Operation Rolling Thunder
On March 2, 1965, the strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnam, known as Operation Rolling Thunder, began. The campaign was jointly conducted by the US Navy and Air Force.
Persuasion was Operation Rolling Thunder’s original goal. The United States aimed to compel North Vietnam to stop supporting the Communist insurgency in the South by gradually increasing the bombing intensity. However, numerous attempts to stop the fighting were unsuccessful. As Operation Rolling Thunder progressed, its objectives shifted toward crippling the North’s ability to fight and stopping the flow of supplies from North to South Vietnam.
The last Phantom II fighter engagement of Rolling Thunder occurred on the afternoon of July 10, 1968, when four MiG-21s were spotted racing south to harass Navy strike forces, following the mixes between MiGs and F-8s in late June and early July 1968 (which resulted in two kills for the older Navy fighter).
Twenty-four hours earlier, Lt Tony Nargi of VF-111 det 11 (embarked aboard the Intrepid) had been killed by a Crusader after MiG-17s attacked an RF-8 reconnaissance aeroplane and its escort.
Johnny Cash’s nephew scored the first aerial kill for an F-4J
On the 10th, all friendly aircraft were cleared from the area, and the Phantom IIs went searching for the quartet of MiG-21s. Lt Roy ‘Outlaw’ Cash (whose famous uncle was just about to release his legendary Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison recording) was the victorious pilot and scored the VF-33 Tarsiers’ sole MiG Kill. Cash describes the engagement in Brad Elward and Peter E Davies’s book US Navy F-4 Phantom II MiG Killers 1965-70;
`We had been on Yankee Station since the end of May, with one visit to Cubi Point in late June, so we were back after a “July 4th” break at the Cubi “O Club’.’ On Jul. 10, 1968, I was scheduled for a MiGCAP as wingman to Maj Charlie Wilson (callsign “Rootbeer 202” as I recall), a USAF exchange pilot who had been in the squadron for about a year, and had joined us on our Mediterranean cruise the year before — his RIO on this sortie was Lt(jg) Bill Williams. I made the whole Med cruise, so I was fairly experienced both in the aircraft and the squadron.
`Our jets were brand new F-4Js (Cash flew BuNo 155553/AE 212), our Med cruise F-4Bs of the previous year having been traded in for them in early 1968.
MiGs about to attack A-7s
`Charlie and I (with Lt Joseph ‘Ed’ Kain as RIO) launched mid-afternoon at around 1500 hrs and were assigned a MiGCAP station about 15 miles from Vinh, clear of the beach but close enough to “Buster” feet dry if needed. We determined soon after launch that Charlie’s radar was marginal to non-existent, so it was agreed that if we took a vector for bandits I would assume the lead. We quickly established CAP station, and then about 45 minutes to one hour into the flight, our controller, Raider (on the cruiser USS Horne (CG-30)), called us over to cipher frequency to alert us to impending MiG activity.
‘Basically, the information boiled down to the fact that MiGs were about to launch and sortie down to attack the A-7s on the it-strike missions below the “no-bomb” line just north of Vinh.
‘Raider kept us apprised of the increasing activity and MiG communications (our ECM and “spy” planes had picked up good info on the MiGs, apparently), switching us back and forth from clear cipher Frequencies.
‘We told Raider that in the event we were vectored, we wanted to fly a specific attack profile, and they concurred. That profile was as follows — we would vector west at high speed and low altitude to gain a position southwest of the approaching MiGs to be able to vector north-west with the afternoon sun over our left shoulders. That might provide surprise and put us in a position so the bandits could not see us well — coming out of the sun.
`The MiGs’ tactics at this point in the war were to dash in over the “no-bomb” line, shoot at the A-7s, and retreat north before fighters could be vectored for them.
Blue bandits
‘The MiGs finally launched and started south. Raider vectored us west, we jettisoned our centreline tanks, armed missiles and hit the deck. We went down to 1500 ft and got to the karst ridgeline just as the MiGs headed south and crossed the line, we were vectored north-east, turned pointed to the area they were coming from, and immediately got a PD (Pulse-Doppler) radar contact — at 32 miles, as I recall. We were still low, and the MiGs were at around 5000 ft.
‘On cipher we were told that they were two “blue bandits”, which identified them as MiG-21s (MiG-17s were “red”), and there were no other known bandits in the area. Also, we were told that the MiGs’ communications were being jammed by our EA-3 ECM bird, sitting just off the coast. That meant they probably would not know we were coming. Great sport!
`We continued at low level at a speed of 550 kts, with smoke off (the anti-smoke device on the F-4J diminished the amount of smoke emitted by the J79s), in combat spread formation, with Charlie at my three o’clock position so that he could look through me at “bad guy” country. He still had no radar. Since the MiGs had been “positively” ID’ed, I asked for “clearance”, meaning clearance to fire. To my utter amazement, Raider responded, “Roger, contacts arc two blue bandits — you are cleared to fire!”
