was 22 hours and three air refueling from takeoff to landing. Our target was a railroad yard just north of Hanoi.

@sanfranciscobay

8 жыл бұрын

22 hours is a lot of time to be cramped up in a small confining space.

@Roger2465

7 жыл бұрын

think large range go days wit air refuel

@JohnDoe-dh6zy

6 жыл бұрын

What was your job on the missions? I think Tim explains it early on in the video, but it would be great your perspective. Was the SAM activity similar for all of the cells? I if I had to hazard a guess, I would say Snow, Pink, and Rust got the least.

@jhnbr400

6 жыл бұрын

The gunner on a B-52 was tasked with defense of the aircraft against aerial attack by fighter aircraft. In the models of B-52 that flew in Vietnam, (D,F & G), The gunnery systems were similar, 4- ,50 Cal machine gun's mounted in a single tail turret, with control via two radars. A search radar and a track radar. In the D and F model you also had an optical system as a backup to the radars.

@ALSNewsNow

6 жыл бұрын

jhnbr400 Wow, congrats on your 52 career

My Dad was a B-52 (mostly D, some G), SAC out of Robins AFB, GA. With 120 combat missions, his crew was awarded the DFC for efforts during Linebacker II. He was career USAF, Retired as MSGT in 1976. Ash 1 mentioned in this excellent audio recording, was hit by a SAM, but able to fly back to Thailand. Only the pilot and tail gunner survived. The pilot was LTC Robert Hymel, who was killed at the Pentagon Sept. 11, 2001. This is how we are all able to enjoy our freedoms. Thank you everyone.

@sugarpuddin

9 ай бұрын

I would be interested to hear how any of this protects our freedoms. USA corporations love doing business with Vietnam. In fact, the Intel CPU chip is manufactured in Vietnam

@dewok2706

8 ай бұрын

really turned into a clown with that freedom line, kiddo.

@davidsoule1252

8 ай бұрын

I thank your father for his service. I was an FTG while I was in the Navy. We set up the computer and radar to fire the ships guns. My ship(s) were part of Freedom Train, Linebacker and Linebacker II in 1972. If we were on the gunline and B-52's were in the area, we would cease fire. Even at 7 miles or so from the shore, we could feel the effects of the B-52's. We got a ripple effect kind of like a mini-earthquake

@TimSmith-si7rv

2 ай бұрын

I was at u-t 19773-74.... there was a dead 52 at the flightline then....many,many holes.....

Please do more of these, they are important and interesting history that we don't want to loose.

@ForecastLab

8 жыл бұрын

I will try. Thanks!

@billthecat3159

7 жыл бұрын

ms24444 AMEN

@billthecat3159

7 жыл бұрын

palerider957 Amen!

@davidsandell7833

6 жыл бұрын

ms24444 :Totally agree.

@davidsandell7833

6 жыл бұрын

ms24444 : My Dad flew young tiger in the 135. Any videos of those?

The co-pilot of Ash 1 was Bob Hymel, who was one of my UPT classmates at Laughlin AFB. I’m reasonably certain that Bob made three radio transmissions right after they were hit: - 40:08 “SAM detonation.” Unidentified person. - 40:11 “Hello Red Crown…..” Although faint, I believe this is Bob’s voice. The transmission after these three words was blocked by the following transmission. - 40:13 “SAM detonation.” Unidentified person, but the voice seems to be different from the first SAM detonation report. I believe that Bob initially thought his call to Red Crown was received, because he would have had no way of knowing that his transmission was stepped on. After no acknowledgement, a few seconds later Bob made a more cryptic transmission: - 40:36, “Ash 1’s been hit.” Bob’s voice - 40:59, “Roger, Ash 1 is still flying.” Bob’s voice None of the subsequent radio transmission from Ash 1 sound like Bob’s voice. As noted in the video, Bob and the gunner were the only survivors of Ash 1. Tragically, Bob was killed in the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. There are many accounts of both of these events online, and these two are a good place to start: www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/1983/August%201983/0883valor.aspx www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/09/911_victim_hailed_as_a_hero_in.html RIP, my friend.

@ForecastLab

8 жыл бұрын

Great information, thanks.

@warplanner8852

6 жыл бұрын

What a fascinating story. (Seriously.) Thank you for sharing it!

@CoppaShotta

6 жыл бұрын

What a life to be involved with that. God Bless

@dsmith977

5 жыл бұрын

Damn served his government only to be killed by them...fuckin terrible rip to the brave soldiers.

@Josh-hr5mc

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you for contributing to this and informing us about the events

Thanks for all your work on this. I was the navigator on White 2 flying out of UTapao that night. Our target was the Giap Nih Railroad Yards just south of Hanoi. When I have time, I plan on reading through all the comments and making comments from my point of view when I have more time. Two very good books on "Linebacker II" and the "Eleven Days of Christmas". I need to look up the authors and will post them later. I am looking forward to more. I know it is a tremendous task. Just gathering all the material to do it right is a big job in itself. It helps bring the history of what the B-52 Crewdogs along with what all the Tac Air, Naval Aviation and the thousands of maintenance troops did to end the war from a footnote in history to the efforts that it was.

@ForecastLab

8 жыл бұрын

Wow, what a small world when the crew members from 44 years ago are on here watching the video. Thanks for the comments.

@JohnDoe-dh6zy

6 жыл бұрын

Tim, VERY good work- give yourself a lot of credit!

@JohnDoe-dh6zy

6 жыл бұрын

Very much looking forward to it and keep us posted!

@ALSNewsNow

6 жыл бұрын

cosetteudx balls of steel man, flying over that SAM infested hell hole....these snowflakes today wouldn't have the guts to make it to the fence for damm sure. Or even try..

