I flew from Thailand in an F4 all eleven nights. I still remember seeing B52s. Hit by SAMs and hearing the beepers as the crews bailed out. Today I wonder if the sacrifices were worth the effort?
It's insane. Exactly the same raid three nights running? Either the SAC staff were extraordinarily arrogant or unbelievably stupid. What a waste of aircraft and crews!
Sac at the time was drilled for nuclear strikes. That's how they planned their missions as if they're dropping nukes. In nuclear war there is no need for complex strikes because the first wave of bombers would have wipe that area clean of all threats. But in conventional warfare it's redundant.
I flew all eleven Linebacker II missions in as a WSO 497TFS from Ubon AFB Thailand. We laid a chaff corridor for the B 52’s. Although many SA2s were fired and MIGs were sighted we made home safe each night. Not so lucky were the ten B 52’s and crew members that were lost. I can still remember seeing a fireball from a B 52 that was hit at the time I was RTB miles away over Laos!
My father was with 307th bomb wing.. he claimed 5 migs and a friendly were shot down by the BUFF.. I read on some random website it was only 1. Would you happen to know? Welcome home BTW
My mom was 2 yrs old, my uncle was a few months old during the attack. Must have been so scary to live in such condition. My grandpa was a communication officer in Vietnamese People Army, he was frequently tasked to check out communication posts around Hanoi. I remembered him telling me he was so exhausted 1 night during the attack after having brought his family to the bunker and returned to his house, he felt asleep despite being so close to the 100mm AA gun battery. The sound of bomb, AA fire did not seem to effect him, he was just too tired. I can't imagine what it was like to be in such a condition.
15:22 all prisoners of War were not🚫 returned home. intentionally abandoned pows, in EVERY war pre 9/11. I'm terribly troubled, reading several books, videos documenting facts my disgraceful USA😡. 1) AN ENORMOUS CRIME by Bill Hendon, and 2) ABANDONED IN PLACE by Lynn O'shea.
My uncle was the commander of Charcoal 1 and one of the ones who perished. It was hit by two SAMs at once and one of them hit the cockpit fatally wounding my uncle and killing his copilot and gunner. The other three guys managed to eject and became short term residents of the Hanoi Hilton until they were released in early 1973. My uncle managed to eject, but he was dead before he hit the ground from a massive abdominal wound. The wreckage of the aircraft is in a military museum in Hanoi to this day. The bravery required from everyone involved in LB2 to penetrate one of the most advanced air defense systems in the world at that time is nothing short of amazing.
Damn, that's rough.... How did you learn what happened? Did the Vietnamese find him on the ground, or did his crewmates have radio contact somehow? I hope your family got his body back and were able to give him an honorable burial. May he rest in peace.
@@slags83 Surprisingly decent of them to show his body to the survivors, and to bury him. Must've been heartbreaking to see, but at least they got some closure, and knew he wasn't tortured to death or something. (by that I mean that it's very different from what the Japanese would have done in WW2) Anyway, I'm glad y'all got the opportunity to bury him at home, afterwards. Thanks for elaborating! That link you shared is quite interesting
I was on Guam (Andersen AFB) during this time. My father was a fuel manager in the Air Force. I went to School in Aganda and we would see miles and miles of flatbed trucks carrying MK-82 bombs headed for Anderson. Also over 100 B-52's were stationed on Guam. For a little kid...it was quite amazing and surreal. I remember how hard it was for me to sleep, and everyone else. The B-52's were taking off every 5 min 24 hrs a day for 2 weeks! A lot of folks have no idea how many bombs were dropped. My dad would come home and I knew right away because I could smell JP-4 Jet Fuel all over him!
Và sự tàn bạo độc ác cũa mỹ đã bị trả giá. Gần 100% người dân mỹ đã biểu tình vì tổng thống nickxơn đã đi cướp còn giết người tàn độc. Cuối cùng thì thua tan nát
I was there in 1972 for LINEBACKER 1 and we had close to 150 B-52s. We launched 3 at the top of the hour and recovered at the bottom of the hour . This was 24 / 7 from February through October 1972 ,I rotated back to the world in October .
I love the way you present this OP. The details are fascinating, the more the better. The only way to present such accounts is with complete objectivity with the view from both antagonists and this you've done. Bravo!
Was in Guam for 6 mo and worked this operation. We launched 3 B-52's per hour, called ball games, 24 hrs a day for a total of 72 aircraft a day to bomb Viet Nam. Did that for 6 months straight just out of Anderson AFB. About a 13 hr flight. A few never came back.
@@MisterMacross it would have been better if Russia and China after ww2 would have kept to themselves and didnt try expanding and oppressing their own populations causing the entire cold war and US involvement and most proxy wars would have never happened, if you ever find the US in a conflict after ww2 100% you can find Russia or China doing the same thing for the opposite side.
My aunt’s family used to live in Khâm Thiên street, next to Dân Chủ Theater (fun fact, Dân Chủ means Democracy, LoL) very close to Hanoi Railway Station - a major bombing raid target during Linebacker II. November 26, 1972 was the day a B-52 raid stripped the whole street clean - 2000 houses were destroyed, included my aunt’s house. Luckily she and her husband went down the bomb shelter just in time, survived the raid and was later rescued from the rumble - many other weren’t such fortunate. She would later have 5 daughters, become a great auntie, but after 50 years she still sometimes complains about having nightmares of bomb raids. No matter which side you are, war is terrible.
@@logicalmusicman5081 americans were bogged down in the war in vietnam.the America n government lost million of dollars in vietnam an the got nothing in vietnam war.US government inflicted
Been watching a few of your presentations. Well, documentaries I would call them. These are awesome. Not only are you very well informed on all details of the subject. The way you present the information by means of, frankly awesome, animation that is not confusing. yet it is very usable to anyone who may be trying to replicate these scenarios in Command for example. Honestly I found you by randomness. I am so glad I did. Love this channel. Keep up your brilliant work and keep safe.
My dad's B52 got hit by a SAM over Hanoi one of those nights - right in the nose radome. Smoke filled the cockpit. They opened the bomb bay doors to let the smoke out. My dad sat on the lower bomb rail (this was prior to rotary bomb rack conversion). U-Tapao foamed the runway, as landing gear would not go down. Flaps would not engage. They had bled too much hydraulic fluid. The BUFF slammed down on the runway, compressing every disk in my dad's back. In 1995 I found him unconscious beside the house in a pool of blood - he had passed out from a back spasm and fell to the side and struck his head on a stone flower bed retainer wall. That's when I started watching him closely and standing near him to catch him if he falls.
My father was one of the base commanders at U-tapao. He never talked a lot about the war, but mentioned once that the officers would go out to watch the returning Buffs. He said that he couldn't believe that most could still fly, they had so much battle damage.
My dad did two tours at U-Tapao, 69-70, 71-72, as a SMS, And CMS He loved Cowpot, a Thai dish his hootch girl would cook for him and 3 hootch mates. He only mentioned once, the damage to air craft and crews. He was shop chief for BomNav on the first tour.
My grandfather was a B-52 Squadron Commander during this operation. He is deceased now, but he had plaques and awards in his study that said Operation Linebacker. I remember as a child he had recordings that he would listen to from this operation over and over. There were planes being shot down on the recording and pilots talking. At one point someone says that they just had what looked like a telephone pole go past their wing.
I remember reading accounts from NVN and Vietcong veterans after the war. Pretty much all of them mentioned being genuinely scared of the B-52's. Up until Charcoal 1 was downed, they were seen as untouchable and able to penetrate all but the absolute deepest redoubts. Plus even if you survived you knew you were gonna spend a few days/weeks waiting for someone to dig you out as there usually wasn't enough oxygen flow left after the strikes to allow those trapped to do much of anything but wait.
