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[Music] on the 18th of December 1972 the first of 129 b-52s take off from their bases in Guam and neuter power in Thailand they're on their way to Hanoi in North Vietnam in 1971 a year prior to this moment and the growing American domestic pressure to withdraw from the war in Vietnam President Nixon ordered that all US ground forces should leave the country a program called Vietnamization the Paris peace talks with North Vietnam have been ongoing for a few years with no conclusion with the American ground withdrawal the north vietnamese launched operation green kwai a ground invasion of the south in March 1972 the situation quickly became desperate for the south the u.s. launched a large-scale aerial bombing campaign against the north what would later become known as Operation linebacker want to counter the invasion whilst this campaign did terrible damage to the North Vietnamese military and helps the South retake the territory it had initially lost they brought more pressure on Nixon from Congress in May 1972 he was forced to reduce the United States peace agreement objectives the US had demanded a complete withdrawal of North Vietnamese military from the south as a condition for a ceasefire but this condition was now dropped Nixon hoped this would reinvigorate the Paris peace talks the damage being caused by linebacker 1 brought about a similar climb down from the north they could accept a continued South Vietnamese government as part of a ceasefire agreement it had appeared that an agreement could be reached however the South publicly announced that they rejected the deal they could not accept continued North Vietnamese military presence on their soil the November 1972 u.s. congressional elections returned a Republican victory as an anti-war majority to Congress and the Senate the would cut funding for the war when they returned in January the North realizing that all they had to do now was wait until January they effectively ended the negotiations Nixon reached the conclusion that the only option left is to force the issue by military force Operation linebacker to a maximum effort bombing campaign by b-52s to destroy major target complexes in the Hanoi and Haiphong regions is put in motion on the 14th of December the operation is initially planned to last three nights but will eventually go on for 11:00 Nixon has instructed that the strikes must minimize civilian damage that must be massive and brutal in character the missions are being planned centrally at Strategic Air Command sac headquarters in Omaha Nebraska because of the amount of time required to transmit the plans to the bomber bases in Southeast Asia the first three nights raids will be identical for simplicity the aircraft will follow the same flight plans and hit the same targets three nights in a row the risk of collision has been deemed higher than the risk of surface-to-air missiles so the bombers fly in single file on a single route to the target on night one the aircraft attack in three ways each comprising multiple cells of three b-52s with one nautical mile spacing and 500 feet differences in altitude between each aircraft in the cell to avoid collisions each cell is given a callsign the aircraft of each wave are made up of bombers from both Guam and you to Powell there is to be a four-hour gap between each wave allowing Vietnamese Sam's to load their launchers with fresh missiles between each wave the gap between waves will also reduce the efficiency with which escort aircraft can protect the Bombers on the way in and out such was the short notice to put the strikes together the plan is rushed and has flaws the b-52 production lines have long since closed so any aircraft loss would permanently diminish the United States strategic nuclear deterrent the you too pal aircraft are the first of the waveone aircraft to approach hanoi wave one is supported by a total of 39 escort aircraft for air cover jamming chaff an anti radar site and MIG airfield operations despite radar jamming by the b-52s and by the escorting EB 66 electronic countermeasure aircrafts North Vietnamese radar has been monitoring their track towards Hanoi three sa-2 guideline surface-to-air missile regiments are waiting in the Hanoi region each of the 60 individual missile launchers are allocated a target in the attacking force to engage thanks to the jamming the radar systems on the ground are unable to automatically track the b-52s as they fly overhead so missile guidance must be done manually by operators on the ground using a steering wheel aiming at the approximate source of the jamming signal in the sky as opposed to a direct radar return signature as the first b-52s arrive over the city at 7:45 p.m. commencing their bomb runs against air bases and railyards just north of Hanoi the first sa-2 missiles are fired the first cell makes it through unscathed and releases their bombs a b-52 of cell 2 callsign lilac 3 takes a missile hit entering most fuel tanks and damaging electrical systems the pilot takes shrapnel to the eye so the copilot takes over despite damage lylat 3 will eventually make it back to you to power one of the Bombers this made the long trip from guam charcoal one isn't so lucky this aircraft is a G model b-52 with weaker jamming systems than the other D models on the raid the missile tracking radar stations on the ground overpower the aircraft's jamming systems it takes a direct missile hit to the front section starting a fire and the crew abandoned the wrecked aircraft three crewmen are killed in action and three are captured the North Vietnamese Air Defense headquarters erupts with joy at the reports of the downed bomber the first wave heads for home during the four-hour gap between waves 1 & 2 the vietnamese sa 2 batteries rushed to reload their launchers with fresh missiles wave 2 is made up of D and G model b-52s from Guam only the escort package is nearly identical to wave 1 sack crews are trained to always make a strong post target turn to starboard after releasing their bombs the fastest way to clear the area after dropping a nuclear weapon the b-52s primary purpose for the aircraft coming in from Guam this means a turn into the strong regional prevailing wind slowing their ground speeds by up to 100 knots and keeping them over the SAM sites for longer no alteration has been made to this tactic here the 30 aircraft of wave 2 attack targets around Hanoi rail yards power plants port areas radio transmitter stations and storage areas at around midnight peach cell hits the NBN rail yard and peach 2 is hit by a SAM on its post