From Saigon, Some Doubts About a Battle That Might Be

Item

derivative filename/jpeg

363-04769.pdf

Digital Object Identifier

363-04769

Title

From Saigon, Some Doubts About a Battle That Might Be

Description

Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about fears of an attack of Saigon by China and the potential role of jet planes in the Vietnam War, page unknown

Transcript

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- Page 1
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8/16/64
From Saigon, Some Doubts
About a Battle That Might Be
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent
SAIGON.
Chinese Communist air-
craft that could fly as far
south as Saigon would have
had a limited bombing ca-
pacity, according to a high-
ranking United States Air
Force officer.
"The Chinese (Commu-
nists) have aircraft that can
fly as far south as Saigon,"
said Maj. Gen. Joseph H.
Moore, "but it would be a
serious question whether they
would undertake it."
Gen. Moore said the bomb-
ing capacity of Chinese Com-
munist aircraft would be re-
duced because of the flying
distance between Saigon and
North Vietnamese or Chinese
bases. Saigon is about 800
miles south of Hanoi, capital
of North Viet Nam, and 700
miles from a major Chinese
Communist air base on
Hainan Island. He said North
Vietnamese aircraft are only
transports and trainers.
The 50-year-old Air Force
general, commander of the
2d Air Division based in
Saigon, controls all U. S. Air
Force aircraft in both South
Viet Nam and Thailand. This
includes propeller-driven air-
craft used in Viet Nam's
counter-insurgency war, F-100
photo - reconnaissance jets,
and F-102 jet interceptors
and B-57 jet fighter-bombers
brought in last week to pro-
vide air defense against Com-
munist aircraft which might
have retaliated against Amer-
ican bombings of North Viet
Nam. The U. S. Navy air-
craft used in defending U. S.
destroyers against attack and
in bombing North Viet Nam
are part of the 7th Fleet.
Gen. Moore said he did not
know how long the American
jet interceptors and jet
fighter-bombers rushed here
last week would remain in
South Viet Nam.
"I don't know when they'll
consider the crisis past," Gen.
Moore said. "But the com-
mander in the field has to be
ready for any contingency."
He said that the frequent
"scrambling" of the newly-
arrived American jet inter-
ceptors and fighter-bombers
has been routine to keep pilots
in practice and to check the
aircraft. He said that un-
identified tracks on radar
screens have appeared, but
"each time we get up there,
we find only friendly air-
craft."
The unspecified number of
F-102 Delta Dagger jet inter-
ceptors and B-57 jet fighter-
bombers were sent to South
Viet Nam last week to provide
aerial defense in case of
North Vietnamese or Chinese
Communist counterattack.
The 1954 Geneva agreements
ending the French Indo-
China War prohibits the bas-
ing of jet aircraft in either
North or South Viet Nam,
but for the past year Amer-
ican photo reconnaissance
jets have been "transited" in
Saigon and in northern cities
of the Vietnamese republic.
Gen. Moore said the Geneva
agreements would rule out
use of the newly-arrived jets
in the counter-insurgency war
in South Viet Nam. But he
said the jets, if necessary,
would be useful in case the
Viet Cong guerrillas increased
the pace and intensity of their
war to the point of entering
the conventional warfare
stage called Phase III.
"It's nonsense to say that
jets are too fast (for counter-
guerrilla war)," Gen. Moore
said. "Jets can be flown as
slowly as prop planes and can
deliver their ordnance more
accurately. They provide a
firmer platform. And jets can
work at greater speeds when
they encounter heavier ground
fire.

Date

1964, Aug. 16

Subject

Vietnam War, 1961-1975--China; Jet planes

Location

Saigon, South Vietnam

Coordinates

10.8231; 106.6311

Container

B4, F6

Format

newspaper clippings

Collection Number

MS 363

Collection Title

Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers

Creator

Keever, Beverly Deepe

Copyright Information

These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.

Publisher

Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries

Language

English