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During those operations, the U.S. Air Force lost 31 B-52s; 18 were lost from hostile fire over North Vietnam and 13 from operational causes. [citation needed] The typical full bomb loads were: [citation needed] B-52D: 108 500-lb. bombs, or a mixed load of 84 500-lb. bombs in the bomb bay and 24 750-lb. bombs on underwing pylons.
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]
Head, William H. War from Above the Clouds: B-52 Operations during the Second Indochina War and the Effects of the Air War on Theory and Doctrine. Maxwell Air Force Base AL: Air University Press, 2002. Nalty, Bernard C., Air War over South Vietnam, 1968–1975. Washington DC: Air Force Museums and History Program, 2000. ISBN 978-0-16-050914-8
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]
The B-52G entered service on 13 February 1959 (a day earlier, the last B-36 was retired, making SAC an all-jet bomber force). 193 B-52Gs were produced, making this the most produced B-52 variant. Most B-52Gs were destroyed in compliance with the 1992 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty ; the last B-52G, number 58-224, was dismantled under New START ...
The bombing campaigns of the Vietnam War were the longest and heaviest aerial bombardment in history. The United States Air Force, the U. S. Navy, and U. S. Marine Corps aviation dropped 7,662,000 tons of explosives. By comparison, U. S. forces dropped a total of 2,150,000 tons of bombs in all theaters of World War II.
The first carpet bombing from air in history was the Bombing of Barcelona. 1,300 people were killed in 3 days, March 16–18, 1938 On 14 May 1940 at 1:22 pm, in the Rotterdam Blitz, German bombers set the entire inner city on fire with incendiary bombs, killing 814 inhabitants Wesel was 97% destroyed before it was finally taken by Allied troops in 1945
On the same day, at precisely 16:00, B-52's first wave of carpet bombings fell about 7 kilometers west of LZ X-Ray while the 32nd Regiment held its positions at 12–14 kilometers. [82] At 16:30, Brigadier General Knowles, 1st Air Cavalry Division Forward, landed at the LZ X-Ray to announce the withdrawal of the 1/7th Air Cavalry Battalion set ...