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The United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air Command (SAC) B-52D Stratofortress (serial number 55-0103) of the 4252d Strategic Wing had a full bomb load and broke up and caught fire after the aircraft aborted takeoff at Kadena Air Base while it was conducting an Operation Arc Light bombing mission to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. [4]
B-52s at Andersen AFB, Guam during Operation Linebacker II. 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.
[6] 877 Republic of Vietnam aircraft were captured at war's end (1975) [7] Of the 2,750 [8] aircraft and helicopters received by South Vietnam, only about 308 survived (240 flew to Thailand or US warships [9] and 68 returned to the United States [10]). In total, the US, South Vietnam and Australia, lost about 12,500 aircraft, helicopters and UAVs.
Missions were commonly flown in three-plane formations known as "cells". Releasing their bombs from the stratosphere, the B-52s could neither be seen or heard from the ground. B-52s were instrumental in destroying enemy concentrations besieging Khe Sanh in 1968, [2] and in 1972 at An Loc and Kontum. Bombs from B-52 Arc Light strike exploding
The B-52s took over heavy bombing after B-1 Lancers that had been conducting airstrikes rotated out of the region in January 2016. [237] In April 2016, B-52s arrived in Afghanistan to take part in the war in Afghanistan and began operations in July, proving its flexibility and precision carrying out close-air support missions. [238]
If a plane was badly damaged but managed to land, the USAF did not count as a loss, even if it was a write-off. During the operation, the USAF told the press that 17 B-52s were lost but later, the USAF told Congress that only 13 B-52s were lost. Nine B-52s that returned to U-Tapao airfield were too badly damaged to fly again.
Combat Skyspot was the ground-directed bombing (GDB) operation of the Vietnam War by the United States Air Force using Bomb Directing Centrals and by the United States Marine Corps using Course Directing Centrals ("MSQ-77 and TPQ-10 ground radars"). [5]
In total, the U.S. lost 3,374 fixed wing aircraft in combat during the war; in both North and South Vietnam. According to the North Vietnamese, 31% were shot down by S-75 missiles (1,046 aircraft, or 6 missiles per one kill); 60% were shot down by anti-aircraft guns; and 9% were shot down by MiG fighters.