The first realization the VC/PAVN were being Arclighted was when the jungle a mile away began to come apart in a Tsunami of bombs, two miles long, one mile wide a whole grid square wiped.
I stood in a bomb crater in Cu Chi Province VN, I believe it was from a MK84 2000pd bomb. The crater was 15m wide and 6 meters deep. Blast zone around 1km from x, anything living in that area would be killed. TERRIFYING ! ! !
@@zebradun7407 Yeah my dad (who was there) said an Arclight strike looked liked the surface of the moon. Just - nothing and craters for one mile wide two miles long.
Also, for those who worked on the ECM gear, it was designed to work better in the 3 plane cell format. Those cells that were only 2 birds had a 40% reduction in jamming coverage. The D's had some pretty heavy jamming gear. And also changed from using the Bomb Nav sighting to the SkySpot radar targeting. I worked on this system. It gave the Bomb Nav a tone and a light to drop bombs. I can't tell you how well it worked, I never debriefed the Nav's to ask. But I kept fixing them. SST-181 was the unit. Look it up.
12:51 why didnt they make four-ship cell out of the remaining planes? did not the planners know that two-ship cells would be at a defensive disadvantage??
We have one of the Linebacker B-52s at the air museum in my home town. Shes a memorial to Nam now, sitting in a nice little park across from the airstrip the museums built next to and right next to a tiny high school. Fitting resting place for the old girl, I like to think.
There's a famous caution given to military leaders when they engage in a new conflict, "Don't fight the last war". An air campaign on this scale with those objectives is clearly reminiscent of the bombings over Germany during WWII. Waves of heavy bombers, dropping massive payloads, following the same routes multiple times over the same targets was the hallmark strategy of the air campaign in the 40s. It's fascinating to see how SAC adapted in such a short time and maximized the effectiveness of their resources at hand (ie large numbers of B52s, Wild Weasels, Aardvarks, and electronic warfare equipment), despite having had access to the same equipment for almost a decade already. Thanks for the excellent video.
I would say ironically they lost precisely because they weren't fighting the last war. If they had treated the Vietnamese like they had treated the Germans, Hanoi would have ceased to exist within a few days. It was precisely because they were trying to fly such limited missions that they ended up exposing themselves to tremendous risk. If they had just committed themselves to completely destroying the North Vietnamese War Machine as quickly and as brutally as possible, there is nothing they could have done to stop it.
@@Laotzu.Goldbug It didn't work in WWII. What makes you think it would have worked any better in Vietnam? And in the end it didn't. There are always those who say, "Shoulda gone hard early," but it was never going to work. The reason was perfectly simple: the Americans were not only fighting the North. All this did was to further erode public opinion of American motives and strategic competence.
I entered the Air Force in 1983 and flew B-52’s from 1985 to 1993. The Linebacker raids were always presented as a failure of leadership in lectures in schools geared towards officers in general and aircrews in particular. They are always cited as the best example of the need for central direction from leadership with planning and execution authority at the lowest level of command as possible.
"The Linebacker raids were always presented as a failure of leadership" but on media it was victory !What is in reality and what is on the media is always different.
Tell me about it, there is nothing worse. Late in the day, deep in the third innings. Change of ball. Fresh cherry; and suddenly that sublime inside-outside googly that you thought would be their collapse has become a perfect belter. Now all you can do is serve up dibbly-dobblies and their batsman has turned into an anchor.
Thoroughly interesting animation. Many Thanks. I grew up in the UK during the Vietnam war and can remember it being on the news almost every evening. I've been fascinated by this conflict ever since.
I would like to think that the military planners were charged with negligence for proposing the same attack plan on three consecutive nights, but I'm sure they were not. I'm pretty sure I know what the crews would have liked to do to them though.
@@md.tamzidislam6580 Hey Bumpy, didn't you hear, World Court in the Hague has a huge backlog of murders by moustache man, Uncle Joe Stalin, Mao, KIM, and Le Duan.
Bump player 55 Imperials? During the Vietnam war they practically banned themselves from actually operating in North Vietnam. The US military by itself could easily have completely crushed them and annexed it as a territory if they were actually looking for conquest. Instead the entire war was mismanaged and only fought to directly defend south Vietnam. Even then every single battle was a crushing military success. Vietnam was horrific for the North, they simply didn’t give up until they were forced to, and then just ignored the peace deal a few years later.
TbH David, one lacks a working brain in their head, if they automatically assume that the ability to afford and drive a triple figure-priced car will make them superior to oh, let's say... those who drive higher quality Toyotas. I'd be surprised if you have a triple-digit IQ,if yer one of those people who think that the higher the priced the car,the better the quality.. . the more dependable... etc. Because everybody knows that both Honda and Toyota lead the pack, in terms of long-lasting dependability,and durability--AND value.Truth, and fact. So... just say'n. You ought not judge a man by the price of car he drives; makes ya look libtarded.
This is a great video since watching it a few weeks ago I have been watching everything I can on Linebacker 2. I just purchased 11 days of Christmas looking forward to reading it
I love your videos, litterly everythin, but that and few others are even better! The way you reprisent bombing sortis, are amazing. Thank you, keep the good work 👍 "BRING THE RAIN!"
Interesting. Thanks. I'd read a bit about this operation before but it puts it more into perspective. My uncle flew six missions in Linebacker II out of U-Tapao.
So well done! after reading Harder's book 'Flying from the Black Hole' and getting all the detail about the G vs the big tail black and brown D's... and then watching Tim Vasquez's Forecast lab day after Christmas combat livemap, your story was a perfect capper.. much like your new piece on the battle of the black sea (battle of Mogadishu). Keep of the great work.
Yeah,well wouldn't it be wonderful if they came up with a good plan from the start? The mistakes made in the first 3 days were pathetic.several hours between waves? Whose brilliant idea was that?...
I find many people still misunderstand Linebacker Operations. Linebacker I (4/1972 - 8/1972) was executed to force North Vietnam signing a peace treaty with American. However, after South Vietnam reviewed that treaty, they saw the treaty biased too much North Vietnam, so they revised some articles. North Vietnam declined the revision, so American had to execute Linebacker II to force North Vietnam again. After 12 days, North Vietnam agreed to come back peace table, but North Vietnam still refused the revision. Therefore, American had to threaten that the US would cut off supports if South Vietnam didn't agree on the first treaty. Finally, American claimed that they won the war and retreated. Later, the US also declined supports to the South, that's why the South collapsed in 1975.
Some folks will say that American didn't lose, they just left or American won due to the peace treaty. But if you studied well about Vietnam War, you would see that there was a peace treaty in 1954. American violated that peace treaty and jumped in Vietnam in 1956. After 20 years, American left Vietnam with another peace treaty in 1973. Both the peace treaties had the same term about a peaceful unification in Vietnam. Therefore, I don't see any progress that convinces me American did win.
Saying that "US forced Vietnam to return to Paris" is just a stupid excuse for the failure of American murderous "campaign" to terrorize the government in Hanoi. If the Vietnamese people were afraid, they would not be able to endure the American brutality throughout that war
@@stevesteady603 The US Air Force suffered great losses in the sky over Hanoi, so the return to Paris of both sides is because the US has accepted North Vietnam's demands, including 3 major points that are extremely beneficial to North Vietnam. 1, USA withdrew all troops in Vietnam. 2, PVN was allowed to maintain its army in southern Vietnam. (different from the 1954 agreement where North Vietnam had to withdraw troops to the North) 3, reduce all aid to the army of the Republic of Vietnam.
