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Another 212 B-52 missions were flown within South Vietnam in support of ground operations during the campaign. [97] Ten B-52s were shot down over the North and five others were damaged and crashed in Laos or Thailand. Thirty-three B-52 crew members were killed or missing in action, another 33 became prisoners of war, and 26 more were rescued. [98]
To add conventional bomb capacity, Project Big Belly modified all B-52Ds to enable them to carry 30 tons of conventional bombs. By mid-April 1966, all B-52Fs were redeployed back to the U.S. and were replaced by Big Belly-modified B-52Ds. [citation needed] Later in the Vietnam War, the B-52G was also deployed with the B-52D. [2]
The first mass B-52 raid directed against the north was conducted on 10 April when 12 B-52s, supported by 53 attack aircraft, struck petroleum storage facilities around Vinh. [31] By 12 April, Nixon had informed Kissinger that he had decided on a more comprehensive bombing campaign which would include strikes against both Hanoi and Haiphong.
Operation Linebacker II was a strategic bombing campaign conducted by the United States against targets in North Vietnam from 18 to 29 December 1972, as part of the Vietnam War. This operation was a particularly dangerous and destructive two weeks for the B-52 and its crews.
[t] Fortunately for North Vietnam, many U.S. bombing advocates (including Air Force Chief of Staff McConnell) did not want to risk the one aircraft capable of delivering a lot of bombs in bad weather—the B-52. Without them, there was little that could be done over the north in response to Tet, since bad weather minimized fighter operations ...
Soviet specialists inspect the wreckage of the B-52 Stratofortress which was shot down near Hanoi on 23 December 1972. The wreckage of a US Air force B-52 Stratofortress, shot down over Hanoi in 1972. B-52 Stratofortress—31 total (17 in combat, two more being scrapped after sustaining battle damage, and 12 crashed in flight accidents) [13]
The zenith of B-52 attacks in Vietnam was Operation Linebacker II (also known as the Christmas bombings), conducted from 18 to 29 December 1972, which consisted of waves of B-52s (mostly D models, but some Gs without jamming equipment and with a smaller bomb load).
On March 2, 1965, following the Attack on Camp Holloway at Pleiku, Operation Flaming Dart and Operation Rolling Thunder commenced. The bombing campaign, which ultimately lasted three years, was intended to force North Vietnam to cease its support for the Vietcong (VC) by threatening to destroy North Vietnam's air defenses and industrial infrastructure.