WI the US Air Force had 200 plane Raids in Rolling Thunder

During the Vietnam War we sent flights of 4 B-52's on raids against the North Vietnamese Cities . But what if we had sent raids of 200 B-52 against the Cities of North Vietnam . Could these Raids of broken the will of the north . Just think of a bombing raid were 8,800,000 Kg's of bomb were dropped on a city in one raid .
 

Deleted member 1487

During the Vietnam War we sent flights of 4 B-52's on raids against the North Vietnamese Cities . But what if we had sent raids of 200 B-52 against the Cities of North Vietnam . Could these Raids of broken the will of the north . Just think of a bombing raid were 8,800,000 Kg's of bomb were dropped on a city in one raid .

I thought the USSR told us that is certain barriers were crossed they would escalate their involvement up to and including nukes. I think we were afraid of risking that sort of escalation, so purposely held back.
 

Typo

Banned
During the Vietnam War we sent flights of 4 B-52's on raids against the North Vietnamese Cities . But what if we had sent raids of 200 B-52 against the Cities of North Vietnam . Could these Raids of broken the will of the north . Just think of a bombing raid were 8,800,000 Kg's of bomb were dropped on a city in one raid .
I don't think the problem was that the north weren't air bombed enough
 
Linebacker II, except with every aircraft in every raid. I think.

Well I'm thinking more of Bombing Campaigns like we did in WWII. But starting in 1965 and ending in 1973 with maybe pulling out B-47 from retirement to join the B-52's in the Raids .
 
Last edited:

gridlocked

Banned
North Vietnam was not Germany, with some targets restricted, I imagine no firebombing of Hanoi, what could we possibly target?
 

Typo

Banned
North Vietnam was not Germany, with some targets restricted, I imagine no firebombing of Hanoi, what could we possibly target?
More to the point, how much does bombing actually help?

Unless you want to attempt to trigger the collapse of the Communist state, you are bombing...what exactly? It's not like North Vietnam was building its own weapons.
 

Cook

Banned
North Vietnam was not Germany, with some targets restricted, I imagine no firebombing of Hanoi, what could we possibly target?

Very important that, soviet ships were unloading arms and equipment in North Vietnamese ports and were off limits to attack.

There is an incident recorded in Chuck Yeager’s autobiography:
Yeager said:
As Andy put it, ‘Vietnam was a place where you could get a medal or a court-martial quicker than any place else.’
Yeager said:
Man that was true. Not long before my tour ended, the Air Force filed court-martial charges against a bird colonel named Jack Broughton, who was a deputy wing commander of F-105 Thunderchiefs that were fighting in the north. Jack was a helluva commander and a great combat pilot. His guys loved him. A couple of them had come in over Haiphong harbour as a Soviet freighter was off-loading weapons. The Soviets opened fire on them with a deck gun, and Jack’s guys fired back. When they returned to base, they told Jack what they had done, and he, in turn, made a serious mistake. He destroyed their gun camera film – the evidence – and told his pilots to keep quiet.
Meanwhile the Russians filed a formal complaint, claiming American jets had attacked one of their ships without provocation. The White House queried General Ryan, then the Air Force Commander in the Pacific and he launched an investigation. When the Air Force finally confronted Jack, he confessed, and the brass decided to court-martial him and his two pilots…
Fighter pilots would go crazy with frustration watching Russian freighters unloading SAM missiles in Haiphong harbour, knowing that the rules of engagement prevented them from doing a damned thing about it.
 
Rolling Thunder had so much wrong with it that just fixing the worst things would bring about a drastic improvement without the need for mass B52 raids.
 
Top