Intruder Tactics Mid-60's

Wings of Gold, Summer 2004 by Owens, Rupe

We learned to coordinate carefully during coast-in and reaching the initial point. Timing was very important, but with the navigation read-outs and the accurate attack data provided by the weapons system, the squadron accomplished these coordinated attacks routinely.

The bomb release range is a critical factor in this tactic. At a nominal speed approaching 600 miles per hour, a Mark 83 1,000 pound, conical finned bomb following its ballistic trajectory from 800 feet above the target, would travel 5,953 feet from the release point to impact in about seven seconds. For two A-6As approaching one another, head-on, toward the bomb release points, the separation between aircraft at release is double the bomb release range. Combining this separation with the aircraft turn radius displacement, when opposing aircraft turn away from each other, their flight paths provide an acceptable separation for bomb detonation and target egress.

VA-65 investigated the post-bomb release separation between aircraft during the egress turn as depicted in the Coordinated Attack Tactic diagram on the opposite page. In the combat environment in which we operated, the one-half mile minimum separation was acceptable when compared to the harsher defense alternatives of higher bombing altitudes. (Aerodynamically, an aircraft turn radius is a function of the square of the aircraft velocity divided by a function of the aircraft bank angle. At 500 knots true air-speed, an aircraft in a 60-degree bank will describe a radius of 12,819 feet over the ground. (NAV WEPS 00-80T-8C Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators, H.H. Hurt, Jr., pg 178, issued by the Chief of Naval Operations, Aviation Training Division, 1960.))

Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators and standard bombing tables provided technical information for the tactic development. We chose a 60-degree bank, level turn to accomplish the aircraft egress maneuver. In order to sustain level flight, the pilot would be required to establish and maintain a 2-g load on the aircraft throughout the turn. Tactically, the time needed to change heading sufficiently to avoid the frag pattern is on the order of 12-15 seconds. This is a lot easier to accomplish than it sounds. Often, in the face of intense AAA, or a missile alerts, the pilots used 90 to 110 degree bank angles to get down and clear the target area.

An August 4, 1966 pre-strike photograph of the Uong Bi Thermal Power Plant located in Quang Ninh Province, 15 miles northeast of Haiphong is depicted in the photo on page 28. It generated around 100 megawatts of electrical power and supplied 15 percent of North Vietnam's electricity. It was listed Number 82 in a JCS Target List, placing this target in the Alpha Strike category. The USAF conducted the first raid on this major industrial target in early 1965. On December 22, 1965, 100 aircraft from the Enterprise, Kitty Hawk and Ticonderoga executed a daylight coordinated strike on the Uong Bi target area. . Enterprise planes approached from the north while Kitty Hawk and Ticonderoga aircraft came from the south. The strike reportedly left the plant in shambles. The day's casualties, however, were two A-4Cs, an RA-5C and an A-6A lost, leaving six airmen on the ground. Two were killed and two captured. Two were missing in action for a number of years and later declared KIA..