Article about the use of jet aircraft to block a Việt Cộng offensive

Item

derivative filename/jpeg

363-05964 to 363-05971.pdf

Digital Object Identifier

363-05964 to 363-05971

Title

Article about the use of jet aircraft to block a Việt Cộng offensive

Description

Original title: "jet evaluation", Keever's title: "500-MPH Jets Rescue Embattled Government Forces from Communist Attackers", article about the use of jet aircraft to block the Communist Việt Cộng's offensive against ARVN forces

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Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.

Transcript

deepe jet evaluation--1 july 8, 1965 SAIGON--American jet aircraft are being effectively used to block the Communist Viet Cong’s thrust into the crucial third and final [XXXX indicating deletion] phase of the war. “Nobody thought that five-hundred-mile-an-hour jets could be used against guerrillas--until they were first tried,” one American jet pilot explained. “But on our first strike, there was a thunder of secondary explosions from the target. We had hit a Viet Cong ammo depot in their [XXXX indicating deletion] jungled stronghold area.” [XXXX indicating deletion] Reliable military sources say that the American jets have cut in half the reaction time of flying from base to an outpost or town under attack, compared to the slower prop-driven aircraft. The stability of the aircraft, and not its speed, is a major factor in determining the accuracy of the bombing raids, [deletion: these sources bliev] and these sources say that jets are more stable firing platform than are [XXXX indicating deletion] [deletion: pro-dr] slower prop-driven aircraft. [deletion: Whil] Since the jets are considered to fly too fast for spotting Viet Cong guerrilla targets, they are usually directed [deletion: only] onto the target by slow-moving spotter aircraft piloted by forward air controllers. deepe jet evaluation--2 july 8, 1965 American jet aircraft were first used within South Vietnam on February 19th--when Vietnamese airplanes were grounded or diverted by the “false coup d’etat” which lead to the dismissal of Lt. Gen. Nguyen Khanh as commander-in-chief of the Vietnamese armed forces. Since then, the most spectacular success of the jets has been--ironically--[XXXX indicating deletion] assisting Vietnamese ground forces by pounding Viet Cong units during the heat of battle. These missions, called close tactical support, have turned the tide of nip-and-tuck battles in favor of the government; American generals, speaking in private, admit that the Communist offensive in the northern mountains was broken in February and March by the introduction of American jets into the war. The question now is how seriously low-hanging cloud covers during the rainy monsoon season will hamper the air support missions for Vietnamese ground forces--and perhaps for American combat troops. (More) deepe jet evaluation--2A The use of American jets to bomb [XXXX indicating deletion] Viet Cong hard-core base areas has been less visibly effective; the difficulty is in locating [XXXX indicating deletion] the areas that should be bombed. Thousands of tons of bombs had been dropped on these base areas, but [XXXX indicating deletion] only occasionally do ground forces push through the area to assess the results. Ground observers who swept through bits of the first area hit by B-52 Strategic Air Command jets from Guam, for example, were not impressed with the results. deepe jet evaluation--3 july 8, 1965 Some American military officials believe that the total number of Viet Cong casualties caused by airstrikes has jumped from 30 percent to 50 percent during recent months. Other military experts believe the American jetstrikes within South Viet Nam have been much more important, in terms of [insertion: increasing government] morale, than have the airraids in North Viet Nam. “The Vietnamese army would have been finished long ago without American airpower,” one Western military expert explained. “It’s the American [XXXX indicating deletion] and Vietnamese aircraft coming to rescue the ground troops that keeps them going.” An example of a spectacularly successful close air support mission occured the fifth day the American jets were used within South Viet Nam. For the first time in the history of the war, Viet Cong units, mostly newly infiltrated units from North Viet Nam, established a [deletion: fifty] thirty mile front line along Route Nineteen, leading from the mountain plateau city of Pleiku eastward to the South China Sea. After a series of devastating ambushes, the Viet Cong had succeeded in totally encircling a Vietnamese Ranger Battalion and a smaller unit of government irregulars, which had set up a defensive perimeter along a half-mile-long corridor on the national highway. (More) deepe jet evaluation--4 july 8, 1965 The Saigon command ordered the American jets to salvage the situation. For one hour, eight American-pilot B-57 Canberras flew in a continuous “racetrack