This was a lot less lopsided than I would have thought. we haven't seen this level of competence or near parity in my lifetime. Thanks for the video. it added some color to a sad time in our history.
They dropped the bomb, wipe out the entire Kham Thien street with 2000 houses Destroyed, Bach Mai Hospital (The biggest hospital in the North) Hit by over 100 bombs. The hospital was almost flattened. But the US historian never talks about it, trust me.
@@toangomo "But the US historian never talks about it" and you never talk about how dogshit your authoritarian socialist government was. does great vietnam today have freedom of speech and an elected leader? no. but US bad so its completely fine. this video was about the strategic operations of Linebacker 2 and the accidental bomb drop had little to no importance, yet it was still mentioned, but you are too dumb to understand so you better just shut up.
I really watch a lot of War Channels, lectures ect, but The Operations Room is unique among all, I really appreciate that ! I like the way the information is presented. Thank You for Your effort ! Greetings !
As a young 21 year old USAF E-4, I played a very very very (not enough "very's") small role in Linebacker II while stationed at Nakhon Phanom AB, Thailand, which I noticed was not on the map of Thailand. Because of our proximity to Vietnam, we launched quite a few search & rescue plus special operations. I remember it was a very busy two week or so period with 12-16 hour shifts and no days off. I probably complained at the time because I had no clue what those aircrews were going thru. Thank you, gentlemen, for all you did and sacrificed.
I was stationed at NKP during this time at the Aerial Port. I too noticed that NKP was not on this map. We could hear and feel those bombs from our base like it was next door. We not only fought the war in Vietnam but there was another war going on called The Secret War in Laos (Google it) which was right across the Mekong River from downtown NKP. We watched firefights while drinking beer at a hooch bar on the Mekong and watched Air America bomb a town in Laos by the name of Thakhok, Laos. I was an E-4 as well.
During Linebacker 1 I was a member of an Infantry Brigade 196th and we were in blocking positions north and west of Phu Bai when the NVA attacked the South Vietnamese units stationed along the DMZ and the Hue/ Phu Bai area in the northern I Corps area. The South Vietnamese were getting pounded by NVA Artillery units and then Armor units of the north started getting across the DMZ . We were issued LAW Anti-tank weapons to use in the event Armor units broke through and tried to out flank from the west. We stayed up at this area until Jun ,when we were pulled back to secure the Airfield and areas around Danang . We were operating in the mountains west of Danang until mid AUG-72 . We were pulled out and sent home on AUG 12 1972 , as the last Combat Ground force" Task Force Gimlet" 3/21 Infantry to leave the battlefield of South Vietnam. Had it not been for the massive AIR POWER of the B-52's and the damage they inflicted on the NVA , it could have been serious for us to hold off the advance from the NVA. Linebacker 1 and 2 pretty much destroyed much of the NVA equipment and units that were trying overrun the south and it took another three years before the NVA could advance and overrun the south. After Watergate , the Congress voted to stop supporting the south , something that President Nixon had promised the South Vietnamese President before he ended his Presidency and that allowed the NVA to stroll down and into Saigon to end the Vietnam war and our participation.
I was stationed in the 43rd Supply Squadron at Anderson AFB, Guam from Nov 71 to Feb 73. I was there through Linebacker II and it was something I will remember my entire life.
I was a kid living in Guam, in 67 to 68 i used to watch the B-52s take off. Imagine that being 10 yrs old. I used to wonder why so many take off but very few land? One day saw one coming in lands when it passed the tower out of my view, few secs later i hear a huge Bang! Will never foget that.
I absolutely love your WW2 videos mate. As a person with an interest and reading about WW2 for most of my life, these videos are so pleasing and exciting to watch. Earned my sub!
That operation kept me from going to Viet Nam. Our unit was on levy to rotate into VN between February and April 1973. After the operation, we stood down and were no longer on levy to VN.
@@davidturk6301 Talks on the terms of the US capitulation recommenced 2 days after linebacker II ended with final terms agreed Jan 23rd. Your stand down wasn’t due to the success of linebacker II it was due to its failure and the acceptance that the US would take whatever terms North Vietnam offered in Paris.
@@davidwright7193 what the USA should do is all out war and not inform the media of anything like the Russians and Chinese do. The Viteman war would be over in weeks. They were told to aviod this and that for 7 years while the satellites showed Sams being unloaded in the harbor. Vietnam got a half @ss war from the USA and was still bombed to hell. News media you say.....you believe there are only 5,000 virus deaths in China as of today? If you believe that then you believe Vietnam had a great military. China went and kicked their ass in 1979 and of course little media coverage.
I was stationed at U-Tapao AFB during Linebacker II. B52s where in air 24 hours/day. I worked with the U2 aircraft. We had 3 and one was always airborne. U-Tapao AFB ran 24/7. Even the chow hall was open day and night.
The voice of Operations Room. It is so awesome. He/you could explain anything: battle of Poltava in 1709 or legendary F1 races or ice hockey games in the 70s, 80s or anything.
My dad was on the USS midway during 71 to 72 he still talks about this operation that he was involved in. He was a aviation technician on the A-7 attack aircraft
I don't wanna imagine what being underneath a B-52 raid would be like. there's still bomb craters and unexploded bombs throughout Vietnam still to this day
This is the campaign my dad was involved in as a crew chief. He flew missions with his plane - the pilots didn't always have faith in the planes unless the chief was willing to fly in it. I asked him one time what flak looked like and he replied "I don't know, I was too busy looking for SAMs". Thank's for the video.
The Huu Tiep Lake aircraft in Hanoi is B-52D (56 -0605) flown by Captain Lewis call sign Cobalt 1. Identified as a possible second B-52 claimed as a MiG-21 air-to-air victory, and may correspond to Vu Xuan Thieu firing 1 K-13 (AA-2 Atoll) AAM from MiG-21 of the 921th Sao Sao Fighter Regiment "Red Star", based at Cam Thuy. The MiG-21 was also destroyed by the resulting explosion.
Kudos on the upload OPs Room! By the way the EB aircraft are US Navy EA-3Bs. Good info on Linebacker! Long time ago but I still remember it. Godspeed amigo!
This is fascinating, I live in Hanoi and my apartment overlooks the military airfield you see to the right, just below the railyard.. It's not used now, but was used in operation homecoming to bring back the US POWs as you mention at the end. It has some small lakes/ponds around the area, I wonder if that's from the raids...
Jim Rainguet, rode the “Launch Truck” at Utapao during that time for the Hydraulic Shop. Seven twelves, all hands on deck. What a long strange time it was, but it worked! Loved that old D model buff!
Had the "thrilling" opportunity to be on the ground under a B-52 strike (maybe rolling thunder, don't know!) you see the arc lites, feel underfoot the shock waves, and then hear the thunder. The whole thing was shocking in it's size of destruction. I remember crying for those with the misfortune to be a little closer, no matter which side they were on.
My Dad had flown EB-66 radar jamming airplanes out of Takhli, Thailand from 1968-69. 100+ missions. At the time of these bombing attacks, he was at SAC HQ continuing to develop the Strategic Nuclear War plans of the Bomber Wings for the Cold War Strategy against the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communists. As noted in the videos. No more B-52s were being produced. I vaguely remembering him describing how he watched the bomber attacks in real time. He felt devastated at the loss of aircraft and crews for the first days. Until the Tactical Command didn’t continue the stupidity of flying the same routes 3 days in a row. Every B-52 lost required a change in his Strategic Nuclear Bomber War Plan. He had many thousands of hours flying B-52s and really couldn’t bear to see them being destroyed. He told me several times that his worst assignment in the AF was as the primary aircraft accident officer in Roswell NM in the 1960s. Usually investigating aircraft accidents of aircraft he had flown personally and people he had flown with and knew well. Thank you much for this detailed explanation of what happened during these bombing missions. I matches perfectly with what little my Dad ever told me about them. I have some detailed but mostly cryptic notebooks about his year flying from Takhli over North Vietnam.
