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Legend has it that the engineers that worked at the bridge were later hired by the Nokia company to create a cellphone capable of withstanding bombing runs as well as the Dragon's Jaw Bridge did during the war.
They made the Nokia 5140. Civilians think it was the 3310, but they weren't tradies. Weirdly enough, still had console emulators available. 3310s, hard to kill. 5140s? Damn near impossible by any known human means.
@@Ozraptor4 nah, these are old wwii harden design, they are ment to survive a 500lb bomb, you can send a commando and plant a 500lb charge on the pillar and it still won't destory the bridge. the reason for developing precision weapon is not to do death star trench run but to avoid it, by allowing the pilot to fire further away to increase their chances of survival. to damage stuff you just need more explosive power, the military has a 2000lb bomb for the job. precision bomb are not create because the military need to blow something up, it is create to save pilot lives...
That's right. The USAF went back to this bridge in 1972 using a few Phantoms armed with laser guided bombs. They knocked the bridge out in one mission, iirc.
Props to the engineer of that bridge. With however little money it cost to build that bridge, it was enough to stop 100s of millions of dollars worth of explosives and air power from collapsing the bridge. That is efficiency.
The explosives and airpower were only a fraction of the cost. The sheer amount of man-hours devoted to planning and logistics, the pilot training hours, and the opportunity cost of using these resources more effectively is astounding. I am so glad I wasn't alive for Vietnam, what a needless boondoggle.
Vietnamese here, my grandpa was a mig pilot back in the day and he told me the story behind this. The north vietnam HQ knew for sure that the us will target Ham Rong bridge way before they actually lauch the first airstrike. They prepared a sofisticated AA layers to welcome any enemy aircraft , some claimed that not even Hanoi was this well defended until operation rolling thunder. The first SAM 2 land to air missile regiment stationed here to protect the bridge, not Hanoi or any important city. VN airforce was also on high alert everytime the us striked the bridge. Normally we just use a squadron of 2 migs against enemy formation, only to protect Ham Rong bridge that 8 migs were sent on the air at the same time. And about the bridge, it was designed to stand firm against the us attack, but at the same time it has to be easy to fix and replace the damage. I have no fcking clue how the engineer could have done this impossible task but they did. Whenever the US air raided at daylight, the military engineer will fix the damage at night and the bridge return to fully functional by dawn. It is like a gangster who have been through shit but stand firm and yes, the bridge can still be used until this day.
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For those who don't know, the gentleman with that spectacular mustache at the end is Brigadier General Robin Olds, mastermind behind Operation Bolo. He was a real life Maverick and overall big badass.
He was a double ace in WWII and scored several MiG kills in Vietnam. He commanded a fighter wing there and trained his pilots to be badasses and start killing MiGs, too. When he grew his mustache it was out of regs, but the Air Forces didn't dare tell him to shave it while he was in theater. His pilots all started growing them after that, too. You really didn't want to be a MiG pilot and have to share the sky with Olds and his Phantom crews.
Also he worked so hard to not get a 5th kill in Vietnam War knowing the USAF would pull him out of combat for war bonds tour the moment he became an Ace
See here. You draw line 1, representing bridge. Line 2, representing direction of attack. Now drop all the ordnance you like on a line which only intersects the bridge rarely and see how many ordnance actually hits the bridge.
On 27 April, twelve Phantoms of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, based at Ubon, Thailand attacked the Thanh Hóa Bridge. Eight of their number carried laser-guided bombs. The raid was carried out without a hitch, and when the dust of the explosions had cleared it became apparent that the bridge had been dislodged from its western abutment, dropping one half into the river.
@@jessicaregina1956 And within a few days the Vietnamese had built a pontoon bridge next to it and were right back to ferrying supplies over the river. It really is a microcosm of the US involvement in Vietnam.
For some reason, in my mind, when the F-105s start swarming to bomb the bridge, I can hear the seagulls from Finding Nemo. Possibly, instead of squaking "mine," it is perhaps "bomb, " "bridge," or "thud.""
One of the pilots shot down was Carlyle Smith Harris, known as Smitty Harris to his friends and fellow pilots. You referred to him as Carlyle Smith. Harris was his last name. He was the POW who developed the tap code as a captive in Hanoi. It was used by most of the POWs there, enabling them to communicate and encourage one another. My dad, Major Dewey Smith, joined Captain Harris in the Hanoi Hilton in 1967. The tap code helped him endure some rough times.
Thanh Hoa citizen here, we learns about the heroic tales of Ham Rong's defense since we were little kids. Thanks for covering its story in great details
Thanh Hoa resident here! There are alot of wreckages of us fighters and bombers still lying under the bed of the river, the bridge is still standing strong to this day, very proud of the people of my hometown for having put up such a incredible fight!
Mind if I ask how the Vietnamese view the war and modern day USA? I have talked to many Iraqis, Afghans, Serbians, Somalis, and Russians, but I've never had a proper conversation with anyone from Vietnam.
Lt Col Risner was an absolute legend. The man was already a Ace from Korea at the start of Vietnam. Look into him. He was featured on the History Channels dogfight show. Probably the best dogfight in modern history.
I live near this bridge in Thanh Hoa. My parents used to tell me that when they were younger, at night, if they looked in the direction of the bridge, they could see the horizon lit up with fire from the bombs and the anti aircraft guns firing, and sometimes, some fragments from the anti aircraft shells would land on their yards. My grandma had to cover her head with an iron basin to protect herself from the fragments every time she went to get the laundry. In high school, I used to cycle to this bridge and it seemed so surreal that such a small bridge was under constant attacks from the US and a lot of men and women lost their lives to protect this bridge.