@milano61

4 жыл бұрын

@@ALSNewsNow Here's a stupid statement: "these snowflakes today wouldn't have the guts to make it to the fence for damn sure. Or even try...". The military men and women of all nations have stepped up to the challenges of combat If you eat, sleep and train with your buddies you will build unit cohesion and regardless of danger you will move together as a unit. Happened all through history.

Very interesting as it really brought back a lot of memories. I was aboard the USS Reeves DLG - 24 during Linebacker II. We were located at North SAR (The northern most ship) in the Gulf. We picked up several B52 crew who managed to get their feet wet from these raids. I was responsible for fire control radar but spent many hours in CIC with air traffic control as well as ECM countermeasures. Thanks for posting this!

@elliottcorbett9992

4 жыл бұрын

William Boggess I was on the USS O’Callahan DE 1051 and our helo was flying SAR the night this went down.

@thuankhong

Жыл бұрын

The US only received the number B52 crashed on the spot and the number was shot but was able to fly to the airport in South Vietnam and Thailand, never recognized the number that fell into the sea. You have confirmed that the plane crashed into the sea.

I was in the 307th AMS Radio Shop at U-Tapao July 70-71 during the Arc Light CAS missions. We worked 12 hour shifts 6 days a week, so we were never exposed to the details of what went on inside the aircraft during those missions. The closest I ever got to talking about missions with the aircrews, was during the debriefing sessions immediately after the aircraft returned where we wrote up any equipment failures the crew encountered in flight. This is an amazing slice of history during one bombing raid over North Vietnam. Excellent job. Thanks.

@ForecastLab

7 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

I flew as a WSO in an F 4 laying a chaff corridor each night for the B 52’s.Courageous crew members flying in heavily defended areas. I went back and reviewed my cassette taps very busy with SAM’s, MIG’s and AAA calls, not to mention formation flying at 33 M in a heavy a/c!

@bianh2910

2 ай бұрын

Và cuối cùng Việt Nam chúng tôi đã bắn rơi những " mỏ nhôm " trên bầu trời Việt Nam, ông có thể hãnh diện vì điều đó, còn nhân dân chúng tôi hãnh diện vì đánh giặc ngoại xâm là các ông

@jtfoog5220

Күн бұрын

Hello sir. I am watching this video years later. I am wondering if you have ever decided to make these tapes public - forgive me if this is presumptuous. The stories that you have and the courage of these crew members deserves to be remembered

@jeffsena9140

Күн бұрын

@@jtfoog5220 Yes, TCU in Texas interviewed me and asked for my tapes and photos. They have a Vietnam Library and wanted my collection. I still have all of it, but at my age, 78 not much need to keep it all.

@jtfoog5220

Күн бұрын

@@jeffsena9140 thank you for responding back to my comment. So, if I am understanding you correctly, TCU has copies of the tapes in their possession as well? If you don’t mind I am also curious how you recorded the missions. A personal tape recorder you brought along? I am also wondering what else, from someone’s first hand perspective, is missed from these audio transcripts. What was it like being the “first line of defense” for the big slow moving bombers, laying down chaff in front of them?

@jeffsena9140

Күн бұрын

@@jtfoog5220 I still have the tapes and slides. I carried a Panasonic tape player and a 35mm Pentax camera. Old school gear was the only thing available 52 years ago! I used a Y cord taped into the aircraft radio and intercom system. Tapes captured radio transmissions and intercom conversations, and need to be cleaned up from static and four letter words! Many aircraft were involved in supporting Buff’s Chaff, Electronic jamming, MiG Cap and pre and post strike air refueling. Navy ships in the Gulf of Tonkin supplied threat info that was tracked and dealt with. A very complex operation fifty two years ago!

Thanks for posting this. My dad was the Nav on White 2 and I was fascinated watching his cell move across the map into safety! I was only 14 months old at the time. He told me about this video a few years ago (probably 3 years, based on the age of his comment below), but just hadn't found the time to sit down and listen to it all the way through. Am always mindful of the anniversary of Linebacker 2 when it comes up.

Wow! As a former Buff Nav... Bravo sir! I know how difficult this must have been to put together and is most appreciated. Nice work on the charts as well. Many thanks for a great walk down memory lane.

@ForecastLab

8 жыл бұрын

Thank you.

I watched the entire video. Very fascinating. And eerie.

@jackwhite9395

5 жыл бұрын

I've watched it several times. it's an amazing part of history.

Thank you for putting this together. This is historic gold. Well done

@ForecastLab

8 жыл бұрын

Thank you. It's definitely a noteworthy event in military history.

Thank you, Tim, for providing another recording of those events; My crew flew Linebacker I and 4 sorties during Linebacker II: McCoy E23 flew out of Guam on December 18, 20, 26, and 29. I have our tape recording from the first night (18 DEC). Being the gunner on those D models, I had the best seat in the house. On 18 DEC Lilac 2 was shot down - you hear references to that occurrence on my tape, though we didn't realize what had happened until later when the tape was turned off.

Was an Air Intercept Controller aboard the USS Truxtun DLGN-35 (Red Crown) stationed near Haiphong harbor during Linebacker II. This brings back memories. Thanks for posting.

@cosetteudx

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks for all the support we had Red Crown and many others.

@flite11

6 жыл бұрын

Flying F-4s off the USS Midway during that time, I had the pleasure of visiting the USS Truxtun and finally meeting in person some of the very fine Red Crown controllers there with whom I had worked with before. A very good memory.

@bantumwt

4 жыл бұрын

@@flite11 We may have met. You guys had guts. Thank you for commenting.

