AIRCRAFT OF THE VIETNAM WAR



AIRCRAFT OF THE VIETNAM WAR

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The Huey helicopter

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F-4 Phantom

BY BRIAN MC DONNELL

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N.VIETNAM U.S.A S.VIETNAM

SECTION

• The Huey helicopter

• The Cobra helicopter

• F-105 Thunderbirds

• The B—52d bomb

• How airplanes where used

• Pie chart

• Operation Rolling Thunder

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The Huey Helicopter (the cavery) was one of the best aircraft of the Vietnam war the helicopter was very versatile it was used as an attack copter,a medevac to take injuryed troops of the battle field

, it was also used as a way to put troops onto the battle field right where you want them and when you wanted them.

The first HU-1As (Huey) arrived in Vietnam as medevac in April 1962, before the united states became officially involved in the conflict. The Huey s supported the south Vietnamese army, but American crews flew them. In October , the first armed Huey s, equipped with 2.75-inch rockets and .30 caliber machine guns flying in Vietnam. The main role of the Huey was marine transport.

The Huey became a symbol of the U.S. combat forces in Vietnam and millions of people watched it fly in TV news reports. At it peak in march 1970 the U.S. military operated more than 3,900 heilcoper s in the Vietnam war and two thirds of them where Huey s.

(info from ) (14/01/11) (time 11:43)

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209 AH-1 Cobra

The 209 first flew in September 1965. The urgent need for greater armed helicopter performance in Vietnam and the success off the 209 led to the U.S. Army orders to start production models of the 209 as interim attack helicopter. The cobra carried a nose turret gun, the three barrel xm-197 20 mm and other improvement s.

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The first helicopter to break the sound barrier

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• In 1965, jet aircraft also began to arrive.

• The first were the F-105 Thunderchiefs.

• They were soon replaced by McDonnell F-4 Phantom IIs.

• A single-seat carrier-based jet fighter.

• These two-seaters allowed for weapon system officers (WSOs) who could manage the planes’ radar systems, especially for air-to-air missiles.

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The B-52D, shown dropping bombs in this photo, was used extensively in Southeast Asia beginning in the mid-1960s. Operating from Andersen AFB, Guam, and later U-Tapao Royal Thai Air Base, the B-52 was a major component of many operations including Arc Light, Iron Hand, Rolling Thunder, Linebacker and Linebacker II.

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B-52 before and while bombing on loading 17 tonnes of 50 pound bombs and napalm.

HOW AIRCRAFT WERE USED

The Vietnam war was the first in which the U.S. Airforce used jet planes and helicopter on like the Viet cong had no air force which they could us to attack U.S. base or to give air support to troops on the ground. The war also showed how airplanes where able to give close air support to troops on the ground.

The Huey helicopter (the ‘Cavalry’)played a large part in this type of warfare bringing more men and supply s to the troops as well as taken the wounded men off the battle also the cobra play a large part in the close air support with rockets and mini gun fire.

Jet airplanes gave air support this was the first time jet planes where used in large numbers by U.S. in a major conflict this planes let the way to the modern fighter planes. The planes in the war carried bombs, rockets and machine guns, they had no opposition because the Vietcong did not have any aircraft.

The only aircraft that where on the Vietcong side were Russian supply planes and Chinese supply planes that flew weapons and other supplies into Vietnam.

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A Russian plane that may have flown supplies into Vietnam.

OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER

FEBRUARY 24 1965 and lasted untill the end of October 1968.

During this period U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft engaged in a bombing campaign designed to force Ho Chi Minh to abandon his ambition to take over South Vietnam. The operation began primarily as a diplomatic signal to impress Hanoi with America’s determination, essentially a warning that the violence would escalate until Ho Chi Minh "blinked," and secondly it was intended to bolster the sagging morale of the South Vietnamese.

In the view of the Air Force leadership, the campaign had no clear-cut objective nor did its authors have any real estimate of the cost of lives and aircraft. General Le May and others argued that military targets, rather than the enemy’s resolve, should be attacked and that the blows should be rapid and sharp, with the impact felt immediately on the battlefield as well as by the political leadership in Hanoi.

When Rolling Thunder failed to weaken the enemy’s will after the first several weeks, the purpose of the campaign began to change. By the end of 1965, the Johnson administration still used air power as an attempt to change North Vietnamese policy, but bombing tended to be directed against the flow of men and supplies from the North, thus damaging the enemy militarily while warning him of the danger of greater destruction if he maintained the present aggressive course.

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There was 3900 helicopters in Vietnam two thirds of them were Huey s.

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At the Huey s peak in march 1970.

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