I second Bolo! What a badass. Learned how to fly a F4 supersonic jet after starting his career before the sound barrier was broken, as an 06, and led the mission himself.
The problem was an accurate weapon with a high kinetic energy level. This was before the Paveway laser guided bombs and Walleye and HOBOS. Eventually in 1972 the USAF destroyed Dragons Jaw with a couple of Paveways dropped by F-Ds. The Bullpup was really an anti-vehicle/soft target weapon and dumb bombs tend to miss especially in the days before CCIP aiming aids and what we would consider a modern HUD. So really it should be “4xx bombs dropped against but an unknown amount but probably around 45% or more missing the bridge or not hitting in an effective spot”
@@tristanholland6445 Riiiight. The USA had been destroying bridges since WW2 with mass clusters bombs. We also had massive bombs that would kill battleships. It's ridiculous to think we couldn't do so in 1965.
@@Allmotorzl1 Bridges have always been notoriously difficult to birng down. What bridges do you refer to? What cluster bombs, what Mark? If for a massive bomb that would kill battleships you refer to the 1000 pounder carried by USN aircraft in WWII, they were used in steep dive bombing by slow moving aircraft. That'd been suicidal against the NVA defences and their far better AA armament. Now, for truly massive bombs that could kill a battleship, them Brits did so to the Tirpitz with their Tallboys. It's not ridiculous. Air combat paradigm had shifted years before Vietnam due to short-sightedness by the Brass and the USAAF/USN personnel were to pay for it, sadly.
Your Hanoi map right at the start is around 2015-2020 in satelite imagery and roads. A lot of those roads and the NIA terminal at Noibai airport did not exist in 196x
I love the foreshadowing by showing Col. Robin Olds. Looking forward to your video concerning Operation Bolo by this legendary WW2 ace and leader of men.
It was built by the French when they ruled the region. If I am not mistaken the sane man that designed the Eiffel Tower designed Dragons Jaw Bridge also it had different name under the French Paul Doumar (or some spelling surname)
Paul Doumer was the French governor-general from 1897 to 1902, the Long Biên Bridge in Hà Nội used to be named after him. The first Hàm Rồng (Dragon Jaw) was a tied-arch bridge built by the french in 1904, it was destroyed 1947 to delay the French invasion. From 1962-1964 the second bridge was built as a truss bridge, which will eventually be destroyed in 1972. The third bridge was built in 1973 on the second bridge's pier with the same design. It is still standing today.
@@eveningdew1460 yeah I thought of this stuff at 3am after a 10 hour shift. I looked it up later unfortunately could not find much on the construction history of Dragons Jaw. It sho8ld be said that these bridges were designed by the French but much of the labor to build them was Vietnamese.
Glad to hear you're doing more videos on the Vietnam war, the subject of my undergraduate dissertation in history. Could you also cover Linebacker 1 and 2. Also, more videos on the air war in the Falklands conflict would be appreciated. RIP Commander Sharkey.
Built by the French when Vietnam was part of French Indo-China the same man designed the Eiffel Tower. It was called Paul Doumar Bridge originally(definitely spelled the French surname wrong)
I built a model of one decades ago. I still remember my mom complaining when I said I needed 4 or 5 different Testor paint mini-jars to get the camo scheme right. Unfortunately, "Thumper" didn't survive. Catastrophic landing gear damage, after falling from my bedroom bookcase, ended her position in "pride of place". Later, given her condition, she was relegated to multiple backyard firecracker ground attacks. Bits and pieces continued to be found years later in the grass....
They should have tried using using something like the WW2 RAF'sTallboy bombs. Tallboy worked on the principle that a near miss was better than a direct hit, because while a hit would certainly damage the structure, Tallboy was designed to drill down through the earth adjacent to the target and explode at depth, blasting a huge cavity out from underneath the target, depriving it of its foundations and bringing it down. Wasn't there anything similar in the USAF's arsenal that the B52s could have carried?
In Vietnam USAF use the 15.000 Lbs "Dayse Cut" bombs dropped by C-130 for create landing zone in forest areas. The 1966 Carolina Moon Project involve big 4000 lbs (1814 kilos) floating barrel mines with sensors for explode under the Thanh Hóa Bridge, dropped by low level C-130 mission, the first mission in 30 May 1966 drop 5 mines at one mile from the bridge. Next day another C-130 disappear in a big explosion before reach the bridge, probable following the same pattern of the first attack, and the NVA gunners are awaiting. Later a NVA sailor POW say that 4 mines explode under the bridge but no significant damage was done. The bridge was made using "HoChiMinium". 😁
We had probably retired the similar "grand slam" bomb from the USAF inventory and no similar weapon would exist in the US inventory until 1991 when we improvised penetrating laser guided bombs from M110 8 inch howitzer barrels in a bid to assassinate Saddam Hussein.
@@naamadossantossilva4736 This again. The US didn't lose on the battlefield, but they didn't win on the battlefield either, it was a stalemate, the US couldn't expand control on the battlefield into VC territory and couldn't find anyway to win the war. It was a lost cause, there was no way for the US to win. And before you are going to say "but the US lost only 60,000 men while NVA and VC lost 1 million men", about that, ARVN lost 300,000+ men too, the total number of KIA including all US allies were 400,000, so the KIA ratio was about 1:2.5, it wasn't that bad for NVA and VC.
