Archie to SAM: A Short Operational History of Ground-Based Air ...

AIRMEN VERSUS GUERRILLAS
Figure 55. Captured North Vietnamese antiaircraft gun. The Communists
had a plentiful supply of AAA and ammunition. (Reprinted from
USAF.)
The Airmen were also hindered by other factors, the most
significant was their unpreparedness to fight a sustained, conventional
air campaign. 7 First, American aircraft were unsuited
for these operations. Paradoxically, “strategic” bombers such
as the B-52 were used against “tactical” targets in the south,
while tactical fighters such as the F-105 were used against
strategic targets in the north. 8 The limited numbers of allweather
aircraft presented a considerable burden in the air
war against North Vietnam, especially in the winter monsoon
season (December through mid-May). The only American allweather
aircraft were the Marine and Navy A-6s and Air Force
B-52s and F-111s, the first two types entered action in 1965,
the latter in 1968. Second, America fought a conventional air
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