@flite11

4 жыл бұрын

@@bantumwt Thank youl

I watched SAMs going up that night from offshore. I'll never forget it. A few weeks later the planes carrying our POWs flew right over our ship in route to Clark AFB.🇺🇸⚓️🎖

@dailymedia7767

5 жыл бұрын

I meet someone he said that during his mission he fly from clark pick up bomb. Then drop to north vietnam.then back to clark pick up bomb again drop to northvietnam.but he never told what plane he use.maybe a defferent type of bomber plane.not a b52.

This is far and away one of the best....and most valuable videos on KZread. I've watched this a number of times. Every few months I come back to listen. For anyone having been on a military flight crew......it's so tense....but also so "familiar"......I miss it sometimes.

@polarbear5464

2 жыл бұрын

Unique video, very interesting information

I''m also a student of military history. I'd heard these tapes before, but the visual took it to a whole new level. Thanks for all the work you put in!

This is the 4th time I came back here to watch this vid, absolutely fascinating, listening to the build up in the radio chatter, wow, I wouldve loved to have been there watching everything that was going on. I wish there were more vids like this....

Excellent depiction of history. I will be using this site for a presentation about B-52 operations in Vietnam soon. My sincere thanks and appreciation for whoever produced it. I flew this mission and was at Utapao when Ash 01 crashed.

I was on Guam TDY from the 97th BW 97th FMS working AR shop when we launched this Christmas "max effort." Never a scene like it before or since. Most every B-52 on this planet participated except for the H models back in the world. The crews told us on recovery after the first week the Vietnamese simply had no more SAMs to shoot, they effectively shot their wad between 12/20 and 12/27. One AC told us afterwards flying over Hanoi was like flying over Washington DC. They were disarmed and had no air defense whatsoever, so the next time, you're told the US lost the War in Vietnam, remind them of Linebacker II and who didn't want nor could take any more, it was not us yanks for the record.

@ronaldharris2439

4 жыл бұрын

I was with 97th FMS, '66-'68. March, '68, I went TDY to Kadena when the Pueblo was hijacked. 9 of us from different bases, set up the bomb lift repair shop. It was off-base, just off the flight pattern. I ran maint. section for MJ-1's. In May, a mod to the 27" table adapter, and the ram caps on the bomb trailers, came in at Guam. I went down, met with Gen. Cole, and the commander of 3rd Air Division, a Col., I don't remember his name right now. Any way, on the inside wall of the Col.'s office, was the status of all the AC in 3rd AD. At that time, Guam averaged 125 B-52 flights p/day, Utapao averaged 135 B-52 flights, and we had 25 at Kadena. That's 285 B-52's every day, 7 days a week, each dropping 78 750 lb bombs. Just prior to that, we had to stop bombing in N. Vietnam because Lady Jane and some Holly Wood types, went to Hanoi, (the 1st time) and complained that we were doing too much collateral damage. So, for the next couple of months we had to load 500 Lbders. We were going to switch to A bays & load 108 bombs p/plane, but were told not to. By the way, a few years ago, my wife and I went to Blytheville, and out to the base. On the main drag, just east of the hospital, was a memorial to the 10 crew members from the 2 97th plane that were shot down during this mission. No one is tending to this memorial. I think that sucks! That memorial should be tended to even though the base is closed! The VFW or some org. should adopt it & tend to it.

@thuankhong

Жыл бұрын

Foolish fabrication does not make failure less humiliating, less painful.Shame on you,the loser

This was utterly gripping. Please do more!

@ForecastLab

8 жыл бұрын

I've already put some feelers out to Maxwell AFB for additional tapes but haven't heard anything back yet.

What a precious historical video this is. Thanks for putting the effort and work into tracking down the archive and organizing it into this visual-audio document. I am very sorry to hear from your more recent comments that the other tapes had been lost, but at least we have this as a testament to what it was like.

@ForecastLab

Күн бұрын

Many thanks!

Who would have thought a video of blue dots moving around a map could be so riveting.

Wow. That was incredible to hear. Those guys had real courage.

was on RED CROWN watched these aircraft coming in over Tonkin Gulf, running light s out, prayers forward, and then the SAMs from the horizon, still get chills thinking about it, but didnt know what was going on till this day 11/22/17

Very interesting, 50 years later, me, a vietnamese from new generation, currently live in Hanoi, major target at that time, watching this operation from US side 's view on internet, and i am relieved that that time was long gone

@ForecastLab

Жыл бұрын

Me too. It is interesting seeing Vietnam and the US coming together as allies. Hoping for a time of peace and prosperity for all.

*from the outstanding book Linebacker II: A View From The Rock...cell integrity was paramount for ECM...Ash 1 and Ebony 2 were in 2 ship cells...the third ship of each cell having aborted at a point where a spare A/C was not able to join up...this caused a change in procedure where after an abort the two remaining A/C would join up on the cell ahead or behind forming a 5 ship cell... Dec 26 was the night of nights during Linebacker II...

@kenschell8270

Жыл бұрын

Col. McCarthy flew with my crew over Hanoi. Our names are in that book; he mistakenly call me 'Airman First Class' when I was Sergeant, I was the gunner on the mission he flew. Our crew: McCoy E23.

Absolutely awesome! My house burnt down while I was flying with LILAC 1. I didn't notice...

@grayman735

5 жыл бұрын

Ok this was better than reading about it in a history book in college. AWESOME!

I watched and listened and was fascinated. I then set the speed to 2x, muted the sound, rewatched it, and I was amazed. The coordination and speed of such a massive attack is awesome to behold.

@ForecastLab

6 жыл бұрын

It would also be interesting to see what it was like on the other side, in the VNAF command post.. I'm guessing they had to track all this with old-fashioned plotting boards and telephone nets.

@jtfoog5220

Күн бұрын

@@ForecastLabI’m fascinated by this too… I wonder if any record of such accounts is lost to time, or at the very least the language barrier. So much of history fades so quickly

There were also 6 aircraft carriers flying round-the-clock missions against N Vietnamese targets.

