Linebacker II: A View From the Rock; USAF Southeast Asia Monograph Series, Volume VI, Monograph 8

xvi, 208 pages. Maps. Illustrations. Tabular Data. Appendix. Glossary. Notes. Bibliography. Brigadier general James Russell McCarthy (3 September 1930 - 15 February 2024) was a United States Air Force (USAF) officer. While commander of the 43rd Strategic Wing, he was awarded the Air Force Cross for leading his wing in the largest B-52 raid against heavily defended targets in the Hanoi area during Operation Linebacker II on 26 December 1972. He flew more than 1,200 combat missions in Southeast Asia in such diverse aircraft as the B-52, C-123, Lockheed C-130 Hercules, McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II and KC-135. He was co-author of Linebacker II: A view from the rock, the official USAF history of Operation Linebacker II B-52 operations from Guam. This is a narrative drawn from the era of the Southeast Asian conflict, detailing a unique event in that lengthy struggle called Linebacker II. For the first time in contemporary warfare, heavy jet bombers were employed for their designed role to conduct extended strategic operations against the warmaking capacity of a hostile nation. This monograph tells part of the story of Strategic Air Command’s participation in Linebacker II. In doing so it addressed the efforts of a complex mixture of Air Force and sister service operations, with all service working in concern towards a common goal. Rather than develop a complete chronology or blow-by-blow account, which are matters of record in other works, the campaign is pursued more form the personal perspective. Office of Air Force History. United States Air Force. Operation Linebacker II, the first strategic bombing attack by the U.S. after World War II, was the heaviest bombing campaign in history. Also known as the "Eleven-Day War," the attack set forth a continuous barrage of air raids that targeted various strategic points around Hanoi and Haiphong between December 18 and 29, 1972. Sites bombed included power plants, warehouses, and rail and ship yards. Surrounded by a defense of SAM-2 missile sites, the Hanoi and Haiphong areas were among the most heavily defended regions in the entire world at that time. The U.S. aircraft bomber employed during this attack was the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, a long-range heavy bomber. Departing from both Andersen Air Force Base in Guam and U-Tapao Air Base in Thailand, the bombers succeeded in destroying eighty percent of North Vietnam's electrical power production. 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 navigator 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.…