General LeMay, longtime architect and commander of the Strategic Air Command, did not take kindly to less than desirable results on his watch. Exercising his dictatorial powers, he personally selected and fragged a target in Laos. It would be Barrel Roll Mission 9, scheduled for January 12. The target was a small, reinforced wooden bridge, the Ban Ken bridge, over the Nam Mat river roughly 12 kilometers east of the town of Ban Ban, which was located on Route 7 at the eastern edge of the Plain of Jars (Plain de Jares). Route 7 was a major supply route from North Vietnam, turning west at Vinh, crossing the mountains at the Barthelemy Pass, down through the jungle to join Route 4, which was an even larger supply route to Southern Laos, Cambodia, and South Vietnam.
Huns and thuds
The force for this mission would be the largest to date. General LeMay directed that 16 F-105s and four F-100s from Thai bases would join four F-100s based at Da Nang to compose the strike force, and that an RF-101 Voodoo reconnaissance fighter act as a pathfinder to lead the strike force to the target.
In keeping with restrictions in Thailand, the fighters would be loaded with their ordnance and flown to Da Nang for the mission launch. The F-105s, affectionately referred to as Thuds, were each loaded with eight 750-pound Mk117 general purpose bombs or six 750-pound bombs, and two AGM 83 Bullpup missiles. The F-100s would be armed with AGM-83s and CBU-2 cluster bomb weapons to provide flak suppression.
This story is from the January - February 2023 edition of Flight Journal.
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This story is from the January - February 2023 edition of Flight Journal.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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IT HAD TO BE THE MOST HELPLESS FEELING in the world: you're at 25,000 feet over Europe knowing that your primary function is to drop bombs-or flying escort for the bombers while being a slow-moving target for some of the world's finest shooters. However, you have John Browning's marvelous .50 caliber invention to give some degree of protection. Unfortunately, you're absolutely helpless against flak. Piloting and gunnery skills play no role in a game where sheer chance makes life and death decisions. For that reason, the Krupp 88 mm Flak 18/36/37 AA cannon could be considered WW II's ultimate stealth fighter. You never saw it coming.
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