Vietnam War – Operation Linebacker II

Operation Linebacker II of Vietnam War was a Seventh Air Force aerial bombing campaign, from December 18 to 29, 1972, which was carried out against targets in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) during the final period of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. This operation is also known as ‘The Christmas Bombings’ and ‘The December Raids’.

In the Operation Linebacker II, the U.S. had a force of 207 B-52 bombers available for use in Southeast Asia. They were based at U-Tapao RTAFB in Thailand, whereas 153 were based at Anderson Air Force Base, Guam (98 B-52Gs and 55 B-52Ds).

From December 18, the first three missions of the operation were flown on three successive nights as planned by Strategic Air Command (SAC). On the first night, 129 bombers were launched, 87 of them from Guam. 39 support aircraft of the Seventh Air Force, the Marine Corps and the Navy’s Task Force 77 supported the bombers by providing KC-135 refueling capability, chaff drops, F-105 Wild Weasel SAM-suppression missions, F-4 fighter escorts, Air Force EB-66 and Navy EA-6 radar-jamming aircraft, and search and rescue aircrafts.

The targets of the 1st wave of bombers were the North Vietnamese airfields at Hoa Lac, Phuc Yen and Kep, and also a warehouse complex at Yen Vien, while the 2nd and 3rd waves struck targets around Hanoi itself. Three aircraft were shot down by the 68 SAMs launched by North Vietnamese batteries, one B-52D from U-Tapao and two B-52G’s from Andersen. Due to aircraft losses during the first phase, they intended to launch an all-out attack on North Vietnam’s air defenses when the operation resumed. Instead of utilizing multiple waves, all of the bombers would be in and out of the target area within 20 minutes and they would approach from multiple directions and at different altitudes.

On 26th December, 120 bombers lifted off to strike Haiphong Railroads, Hanoi, the Duc Noi, the Kinh No complex and Thai Nguyen. 78 of the bombers took off from Anderson in one time block, the largest single combat launch in SAC history, while 42 others came in from Thailand.

During operation, a total of 741 B-52 maneuvers had been dispatched to bomb North Vietnam, while 729 had actually completed their missions. Ten B-52s had been shot down over the North and five others had been crashed and damaged in Thailand or Laos. 33 B-52 crew members became prisoner of war, another 33 were killed and 26 more were rescued. Overall Air Force losses included one HH-53 search and rescue helicopters, one EB-66, two F-111s, two F-4s and fifteen B-52s.

Kosovo War – Operation Noble Anvil

The Operation Nobel Anvil,  also known as code-name Operation Allied Force or the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, in Kosovo War was NATO’s military operation consisting of eleven countries against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The strikes began on March 24, 1999 and lasted till June 11, 1999. The official reason for the bombing of Yugoslavia was the Operation Horseshoe; a plan for a huge campaign of ethnic cleansing that later appeared to be a hoax.
Successful prosecutions and investigation of criminals by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia confirmed that the Yugoslav security forces were responsible for massive human rights abuse against the Kosovar civilian population and for crimes against humanity.

An important portion of the war involved between the U.S. Air Force and the Yugoslav Air Force. United States Air Force F-16s and F-15s flying mainly from Italian air force bases attacked the defending Yugoslav fighters. The U.S. Air Force was the leading member of the Coalition forces against Yugoslavia, although all NATO members were involved. NATO aircraft flew over 38,000 combat missions, during the ten weeks of the conflict. The campaigns destroyed the Yugoslavian air defenses and high-value military targets.

The bombings led to the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo, establishment of UNMIK (United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo), a UN mission in Kosovo and put an end to the wars of Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s.