As usual, great writing, animation and excellent narration. Glad you're finally covering one of the most tragic wars in American history. Make sure to mention the ridiculous Rules Of Engagement imposed by Lyndon Johnson and the numbers game that McNamara played with our troops.
You know I was just thinking it's been a little while since The Ops Room uploaded, I've always enjoyed your channel and the Intel Report. Is there any chance of covering actions during the Korean war in the future? I feel like it's an interesting but largely unexplored conflict from a historical perspective.
My Uncle flew Thuds during this time. He was probably part of these raids. He was never shot down and retired from the Air Force several years ago. Nice video
Yeah the thunderchief could carry three 2,000 lb bombs or three 3,000 lb demolition bombs. The CCIP (continuously calculated impact point) targeting system worked for them just as well as the 750s. However it could carry sixteen 750s. My guess is the severely reduce number of bombs per aircraft meant that hit probability dropped dramatically. Without the ability to suppress air defenses accuracy probably was too low to score direct hits with such a small number of bombs. So a bigger blast from farther away failed just as badly. Don't know this for sure though.
Explosive power was not the problem accuracy was. This is an example of how modern air defenses can make attacking a target with unguided weapons very difficult. This is why weapons systems like laser guided and TV guided bombs were invented.
Yes, they try with big ordnance, in 1966 the Carolina Moon Project involve big 4000 lbs (1814 kilos) floating barrel mines with sensors for explode under the bridge, dropped by low level C-130 mission, the first mission drop 5 mines at one mile from the bridge. Next day another C-130 disappear in a big explosion before reach the bridge, probable following the same pattern of the first attack, and the NVA gunners are ready. Later a NVA sailor POW say that 4 mines explode under the bridge but no significant damage was done.
@@tristanholland6445 that's the older one and it was destroyed in 1947. This one we see in the video is a later bridge built in 1964 by NAVN to move troops in order to counter the USAF. The whole reason Rolling Thunder started because they rebuilt that bridge.
@@tristanholland6445 The Thanh Hóa ridge was build by the colonial French, but this was destroyed in 1945 by the Vietminh blowing a train full of explosives over the bridge. From 1957 up to 1965 was rebuild by North Vietnam, and used to send supplies for NVA an Vietcong in the South. Was under US aerial attack from 1965 to 1968 - including dropping floating mines by low flight C-130, too ineffective in damage the bridge. In 1968 the US end the Rolling Thunder bombing campaign and stopping bombing the North Vietnam - "a gesture of peace" they say. Only in 1972 during the Linebacker I bombing campaign over the North the bridge was destroyed again - "too little, too late" for make difference in the war. Latter was rebuild and still in use today.
Sometimes attaching the support is better than attacking the structure. Bridges and dams are a great example. Amazing how hard they are to take down with direct hits but how much damage can be caused by taking out the base.
If my memory serves, one of the 105 pilots, Lt Col. Robinson Risner, also served in the Korean War as an air superiority pilot in a F86 Sabre. Both himself and his stories from the war are featured in the show Dogfights in the pilot episode and I'd highly recommend giving it a watch here on UA-cam
"Many officers didn't take the Vietnamese Air Force seriously, and believed that missiles would make dogfighting obsolete." Vietnamese Trees: Ôi trời, lại thế này nữa rồi.
This is a perfect example of just how out of touch the US military was throughout the entire Vietnam War. Guerillas fighting off foreign invaders cannot be defeated with pure force, as it usually backfires and strengthens the resolve of fighters as seen with the Strategic Bombing Campaign during WW2
The viet cong cease to exist as military force by 1968. The only invaders were the north Vietnamese armies units attacking south Vietnam. You should read more and watch less porn.
One of the reasons the US lost the Vietnam war was because the military leaders failed to read Sun Tzu's 'Art of War'. Coming off the victories of WWII, their attitude was "We'll show them how it's done." Hubris reigned supreme at the Pentagon.
Excellent video and narrative ! This bridge attack & supplies interdiction is excellent example of 1965 Pentagon strategy.... ignoring plan from ADM U.S. Grant Sharpe (Hawaii). ADM Sharpe wanted NV ports MINED to prevent SOVIET ships from landing war supplies. USAF wanted to attack NVAF airbases. Mining & port closure + airbase closure achieved in 1972 during LINEBACKER I & II. Peace agreement signed a few months later. YOU-R-WELCOME
When the US administration build courage to mine the ports in 1972 was "too little, too late", since in the next year the US put the tail between legs and retreat from the war, "with honor" Nixon brag.
The foreshadowing of General Robin Olds at the end has me looking forward even more to the next video. Regardless, the brave pilots of the Vietnamese Air Force really deserve a ton of respect for the way they managed to contest a much superior opponent.
A point to notice is that from the 1968 to 1972 bombing North Vietnam was forbidden by US administration, period in what the bridge operate freely. When the bridge was destroyed by 3 attacks between April and October of 1972 was "too little, to late", since in the next year the US put the tail between legs and exit from the war - "with honor", Nixon say.
Ah yes. The battle of Dragon Jaw bridge. Or Hàm Rồng like how we call it in Vietnamese. My Grandfather witnessed the battle as a kid. But, he usually skip to the part when he and his buddies collected the dead fishes thanks to the bombs that was drop into the river.
It's quite exceptional how many lessons the whole US military managed to learned from their experiences, everything from aircraft development to future doctrines
This became a major talking point for people who wanted the Navy to recommission the Iowa class battleships in the 1970s. The argument was that the 16" shells of the battleships' guns could have dropped the bridge in a matter of hours, without sacrificing so many pilots lives.
