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

AIRMEN VERSUS GUERRILLAS
Figure 63. EA-6B Prowler. The EA-6B Prowler carried a four-man crew
to jam enemy radars. (Reprinted from USAF.)
using antiradiation missiles—to hunter-killer teams consisting
of two F-105 hunters armed with ARMs and two F-4 killers
armed with CBUs. 38
If the Airmen operated successfully over North Vietnam, they
nevertheless paid a price. During the April through October
1972 bombing, the US Air Force flew 9,315 sorties, dropped
155,500 tons of bombs on the north, and lost 63 planes. In all,
the United States lost 111 fixed-wing aircraft in combat, apparently
in equal proportions to AAA, MiGs, and SAMs. In addition
to aircraft losses, the Airmen paid another price: only
2,346 of the total sorties directly attacked enemy installations;
the others were in support of missions. The ratio of support
aircraft was even higher than these numbers indicate (3.4:1),
as they do not include tanker and reconnaissance aircraft. 39
As the bombing took its toll in the north and the Vietnamese
invasion of the south stalled and then was pushed back, negotiations
prompted Henry A. Kissinger’s “peace-is-at-hand”
comment on 26 October. But as close as the peacemakers got
to an agreement, they did not get a treaty.
131