30,000 Combat Sorties -- Air National Guard in Viet Nam

Air National Guard Web Site ^

[Liberty Ship]

On 3 May, F-100s from the 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron (Colorado) arrived at Phan Rang Air Base. By 1 June, all of the l20th's pilots were flying combat missions. In the meantime, the 174th (Iowa), 188th (New Mexico), and the 136th (New York) had all deployed to Vietnam with their F-100s. In addition, 85 percent of the 355th Tactical Fighter Squadron -- on paper a regular Air Force unit -- were Air Guardsmen. The Air Guard units were quickly and effectively integrated into Air Force combat operations in Southeast Asia (SEA). Prior to their return home in April 1969, they flew 24,124 sortie and 38,614 combat hours. Those numbers rose to approximately 30,000 sorties and 50,000 combat hours if the predominantly Air Guard 355th was included.

[Ditto]

Bookmark bump.

[CholeraJoe]

That and the fact that the F-102 had no air to ground capability, making it quite useless in bombing.

[Defender2]

Evidently you have not heard of "Operation Stove Pipe", where F-102s did fire 2.75 inch rockets and AIM-4Cs' and Ds' into enemy encampents. One sortie was particulary effective when the pilot of one F-102 shot at what he thought was an enemy encampment, it turned out to be an NVA
munitions dump. He fired his AIM-4Cs' into it and it sparked off secondary explosions which continued on there for two days totally destroying it.

[CholeraJoe]

Well, I'll be darned. I didn't know that.

[Defender2]

Yes, The F-102 as the F-101B/F and F-106A/B were equipped with an Infrared seeker device which could be tuned so sensitive as to track a lit cigarette from over 10,000 ft.
They F-102s'(during Operation Stovepipe) would go out at night and use their IR seekers finding enemy encampments at night sometimes using their rockets and IR homing missiles against them.

[CholeraJoe]

What won't they think of next? I expect if the USAF had IR seekers that sensitive in Vietnam, that the ones they have now can track a mouse's body heat from Low Earth Orbit.

[Defender2]

Safe to say that's a fairly good assumption.

[88keys]

You sure can learn a lot here on FR...someone on radio or TV made a good point today about ANG folks who actually served with President Bush "coming forward" to attest to the fact, just to prove he was where he said he was...as if!!...yeah, let's have W's fellow ANG be personally ripped and trashed, too...

I would love to see the rest of the diverse ANG vets and all other sensible people rip and trash Kerry (politely, of course) though...and I'm only talking about him yammering and hammering about service in Viet Nam. The more I read, the more I know what a creep this guy is...it's not simply any "philosophical difference", either...

Interesting point also heard...McCain was in the Hanoi Hilton at the very time Kerry was testifying before Congress on how American soldiers were rapists, psychopaths and murderers. I wonder how McCain feels about that??? I'm sure he doesn't want to talk about it, and I'm no fan of his in any case, but if he's going to go on and on about CFR, maybe he ought to have a word to say about "campaign candidate reform", too...time for a brief reprise of the "Straight Talk Express" re: your fellow Senator...

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the information!

[Defender2]

I just posted on this thread hope you had a chance to see my last one. :-) D2

[537 Votes]

It is unfortunate that Kerry chose to lump service in the National Guard along with "fleeing to Canada" and "going to jail" (both felonies) as "acceptable" ways to dodge the draft.

Kerry never said that. His criticism is that Bush seems to have walked away from his ANG commitment for an entire year, while other ANG servicemen were flying and dying in Southeast Asia.

[Liberty Ship]

What Kerry said was, "I would defend the President's choice with
respect to going into the Guard. I've never made any judgments
about any choice somebody made about avoiding the draft, about going
to Canada, going to jail, being a conscientious objector, going into
the National Guard."

Kerry's intent in making that statement was clear to me. He
deliberately associated service in the Guard with other less than
honorable alternatives. Going to Canada and going to jail both
conote felonious actions and illegal activity. He deliberately
lumped them into the National Guard issue for the purpose of
denegrating Bush's service and, by implication, the service of
others who took that path, his oleaginous segue, "I would defend the
President's choice with respect to going into the Guard,"
notwithstanding.