Thanks! I did put a conscious effort to include more of the political side on this one which i think made it slightly slower paced than my others - thoughts?
@@TheOperationsRoom I thought it was a great addition, and I think it's something that should be included when relevant, along with any intelligence that help or hinder it for either side.
@@TheOperationsRoom This war was completely political except perhaps the earliest days of U.S. advisors in the south. Therefore, any discussion of this war must include the political side including the Paris talks. Perhaps in a future video you would discuss the assholery of McNamara and his whiz kids. I better stop here, BP rising.
@@TheOperationsRoom No, including some of the politics behind it helped to make it easier to understand why the raids were done the way they were. It didn't slow the video down. Leave it to the brass to loose their sanity and costing aircrews lives.
Brief christmas seize fire.... that's got to be the silliest thing I heard in war, next to war itself. Great detaild explanation for the radar and jammers. Many elements can't be accounted for back then until trial and error, but weather has been the one element that's always been accounted for and yet always seems to remain a every lasting thorn in the side of military strategy.
I was the Base Photographer on U-tapao 1967/68. One day a new recruit was Uploading 500 lb. bombs in the belly of a B52, and he mangaed to drop the whole rack on the ground. I was called to take some pictures ...and then Col. Alex Talmont (the B52 Squadron Commander) asked me to come to his office in a half hour... He had this new recruit buy a case of beer for his Bomb Loading team....and had the new kid apologize and buy his crew Beers in his Commander's Office ... First time I sat down with the B52 Commander and had a beer ! Very Cool guy !
I was at the det bien hoa at that time in operation arc light. RBS reversed. We would get generally 4 to 6 operations notifications in a 12 shift but at that time the notifications were endless. We were too far south to be involved with Hanoi but saw the traffic none the less.
One cool note shortly after this operation all B-52s recieved the Phase VI ECM fit giving them far superior jamming capabilities to most dedicated USAF and USN jamming aircraft
But the effect was extremely small: The US had to return to the Paris negotiating table with the same conditions as before the bombing: US troops had to withdraw, North Vietnamese troops were allowed to stay so that in 1975 they could destroy American henchmen in Saigon.
Imagine how the sky looked over the course of those 11 days, 100s of aircrafts in the air, thousands of pounds of bombs dropping everywhere, nothing short of hell I imagine.
I flew from Thailand in an F4 all eleven nights. I still remember seeing B52s. Hit by SAMs and hearing the beepers as the crews bailed out. Today I wonder if the sacrifices were worth the effort?
For nothing buddy. I would say the US should have not engage to Vietnam were better
You mean the 2 million plus Vietnamese that lost their lives only because they lived under a government that they didn't elect ?
Nope. Just another meaningless war bickering about absolutely nothing, people losing everything, history repeating itself.
@@just1time222 they did elect, man, they did for sure... they Vietnamese didn't die for nothing.
Nope. Not worth it. A pointless war.
It's insane. Exactly the same raid three nights running? Either the SAC staff were extraordinarily arrogant or unbelievably stupid. What a waste of aircraft and crews!
The Deep State Strikes Again.
@@christopherkalble4373 More like the Religious Right and various other types of groups.
Various groups wave hi from Rome, Italy.
Sac at the time was drilled for nuclear strikes. That's how they planned their missions as if they're dropping nukes. In nuclear war there is no need for complex strikes because the first wave of bombers would have wipe that area clean of all threats. But in conventional warfare it's redundant.
Probably both
I flew all eleven Linebacker II missions in as a WSO 497TFS from Ubon AFB Thailand. We laid a chaff corridor for the B 52’s. Although many SA2s were fired and MIGs were sighted we made home safe each night. Not so lucky were the ten B 52’s and crew members that were lost. I can still remember seeing a fireball from a B 52 that was hit at the time I was RTB miles away over Laos!
To lose ten B52s in a single mission - all those lives, the training, the equipment... all lost.
A viet had read this
Thank you
Они погибли не зря🙏
Your a king. I hope your enjoying your retirement!
My father was with 307th bomb wing.. he claimed 5 migs and a friendly were shot down by the BUFF.. I read on some random website it was only 1.
Would you happen to know?
Welcome home BTW
My mom was 2 yrs old, my uncle was a few months old during the attack. Must have been so scary to live in such condition. My grandpa was a communication officer in Vietnamese People Army, he was frequently tasked to check out communication posts around Hanoi. I remembered him telling me he was so exhausted 1 night during the attack after having brought his family to the bunker and returned to his house, he felt asleep despite being so close to the 100mm AA gun battery. The sound of bomb, AA fire did not seem to effect him, he was just too tired. I can't imagine what it was like to be in such a condition.
He loved being a dad.
🙏 thank you for sharing this
15:22 all prisoners of War were not🚫 returned home. intentionally abandoned pows, in EVERY war pre 9/11. I'm terribly troubled, reading several books, videos documenting facts my disgraceful USA😡. 1) AN ENORMOUS CRIME by Bill Hendon, and 2) ABANDONED IN PLACE by Lynn O'shea.
The common man continues to pay the highest price.
So how does everyone like living in Vietnam communism now? Is it the worker's paradise I know it must be?
My uncle was the commander of Charcoal 1 and one of the ones who perished. It was hit by two SAMs at once and one of them hit the cockpit fatally wounding my uncle and killing his copilot and gunner. The other three guys managed to eject and became short term residents of the Hanoi Hilton until they were released in early 1973.
My uncle managed to eject, but he was dead before he hit the ground from a massive abdominal wound. The wreckage of the aircraft is in a military museum in Hanoi to this day.
The bravery required from everyone involved in LB2 to penetrate one of the most advanced air defense systems in the world at that time is nothing short of amazing.
Damn, that's rough....
How did you learn what happened?
Did the Vietnamese find him on the ground, or did his crewmates have radio contact somehow?
I hope your family got his body back and were able to give him an honorable burial.
May he rest in peace.
Brave guys indeed. Thanks so much for sharing your uncles story. 👍🏽
@@slags83
Surprisingly decent of them to show his body to the survivors, and to bury him.
Must've been heartbreaking to see, but at least they got some closure, and knew he wasn't tortured to death or something.
(by that I mean that it's very different from what the Japanese would have done in WW2)
Anyway, I'm glad y'all got the opportunity to bury him at home, afterwards.
Thanks for elaborating!
That link you shared is quite interesting
I'm sorry Mike. Those guys were among the best.
@@slags83 sorry to hear about your uncle and your family's loss.
"Sir, our jamming isn't really working." "Ok, grab all the Reynolds tin foil out of the mess and chop it up. We're gonna make it rain."
Lmao
thats what the british did to jam german radar in the second world war. released massive clouds of aluminum foil strips.
Ha! My Nephew got Caught by the Local athorities for Stealing POWER using Tin Foil!!😄
Chaff
Still used today. In fact, the military used it several times on our radar a few years ago.Weather radar and airports picked it up.
I was on Guam (Andersen AFB) during this time. My father was a fuel manager in the Air Force. I went to School in Aganda and we would see miles and miles of flatbed trucks carrying MK-82 bombs headed for Anderson. Also over 100 B-52's were stationed on Guam. For a little kid...it was quite amazing and surreal. I remember how hard it was for me to sleep, and everyone else. The B-52's were taking off every 5 min 24 hrs a day for 2 weeks! A lot of folks have no idea how many bombs were dropped. My dad would come home and I knew right away because I could smell JP-4 Jet Fuel all over him!
