Inside the Airborne Command Post, part 7

Listening to every transmission from 35,000 feet

Episode 7.

The SA-2 system has six missiles circling a command building, typically spaced about 100 yards apart. They are mobile but are often in fixed positions and we know most of their locations ahead of time. Most of them are around Hanoi and Haiphong.

[NOTE: The SA-2 SAM was developed in the 1950s, continuously improved, and is still in use today in many countries around the world. They are fast and deadly, and the North Vietnamese were proficient in their use. On quiet days, with no airstrike threats by the US Navy in the Gulf, we could see that some Spoon Rest radars would track us on orbit. The NVAF MiG pilots seldom went very far out over water. Our big, slow-moving silhouette on their radar looks tempting for a Spoon Rest operator to share with air controllers. Because of this, we sometimes have US Navy fighters on our wings. The RC-135M has very few fuselage windows so as to keep it dark in the cabin but there was one on the over-wing exit door. I remember looking out one time and waving to a US Navy F-8 Crusader MiG Combat Air Patrol (MiGCAP) pilot just off our wing tip as he waved to me. We saluted each other and I went back to work. In fact, on tonight’s mission there are two F-8s from the USS Oriskany providing protection (BARCAP, Barrier CAP) for us and the five other USAF aircraft orbiting over the Gulf in support of this Raid.]

1:30am. The first flight of six Navy A-7 strike aircraft head into North Vietnam’s territorial waters straight toward industrial targets in the northern parts of Haiphong. Even at this point, the NVAF Command and Control System is only just now getting their wits about them, reaching a level of organization to muster a coordinated defense.

The Spoon Rest operator, tracking them, then alerts the acquisition radar operator. This acquisition radar is referred to as “Fan Song.” This locks on to a target, tracks it, and guides a missile. It can track a target at about 40 miles. The operators call out targets by range, azimuth, and altitude constantly, so we know everything they are doing.

I’m sweating a little, but tonight, it’s not just because my flight suit is zipped to the top. And it’s not because Colonel Frisbie is now watching my screens intently over my shoulder. It’s because this is the largest, most intense mission we’ve had the opportunity to participate in, to this point. Colonel Frisbie plugs his headset into my station to listen in.