This for sure, an F-105 probably being the most important addition. Vietnam is looking pretty good as a theater, as we already have the community A-4, the F-4E, the (slightly too new) MiG-21 and soon to be MiG-17, F-100, A-6 and A-7 in development. We just need Vietnam itself!
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Looking forward to your episode on how the Ansarallah (Houthies) blockade of the Red Sea was handled!
"Now make about any ww1 battle if you want?
For anyone wondering about World of Warships: You don't really need to buy premium ships, and they give you premium account days all the time, so it's not half as much a money sink as most of those other free to play games. It is a substantial grind to get to where you can captain an Iowa or Fletcher, but I had fun. Just be aware that low tier play is mostly slow and PvE, not really representative of the game most players enjoy. Also, it's more of a game with some simulation elements, not a proper sim.
@@InterdictorCompellor its dead. lol
@@datmanz5890 I dunno man I can log on and get a random game at any time. Maybe the way you played is dead.
Legend has it that the engineers that worked at the bridge were later hired by the Nokia company to create a cellphone capable of withstanding bombing runs as well as the Dragon's Jaw Bridge did during the war.
😂
And also capable of surviving a nuclear blast
Made with Nagarjuna cement!
And a battery life of 5+ days!
They made the Nokia 5140. Civilians think it was the 3310, but they weren't tradies. Weirdly enough, still had console emulators available.
3310s, hard to kill. 5140s? Damn near impossible by any known human means.
Fun fact. This bridge caused the USAF to go to the budding silicon valley and request development of laser guided bombs.
Chip War!!!!
The video said the bombs weren't missing though?
@@Mike5Brownsending laser-guided munitions into the support pillars is very different to raining bombs onto the roadway and upper superstructure
@@Ozraptor4 nah, these are old wwii harden design, they are ment to survive a 500lb bomb, you can send a commando and plant a 500lb charge on the pillar and it still won't destory the bridge. the reason for developing precision weapon is not to do death star trench run but to avoid it, by allowing the pilot to fire further away to increase their chances of survival. to damage stuff you just need more explosive power, the military has a 2000lb bomb for the job. precision bomb are not create because the military need to blow something up, it is create to save pilot lives...
That's right. The USAF went back to this bridge in 1972 using a few Phantoms armed with laser guided bombs. They knocked the bridge out in one mission, iirc.
Angry bridge refuses to die.
*literally to angry to die
*too
The Bridge Slayer
Props to the engineer of that bridge. With however little money it cost to build that bridge, it was enough to stop 100s of millions of dollars worth of explosives and air power from collapsing the bridge. That is efficiency.
Not necessarily. The missing factor here is precision. The bombs they were dropping then weren't as accurate as they are now
The explosives and airpower were only a fraction of the cost. The sheer amount of man-hours devoted to planning and logistics, the pilot training hours, and the opportunity cost of using these resources more effectively is astounding. I am so glad I wasn't alive for Vietnam, what a needless boondoggle.
Then they hit it with a few paveways a few years later, and it went down.
@nicolepham3836 went down? It is still there, Thanh hoa residents still use that bridge to cross the river my guy
@@nicolepham3836 Not a few years.
8 years later.
Dang, if a container ship crashed into this bridge it would probably come to a dead stop and cause the earth to shift on it's axis instead.
Is a question of Mass x Velocity.. like a Trump against evidence in court
@@alanburke1893 Americans trying not to bring their politics into absolutely eberything (Its impossible)
Underrated Comment.
Dude its never ends here, everyday all day drives my crazy lol!
I know that reference
Vietnamese here, my grandpa was a mig pilot back in the day and he told me the story behind this. The north vietnam HQ knew for sure that the us will target Ham Rong bridge way before they actually lauch the first airstrike. They prepared a sofisticated AA layers to welcome any enemy aircraft , some claimed that not even Hanoi was this well defended until operation rolling thunder. The first SAM 2 land to air missile regiment stationed here to protect the bridge, not Hanoi or any important city. VN airforce was also on high alert everytime the us striked the bridge. Normally we just use a squadron of 2 migs against enemy formation, only to protect Ham Rong bridge that 8 migs were sent on the air at the same time.
And about the bridge, it was designed to stand firm against the us attack, but at the same time it has to be easy to fix and replace the damage. I have no fcking clue how the engineer could have done this impossible task but they did. Whenever the US air raided at daylight, the military engineer will fix the damage at night and the bridge return to fully functional by dawn. It is like a gangster who have been through shit but stand firm and yes, the bridge can still be used until this day.
MiG 17, 19, or 21?
Great job on sharing this with us. Thanks
Always good to get the perspective of men who fought on the other side, thank you for this.
Gotta say, y'all sure gave as good as you got 😂
Your grandfather has my respect the same as any veteran from my own country. Thank you for sharing what he said.
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I love your content!
Keep up the exemplary work!
Do you have any plans to do the Battle of Chosin Reservoir?
I love lamp
Only if you have cigs to trade
For those who don't know, the gentleman with that spectacular mustache at the end is Brigadier General Robin Olds, mastermind behind Operation Bolo. He was a real life Maverick and overall big badass.
He was a double ace in WWII and scored several MiG kills in Vietnam. He commanded a fighter wing there and trained his pilots to be badasses and start killing MiGs, too. When he grew his mustache it was out of regs, but the Air Forces didn't dare tell him to shave it while he was in theater. His pilots all started growing them after that, too. You really didn't want to be a MiG pilot and have to share the sky with Olds and his Phantom crews.
