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(V) Rivet Top mission supervisor's position
Top stayed until the end of the Rolling Thunder
campaign."
CU) When combined with improvements to
armaments and defensive systems to the
American air capability, such as the installation of
gun pods on the F-4s, and the distribution of
ECM pods to all aircraft, which considerably
reduced the SAM threat, the Americans seemed
to have gained the final upper hand in the air war.
The Air Force, especially, could fly in larger formations
and saturate a target. During April and
May, fewer strikes were forced to jettison their
ordnance. The kill ratio against the MiGs continued
to improve with occasional spectacular air
victories. For example, on 13 May 1967 seven
MiG-17s were shot down by American pilots. In
June and July, the MiG threat seemed to disappear;
there were hardly any engagements. Most
of the Vietnamese MiGs had dispersed to Chinese
airfields in the face of the American onslaught
against their bases. All of this seemed to augur
final victory in the war against the MiGs; or, if not
complete victory, the MiGs were now a negligible
threat. In August 1967, the former commander of
the 7th Air Force, General William Momyer,
would tell a Senate Subcommittee on Defense
Preparedness that "We had driven the MiGs out
of the sky for practical purposes. If he comes up,
he will probably suffer the same fate." 62
CU) However, as others did in the war,
General Momyer had spoken too soon.
CU) On 23 August, a flight of 7th Air Force
Phantoms was on a bombing mission near Hanoi.
Suddenly two F-4s exploded into fireballs. The
only thing the other American pilots saw was two
MiG-21s streak by with afterburners on, already
too far away to pursue. What had happened
How had the MiGs attacked without warning As
it turns out, the MiG-21s had been vectored by
their GCI controller into an attack plane from the
rear and above the American formation. The
MiGs had been directed there in a route that had
taken them out of the radar range of the U.S.jets,
and at low-level which hid them in the ground
clutter from the College Eye airborne controller.
Apparently, they had flown silently, as well, neither
having communicated, nor had their IFF
transponder been active. The MiGs had achieved
complete surprise and had made their quick "hit
and run" attack.
CU) This incident marked a change in North
Vietnamese tactics. Gone were the aggressive
attacks in which their jets mixed it up with
American fighters. Instead, Hanoi's tactics were
(V) A deadly sight: a MiG-21 p