Suddenly, the MiGs were gone, and the four remaining Wolfpack flights (Lincoln, Tempest, Plymouth, and Vespa) arrived to find the action was over. The 366th, out of Da Nang, had flown up the coast to a point off Haiphong, evaluated the weather, and elected not to participate in the western part of the mission. Operation Bolo was over.
Seventh Air Force was elated with the Wolfpack's results. Twelve F-4Cs had engaged 14 MiGs and shot down seven, with no losses. It is worth noting that of the 14 crew members who scored victories, only one, Glynn, had ever seen a MiG in air combat before. (Olds had seen MiGs at a distance.) The Phantom crews, despite their relative inexperience in combat and their lack of dissimilar aircraft combat training, used vertical maneuvers to put themselves in firing position.
Preparing to add their 19th, 20th and 21st red stars to the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing MiG-kill scoreboard is Colonel Robin Olds, wing commander, and the first triple MiG-killer of the Vietnam conflict. Other victors in a May 20 encounter with MiG-17s 40 miles northeast of Hanoi are (left to right) Major Philip P. Combies , First Lieutenant Daniel L. Lafferty, Major John R. Pardo, First Lieutenant Croker, and First Lieutenant Stephen A. Wayne (front center). Major Combies and Lieutenant Wayne are credited with two MiGs each. Colonel Olds was later credited with a fourth MiG to become the only quadruple MiG-killer of the Vietnam conflict. (101200-USAF, 1 June 1967)
For dogfighting, the F-4C proved clearly superior to the MiG-21, and the AIM-7E Sparrow and AIM-9B Sidewinder proved to be highly effective weapons. Only 10 Phantoms had fired their missiles. Eighteen Sparrows had been launched; of these, only nine guided, but these nailed four MiGs. Twelve Sidewinders were launched, seven guided correctly, and they destroyed three MiGs.
The QRC-160 ECM pods had apparently worked very well, although the presence of MiGs in the combat area undoubtedly inhibited both missile and anti-aircraft fire. Only five SAMs were spotted and a light burst of 85 mm anti-aircraft fire seemed to be aimed at random.
The battle proved beyond doubt the importance of the largely unsung GIB, the backseaters, who locked the radar on the target and who, despite the continuously changing g forces, kept their heads on a swivel watching out for enemy aircraft and SAMs.
Finally, the battle proved Olds to his men. He made sure that all who participated in Operation Bolo, whether in the air or on the ground, were given full credit for their contributions. The general effect of Bolo on Air Force morale was positive, in Southeast Asia and the US.
There was a postscript. The MiG force had retaliated by attacking an Air Force RF-4 reconnaissance airplane, and this inspired 7th Air Force planners to use another deception.
Two F-4Cs, fully armed, were to fly in close formation so that they would appear as a single blip. They flew a mission as a reconnaissance aircraft would on Jan. 5, without any enemy reaction. They did it again on Jan. 6 and were rewarded by being bounced by four MiGs. The F-4Cs shot down two of the North Vietnamese aircraft, meaning that nine of the 16 MiG-21s had been shot down. The MiG-21s went through a three-month stand-down, during which both sides studied the lessons of the battle.
Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:
www.kunsan.af.mil
www.afa.org
www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/
