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Following the entering of the B-52 into hostilities over Vietnam with Operation Rolling Thunder, a group of 30 B-52Fs were deployed from Barksdale AFB, Louisiana and Mather AFB, California to Andersen AFB, Guam on 17 February 1965. Two years earlier, leadership in SAC tested dropping conventional weapons from a BUFF, but until 1965, had not done so in combat. In 1964, Mather AFB BUFFs had been modified to increase conventional bomb loads; increasing to 24 the number of externally-suspended bombs and tripling the internal load from 9 to 27 bombs. While deployed to Andersen in February, the BUFFs sat on the flightline idle for months before American leaders decided to employ them. On June 18 1965, those 30 F’s were loaded with iron bombs and struck targets in Vietnam for the first time, and continued at a rate of 300 sorties per month. Thus, began Operation Arc Light. The BUFFs had a psychological effect on the Viet Cong that no other aircraft could bring; the F-models with their 51-bomb load was impressive, but the older D-models arrived to swap out the Fs in 1966 could carry an enormous bomb load; a whopping 108 500-lb bombs! Thanks to the Big Belly upgrade, the Ds brought more firepower to the fight than ever before; sortie rates were raised to 800 a month in the summer of 1967, and ratcheted up intensity as the war dragged on. As Arc Light wore on, the BUFF was involved in both heavy strategic bombing as well as a new role; close air support (CAS). Ground troop commanders fighting Viet Cong guerillas would radio in for airstrikes, and B-52s overhead would rain devastation on the enemy.
The standard strike formation for the Arc Light B-52s was the three-ship “cell.” The attack could be either by a single cell or multiple cells, the combination being known as a “wave.” Bombing altitudes were typically 25,000 to 30,000 feet. The targets were area boxes 1.2 miles long and .6 miles wide, which the B-52s could saturate with high explosives. By June 1967, Arc Light made extensive use of ground-directed radar bombing. Seven radar sites covered all of South Vietnam, eastern Cambodia, southern Laos, and the southern part of North Vietnam, and, from 200 miles away, guided the bombers precisely to the release point.
In April 1967, the U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield (RTNAF, hereafter simply as U-Tapao) was authorized to be used as an intermediate airfield for B-52 operations. U-Tapao was much closer to the fight than Andersen (2,600 miles to Saigon), and the round-trip mission from Guam lasted 12 to 14 hours. U-Tapao was a third the mission duration.
A key battle under Arc Light was the Battle of Khe Sanh during the Tet Offensive in February 1968. Khe Sanh was 15 miles from the Demilitarized zone, and a vital US base. Viet Cong forces 20,000-strong sieged the base, cutting off its ground logistical supply line. Airlift supplied the base while BUFFs and fighters pounded the Viet Cong forces. Some 75% of the siege force was killed by airpower, principally the B-52, although while 350 fighters and tactical aircraft participated, 60 BUFFs did the majority of the work. Because the SAC crews were so highly proficient at precision bombing airstrikes were called in to as close as 1/6 of a mile from the air base perimeter! During this battle, Arc Light missions surged from 1,200 to 1,800 a month, including 589 close-in sorties. It was at this point in the campaign that Kadena Air Base-based BUFFs were also used.
From 30 B-52Fs in 1965 to 1972, B-52 deployment to Southeast Asia ballooned significantly in concert with the sortie rate increases. Operation Bullet Shot sent additional B-52s to the theater (including the B-52G for the first time), raising the total in Southeast Asia to 210, which was more than half of SAC’s entire strategic bomber force (considering old B and C-models were retired by 1972). Of these, 155 were based at Andersen, forming the largest concentration of B-52s in history. It took five miles of ramp space to park them. A popular saying claimed that 30 airplanes had to be flying at any one time since there was not room enough for all of them on the base. In July 1971, the sortie rate increased again to a staggering 3,150 a month! From June 1965 to August 1973, SAC BUFFs completed 124,532 sorties over Southeast Asia.
The next chapters in Arc Light belong in another operation, but coverage, in-part will continue in Feelin’ BUFF 32: B-52s in Vietnam: Operation LINEBACKER, LINEBACKER II.
To find this cache, calculate the coordinates from the information in this listing.
N 48° 18.ABC W 101° 19.DEF
A= Day in February 1965 when 30 B-52Fs were deployed to Andersen AFB, XN February 1965, A=(N+0)
B= Year in which Mather AFB BUFFs were modified to increase conventional bomb loads, XXXN, B=(Nx2)
C= Total amount of 500-lb bombs the Big Belly B-52D could carry, XXN bombs, C=(N/2)
D= Sortie rates per month by the summer of 1967, XNX sorties, D=(N/0)
E= Number of aircraft in standard Arc Light strike formation, N aircraft, E=(Nx2)
F= Number of close-in sorties during Battle of Khe Sanh, XXN sorties, F=(N/1)
https://www.afgsc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/629217/operation-arc-light-marked-first-time-in-combat-for-b-52/
https://media.defense.gov/2017/Mar/28/2001722969/-1/-1/0/04-ILL_HIST_CH08-CH10_(PAGES149-200).PDF
https://www.airforcemag.com/article/0109arc/