target turn the crew later bailout a frustrated b-52d crew breaks discipline and drops their bombs on the off-limits civilian guy alarm airport cratering runways and destroying most of the international terminal over the first two waves the Sam site south of Hanoi we discover a fatal flaw in the b-52s jamming systems they've discovered that the jamming capability in the G models is front-facing only and so when the bombers make their violent right turns after the target the guidance radars can overpower the jamming stripes and also massively guide the missiles to their targets as opposed to the manual guidance used earlier in the night at 4 a.m. the 30 b-52s of wave 3 arrive from u2 POW and Guam this time rose cell are the unlucky ones rose 1 drops its bombs on the transmitter buildings of radio Hanoi the local si - commander waits until the aircraft begins its starboard turn and engages automatic missile tracking the missile tears ros1 apart and it crashes into the suburbs of Hanoi we the crew escape was captured and so ends night one the Sam threat was supposed to be minimal but 130 missiles have been launched against the 129 attacking me 52 s scoring three kills and badly damaging another two more importantly the North Vietnamese have discovered a vulnerability and will now exploit it the following night sees 93 b-52s make a near identical attack as the night before following the same flight plans and spacings between cells but this time focusing on the Qian our rail yard miraculously no aircrafts are lost likely because the air defense headquarters were being moved to a safer location when the attack occurred resulting in a lack of coordination with the SAM sites only 20 missiles are launched the crews aren't so lucky on light 3 again with a complete repeat of the same mission the SAM sites are ready and hit the aircraft on their post target turns 35 missiles are fired shooting down 7 b-52s Nixon is furious at the sustained losses and demands an explanation sac admits that bad tactics are to blame and the things will improve because of the losses the raids are reduced to just 30 aircraft a night targets are selected that are gradually further away from Hanoi over the next few nights targeting SAM sites further railyards and air force bases by night 7 Christmas Eve 15 b-52s have been lost and a further nine damaged after a brief Christmas ceasefire Nixon orders a massive all-or-nothing attack against Hanoi and Haiphong for the 20 safe night eight the first of 120 b-52s begin to take off from Guam and then you to power in the largest mass bomber combat launch in sac history the vulnerable G models will hit targets outside Hanoi the D models will go to Hanoi itself the tactics for tonight are different this time all 120 aircraft will hit their targets in one large wave in the space of 15 minutes saturating the air defenses just before reaching the targets the aircraft will split into smaller wings and attack them from different directions simultaneously the post target turns will not be executed by most cells until well clear of Hanoi the escort aircraft have a job to do to protect so many b-52s at once this time the US Air Force and US Navy contribute 110 tactical support aircraft as with the previous missions before the bombers arrive F falls dropped chaff to the west of Hanoi chaff a system develops in world war 2 involves dropping thousands of small strips of metal into the atmosphere near radar sites the radar returns bounce off the cloud of metal instead of the aircraft beyond blinding the radar - the approaching raid the prevailing wind pushes the chaff over Hanoi by the time the rest of the attack package arrived f-105 thunderchiefs and F Falls known as wild weasels prepare to attack any SAM sites that lock onto the bombers using anti-radar missiles their target the radar signal source itself 3 eb 66 electronic warfare aircraft orbit nearby attempting to jam radar stations 28 F Falls provide fighter cover for the b-52s as they run into Hanoi and Haiphong just before the bombers arrived seven individual f-111 strike aircraft hit MIG airfields in the region to prevent scrambles against the attacking force the blankets of chaff now shrouds Hanoi and Haiphong and the SAM sites have had to switch back to inaccurate manual missile guidance the bombing begins with cells attacking the various targets from different directions most cells are made up of three aircraft as usual the two of the cells are only made up of two aircraft the jamming signals of the aircraft in a Cell combine to offer enhanced mutual protection but with only two aircraft a burny cell produce weaker jamming and are therefore more vulnerable to si 2's are manually fired at the pair the first misses but the second hits the left wing of ebony - the b-52 explodes in midair and the burning wreckage is seen falling in the night sky a shell attacking quien na reports makes closing in on them and requests fighter support f4 phantoms are vectored to the cell to intercept spotting the incoming fighters the MiG's break off their attack and return to base they continue over the target an - one is clipped by an sa-2 to the left wing the aircraft nearly makes it back to use of how the crashes while landing the attacking force drops 2,000 tons of bombs because the attack has been concentrated over such a short time span the air defense systems have been saturated 85% of the b-52s were inside the chaff blanket over the target only two aircraft are lost and aside from an accidental bomb load drop on a civilian shopping center night 8 is considered a success the following day the North Vietnamese request a continuation of the peace negotiations it is debated among historians as to whether the linebacker missions brought this request on or whether they would have continued the talks anyway Nixon agrees to the talks after the planned nights 9 10 and 11 are completed with 266 SI toos fired the linebacker to campaign has cost 10 b-52s and a further five crashed or damaged 729 sorties dropped 15,000 tons of bombs on North Vietnam despite the aim to minimize collateral damage a reported 1624 civilians are killed the North Vietnamese returned to the negotiating table in Paris in January accepting essentially the same compromise terms that had been reached before linebacker the u.s. leans on the south to agree under the threat of reduced funding to South Vietnam as part of the agreement prisoners of war from North and South Vietnam and the United States are exchanged returning home shortly after the US continues withdrawals from Vietnam and the South Falls with the fall of Saigon in 1975 [Music]