On 15 Jan 2004 22:18:19 GMT, (Smartace11) wrote:

By all respect to all Thud or Scooter drivers of Vietnam era,we must also not
forget the the most dangerous missions in Vietnam were assigned to Rf101 and
RA5 planes.

Negative. The most dangerous missions were the F-4 chaff layers in Linebacker.
Hard to miss a chaff stream across the sky. The target is right at the front
of it. Second, the BUFFs over Bullseye, in the post release turn away from the
run in. heading.

Not to get into a "mine is bigger than yours", but different aircraft
at different time had different risks.

The only way a reasonable comparison can be made would be check stats
on losses per sortie. If that is done, you won't find the RF-101 at
the head of the list, since the aircraft was used theaterwide for
recce. While the Voodoos did lose a bunch, they didn't lose the
highest number per sortie.

As for Linebacker, I just compiled a list of LB losses and found the
USAF lost 60 F4-D and E aircraft during the period from May through
October of the LB campaign. Only a fraction of those were involved in
chaff drops. A lot were lost to MiGs.

While the relationship between the chaff corridor and the source is
true, only the lead flight in a chaff package gets that distinction.
The remaining three or four flights are back along the stream and
don't stand out as well. Additionally, they are above the guns and
stabilized in resolution cell pod coverage. It's a lousy mission, no
argument, but don't think it was the most dangerous.

My nominee would be early illuminators flying stabilized circles
around heavily defended targets, hand-aiming a grease pencil mark on
the canopy to keep a Zot spot on the target long enough for the bomb
dropper to dump an LGB.

You might also want to go back and check loss rates in the early days
of the war before ECM pods, chaff support and RWR gear.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8