You really don't know about the black wednesday of. USAF right?@@RCAvhstape
Olds kept getting busted down a rank when he got promoted so he could keep flying.
Fighter Pilot was a hell of a read.
Also he worked so hard to not get a 5th kill in Vietnam War knowing the USAF would pull him out of combat for war bonds tour the moment he became an Ace
32 missiles and 100+ bombs, and the bridge was still standing? Thats insane!!
Wait actually its 400 bombs? Woah ..
The thumbnail shows why it all failed. They attacked in a diagonal direction, not straight down the bridge.
@@jessicaregina1956Presumably that was because of the steep terrain, can't imagine another reason
Seems like they didn't have the right munition to do the job.
@@jessicaregina1956 I don't care what angle you attack from, if you put 300,000 pounds of bombs on a target, that target shouldn't be there anymore.
See here. You draw line 1, representing bridge. Line 2, representing direction of attack. Now drop all the ordnance you like on a line which only intersects the bridge rarely and see how many ordnance actually hits the bridge.
The bridges after dozens of missiles and bombs were dropped on it:
Tis but a scratch.
On 27 April, twelve Phantoms of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, based at Ubon, Thailand attacked the Thanh Hóa Bridge. Eight of their number carried laser-guided bombs. The raid was carried out without a hitch, and when the dust of the explosions had cleared it became apparent that the bridge had been dislodged from its western abutment, dropping one half into the river.
The bridge: 🗿
@@jessicaregina1956 And within a few days the Vietnamese had built a pontoon bridge next to it and were right back to ferrying supplies over the river. It really is a microcosm of the US involvement in Vietnam.
@@jessicaregina1956 Yeah, but that's not the bridge of video, which took 7 years to destroy.
🤣 you sure? U wanna fact check my comment? Not that i didnt pull it directly from the wiki page or nothing.......
parachute fail . . . what an awful way to die. Rest in peace Major Bennett.
owned, respectfully. Dont bomb a country that isnt yours and this wouldnt happen.
And after making it back against the odds. Cant argue whit fait.
For some reason, in my mind, when the F-105s start swarming to bomb the bridge, I can hear the seagulls from Finding Nemo. Possibly, instead of squaking "mine," it is perhaps "bomb, " "bridge," or "thud.""
I like the idea of them incoherently screeching all 3
I was hearing Tym3Glitch's F-105 Intense Workout music in my brain.
You, sir, have an interesting mind
One of the pilots shot down was Carlyle Smith Harris, known as Smitty Harris to his friends and fellow pilots. You referred to him as Carlyle Smith. Harris was his last name. He was the POW who developed the tap code as a captive in Hanoi. It was used by most of the POWs there, enabling them to communicate and encourage one another. My dad, Major Dewey Smith, joined Captain Harris in the Hanoi Hilton in 1967. The tap code helped him endure some rough times.
Thanh Hoa citizen here, we learns about the heroic tales of Ham Rong's defense since we were little kids. Thanks for covering its story in great details
I don't really think a communist dictator regime can be described as 'heroic' in any way, but you do you...
Thanh Hoa resident here! There are alot of wreckages of us fighters and bombers still lying under the bed of the river, the bridge is still standing strong to this day, very proud of the people of my hometown for having put up such a incredible fight!
That’s pretty cool!
Mind if I ask how the Vietnamese view the war and modern day USA?
I have talked to many Iraqis, Afghans, Serbians, Somalis, and Russians, but I've never had a proper conversation with anyone from Vietnam.
@@Mega-P71 Walk down the street. They're here.
@@bloodybones63 Not in rural Ohio.
@@Mega-P71 🤣
Thats a suprisingly sturdy bridge!
Good materials and Sound Engineering are the keys to a good structure.
the ominous image of Robin Olds at the end lmao
He fixing to put the smack down on the Migs
I noticed it too 😭
Gomers beware.😅😅
He's gonna fix a glitch.
Gentlemen, meet: The bridge that took more bombs to destroy than a battleship
Lt Col Risner was an absolute legend. The man was already a Ace from Korea at the start of Vietnam. Look into him. He was featured on the History Channels dogfight show. Probably the best dogfight in modern history.
Or at least American dogfighter. Giora Epstein is pretty badass himself.
That was a great episode featuring Robinson Risner. As a matter of fact, I think I'll look it up tonight.
Pronounced RIZE-ner
I live near this bridge in Thanh Hoa. My parents used to tell me that when they were younger, at night, if they looked in the direction of the bridge, they could see the horizon lit up with fire from the bombs and the anti aircraft guns firing, and sometimes, some fragments from the anti aircraft shells would land on their yards. My grandma had to cover her head with an iron basin to protect herself from the fragments every time she went to get the laundry. In high school, I used to cycle to this bridge and it seemed so surreal that such a small bridge was under constant attacks from the US and a lot of men and women lost their lives to protect this bridge.
Thank you for your story.
Robin olds at the end!!!! Operation bolo next! Can’t wait. Great video operations room.
I second Bolo! What a badass. Learned how to fly a F4 supersonic jet after starting his career before the sound barrier was broken, as an 06, and led the mission himself.
@@WhydoIsuddenlyhaveahandle One of the greatest fighter pilot to ever live!
With that ending I can only hope what the next video is on 😂
Its nice that, right from the beginning, you can tell that those are RF-101s........proper.
Those bridges have stronger foundation than my previous relationship
Promise yourself that your next relationship is gonna be like this bridge 😂
What a tough bridge. Guess they needed to do Mk-84 two thousand pounders vs the 750's.
