The Air Force in the Vietnam War - Air Force Association

Tactical Reconnaissance
T
he SR-71 Blackbird and
other strategic reconnaissance
platforms flew
in Southeast Asia, but the
information they collected
was geared mostly to the
needs of the national intelligence
agencies. For dayto-day
targeting information
and bomb damage assessment, 7th Air
Force relied on its own tactical reconnaissance
aircraft.
The RF-101C Voodoo, which had
flown low-level reconnaissance missions
during the Cuban Missile Crisis,
was the workhorse in the early years in
Vietnam. From 1967 on, RF-4Cs took
over most of the tactical reconnaissance
jobs in Southeast Asia. Both the RF-101
and the RF-4 were variants of fighters,
but they had significantly longer noses
to house their cameras and electronic
equipment.
The RF-101 collected the photographic
intelligence required for air strikes
against North Vietnam, which began in
February 1965. To get pictures of the
SAM sites, the RF-101s came in low
and fast, popped up for the film run, then
dived back down for the getaway. They
were faster than the MiG-17s, but not
as fast as the MiG-21s. The RF-4C, a
better match for the MiGs, began flying
the missions in the North, and the Voodoos
were employed in Laos and South
Vietnam until their service in the war
ended in 1970. Thirty-three RF-101s
were lost in combat.
The RF-4C packed cameras, mapping
radar, and infrared imaging equipment.
It had a number of innovative features,
including an ejectable film cassette,
but that did not work well in Southeast
Asia, where the standard procedure was
fast film processing when the airplane
landed. RF-4C cameras had good resolution
at high altitudes, but weather and
the triple canopy jungle tended to keep
the operations lower to the ground. The
aircraft continued to fly missions over
North Vietnam, typically without escort.
Seventy-six RF-4Cs were lost in combat
in Vietnam, most of them to antiaircraft
artillery, but none were shot down by
MiGs. The RF-4C set the standard for
aerial photo reconnaissance and was
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