The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War. In the Operation Rolling Thunder air offensive against North Vietnam, the U.S. conducted gradually escalating air attacks, designed to coerce North Vietnam from supporting southern communists while carefully avoiding a confrontation with the Soviet Union or the People's Republic of China. President Lyndon B. Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara kept tight control on the campaign from Washington, D.C. Air Force leaders were frustrated by these restrictions, which enabled the North Vietnamese to adapt to air attacks and build up formidable anti-air defenses. As Rolling Thunder continued, North Vietnamese air defenses became increasingly sophisticated and formidable, wielding a mix of fighters, surface to air missiles, and antiaircraft artillery. On January 2, 1967, Colonel Robin Olds designed and led Operation Bolo, an operation to lure North Vietnamese MiG-21 fighters into combat with F-4s by simulating the flight patterns and electronic signature of F-105s. Olds' ruse was successful, setting the stage for the most successful USAF counter-air mission of the war., President Johnson committed U.S. ground forces to the war in 1965, eventually building to a force of over 500,000 U.S. military members in South Vietnam. During these years, U.S. air forces provided massive support for U.S. and South Vietnamese ground forces, with forward air controllers, tactical fighters, gunships, and B-52s forming an essential element of any ground engagement. Air Force transports such as the C-123 and the C-130 were critical in resupplying remote outposts and in supporting ground maneuver forces., Communist forces fighting in South Vietnam relied heavily on the logistics pipeline extending from North Vietnam, through Laos and into the battle areas, a complex network of roads and trails known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Over time, the U.S. Air Force fielded an array of forces to attack this infiltration corridor, employing B-52s, B-57s, tactical fighters, forward air controllers, gunships, electronic sensors, and an elaborate command and control system to control the battle.