The problem was an accurate weapon with a high kinetic energy level. This was before the Paveway laser guided bombs and Walleye and HOBOS.
Eventually in 1972 the USAF destroyed Dragons Jaw with a couple of Paveways dropped by F-Ds. The Bullpup was really an anti-vehicle/soft target weapon and dumb bombs tend to miss especially in the days before CCIP aiming aids and what we would consider a modern HUD.
So really it should be “4xx bombs dropped against but an unknown amount but probably around 45% or more missing the bridge or not hitting in an effective spot”
@@tristanholland6445 Riiiight. The USA had been destroying bridges since WW2 with mass clusters bombs. We also had massive bombs that would kill battleships. It's ridiculous to think we couldn't do so in 1965.
@@Allmotorzl1 Bridges have always been notoriously difficult to birng down. What bridges do you refer to? What cluster bombs, what Mark? If for a massive bomb that would kill battleships you refer to the 1000 pounder carried by USN aircraft in WWII, they were used in steep dive bombing by slow moving aircraft. That'd been suicidal against the NVA defences and their far better AA armament. Now, for truly massive bombs that could kill a battleship, them Brits did so to the Tirpitz with their Tallboys.
It's not ridiculous. Air combat paradigm had shifted years before Vietnam due to short-sightedness by the Brass and the USAAF/USN personnel were to pay for it, sadly.
Dragon's jaw bridge stood up to its name at least
Your Hanoi map right at the start is around 2015-2020 in satelite imagery and roads.
A lot of those roads and the NIA terminal at Noibai airport did not exist in 196x
Also Hai Phong is in the wrong place
I love the foreshadowing by showing Col. Robin Olds. Looking forward to your video concerning Operation Bolo by this legendary WW2 ace and leader of men.
Another fantastic video from one of the best channels on youtube. So much detail yet so easy to follow. Well done.
great video! I would love more vietnam war content. Still to this day an incredibly interesting conflict and one that really shook up US command.
Way to make a Friday awesome. Thanks Ops Room
One hell of a bridge.
i've binged almost every series you produced, amazing vids
Whoever built that bridge is a genius
Bravo
It was built by the French when they ruled the region. If I am not mistaken the sane man that designed the Eiffel Tower designed Dragons Jaw Bridge also it had different name under the French Paul Doumar (or some spelling surname)
Paul Doumer was the French governor-general from 1897 to 1902, the Long Biên Bridge in Hà Nội used to be named after him.
The first Hàm Rồng (Dragon Jaw) was a tied-arch bridge built by the french in 1904, it was destroyed 1947 to delay the French invasion.
From 1962-1964 the second bridge was built as a truss bridge, which will eventually be destroyed in 1972.
The third bridge was built in 1973 on the second bridge's pier with the same design. It is still standing today.
@@eveningdew1460 yeah I thought of this stuff at 3am after a 10 hour shift. I looked it up later unfortunately could not find much on the construction history of Dragons Jaw. It sho8ld be said that these bridges were designed by the French but much of the labor to build them was Vietnamese.
Glad to hear you're doing more videos on the Vietnam war, the subject of my undergraduate dissertation in history. Could you also cover Linebacker 1 and 2. Also, more videos on the air war in the Falklands conflict would be appreciated. RIP Commander Sharkey.
Great content as always, thanks for producing this!
As a civil engineer, I just wanted to say THAT is one strong ass bridge lol
Built by the French when Vietnam was part of French Indo-China the same man designed the Eiffel Tower. It was called Paul Doumar Bridge originally(definitely spelled the French surname wrong)
@@tristanholland6445 If it is the Doumar bridge, it would be another bridge in Ha Noi, not this one.
The F-105 Thunderchief is my favorite jet aircraft of all time. This was a great watch!
Mine too!
I built a model of one decades ago. I still remember my mom complaining when I said I needed 4 or 5 different Testor paint mini-jars to get the camo scheme right.
Unfortunately, "Thumper" didn't survive. Catastrophic landing gear damage, after falling from my bedroom bookcase, ended her position in "pride of place".
Later, given her condition, she was relegated to multiple backyard firecracker ground attacks. Bits and pieces continued to be found years later in the grass....
I cannot wait for Bolo. The Vietnam air war is such a fascinating entity that often gets overlooked. Fantastic work as always operations room team.
They should have tried using using something like the WW2 RAF'sTallboy bombs. Tallboy worked on the principle that a near miss was better than a direct hit, because while a hit would certainly damage the structure, Tallboy was designed to drill down through the earth adjacent to the target and explode at depth, blasting a huge cavity out from underneath the target, depriving it of its foundations and bringing it down. Wasn't there anything similar in the USAF's arsenal that the B52s could have carried?
In Vietnam USAF use the 15.000 Lbs "Dayse Cut" bombs dropped by C-130 for create landing zone in forest areas.
The 1966 Carolina Moon Project involve big 4000 lbs (1814 kilos) floating barrel mines with sensors for explode under the Thanh Hóa Bridge, dropped by low level C-130 mission, the first mission in 30 May 1966 drop 5 mines at one mile from the bridge.
Next day another C-130 disappear in a big explosion before reach the bridge, probable following the same pattern of the first attack, and the NVA gunners are awaiting.
Later a NVA sailor POW say that 4 mines explode under the bridge but no significant damage was done. The bridge was made using "HoChiMinium". 😁
We had probably retired the similar "grand slam" bomb from the USAF inventory and no similar weapon would exist in the US inventory until 1991 when we improvised penetrating laser guided bombs from M110 8 inch howitzer barrels in a bid to assassinate Saddam Hussein.