My crew & I flew Lavender 2 that night in B52G 6483 against the Thai Nguyen RR Yard& Power Plant 35N Hanoi (the unmarked course line in the upper left corner of this map). "In with 3 Out with 3"....

We lived 1/4 mile east of the end of the south runway at Carswell AFB from 1968 to 1976. Every day around dusk all the B-52s would be landing and I had a perfect view watching them land slowly just easing down beautifully.

wow. I must be in the twilight zone. I was at utapao- oct/70-oct 71 and june/72-june/73.I saw ash1 go down. I was oms ground crew chief on a plane (cant remember number but mine and other crew chiefs names were on it.) I was watching a refuel going on and I saw a buf flying low over the flightline. it was at night but the plane was so low and close I could see the co-pilot. I turned back to the refuel and shortly I heard a kaboom. I turned around and in the distance I saw a huge fireball. shortly, a chopper was flying near it. about, not sure, but a minute roughly later there was a secondary and even larger explosion. the chopper was already back away from it. this has been a mystery to me for a long time: I had heard a rumor that the gunner and co-pilot indeed survived. I also heard the tail broke off on impact which saved the gunner. another unconfirmed rumor I heard was that the gunner was hurt and couldn't bail after plane was hit. the pilot decided to try to bring it in to base. maybe someone who was there or knows all the facts can leave a comment.

@jschau11

6 жыл бұрын

I remember

@maxcorder2211

5 жыл бұрын

We were in the crew bus line to cross the end of the runway that night after landing. That airplane crashed in the jungle short of the runway. A pilot in the first bus got off the bus and jumped the perimeter fence and commandeered a baht bus and made him drive to the crash scene. He pulled the copilot out. The gunner got out, but all other crew were dead. The copilot who was saved, later was killed when the terrorists crashed an airplane into the Pentagon on 911.

@maxcorder2211

4 жыл бұрын

You have it pretty much right.

@1thepner

4 жыл бұрын

Please look up the book, "The 11 days of Christmas: America's Last Vietnam Battle." Loaded with info about the missions and planes that went in, those that crashed, a GREAT resource for info.

@m42037

4 жыл бұрын

@@maxcorder2211 God that's so horrible. I wish you guys would of did run after run of 52s until those evil barbarian VCs surrendered! A Nuk would of been better but we why that couldn't happen. 58k men lost for nothing! When those skumbags murdered 3000 human beings in America i wanted all those bastards dead in the Middle East. We should of nuked the sons of bitches i have nothing but hatred for them and BLM extremist's

Tim Vasquez. This video is amazing! To think I was up in a 135 out of Kadena in the purple anchor that night is awesome....to relive this night. Quite a story here.Thanks for sharing this (and others if you post them).

Man, those guys had steel balls, flying into a virtual wall of triple a and sams.

@sanfranciscobay

8 жыл бұрын

And, they flew missions over and over again, and some re-enlisted so they could continue to fly missions.

@aceace5867

4 жыл бұрын

I know, unbelievable... I don't think I could do it.

Being a military fan especially the fan of USA military myself as well as a Vietnam war history enthusiatic , I thank you very much for the effort you put on making this video Meteorology Lab / Tim Vasquez my friends. I like it very much. Please make another similar video of the other B-52 bomber's airmen communication thru their intercom during Line Backer 2 campaign, or even Line Backer if you can. Thank you again for this video.

Wow, can't even imagine this...what a piece of history. Have an acquaintance, former B-52 pilot, who was in Guam at the time and flew these missions. For all I know, he could have been on this one. Will probably never know if he was, as he doesn't like talking about his time bombing 'nam. However, he'll talk forever about his Cold War missions (i.e., Operation Chrome Dome). LOL He loved the Air Force and flying the B-52D.

I met a guy that studied at Purdue during the Vietnam War. In class he met a guy that was a retired navigator on a B 52. He was secretive...and did not want anyone to know about his service...

An NVA General said after the conflict was over that we were winning and the NVA was in terrible fear of the B-52's. Then an anal born President named Johnson halted the bombing and we lost the rest of the battle. Like Hitler in WWII, Johnson's constant meddling in the conflict cost our country the conflict. I lost a lot of friends and fellow soldiers in that unwarranted mess and I have never forgiven Kennedy for escalating the thing by putting fighting forces on the ground when ALL we were supposed to do was act as advisors. BUT, he listened to big industry and we lost a lot of lives needlessly in a conflict we were NEVER meant to win. When Kennedy got capped I did not mourn because I knew what he had done and the price we were paying for his anal minded decision. To those that served during that time, A heartfelt salute to you all from another Vietnam era vet.

Just listening to this makes me feel anxious! Amazing how you feel like a stowaway on this mission! Thank you for the effort in production as well as the upload. Gratitude for your service obviously!

I've read the book "The 11 Days of Christmas" by Marshall L. Mitchell III and he goes into a lot of detail about each night of the mission. It explains in the book how the North Vietnamese were able to track individual B-52s with their Fan Song radars despite intense jamming during the first days of Linebacker II and how the revised tactics used in the later days made then unable to track anything at all. What isn't widely known is that when the B-52s were over Hanoi dropping their bombs there was an SR-71 flying directly overhead at 80,000 feet and the crew could actually see the planes and the flashes of the bombs detonating through their downward view scope.

@joshuaecht

4 жыл бұрын

That makes sense; the U-2s were up there too on the Guard frequency, from what I have read. This is the first time I've heard of the SR-71s but have read years ago the U-2s were involved.