Johnny Cash’s F-4J gains Visual ID on MiG-21
‘Ed and I were ecstatic since it was normal to have to gain VID (Visual ID). I checked that the switches were armed and ready, and made sure that the missiles indicated good. We were loaded with two AIM-7E Sparrows and four AIM-9G Sidewinders. I reviewed in my mind procedures for switching from “radar” to “heat”, and we kept on tracking.
‘We maintained radar contact continuously, down to 20 miles and we checked everything again, keeping Charlie up to speed on the situation. He was to maintain a visual lookout for other bandits who might be hiding in the weeds. At 12 miles I reconfirmed “clear to fire” with Raider and began looking intently for any sign of bogies. At eight miles I called “tally ho two, on the nose”. What I really saw were two glints in front the bright sun behind us on the silver fuselages of the MiGs, not the aircraft themselves, but from eight miles I never lost sight of them.
‘Locked on, dot in the center, MiGs head-on – it looked good for Sparrow shots down the throat. At five to six miles the missile launch circle began to expand, indicating maximum range, expanding to mid or optimum range. At four miles the circle reached its largest diameter, indicating that the optimum firing parameters had been met. I fired of two Sparrows and called “Fox one, Fox one”. The Sparrows appeared to guide, heading for what looked like an imminent kill.
Switching to heat
‘The range on radar suddenly appeared to freeze at three-four miles, and I watched as the MiGs, now fully in sight and looking like aeroplanes and not sun glints, began a lazy left turn away from us… and the missiles! Guess what the Sparrows did? They saw the decreasing Doppler, and by the time they got to the MiGs the missiles were looking at a belly-up, beam aspect. They exploded harmlessly at the wingman’s two o’clock position, about 100 yards away.
‘Until the Sparrows exploded, the MiGs did not know we were there. The wingman, apparently startled by the Sparrows, broke into the explosions, but then turned back left to stay with his leader. He then apparently realized I was quickly approaching a good six-seven o’clock firing position, and again broke hard into me, by this time rapidly closing to a firing position. The MiGs were only flying at about 350 kts, so the wingman quickly came into me and was just as quickly inside minimum range.
‘I had switched to heat and fired off a Sidewinder, but the aspect was almost 90 degrees off at less than 1000 ft, so the AIM-9 missed. However, it scared him so badly he continued his descending right break, hit the deck and headed north out of the fight.
Johnny Cash’s F-4J shot down a MiG
‘Meantime, I was performing a high-g left barrel roll to get in behind the leader who, by this time, had figured out the program and was breaking right into me. My wingman broke left over the top of me and spotted two more MiG-21s down in the weeds, about three miles away. Simultaneously, Red Crown (USS Long Beach (CGN-9)) broadcast, “Heads up `Rootbeers’. You got two more bandits west”.
`I was too busy to respond, and Charlie was telling me he saw them too, so I continued turning, and with my energy, combined with the MiG leader’s bad position and slow speed, I quickly attained the six o’clock at about 1500 to 1800 yards and fired an AIM-9G. I watched it guide and impact the tail area of the MiG, blowing the empennage completely off. The pilot obviously knew he was had because almost simultaneously, with the impact I saw his ‘chute. It appeared he had ejected either just before impact or as it occurred.
`Meantime, Charlie had called out something to me about breaking. I didn’t hear it, but what he said was, “‘Outlaw’, break left… I mean RIGHT!” (I got to hear it on the tape later). One of the MiGs hiding in the weeds had fired of an “Atoll”, well out of range, and I was vaguely aware of its smoke trail corkscrewing lazily across the sky, well away from me.
Victory roll
‘I broke back to where the other MiGs were coming from and saw them hit the deck about two-three miles away. They turned tail and ran. As soon as they were tail-on they disappeared, vanished — couldn’t find them, visually or on radar, so I called to Charlie to “Unload, unload. Bug out, bug out!” and we headed for the water. We called “feet wet”, and Raider called and confirmed, “Splash one blue bandit, Rootbeers”. I responded with something like, “You betcha Raider. I got that son of a gun”.
`We hit the tanker, took on enough gas to get to the ship, and I performed the best rendition of a victory roll I could imagine. The ship and Air Wing crows swarmed me after landing in much the same way depicted in the movie Top Gun, when ‘Maverick” and “Iceman” return to the ship after shooting down the bad guys. It was a neat feeling to be a hero for the day – in fact, hero for the cruise.
‘I gave up smoking as a result of that kill, I had told some of the guys jokingly, “If I shoot down a MiG today I’m going to quit smoking”. I suppose God said, “Oh yeah? Let’s see if you really mean it”. I haven’t smoked since.’
An important engagement
This engagement was important from the standpoint that it illustrated how the Navy’s engagement philosophy ‘should’ work if all of the tactics developed earlier in the year came together. The GCI jamming was excellent, and played an important role in confusing the MiGs by severing them front their guidance.
Clearing the area also permitted the Phantom II to employ its BVR weapon, the Sparrow III, without fear of inadvertently hitting a friendly. Had the Sparrow functioned properly, the kill would have been textbook.
This engagement was also significant because it represented not only the squadron’s first MiG kill, but also the first aerial kill for an F-4J, and for an Atlantic coast-based fighter squadron.
US Navy F-4 Phantom II MiG Killers 1965-70 is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo by U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force