pattern” on the southern side of the road, blazing out sizzling suppressive fire “to keep the heads of the Viet Cong down.” Meanwhile, eight F-100 Supersabres repeated the same mission on the northern side of the road. Down the middle of the road came 22 unarmed “Huey” helicopters, supported by 14 rocket-laden helicopters, which successfully landed [deletion: in] time and again to heli-lift out the encircled troops. Within an hour, more than 300 Vietnamese troops had been flown to safety. “These troops would have been chewed up and destroyed during the French Indo-China War,” one high-ranking American ground advisor explained. “But the jets saved them. The troops were so happy to be [deletion: saved] extracted they were in tears; the primitive Montagnard natives, who had never seen jets before, were jumping up and down clapping their hands they were so excited.” (More) deepe jet evaluation--5 In another case, a crack Vietnamese Marine battalion was encircled on three sides by Viet Cong regulars and were about to be over-run. “The American jets swooped in so close that some of their bombs wounded five or six [insertion: Vietnamese] Marines,” one reliable observer said. “But the Marines didn’t care about the hand-ful that were wounded--they thought this was real [XXXX indicating deletion] close tactical support which saved them from getting overrun.” (More) deepe jet evaluation--6 A number of the close tactical missions by American jets are made at night; American pilots jokingly complain they are becoming so expert at [insertion: night] flying [deletion: at night] they can now land on runways without turning on their airplane lights. (“It’s much safer to land without your lights on,” one American jet pilot explained. “We know there are two battalions of Viet Cong that always fire at us as we make our approaches to the Saigon runway; by keeping your [deletion: [illegible]] lights off you don’t give them such a good target.”) Many of the jet flights are also accompanied by “mother ships” which contain alot of highly classified electronic equipment designed to spot the enemy and to make jet flights more effective against the enemy. None of the [deletion: gagetry] electronic gagedtry has been overwhelmingly successful, according to reliable sources. One of the electric devises, generally contained in the “mother ship” which directs accompanying [XXXX indicating deletion] jet fighters and bombers, operates on the infra-red principle which measures varying differences of temperatures. Hence, cooking fires and squad size units of men [deletion: under the jungle canopy] can be detected though they are visibly hidden under the jungle canopy. “But the devise doesn’t tell us whether the people [deletion: is] are a Viet Cong unit or a [XXXX indicating deletion] some of the nomadic Montagnard tribes,” one reliable source explained. “We still don’t know whether we should bomb them or not.” deepe jet evaluation--7 The total number of American jets in South Vietnam is classified, but their numbers are known to include the United States Air Force F-100 series--F-100s, 101s, 102, 104s, and 105s--as well as the B-57 Canberras, [XXXX indicating deletion] Many of the B-57’s which had been based in Viet Nam were destroyed or damaged [deletion: by] at the Bien Hoa Airbase, 18 miles north of Saigon, first during the Viet Cong mortar attack on November 1 [insertion: last year] and later at a devastating accidental explosion on the base in mid-May. In addition to the American jets, both the Vietnamese Air Force and the United States Air Commandos operate a number of prop-driven Skyraider fighter-bombers. Despite the effectiveness of the jet airpower, however, Western military experts view their use as a defeat-delaying factor rather than a war-winning factor. They note that jets can pound the Viet Cong hard-core base camps and rescue government forces during the heat of battle. But in the total perspective of the guerrilla-subversive war, war material, including [deletion: the] airpower, can not guarantee security on the ground, [insertion: and] can not [deletion: substitute for] counter the political activities of Viet Cong cadre as they tighten their grip increasingly on the Vietnamese population. [deletion: That] The political activity to counter the Communist cadre at the village level is still the responsibility of the Vietnamese government and American political experts; no effective plan has yet been devised to attain this. -30-

Date

1965, Jul. 8

Subject

Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Jet planes, Military; United States. Air Force; Vietnam (Republic). Quân lực ; Mặt trận dân tộc giải phóng miền nam Việt Nam; Air warfare

Location

Saigon, South Vietnam

Coordinates

10.8231; 106.6311

Size

20 x 26 cm

Container

B187, F5

Format

dispatches

Collection Number

MS 363

Collection Title

Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers

Creator

Keever, Beverly Deepe

Collector

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