@thuankhong

2 жыл бұрын

B52 aircraft in the last days still shot down as many as in the early days. The false boasting of the Americans is very ludicrous. Only on December 23 & 25, no B 52 was shot down, the rest of the days the B52 was still shot down

@thuankhong

Жыл бұрын

-VN Using 3cm waves to detect B52 -Vietnam knows that when the plane changes direction, the interference is the worst, so it should be shot on the plane at this time - Using missile control waves to deceive the aircraft pretending to be B52 must fly away -Use tricks to deceive Shrike. Never underestimate others

@thuankhong

Жыл бұрын

Stupid fabrications about Vietnam "running out of missiles "did not make the defeat of Linebaker 2 less catastrophic. The fact that the US had to sign the Paris Agreement with the conditions agreed upon before bombing and victory in 75 was a hundred-year disgrace of arrogant people in US

This is really interesting! Thank you for putting it together.

excellent work! very addicting but also quite terrifying. regards from Switzerland!

Thanks for this, its good to hear professionals at work.

can't thank you enough for putting this together Tim. I've remade this scenario in Command Air and Naval.. I tend to lose planes to the Fan Song_F model Sam's. also the G's don't make it all the way from Guam! tankers needed..

Thank you for posting this video, must of took a lot of work to put together. Incredibly tense listening to the actual transmissions, read the explanations in your notes and being able to see the plotting / timings on the map. As for the crews, they were certainly a special breed.

I think that whatever side people were on [physically or politically] then or now; one cannot deny the value this contribution makes to the Historical record. And you must feel very honoured and encouraged to have so many crew in here, adding their own information etc. I remember the Vietnam conflict and other situations during the 1960s and 70s and it was all part of my growing up. There is SO MUCH here to watch and read in more detail later, but I would just like to personally show my appreciation to Tim and ALL those fine crews who were there; and who have made this a valuable resource. Thank you.. From Jack in the UK.

@ForecastLab

7 жыл бұрын

I appreciate it! Thanks to help from my Air Force contacts I have managed to locate additional Linebacker II B-52 mission tapes. The December 21 1972 mission (Night #4) is expected to appear on this channel later this year providing the transfer goes smoothly.

@jackharrison6771

7 жыл бұрын

Your welcome. And that's great news. Again we're ALL lucky to still have those crews amongst us, these days. Jack.

@spokanedogtrainingclub5546

6 жыл бұрын

I am looking forward to your doing Night 4. I also flew that night in Gray cell. We were between Scarlet and Blue cells that night. Scarlett 3 and Blue 1 were both shot down. We had a SAM go off close enough from the plane at 60 seconds to go on the bomb run that it shook the plane.

@72Rdrunner

5 жыл бұрын

@@ForecastLab There is a treasure trove of information on not only SAC operations in SEA but others too in the Air University Library and Research Center at Maxwell AFB. As time passes more and more of it is declassified and released to the public.

@boomsaxagofia

Жыл бұрын

Hi Tim, I don't suppose anything came from those additional tapes? I have been obsessed with this recording for years and would love to hear more. Thanks so much for creating this.

Incredible! Just had this pop up in my recommended videos. It would be amazing to see some operations from the Gulf war. I know you have a lot of other projects to complete first. Thanks for this Tim.

This is a work of art.

Wow!!! Superbly done video. Informative and fascinating.

Amazing job Tim. I flew B-52s from 2005-2018. It's crazy to listen to the cockpit voice...the checklist for GP weapons does not seem to have changed between 1972 and the last time I flew.

@fordwk

4 жыл бұрын

Bran, I applied and was accepted for B-52G Gunner Training in 1991, but then the AFSC "closed" while I was waiting for my school date; was offered and accepted Airborne Comm Operator...LOVED it but wished I had a few years on the "G". Cheers!

Thanks Tim for assembling this audio n visual.

THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT UPLOAD, TIM. JUST FASCINATING.

Wearing some Sony MDR 7506 headphones, I can pick up a few areas where your sub-titles can be correctly slightly. You may already be aware of these, but I'll post them here anyway. 1) At 10:31 it should be "Armed and on." 2) At 10:38 it should be "Crew we have a lot triple-A out here, and lots of it at our altitude so you can be prepared..." 3) At 10:52 I think it should be "Copper are you in with all ships in your wave?" 4) At 12:08 it should be "Lilac group, 281." 5) At 16:49 it should be "Negative sir, are you painting us both?" 6) At 16:54 I think it should be "OK, give the plot for Pinto." 7) At 25:56 I think it should be "Slightly left, below the airplane." Chilling video, especially when you put up the graphic about the ultimate fate of Ash-1. War sucks.

@ForecastLab

8 жыл бұрын

Excellent, thanks for the corrections.

@bluehornet6752

8 жыл бұрын

No problem--thanks for all the work putting this audio together with the moving map! Riveting, and chilling to hear those guys getting hit...

Magnificent!! Thank you for the upload.

Mr Vasquez Sir, Thanks for this! What a cool recording!

