Linebacker II: A View From the Rock

Linebacker A View from the Rock (USAF Southeast Asia monograph series)

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Brid Gen James R. McCarthy is the Commander, 42d Air Division (SAC). His wings comprise all of Strategic Air Command's forces in the Southeast United States and Ohio.  He is a command pilot and radar navigation with more than 7000 hours flying experience.  He has flown more than 1,200 combat missions in Southeast Asia in such diverse aircraft as the B-52, F-4E, KC-135, C-130, and C-123.  During four and one-half years experience there he served in a wide variety of assignments, including KC-135 Squadron Commander, KC-135 Wing Commander, B-52 Wing Commander, and Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Wing Commander.  During LINEBACKER II, he led his wing on two B-52 raids against Hanoi, North Vietnam.  He was the Airborne Mission Commander on 26 December 1972, the largest raid of the LINEBACKER II campaign.

Lt. Col. George B. Allison is a master navigator with more than 4,200 hours flying time, some 2,100 of which were in the B-52.  He has nine years crew experience in bombardment aircraft and seven years staff experience in planning and instructing SAC bombing and navigation operations.  He flew 76 B-52D combat missions in Southeast Asia from both U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield, Thailand, and Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.  More than one-half of these were as a crew radar navigation during the last three months of 1972.  They included 20 missions against targets in North Vietnam, two of which were LINEBACKER II missions from Guam against Hanoi.  He, along with then Colonel McCarthy and thousands of other men and women, was the Rock when it happened.