I'm going to need a magnifying glass to watch your videos from now on
If the trees speaking Vietnamese wasn't enough, the clouds started speaking Vietnamese as well, that's when they knew, this wasn't gonna go their way.
No,that only happened when the news crews and university teachers started speaking vietnamese.
@@naamadossantossilva4736 This again. The US didn't lose on the battlefield, but they didn't win on the battlefield either, it was a stalemate, the US couldn't expand control on the battlefield into VC territory and couldn't find anyway to win the war. It was a lost cause, there was no way for the US to win. And before you are going to say "but the US lost only 60,000 men while NVA and VC lost 1 million men", about that, ARVN lost 300,000+ men too, the total number of KIA including all US allies were 400,000, so the KIA ratio was about 1:2.5, it wasn't that bad for NVA and VC.
Still one of the best channels on youtube
my god, even the Yamato couldn't even stand off against that damage
To be fair, ships are not bridges.
@@jeffcarroll1990shockpeople compare bs to bs.
@@Hogzilla like comparing swine to a giant lizard.
As usual, great writing, animation and excellent narration. Glad you're finally covering one of the most tragic wars in American history. Make sure to mention the ridiculous Rules Of Engagement imposed by Lyndon Johnson and the numbers game that McNamara played with our troops.
You know I was just thinking it's been a little while since The Ops Room uploaded, I've always enjoyed your channel and the Intel Report. Is there any chance of covering actions during the Korean war in the future? I feel like it's an interesting but largely unexplored conflict from a historical perspective.
My Uncle flew Thuds during this time. He was probably part of these raids. He was never shot down and retired from the Air Force several years ago. Nice video
Another kick ass effort of the Operations Room!
We're back around to Vietnam?
I'm locked in.
Oh and world of Warships is fun as ever, RTX/4k really amped it up.
Did they not consider a larger bomb after the clear inability of the 750s to damage the bridge the first day?
Yeah the thunderchief could carry three 2,000 lb bombs or three 3,000 lb demolition bombs. The CCIP (continuously calculated impact point) targeting system worked for them just as well as the 750s. However it could carry sixteen 750s.
My guess is the severely reduce number of bombs per aircraft meant that hit probability dropped dramatically. Without the ability to suppress air defenses accuracy probably was too low to score direct hits with such a small number of bombs.
So a bigger blast from farther away failed just as badly. Don't know this for sure though.
Explosive power was not the problem accuracy was. This is an example of how modern air defenses can make attacking a target with unguided weapons very difficult. This is why weapons systems like laser guided and TV guided bombs were invented.
Yes, they try with big ordnance, in 1966 the Carolina Moon Project involve big 4000 lbs (1814 kilos) floating barrel mines with sensors for explode under the bridge, dropped by low level C-130 mission, the first mission drop 5 mines at one mile from the bridge. Next day another C-130 disappear in a big explosion before reach the bridge, probable following the same pattern of the first attack, and the NVA gunners are ready. Later a NVA sailor POW say that 4 mines explode under the bridge but no significant damage was done.
There is an interesting theory that the Vietnam War, in part or in whole, was a weapons testing laboratory. Make of that what you will.
Fantastic video. The air war over vietnam was something else.
Last time I was this early the French were still in Indochina
🎉🎉🎉
Where have you been?! It's all kicking off here! 😊
Funny joke because they built the bridge way back in the early 20th Century it was called Paul Doumar Bridge then.
@@tristanholland6445 If it was the Doumar bridge, it might be the Long Bien bridge in Ha Noi, not this ine.
@@tristanholland6445 Yeah, but the bridge was destroyed in 1947 by Viet Minh, and was rebuilt in 1964 by North Vietnam.
Whoever build that bridge needs a raise because holy shit!
It was designed and built by Frenchmen during the Indo-China days.
@@tristanholland6445 that's the older one and it was destroyed in 1947. This one we see in the video is a later bridge built in 1964 by NAVN to move troops in order to counter the USAF. The whole reason Rolling Thunder started because they rebuilt that bridge.
Communists do it out of duty, not a paycheck like captailists. That is why they won.
@@tristanholland6445 The Thanh Hóa ridge was build by the colonial French, but this was destroyed in 1945 by the Vietminh blowing a train full of explosives over the bridge.
From 1957 up to 1965 was rebuild by North Vietnam, and used to send supplies for NVA an Vietcong in the South.
Was under US aerial attack from 1965 to 1968 - including dropping floating mines by low flight C-130, too ineffective in damage the bridge.
In 1968 the US end the Rolling Thunder bombing campaign and stopping bombing the North Vietnam - "a gesture of peace" they say.
Only in 1972 during the Linebacker I bombing campaign over the North the bridge was destroyed again - "too little, too late" for make difference in the war.
Latter was rebuild and still in use today.
Killer video, thank you guys at ops room
In the far distance, with heavy british accent, laughs in Tallboy
The stubbornness of the USAF brass was absolutely insane!
Sometimes attaching the support is better than attacking the structure. Bridges and dams are a great example. Amazing how hard they are to take down with direct hits but how much damage can be caused by taking out the base.
Great video as always. You are much appreciated
If my memory serves, one of the 105 pilots, Lt Col. Robinson Risner, also served in the Korean War as an air superiority pilot in a F86 Sabre. Both himself and his stories from the war are featured in the show Dogfights in the pilot episode and I'd highly recommend giving it a watch here on UA-cam
You made a new video today I didn’t get to finish it , when I tried to look for it I guess it was deleted , now I’m sad
Bridge might as well have been built of stalinium
Or Ho Chi Minium.