TEABALL's "real time" SAM LAUNCH and BANDIT calls came courtesy of an orbiting U2 known as "OLYMPIC TORCH", which downlinked and relayed critical NVA SIGINT in real time to the 6908th SS at NKP base in Tailand, all by "line of sight". OLYMPIC TORCH was capable of detecting both "launch and track" signals from NVA SAM positions instantly from a height of 80,000 feet, and was also relaying real time, NVA GCI data the same way whenever MiGs were launched. In fact, TEABALL calls "negative bandits, negative negative bandits" a couple times, thus reassuring the anxious Buff crews and gunners over Hanoi that no NVA GCI MiG activity was being detected on HF or UHF bands, so they could concentrate fully on VID of SAM threats and only be looking down, not up. Yet still, even in the darkness over Vietnam, a few "guns" did manage to spot the looming shadows in the dark of escort F-4's tasked with providing CAP for the mission, and actually commed up and asked for a PID of these intercepts by saying, "Crown, are we supposed to have company?". You bet your ass you are. In short, for these huge missions we knew everything the NVA was doing in the air, the exact second they did it. In most cases in fact, before the rest of their own war fighters did. You wonder how these huge, slow moving B52's could survive even a single trip through "the most heavily defended airspace in the world" with "only" a couple casualties? It's because the NVA were facing the most technologically superior country in the world, and we could defeat 99% of their SAM capability on these missions by simply blasting them off the RF planet when the crews detected their launches in time. Only rarely in fact, did we lose B52's to "lucky shots" or poor formation technique during these raids, so heavy was the ECM shield "thrown down" on these missions. Obviously, the situation was different during regular CAP missions and for ground support fighters operating randomly over the country. But for these big raids, between the F105 Wild Weasels, the B-52's ECM payload, to the F-4's armed with ECM pods, the NVA was stymied very badly as they tried to shoot down what surely must have been one HELL of a bomb run. It must have been pretty frustrating to see virtually every missile you fired go stupid almost the second it left the rail when your cities were being devastated by B-52 drops....LOL. Wonder if they asked for their money back from Russia? Always remember this: The US "lost" in Vietnam because WE CHOSE to. The simple fact is that we actually had the damn thing won, until gutless, weak, and indecisive action by the left wing hacks in this country prevented an "all out" US victory. Period.

@richardbini8468

3 жыл бұрын

I on position at Teaball monitoring and reporting SAM and Mig activity (there was none) during this raid. Heard several B-52s shoot downs reported over the NVN Sam Controller network.

@724bigal

2 жыл бұрын

So what is Red Crown?

@ALSNewsNow

2 жыл бұрын

@@724bigal It was basically the master primary control for NVA airspace, and was located inside a ship parked in the Gulf of Tonkin, but I can't remember which one it was.

@Dr.Fatherland

Жыл бұрын

@@ALSNewsNow So I'm assuming it was the left's fault from preventing Nixon to change the terms of the Paris Peace Accords. ''Senator Henry Jackson, tried to persuade Nixon to make a televised address to explain to the American people that "we bombed them in order to get them back to the table. It would have been extremely difficult to get informed observers in the U.S. to believe that he "had bombed Hanoi in order to force North Vietnamese acceptance of terms they had already agreed to". - From Wikipedia.

@jameshenderson1836

Жыл бұрын

@@richardbini8468 We were also flying Combat Apple during that mission!

Basically you're watching a fuckload of heavy bombers delivering a metric load of ordnance.

@baronvonspeed9305

5 жыл бұрын

They were actually SAE loads.

@grayman735

5 жыл бұрын

Ok how many B52s? So I assume the F105 wild weasels were jamming the SAMs radars and hunting them.

REALLY well done. Having been in an operations room as an operation is being conducted, this is very similar to watching the real thing....minus some of the sensitive information. This does a very nice job of giving a better sense of the scale of this massive operation.

Great vid with outstanding detail. I have never seen anything like it previously. I cant wait for the next one!

@ForecastLab

8 жыл бұрын

I heard back from the archival office that possibly has the other crew tapes, so we'll see if it pans out.

@magna750

8 жыл бұрын

That would be awesome. I have heard a full length Wild Weasel audio piece here on YT. If that would be of any use to you it would make for a great vid as well.

That would be great if you can do more video like this about Operation Arch Lite, Operation Nigaragua 2 ( the one about bombing outside Khe San by B-52 during Tet Offensive in 1968.) Or even other air operations carried out by jet fighter F 4 Phantom, Sky Hawk, F101 Super Saber and so on. Even the records of Bell ( Huey ) helicopter pilots and their gunners intercom communication. Thank you very much again for the effort that you put on making this video Meteorology Lab / Tim Vasquez my friends. Cheers.

Amazing, Love learning the history. I work H models as a crew chief. I’ve been inside a D and G model at the outdoor museum at Barksdale. That D-model looked like a death trap inside if the plane were to go down in battle. Some badass crews back then. Much respect!!!

@greasyflight6609

3 жыл бұрын

To you as well

Imagine for a moment how different this same raid would look if flown today using modern weapons. Instead of directly overflying the target area with a cell of 3 Buffs, each dropping 108 free fall dumb bombs, they would each attack with 20 AGM-158 JASSM-ER cruise missiles, never getting any closer to the coast than about 500 miles. There would probably be some MALD decoys and jammers released as well for good measure. In those days you had to simply plaster the target area with bombs to ensure the target was destroyed. Today, the weapons are so precise that in many cases you only need one or two weapon impacts to ensure target destruction. It is really amazing how far technology progresses over the span of a few decades. Granted, we don't have as many B-52 bombers remaining in service today (76) as flew on the December 26th Linebacker raids (over 100 bombers). But with far more precise weapons, even a much smaller number of bombers could have hit these same targets and destroyed them, all the while remaining outside the range of North Vietnam's air defenses. The B-52 may be an old warrior, but it is still an incredibly capable one. Constant updates and new weapons have ensured the B-52 remains a vicious pit bull with a bite even worse than its bark. It is hard to believe the B-52 has remained relevant for so many years. Yet it in some ways it is even more lethal and harder to counter today than it was in 1972. The taxpayers in this country definitely got their money's worth out of this platform! It is amazing to research the history of Strategic Air Command. What a truly incredible group of professionals these folks were. Their attention to detail, their thoroughness, there's never been anything that compares to it. Most of us make countless mistakes every single day. We shrug them off and go on. That wasn't the case within SAC. It was truly a mistake free culture. They checked everything, then checked it again. And again. They were meticulous in their planning, which ironically led to some B-52 losses during this bombing campaign by being a bit too rigid in their procedures and repeating the same tactics initially. Even so, this was still the most incredible fighting force in the history of mankind. I am just glad that it was never necessary to call upon them to do the one mission that was their primary focus from the organizations birth in the late 1940s until the command was inactivated in the early 1990s. Watching this video makes me want to go pull up a video of a B-52 MITO launch! For those unfamiliar, SAC developed the MITO takeoff as a way to quickly get the alert force off the ground and into the air quickly, in the event of a surprise Soviet attack. As soon as the alert klaxon would sound, the crews would rush to their aircraft, perform cart starts and immediately taxi to the runway. Then they would take off in quick succession, with only 15 seconds between aircraft! These guys were so good and rehearsed that they could get an entire squadron of these aircraft and their accompanying KC-135 tankers airborne in a matter of minutes. Seeing these massive bombers take off in the wake turbulence of the aircraft in front of them is a sight that never ceases to impress. SAC definitely set the standard. Never before or since have I seen any military force capable of doing what they did on a daily basis.

