Reconnaissance planes are not armed. Never have been. Speed and altitude is their protection. And no, the North Vietnamese did not have a single aircraft that could outrun an RF-4. And you can go to the bank on that. As for B-52s, they had a tail stinger and that’s all B-52s ever had. The B-52 that shot one down is on display at the Air Force Academy now.
Not all B-52s had gunners.
When I asked Friedheim about this incident, he refused to discuss it even though it was in the newspapers. I said to him, “Well, our B-52’s knew about the fly-thru, the No. Vietnamese pilots knew about it since they were there, and someone told the newspapers about it, so why can’t you say something”? CRICKETS.
I walked out of the briefing with Gen. Chappie James and said to him (he was the Pentagon’s highest DDI officer), paraphrasing myself, “This is a lot of crap”. He just gave me his big old smile and walked off laughing.
We lost a number of Recon planes from F-4s to possibly the B-57 Canberras earlier on, and maybe a couple of Navy AD’s. Most, if not all, were NOT ARMED. Still STUPID after all these years.
They were often listed on the DOD Daily or Weekly Combat Losses Blue Sheets.