Actually the numbers of B52s on Guam was closer to 200.
Và sự tàn bạo độc ác cũa mỹ đã bị trả giá. Gần 100% người dân mỹ đã biểu tình vì tổng thống nickxơn đã đi cướp còn giết người tàn độc. Cuối cùng thì thua tan nát
Bạn có biết sự thật là những chiếc b52 ₫ó ₫ã ₫i sát hại rất nhiều người dân và trẻ nhỏ của người Việt Nam chúng tôi không
I was there in 1972 for LINEBACKER 1 and we had close to 150 B-52s. We launched 3 at the top of the hour and recovered at the bottom of the hour . This was 24 / 7 from February through October 1972 ,I rotated back to the world in October .
I love the way you present this OP. The details are fascinating, the more the better. The only way to present such accounts is with complete objectivity with the view from both antagonists and this you've done. Bravo!
Was in Guam for 6 mo and worked this operation. We launched 3 B-52's per hour, called ball games, 24 hrs a day for a total of 72 aircraft a day to bomb Viet Nam. Did that for 6 months straight just out of Anderson AFB. About a 13 hr flight. A few never came back.
Respect
@@MisterMacross it would have been better if Russia and China after ww2 would have kept to themselves and didnt try expanding and oppressing their own populations causing the entire cold war and US involvement and most proxy wars would have never happened, if you ever find the US in a conflict after ww2 100% you can find Russia or China doing the same thing for the opposite side.
@@MisterMacross Too bad for you because most came back. I’m glad you’re mad about it
The same pace as U-Tapao. 3 B52s plus one KC135. The USO, Airmans club, chow halls were open 24/7.
Respect. Thx for sharing
Another military history channel with a charming British narrator? I'm sold.
(Seriously though, your channel is fantastic. Keep up the content!)
Mark Felton intensifies
I find the accent annoying and distracting
@@thomasjust2663 come back when you have something important to say.
Bro his accent is perfect like its mad satisfying for some reason
@@thomasjust2663 I find your comment annoying and distracting
My aunt’s family used to live in Khâm Thiên street, next to Dân Chủ Theater (fun fact, Dân Chủ means Democracy, LoL) very close to Hanoi Railway Station - a major bombing raid target during Linebacker II. November 26, 1972 was the day a B-52 raid stripped the whole street clean - 2000 houses were destroyed, included my aunt’s house. Luckily she and her husband went down the bomb shelter just in time, survived the raid and was later rescued from the rumble - many other weren’t such fortunate. She would later have 5 daughters, become a great auntie, but after 50 years she still sometimes complains about having nightmares of bomb raids. No matter which side you are, war is terrible.
These videos you make are priceless. Really impressed by everything you do!
What a brutal and relentless mission this was. Had no idea about this. Thank you for the lesson.
No problem!
@@TheOperationsRoom excellent videos. I was a kid when this was going on.
American government has to pay the price for this meaningless war.try to ask vietnam to invade America?
@@minhnguyennang3057 Many Americans paid the ultimate price. In war there really are no winners.
@@logicalmusicman5081 americans were bogged down in the war in vietnam.the America n government lost million of dollars in vietnam an the got nothing in vietnam war.US government inflicted
please continue to make more amazing history videos good sir!
More to come!
@@TheOperationsRoom The terible power of the super fortress flying b52 is thousands os times bigger than the atomic bombs dropped on japan
@@minhnguyennang3057 Stratofortress.
@@TheOperationsRoom I saw about the b52 plane damage number stated in the video is not correct
@@CuongPham-mx6de Maybe that source isn’t correct
Been watching a few of your presentations. Well, documentaries I would call them. These are awesome. Not only are you very well informed on all details of the subject. The way you present the information by means of, frankly awesome, animation that is not confusing. yet it is very usable to anyone who may be trying to replicate these scenarios in Command for example.
Honestly I found you by randomness. I am so glad I did. Love this channel. Keep up your brilliant work and keep safe.
My dad's B52 got hit by a SAM over Hanoi one of those nights - right in the nose radome. Smoke filled the cockpit. They opened the bomb bay doors to let the smoke out. My dad sat on the lower bomb rail (this was prior to rotary bomb rack conversion). U-Tapao foamed the runway, as landing gear would not go down. Flaps would not engage. They had bled too much hydraulic fluid. The BUFF slammed down on the runway, compressing every disk in my dad's back. In 1995 I found him unconscious beside the house in a pool of blood - he had passed out from a back spasm and fell to the side and struck his head on a stone flower bed retainer wall. That's when I started watching him closely and standing near him to catch him if he falls.
Thank you and your hero dad
.These planes and the ones that fell into the sea are not considered to be... shot down because the North Vietnamese have no evidence. Shameless lies.
@@patriciajohnson6653 He wasn't hero he was a killer? You should watch videos about the innocent citizens died because those damn B 52?
@@patriciajohnson6653 your B52 bombing my country 36k ton bombs and killed 2000 innocent civilians = hero?
🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
I was there. 1971 - 1974, U-Tapao RTNAF, Rayong Province, Thailand, 635th CSGp, 635th Supply Sqdrn. part-time riding fence, too.
I was in Country 2012 /2015.
Amazing place, friendly people.
Lost a lot of good brain cells, both tours..
My father was one of the base commanders at U-tapao. He never talked a lot about the war, but mentioned once that the officers would go out to watch the returning Buffs. He said that he couldn't believe that most could still fly, they had so much battle damage.
My dad did two tours at U-Tapao, 69-70, 71-72, as a SMS, And CMS He loved Cowpot, a Thai dish his hootch girl would cook for him and 3 hootch mates. He only mentioned once, the damage to air craft and crews. He was shop chief for BomNav on the first tour.
My grandfather was a B-52 Squadron Commander during this operation. He is deceased now, but he had plaques and awards in his study that said Operation Linebacker.
I remember as a child he had recordings that he would listen to from this operation over and over. There were planes being shot down on the recording and pilots talking. At one point someone says that they just had what looked like a telephone pole go past their wing.
I was in the 99th bomb wing tdy to Anderson afb APRIL 1972 to APRIL 1973
I remember reading accounts from NVN and Vietcong veterans after the war. Pretty much all of them mentioned being genuinely scared of the B-52's. Up until Charcoal 1 was downed, they were seen as untouchable and able to penetrate all but the absolute deepest redoubts. Plus even if you survived you knew you were gonna spend a few days/weeks waiting for someone to dig you out as there usually wasn't enough oxygen flow left after the strikes to allow those trapped to do much of anything but wait.
The first realization the VC/PAVN were being Arclighted was when the jungle a mile away began to come apart in a Tsunami of bombs, two miles long, one mile wide a whole grid square wiped.
I stood in a bomb crater in Cu Chi Province VN,
I believe it was from a MK84 2000pd bomb.
The crater was 15m wide and 6 meters deep.
Blast zone around 1km from x, anything living in that area would be killed.
TERRIFYING ! ! !
Oh you guys love it .. blood and guts spilling all over .. protecting our freedom to vote ... OMG
@championszz hmmm…sounds familiar….
@@zebradun7407 Yeah my dad (who was there) said an Arclight strike looked liked the surface of the moon. Just - nothing and craters for one mile wide two miles long.