These air crews were so incredibly professional in the face of possible death. I wish we had recordings of the 8th Air Force raids of Germany in WW2.

@nathanrodriguez780

4 жыл бұрын

My grandfather was a gunner on a B-24 in the 8th Air Force .. the "Flying Eight-Balls Over Europe." I'm with you on this.

Thank you for sharing and thank you to all the brave airmen and service personnel who helped bring this war to an end. True American Hero’s all!

@thuankhong

Жыл бұрын

Not heroes, but coward bastards who bombed Bach Mai hospital and the most densely populated area in Hanoi, Kham Thien, killing 300 doctors and 1300 civilians. This is a terrorist bombing against the Vietnamese civilians and the government of Vietnam, forced Vietnam to accept the US's conditions, but the US failed miserably militarily and politically. 34 B52 planes were shot down: The Paris Agreement signed with the conditions agreed before the bombing. then the US government hides the American people and cheats like always.

What a great find this is! Your hard work gathering all this data and audio and then formulating it into a understandable media is awesome! I wonder if the "transfer" of the other Air Force audio was successful? Again thanks for the hard work....now if we can get some young people to listen!

@ForecastLab

7 жыл бұрын

The tapes are in deep in some federal archive facility and it may be months before they get processed out and get shipped, but we should have them this year I think.

Everyone involved is this war has a story to tell. The pilots and air crew went about their business of flying and bombing like the average person eats and sleeps. They just did it knowing that they could crash and be captured/tortured. Brave bunch of men. When they are on their bomb run, they have to fly straight and are an easy target for those on the ground or in the air who want to shoot them down.

@atletuan1767

5 жыл бұрын

Brave bunch of men bombing on innocent citizens and children

Never take this down. Just awesome. Thanks. Feb 9, 2020.

This mission sounded familiar so I checked my log books. I was flying a radio relay mission over the water. We had 5k feet of cable we towed. When Ash headed to U Tapo we ended up refueling him. I went back to look at Ash and when I returned it was obvious that we needed to get on the ground also. After some discussion it was decided that we would land 1st. As we cleared Ash tried go around. The tail struck the runway and broke off. We were regenerated with a medivac unit on board . Took the gunner to Clark. Never found out what the end result was. The nurses on board said he had a broken back. The rest of the crew perished when the plane hit that little hill off the end of the runway.

@joebagadonuts5573

4 жыл бұрын

Gunner and copilot survived. Ironically the copilot went on to have a staff assignment to the Pentagon and was killed when the 9/11 attack took place. I knew Jim Turner the aircraft commander as I flew out of Robins in tankers.

I recall a Soldier of Fortune article on Linebacker II, noting that the flight paths of the "buf" cells all followed essentially the same line, as the livemap here clearly shows and also the same altitude range. The article claimed the NV SAM/AA batteries used this to their advantage, as they could launch predicting another cell was to follow on the same vector and altitude, better concentration of fire, more hits. This tactical disadvantage was reported but ignored by SAC, who continued using predictable flight paths despite mounting losses.. Nixon in his biography claimed he heard about this problem (hinting it a tip-off) and claims he ordered SAC to change tactics, which they did: all cells were given separate flight paths and altitude, with no losses after that innovation.

@JimEdds

8 жыл бұрын

and the Dec 26th 1972 was much different than the 18th-24th raids. Omaha didn't plan that one. They came in from different directions too. Didn't have to make the huge PTT that greatly decreased their jamming. Lots of things were changed.

@enlightenedwarrior7119

5 жыл бұрын

Yes the general I forgot his name changed it and caught shit from it

This is a great video. Cool concept and thank you for posting this.

'Shot Gun Shot Gun' at 33:29 is a weasel calling an AGM-45 anti-radiation missile launch.

(Listens to how calm they are, dodging SA-2s, MiG-21s and trying to not run into their own aircraft in the formation) "Maybe my job isn't THAT bad..."

A big respect to all you crew 🤘

Thanks for doing this vid! Great for me to get a small sense of what went on!

An amazing work of recreation of that strike. Thank you to Mr. Vasquez for it. To those of you that were there or serving in support I can only say thank you for your service to our nation. A nation that sometimes didn't desrve your service and sacrifice. I was but a 6 yr old kid when this strike occurred so again I can only say thank you.

How many B-52s you want to raid on Hanoi? US: yes

I was on Guam during this. This was from the Linebacker operations, part of the ArcLight missions. (Guam 72-73, 43rd SPS)

@ForecastLab

8 жыл бұрын

There's a PDF that can be Googled called "LINEBACKER II: A View From The Rock". Looks like interesting reading for anyone who served at Andersen. I read most of it and it was more massive of an operation back at home base than I had ever imagined.

@smokebeau

4 жыл бұрын

I knew Col. Allison who wrote "A View from the Rock". He was our neighbor at Blytheville. Good man, I dated his daughter.

