I heard the North Vietnamese had biplanes during our conflict with them. Supposedly, they were difficult to shoot down because of the low altitude, low heat signature, and maneuverability. No idea if any of this is true.
“I heard the North Vietnamese had biplanes during our conflict with them. Supposedly, they were difficult to shoot down because of the low altitude, low heat signature, and maneuverability. No idea if any of this is true.”
It’s not. Conventional ground fire (i.e., individual arms) could take down a biplane unless it was at altitude, in which case it would have been easy pickings for any US aircraft. Just think what Puff could have done to one.
“I heard the North Vietnamese had biplanes during our conflict”
I read recently of US jets shooting down two huge Russian-supplied Antunov AN-2 biplanes during a brief chase. The Antunov is to biplanes what the P-47 (”Jug”) was to the rest of propeller-driven fighters.
On January 1, 1968, Hanoi announced that it had agreed to talks with the US if all bombing was stopped. Johnson extended the Christmas bombing pause. As the date for the Tet Offensive neared, the NVA gave top priority to the destruction of the Phou Pha Thi installation. If Lima Site 85 were eliminated, US air power would be seriously crippled. Jerry Daniels had rotated from Na Khang, “the Alamo,” to Phou Pha Thi when, on January 12, two** slow Soviet built An-2 biplanes surprised the mile-high site. Since their engines sounded like Air America aircraft, Hmong soldiers and their families moved about unsuspecting. Over the site, NVA crews dropped 120mm mortar shells into makeshift tubes in the planes’ floors. These shells armed themselves in the slipstream and detonated on impact.
Meanwhile the planes fired 57mm rockets from wing pods. As the biplanes bombed and rocketed the site, Daniels and the Hmong fired back at them with small arms. They peppered one plane on a low pass. It crashed into the nearby mountainside and burned. Daniels later insisted that he had brought down that first plane. Others claimed it as well. The plane continued its attack. An Air America Huey helicopter pilot, monitoring Site 85’s radio, heard its call for help and responded. As he approached, he saw the biplane attack. Unarmed except for an M-16*** automatic rifle carried by a crewman, the chopper pilot headed for the biplane as if they were flying a strike plane. As he pulled alongside, a crew member sprayed the biplane with the M-16, scoring a hit. It staggered for a few miles, then crashed into a ridge. A helicopter crew had scored a “kill” with an M-16!
** According to the CIA webpage commemorating the event, it was four An-2 biplanes but two were shot down.
*** Also according to the CIA page, it was an AK-47, and since they were CIA employees, I believe their account.
Somewhere on the internet there’s a picture of the engagement.
I was on Hon Tre Island which is just north of Cam Rahn Bay (CRB) for 15 months including all of 1968. When I got there we had US Army Homing All the Way Killer (HAWK) missiles to protect CRB from air attack. Eventually they realized how stupid and fired all of the missiles at Ryan Firebees (Drones). Final score, HAWKS 50% Firebees 50%.
Not sure about the biplanes but I’d have matched up a Sandy against them. Douglas A-1 Skyraider. They were very effectively used then.