Thanks much for your time and efforts, Sir! This is excellent!👍
Also, for those who worked on the ECM gear, it was designed to work better in the 3 plane cell format. Those cells that were only 2 birds had a 40% reduction in jamming coverage. The D's had some pretty heavy jamming gear. And also changed from using the Bomb Nav sighting to the SkySpot radar targeting. I worked on this system. It gave the Bomb Nav a tone and a light to drop bombs. I can't tell you how well it worked, I never debriefed the Nav's to ask. But I kept fixing them. SST-181 was the unit. Look it up.
Not all B52s had the same ECM gear.
12:51 why didnt they make four-ship cell out of the remaining planes? did not the planners know that two-ship cells would be at a defensive disadvantage??
@@Defender78 Yeah I was wondering why didn't just go with a one time 4 plane augmented cell as well.
@@Defender78 welcome to dealing with leadership in the military.
I've never seen a UA-cam channel that deals with the signals side of military history. There's a niche open for you if you're bored.
This was fascinating and (seemingly) so well told/animated.
Thank you for this.
Glad you enjoyed it!
We have one of the Linebacker B-52s at the air museum in my home town. Shes a memorial to Nam now, sitting in a nice little park across from the airstrip the museums built next to and right next to a tiny high school.
Fitting resting place for the old girl, I like to think.
Charcoal 1
fitting? i suppose, since it may have destroyed many schools.
An absolutely brilliant, well explained video!
Excellent program. Very well composed and illustrated. I feel I have a much better understanding of Linebacker now. Thank you.
You are welcome!
All that effort and we lost S VN to the reds.
I grew up during that era. My father was in Vietnam. This is the best description of "Linebacker 2" I have ever seen.
Great job ! You rock for making kick @$$ documentaries. Thank you!
These explanations with animations and pictures are really awesome!!...very interesting and informative 👍
I find these videos very interesting. I appreciate the effort you put in to producing them.
Thank you very much!
Your videos never cease to impress!
There's a famous caution given to military leaders when they engage in a new conflict, "Don't fight the last war". An air campaign on this scale with those objectives is clearly reminiscent of the bombings over Germany during WWII. Waves of heavy bombers, dropping massive payloads, following the same routes multiple times over the same targets was the hallmark strategy of the air campaign in the 40s.
It's fascinating to see how SAC adapted in such a short time and maximized the effectiveness of their resources at hand (ie large numbers of B52s, Wild Weasels, Aardvarks, and electronic warfare equipment), despite having had access to the same equipment for almost a decade already.
Thanks for the excellent video.
That was also one of the reasons why the stealth F-117 was shotdoen over Serbia
I would say ironically they lost precisely because they weren't fighting the last war. If they had treated the Vietnamese like they had treated the Germans, Hanoi would have ceased to exist within a few days.
It was precisely because they were trying to fly such limited missions that they ended up exposing themselves to tremendous risk. If they had just committed themselves to completely destroying the North Vietnamese War Machine as quickly and as brutally as possible, there is nothing they could have done to stop it.
Even in the 1940s... approaches were varied, and evasive maneuvers were taken to throw off the ranging and lead calculations of flak directors...
@@Laotzu.Goldbug It didn't work in WWII. What makes you think it would have worked any better in Vietnam? And in the end it didn't. There are always those who say, "Shoulda gone hard early," but it was never going to work. The reason was perfectly simple: the Americans were not only fighting the North. All this did was to further erode public opinion of American motives and strategic competence.
@@thethirdman225 it didn’t work in WW2? German industrial production was down 70% by the end of 1944
Brilliantly done video. Very well presented and extremely interesting.
YES. There's a new video!! I've watched all of your current ones at least 3 times.
Glad you like them!
Thanks for putting this together!
I entered the Air Force in 1983 and flew B-52’s from 1985 to 1993. The Linebacker raids were always presented as a failure of leadership in lectures in schools geared towards officers in general and aircrews in particular. They are always cited as the best example of the need for central direction from leadership with planning and execution authority at the lowest level of command as possible.
Political Air War
This is the truest confession.The Vietnamese call Linebecker 2 "Dien Bien Phu in the air"
"The Linebacker raids were always presented as a failure of leadership" but on media it was victory !What is in reality and what is on the media is always different.
The animation helps a great deal in each video and answers alot of questions.
Quality content. Well researched and presented. Well done, sir. I'm glad I found your channel. Subscribed
It’s like a fast ball pitcher going into the majors with one pitch. Sooner rather than later....everyone knows your pitch and timing.
Tell me about it, there is nothing worse.
Late in the day, deep in the third innings. Change of ball. Fresh cherry; and suddenly that sublime inside-outside googly that you thought would be their collapse has become a perfect belter. Now all you can do is serve up dibbly-dobblies and their batsman has turned into an anchor.
You pussy, you edited all of the sports metaphors out of your comment. What's wrong? Couldn't handle a little soft ribbing?
Thoroughly interesting animation. Many Thanks. I grew up in the UK during the Vietnam war and can remember it being on the news almost every evening. I've been fascinated by this conflict ever since.
Great video and detail. Thank you for communicating what really happened. New Patreon contributor here.
Excellent videos! Well-researched and well-executed.
Glad you like them!
I would like to think that the military planners were charged with negligence for proposing the same attack plan on three consecutive nights, but I'm sure they were not. I'm pretty sure I know what the crews would have liked to do to them though.
I would also like to think that the entire US military were charged with warcrimes in the Hague, but hey we can't get everything we want
@@md.tamzidislam6580 Hey Bumpy, didn't you hear, World Court in the Hague has a huge backlog of murders by moustache man, Uncle Joe Stalin, Mao, KIM, and Le Duan.
The reds ought to be followed by the imperials tbh as they are reskinned imperials having imperialistic ambitions
Bump player 55
Imperials? During the Vietnam war they practically banned themselves from actually operating in North Vietnam. The US military by itself could easily have completely crushed them and annexed it as a territory if they were actually looking for conquest.
Instead the entire war was mismanaged and only fought to directly defend south Vietnam. Even then every single battle was a crushing military success. Vietnam was horrific for the North, they simply didn’t give up until they were forced to, and then just ignored the peace deal a few years later.
TbH David, one lacks a working brain in their head, if they automatically assume that the ability to afford and drive a triple figure-priced car will make them superior to oh, let's say... those who drive higher quality Toyotas. I'd be surprised if you have a triple-digit IQ,if yer one of those people who think that the higher the priced the car,the better the quality.. . the more dependable... etc. Because everybody knows that both Honda and Toyota lead the pack, in terms of long-lasting dependability,and durability--AND value.Truth, and fact. So...
just say'n.
You ought not judge a man by the price of car he drives; makes ya look libtarded.
This is a great video since watching it a few weeks ago I have been watching everything I can on Linebacker 2. I just purchased 11 days of Christmas looking forward to reading it
Absolutely fantastic content!
Nearly 50k subs, great content as usual.
Nearly there!
I love your videos, litterly everythin, but that and few others are even better! The way you reprisent bombing sortis, are amazing. Thank you, keep the good work 👍
"BRING THE RAIN!"
Interesting. Thanks. I'd read a bit about this operation before but it puts it more into perspective. My uncle flew six missions in Linebacker II out of U-Tapao.
So well done! after reading Harder's book 'Flying from the Black Hole' and getting all the detail about the G vs the big tail black and brown D's... and then watching Tim Vasquez's Forecast lab day after Christmas combat livemap, your story was a perfect capper.. much like your new piece on the battle of the black sea (battle of Mogadishu). Keep of the great work.
Fantastic video as usual, keep up the good work!
Thank you very much!
I love seeing when planners learn and improve their methods. Another excellent video!
Thanks so much!
Yeah,well wouldn't it be wonderful if they came up with a good plan from the start? The mistakes made in the first 3 days were pathetic.several hours between waves? Whose brilliant idea was that?...