Very thrilling and powerful! !

This is very informative; you should really do more of these.

@ForecastLab

8 жыл бұрын

I definitely want to do more, the problem right now is getting the Maxwell AFB library to cooperate with finding more of the combat mission tapes.

@stoneyj50

8 жыл бұрын

Tim, I tried working with Maxwell re archival stuff last year and due in part to sequetration some staffing positions in their archive work were killed. I was told that I was free to come up there and dig for myself since I was retired military.

@72Rdrunner

5 жыл бұрын

@@ForecastLab I put a post to you further up about Maxwell. It is a treasure trove of information. Hopefully you will be able to access it. I spent a year at ACSC in '80-'81 there and a lot of time in the Library. Fortunately I had a security clearance because at that time most of the stuff was classified. You're doing a great job, keep it up...sorry I missed seeing your work for so long. Ran across it on Facebook in the "Friends of SAC" page.

Teaball was an RC-135 callsign combat apple, I know cause I was flying on it that night.

@greasyflight6609

3 жыл бұрын

God bless you man...Thank you

Please please do more of these...I was riveted to my screen...I know crews who flew these missions, a Thud pilot a B52 pilot who was shot down but he and his crew made it out over the gulf and ejected, picked up by Navy.

@ForecastLab

8 жыл бұрын

I'm making some progress finding the other tapes. However if I do manage to acquire them it will take months to do another one. This was a huge project.

@cindyjenkins17

Жыл бұрын

I worked for them Major Leroy Stutz a POW during these raids he said they felt the walls and earth shaking and also felt Joy. 61st aircraft maintenance unit Mac Dill AFB Tampa Fla 77-80

Amazing video! Outstanding!

I can't imagine the planning that went into this. Well orchestrated. This retired US Navy Aerographer's Mate want to know, why Meteorology Lab?

@ForecastLab

7 жыл бұрын

This is primarily a meteorology channel. Military history is a hobby.

Wow, that was incredible ! Such chaos !

Very impressed with the bravery of these men. Salute! You are absolute heroes in my eyes.

That was insane - what a great resource. A couple of questions if you have the time: - Are all the on the map just B-52 bombers? I cant see Romeo (declared winchester) or List (fighter cover?). - What is the sam uplink they keep talking about? Is that how they tell if the missile is being guided towards them? - When the various crews are talking about traffic, who is that likely to be? Other US bombers / fighters? Fantastic video, I'd love to see more. One suggestion if you ever do more - I'd like to see either a heading indicator for each cell, or some sort of tail so you can get a sense of direction. Thanks for this video.

@ForecastLab

7 жыл бұрын

I don't have any info on fighter/support positions, just the bomber cells. The SAM uplink is a radio signal guiding the NVA missiles. The crew are talking to one another inside the airplane about 98% of the time.

@ALSNewsNow

6 жыл бұрын

2DFlightSim "uplink" is how the SA2 missiles were guided. Our 3 ship ECM pacakages were designed to spray the maximum amount of RF wattage right back down at the NVA. Once the cell had been painted by radar, the direction of the missile's guidance radar would quickly be determined by the EWO, and he would say "I'm working on it", or "got it" or whatever, and all 3 ships in the fomation would then sweep and blast the missile guidance radar set with massive amounts of RF energy until the missile either went dumb, or it thought it was time to detonate (another ECM trick). Did American ECM jamming work well? This video is proof positive it damn sure did.

This video is beyond belief on so many levels, this is an archival worthy masterpiece that should have a place in the library of Congress!!

@anthonycorapi8086

4 жыл бұрын

To all veterans, because of your service you all make me beam with pride and i am honored to be a former Marine and a part of your ranks because of your service SEMPER FI

How do you clear out a Vietnamese bingo hall? Call out "B-52!"

Thank you for sharing this real-time audio along with the explanations!!

@ForecastLab

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Rich!

@greasyflight6609

3 жыл бұрын

@@ForecastLab Thank you as well

This was awesome, I have mega respect for these crews and any other guys flying over Hanoi.

Tim - This is incredible. My father was a B-52 pilot during Vietnam and flew during Linebacker II. He knew Bob Hymel (Ash 1) and his plane is also flying another one of the planes in this graphic. Would you mind telling me where you found the audio files?

This is amazing man, you should make more!

@ForecastLab

5 жыл бұрын

Wish I could... my contact at Maxwell AFB said the other tapes from the other missions are too degraded to be transferred... it's really a shame.

@knottsscary

5 жыл бұрын

Meteorology Lab / Tim Vasquez Aww man. Well lets hope one day more are discovered in good quality and you can make more of these! Haha.

@fusion1799

5 жыл бұрын

@@ForecastLab Man, that sux! Would really like to hear more of the raids on NV during LB1 & 2.

@PuzzlingEvidenceTV

4 жыл бұрын

@@ForecastLab For anyone who might try it, one can bake tape to restore its properties long enough to digitize.

GREAT STUFF. Linebacker was a very thoughtful gift for old Uncle Ho.

@thuankhong

Жыл бұрын

.The gifts for the beasts were deaths and a humiliating escape from Vietnam like the defeated

379th Wurthsmith with TDYs to Kadena, Anderson, and U-Tapao for ARCLight and Young Tiger support, with two tours in Vietnam, Phu Cat and Tuy Hoa

During that time and comparison to now Hanoi was supposedly the most heavily guarded city on Earth. You can tell by videos, amount of lost planes. It had to be a living nightmare fly through

thank you for this video please do more of them

@ForecastLab

7 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Great history. To all the crews of all flights and aircraft. plus Red Crowns. Thank you and God bless you all.

Awesome upload! Thank you !

@ForecastLab

6 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Fascinating.