"Many officers didn't take the Vietnamese Air Force seriously, and believed that missiles would make dogfighting obsolete."
Vietnamese Trees: Ôi trời, lại thế này nữa rồi.
They would,but only if well maintained and with ROE that didn't require getting into gun range.
@@naamadossantossilva4736 can’t target lock onto a mig you failed to see
*North Vietnamese
Eventually they did, but only after target identification become feasible beyond visual range.
The trees when the sky starts speaking napalm:
Ending with a picture of Robin Olds is pretty sweet.
This is a perfect example of just how out of touch the US military was throughout the entire Vietnam War. Guerillas fighting off foreign invaders cannot be defeated with pure force, as it usually backfires and strengthens the resolve of fighters as seen with the Strategic Bombing Campaign during WW2
The viet cong cease to exist as military force by 1968. The only invaders were the north Vietnamese armies units attacking south Vietnam. You should read more and watch less porn.
I just did my APUSH Capstone project on this topic. What a coincidence.
Amazing work as always. Thanks!
Can’t wait for your video about Operation BOLO
I like the sneak hint of the next video with Robin Old's photo
One of the reasons the US lost the Vietnam war was because the military leaders failed to read Sun Tzu's 'Art of War'.
Coming off the victories of WWII, their attitude was "We'll show them how it's done."
Hubris reigned supreme at the Pentagon.
Truly brain dead comment.
Absolutely thee best page for this type of content 🤙🤙
The contractor who built that bridge knew what they were doing. They made a bridge that is essentially bomb proof.
Miss yall. Check every night to see if there’s a new video up.
I love the F105D it has got to be one of my favorite planes of all time.
I'm a simple man. I see a photo of Robin Olds, I hit like. He's the reason I grew a Stache.
Great video! The MiG15 was really underrated.
"Lieutenant Lan, what are you doing here?" Forest Gump 8:17
Excellent video and narrative ! This bridge attack & supplies interdiction is excellent example of 1965 Pentagon strategy.... ignoring plan from ADM U.S. Grant Sharpe (Hawaii). ADM Sharpe wanted NV ports MINED to prevent SOVIET ships from landing war supplies. USAF wanted to attack NVAF airbases. Mining & port closure + airbase closure achieved in 1972 during LINEBACKER I & II. Peace agreement signed a few months later. YOU-R-WELCOME
When the US administration build courage to mine the ports in 1972 was "too little, too late", since in the next year the US put the tail between legs and retreat from the war, "with honor" Nixon brag.
This era of aerial warfare is fascinating. It’s like a bridge between old WW2 tactics and machinery and modern methods and technology.
Great video! Always excited to see you upload.
CPT Trần Hanh, now Lieutenant General, just died December 5, 2024, aged 92. Clear sky and fly high, Hero of the Vietnamese People's Armed Forces.
Some Vietnamese farmer with a 57mm blunderbuss: "Yeah. Anyway. So, I started blasting."
Excellent recap, folks.
The foreshadowing of General Robin Olds at the end has me looking forward even more to the next video.
Regardless, the brave pilots of the Vietnamese Air Force really deserve a ton of respect for the way they managed to contest a much superior opponent.
Great video, love your channel!
And the bridge was not dropped until the 1972 Linebacker campaigns, when F-4's using guided munitions against it.
A point to notice is that from the 1968 to 1972 bombing North Vietnam was forbidden by US administration, period in what the bridge operate freely. When the bridge was destroyed by 3 attacks between April and October of 1972 was "too little, to late", since in the next year the US put the tail between legs and exit from the war - "with honor", Nixon say.
Robin Olds. What a legend.
This event was the definition of "underestimating your enemy"!
Another idea for videos that you guys can make: the beginnings and evolution of the Wild Weasel. All of that started in Vietnam, with the F-100.
Dude, you got to be shitting me
@@sjonnieplayfull5859 what do you mean?
Always fantastic! Thank you so very much 🙏
finally some vietnam content. more about the vietnam war please
Incredible, as always. Do you plan making videos telling stories about the Korean War?
Ah yes. The battle of Dragon Jaw bridge. Or Hàm Rồng like how we call it in Vietnamese. My Grandfather witnessed the battle as a kid. But, he usually skip to the part when he and his buddies collected the dead fishes thanks to the bombs that was drop into the river.
It's quite exceptional how many lessons the whole US military managed to learned from their experiences, everything from aircraft development to future doctrines
This became a major talking point for people who wanted the Navy to recommission the Iowa class battleships in the 1970s. The argument was that the 16" shells of the battleships' guns could have dropped the bridge in a matter of hours, without sacrificing so many pilots lives.
Amazing video. I wish DCS would implement more Vietnam era aircraft so that we could see recreations of something like this.
This for sure, an F-105 probably being the most important addition. Vietnam is looking pretty good as a theater, as we already have the community A-4, the F-4E, the (slightly too new) MiG-21 and soon to be MiG-17, F-100, A-6 and A-7 in development. We just need Vietnam itself!
Broke dynamics must first pay Razbam, lol
Best animations on UA-cam! 👍
I love this channel.
Alternate Title: A Case Study of "DO NOT EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, UNDERESTIMATE YOUR OPPONENT."
Those engineers need a MASSIVE raise
Uuuuu, Col. Olds in the last shot... 😮
Operation Bolo incoming?