@@timhoovermusicman , yep, what can possibly go wrong?))
@@user-vo8ss2bm3p apparently a lot.
The local general said he was not sending his aircraft on the same mission again. Different planners.
I find many people still misunderstand Linebacker Operations. Linebacker I (4/1972 - 8/1972) was executed to force North Vietnam signing a peace treaty with American. However, after South Vietnam reviewed that treaty, they saw the treaty biased too much North Vietnam, so they revised some articles. North Vietnam declined the revision, so American had to execute Linebacker II to force North Vietnam again. After 12 days, North Vietnam agreed to come back peace table, but North Vietnam still refused the revision. Therefore, American had to threaten that the US would cut off supports if South Vietnam didn't agree on the first treaty. Finally, American claimed that they won the war and retreated. Later, the US also declined supports to the South, that's why the South collapsed in 1975.
Some folks will say that American didn't lose, they just left or American won due to the peace treaty. But if you studied well about Vietnam War, you would see that there was a peace treaty in 1954. American violated that peace treaty and jumped in Vietnam in 1956. After 20 years, American left Vietnam with another peace treaty in 1973. Both the peace treaties had the same term about a peaceful unification in Vietnam. Therefore, I don't see any progress that convinces me American did win.
Saying that "US forced Vietnam to return to Paris" is just a stupid excuse for the failure of American murderous "campaign" to terrorize the government in Hanoi. If the Vietnamese people were afraid, they would not be able to endure the American brutality throughout that war
@@thuankhongyet they did return to the negotiating table rather quickly after getting their civilians massacred
@@stevesteady603 The US Air Force suffered great losses in the sky over Hanoi, so the return to Paris of both sides is because the US has accepted North Vietnam's demands, including 3 major points that are extremely beneficial to North Vietnam.
1, USA withdrew all troops in Vietnam.
2, PVN was allowed to maintain its army in southern Vietnam. (different from the 1954 agreement where North Vietnam had to withdraw troops to the North)
3, reduce all aid to the army of the Republic of Vietnam.
excellent content as always. Thanks!
Great job!! Looking forward to more videos
This was a lot less lopsided than I would have thought.
we haven't seen this level of competence or near parity in my lifetime.
Thanks for the video. it added some color to a sad time in our history.
"Aside from an accidental bomb load drop on a civilian shipping center, the night was considered a success" LMFAOO out of context that is so funny
Damn, they blew up Walmart
They dropped the bomb, wipe out the entire Kham Thien street with 2000 houses Destroyed, Bach Mai Hospital (The biggest hospital in the North) Hit by over 100 bombs. The hospital was almost flattened. But the US historian never talks about it, trust me.
@@toangomo next time we will do nothing and see the outcome instead.
@@alite0101 U should just stay at home. Don't interfere with another country. What did YOU expect when you supported the French to invade us?
@@toangomo "But the US historian never talks about it" and you never talk about how dogshit your authoritarian socialist government was. does great vietnam today have freedom of speech and an elected leader? no. but US bad so its completely fine.
this video was about the strategic operations of Linebacker 2 and the accidental bomb drop had little to no importance, yet it was still mentioned, but you are too dumb to understand so you better just shut up.
love the detail you broke this apart.
This is my new favorite channel. Wonderful work!
Welcome aboard!
I really watch a lot of War Channels, lectures ect, but The Operations Room is unique among all, I really appreciate that !
I like the way the information is presented.
Thank You for Your effort !
Greetings !
As a young 21 year old USAF E-4, I played a very very very (not enough "very's") small role in Linebacker II while stationed at Nakhon Phanom AB, Thailand, which I noticed was not on the map of Thailand. Because of our proximity to Vietnam, we launched quite a few search & rescue plus special operations. I remember it was a very busy two week or so period with 12-16 hour shifts and no days off. I probably complained at the time because I had no clue what those aircrews were going thru. Thank you, gentlemen, for all you did and sacrificed.
Grandfather was CE at NKP during Vietnam.
I was stationed at NKP during this time at the Aerial Port. I too noticed that NKP was not on this map. We could hear and feel those bombs from our base like it was next door. We not only fought the war in Vietnam but there was another war going on called The Secret War in Laos (Google it) which was right across the Mekong River from downtown NKP. We watched firefights while drinking beer at a hooch bar on the Mekong and watched Air America bomb a town in Laos by the name of Thakhok, Laos. I was an E-4 as well.
The US military did this to cover up the lost in LB 2
During Linebacker 1 I was a member of an Infantry Brigade 196th and we were in blocking positions north and west of Phu Bai when the NVA attacked the South Vietnamese units stationed along the DMZ and the Hue/ Phu Bai area in the northern I Corps area. The South Vietnamese were getting pounded by NVA Artillery units and then Armor units of the north started getting across the DMZ . We were issued LAW Anti-tank weapons to use in the event Armor units broke through and tried to out flank from the west. We stayed up at this area until Jun ,when we were pulled back to secure the Airfield and areas around Danang . We were operating in the mountains west of Danang until mid AUG-72 . We were pulled out and sent home on AUG 12 1972 , as the last Combat Ground force" Task Force Gimlet" 3/21 Infantry to leave the battlefield of South Vietnam. Had it not been for the massive AIR POWER of the B-52's and the damage they inflicted on the NVA , it could have been serious for us to hold off the advance from the NVA. Linebacker 1 and 2 pretty much destroyed much of the NVA equipment and units that were trying overrun the south and it took another three years before the NVA could advance and overrun the south. After Watergate , the Congress voted to stop supporting the south , something that President Nixon had promised the South Vietnamese President before he ended his Presidency and that allowed the NVA to stroll down and into Saigon to end the Vietnam war and our participation.
Yours channel is amazing, watched all the WW2 channels and this is by far the best
Thanks!
I was stationed in the 43rd Supply Squadron at Anderson AFB, Guam from Nov 71 to Feb 73. I was there through Linebacker II and it was something I will remember my entire life.
I was a kid living in Guam, in 67 to 68 i used to watch the B-52s take off. Imagine that being 10 yrs old.
I used to wonder why so many take off but very few land? One day saw one coming in lands when it passed the tower out of my view, few secs later i hear a huge Bang! Will never foget that.
thank you for your service
@@davedrabczyk2773 there were many Bang sound in Hanoi these days
WOW AMAZING WORK THNX A LOT.
I absolutely love your WW2 videos mate. As a person with an interest and reading about WW2 for most of my life, these videos are so pleasing and exciting to watch. Earned my sub!
Just wanted to let you know that you have one of the most binge worthy channels out there. Cant wait for more content, good luck dude!
That operation kept me from going to Viet Nam. Our unit was on levy to rotate into VN between February and April 1973. After the operation, we stood down and were no longer on levy to VN.
What stopped you going to Vietnam wasn’t Linebacker II it was the US capitulation in the Paris talks.
@@davidwright7193 - incorrect. We stood down before that particular part of the talks.
@@davidturk6301 Talks on the terms of the US capitulation recommenced 2 days after linebacker II ended with final terms agreed Jan 23rd. Your stand down wasn’t due to the success of linebacker II it was due to its failure and the acceptance that the US would take whatever terms North Vietnam offered in Paris.
@@davidwright7193 bullshit
@@davidwright7193 what the USA should do is all out war and not inform the media of anything like the Russians and Chinese do. The Viteman war would be over in weeks. They were told to aviod this and that for 7 years while the satellites showed Sams being unloaded in the harbor. Vietnam got a half @ss war from the USA and was still bombed to hell. News media you say.....you believe there are only 5,000 virus deaths in China as of today? If you believe that then you believe Vietnam had a great military. China went and kicked their ass in 1979 and of course little media coverage.
