Case Studies in the Achievement of Air Superiority - Air Force ...

SOUTHEAST ASIA
and loosened the bonds that had restrained U.S. aircraft from striking many
targets. By March 1968, the President had authorized the Joint Chiefs to
reduce the size of the Hanoi and Haiphong sanctuaries; he had earlier
authorized attacks on all NVAF airfields except Cia Lam.zo During LINE-
BACKER, in 1972, many of the restrictions that had affected ROLLING
THUNDER operations were removed.z’
To some degree, the obstacles created by ROLLING THUNDER’S Rules
of Engagement were offset by the proximity of U.S. bases to North Vietnam.
With USN task forces steaming on “Yankee Station” as close as
60 miles to North Vietnam, U.S. air power had the southern panhandle
of North Vietnam bracketed. Thailand had granted the U.S. permission
in 1964 to use bases on its soil, and the bulk of USAF air strikes against
North Vietnamese targets during ROLLING THUNDER originated at bases
such as Ubon, Udorn, and Korat.Z2 The approximate distances from
those bases and from Da Nang to selected important targets are given in
Table 10-1.
In effect, U.S. forces facing the North Vietnamese had sanctuaries of
their own-Thailand, most of South Vietnam, and the Gulf of Tonkin. Air
Force search-and-rescue teams also regularly ventured into Laos to
retrieve downed U.S. aircrews. Though Navy units stationed in the Gulf of
Tonkin were vulnerable to attack from the Chinese island of Hainan and
the Chinese mainland, the People’s Republic of China never used its own
forces to combat the U.S. aircraft carriers and surface ships deployed off
North Vietnam. In effect, the Gulf of Tonkin was an American lake.
The weather, on the other hand, favored the North Vietnamese. The
USN, in particular, suffered because of it. When the prevailing monsoon
TABLE 10-1
Round-trip, Direct Path Distances from Selected U.S. Airfields
to North Vietman
U.S. Airfields
Destination Ubon (Thai) Udorn (Thai) Korat (Thai) Da Nang (SVN)
Vinh 480 400 120 480
Thanh Hoa 640 480 800 600
Hanoi 800 600 960 720
Sepone (Laos) 140 220 300 140
(Ho Chi Minh
Trail)
Source: Aces and Aerial Vicrories (Washington: Office of Air Force History, 1976). p, 23.
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