I was stationed at U-Tapao AFB during Linebacker II. B52s where in air 24 hours/day. I worked with the U2 aircraft. We had 3 and one was always airborne. U-Tapao AFB ran 24/7. Even the chow hall was open day and night.
Nice animated video about Vietnam War. Appreciate it!
One of your best videos yet Well done !
Glad you enjoyed it
Stunning. Well done.
Many thanks!
The voice of Operations Room. It is so awesome. He/you could explain anything: battle of Poltava in 1709 or legendary F1 races or ice hockey games in the 70s, 80s or anything.
*Thanks for letting us know, good work!!!*
Your videos are not only* exceptionally produced and entertaining, but keep me focused while doing my art, thank you!
My dad was on the USS midway during 71 to 72 he still talks about this operation that he was involved in. He was a aviation technician on the A-7 attack aircraft
Did he enjoy killing Vietnamese children?
Love him up and give him a hug for me.
Best Military History channel videos ever!!!!!!!!
I don't wanna imagine what being underneath a B-52 raid would be like. there's still bomb craters and unexploded bombs throughout Vietnam still to this day
At that time our hospitals, streets, and schools were all in ruins
This is the campaign my dad was involved in as a crew chief. He flew missions with his plane - the pilots didn't always have faith in the planes unless the chief was willing to fly in it. I asked him one time what flak looked like and he replied "I don't know, I was too busy looking for SAMs". Thank's for the video.
excellent video! please make more
More to come!
The Huu Tiep Lake aircraft in Hanoi is B-52D (56 -0605) flown by Captain Lewis call sign Cobalt 1. Identified as a possible second B-52 claimed as a MiG-21 air-to-air victory, and may correspond to Vu Xuan Thieu firing 1 K-13 (AA-2 Atoll) AAM from MiG-21 of the 921th Sao Sao Fighter Regiment "Red Star", based at Cam Thuy. The MiG-21 was also destroyed by the resulting explosion.
It was a kamikaze attack
Kudos on the upload OPs Room! By the way the EB aircraft are US Navy EA-3Bs. Good info on Linebacker! Long time ago but I still remember it. Godspeed amigo!
This is fascinating, I live in Hanoi and my apartment overlooks the military airfield you see to the right, just below the railyard.. It's not used now, but was used in operation homecoming to bring back the US POWs as you mention at the end. It has some small lakes/ponds around the area, I wonder if that's from the raids...
Happy Veterans Day everyone! ANd to all Vietnam veterans, I thank you for your service.
Jim Rainguet, rode the “Launch Truck” at Utapao during that time for the Hydraulic Shop. Seven twelves, all hands on deck. What a long strange time it was, but it worked! Loved that old D model buff!
Had the "thrilling" opportunity to be on the ground under a B-52 strike (maybe rolling thunder, don't know!) you see the arc lites, feel underfoot the shock waves, and then hear the thunder. The whole thing was shocking in it's size of destruction. I remember crying for those with the misfortune to be a little closer, no matter which side they were on.
BS
@@toomanyhobbies2011 Millions of people have been on the ground near B-52 bomb drops. I don't think you understand how common they were.
@@Jake-rs9nq Trouble is you're dealing with an internet expert who has never been outside his basement.
Bullshit.
What about the snakes and other animals out hinting for food?
My Dad had flown EB-66 radar jamming airplanes out of Takhli, Thailand from 1968-69. 100+ missions. At the time of these bombing attacks, he was at SAC HQ continuing to develop the Strategic Nuclear War plans of the Bomber Wings for the Cold War Strategy against the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communists. As noted in the videos. No more B-52s were being produced. I vaguely remembering him describing how he watched the bomber attacks in real time. He felt devastated at the loss of aircraft and crews for the first days. Until the Tactical Command didn’t continue the stupidity of flying the same routes 3 days in a row. Every B-52 lost required a change in his Strategic Nuclear Bomber War Plan. He had many thousands of hours flying B-52s and really couldn’t bear to see them being destroyed. He told me several times that his worst assignment in the AF was as the primary aircraft accident officer in Roswell NM in the 1960s. Usually investigating aircraft accidents of aircraft he had flown personally and people he had flown with and knew well. Thank you much for this detailed explanation of what happened during these bombing missions. I matches perfectly with what little my Dad ever told me about them. I have some detailed but mostly cryptic notebooks about his year flying from Takhli over North Vietnam.
Thank you for this excellent video, the inclusion of the political aspect of it puts it all in three proper context.
Another job well done for you.
Thanks! I did put a conscious effort to include more of the political side on this one which i think made it slightly slower paced than my others - thoughts?
@@TheOperationsRoom I thought it was a great addition, and I think it's something that should be included when relevant, along with any intelligence that help or hinder it for either side.
@@TheOperationsRoom This war was completely political except perhaps the earliest days of U.S. advisors in the south. Therefore, any discussion of this war must include the political side including the Paris talks. Perhaps in a future video you would discuss the assholery of McNamara and his whiz kids. I better stop here, BP rising.
@@TheOperationsRoom No, including some of the politics behind it helped to make it easier to understand why the raids were done the way they were. It didn't slow the video down. Leave it to the brass to loose their sanity and costing aircrews lives.
Brief christmas seize fire.... that's got to be the silliest thing I heard in war, next to war itself. Great detaild explanation for the radar and jammers. Many elements can't be accounted for back then until trial and error, but weather has been the one element that's always been accounted for and yet always seems to remain a every lasting thorn in the side of military strategy.
Appreciate the hard work and great content. All the best :)
Another great video. I didn’t know half of that about the LB Ops. Seems like a bit of a rushed cluster certainly for the first 3 nights.
Definitely - communicating mission plans half way round the world just aren't practicalities we worry about any more in the age of the internet!
Best explanation of Operation Linebacker ever.
Great Video. Thanks.
I love this show.
All the little Animated killers and killed.
Very informative.
I was the Base Photographer on U-tapao 1967/68. One day a new recruit was Uploading 500 lb. bombs in the belly of a B52, and he mangaed to drop the whole rack on the ground. I was called to take some pictures ...and then Col. Alex Talmont
(the B52 Squadron Commander) asked me to come to his office in a half hour... He had this new recruit buy a case of beer for his Bomb Loading team....and had the new kid apologize and buy his crew Beers in his Commander's Office ... First time I sat down with the B52 Commander and had a beer ! Very Cool guy !
I was at the det bien hoa at that time in operation arc light. RBS reversed. We would get generally 4 to 6 operations notifications in a 12 shift but at that time the notifications were endless. We were too far south to be involved with Hanoi but saw the traffic none the less.
Love your vids!!!
Great summary ! 🔥💥
From what I knew, at that time the aiport was closed, that did not operated fully after the war was ended 1975
One cool note shortly after this operation all B-52s recieved the Phase VI ECM fit giving them far superior jamming capabilities to most dedicated USAF and USN jamming aircraft
Excellent video!!
The amount of strategic bombers employed in this operation is absolutely massive. I I think this the last time any nation unleashed such a force.
And these operations achieved nothing. We still lost.
But the effect was extremely small: The US had to return to the Paris negotiating table with the same conditions as before the bombing: US troops had to withdraw, North Vietnamese troops were allowed to stay so that in 1975 they could destroy American henchmen in Saigon.
Nope it was big effect actually, with thousands dying, similar to how millions VC were annihilated throughout the war
Imagine how the sky looked over the course of those 11 days, 100s of aircrafts in the air, thousands of pounds of bombs dropping everywhere, nothing short of hell I imagine.
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