On 25 Jan 2004 22:59:14 GMT, (BUFDRVR) wrote:

I've seen the term "carpet bombing" bandied about for years. I've never seen
or
heard a definition. Is there one? A generally accepted one?


I generally dislike the term since it's often applied to the BUFF and seems to
mean to most in the world media; "dropping 6 or more bombs at once". The
definition to most of the present and former aviators I know appears to be
"bombing a target *area* rather than a target itself".


I agree--the key is area rather than specific target and the
implication is usually municipal rather than rural as well as
indiscriminate rather than specific military.

By that criteria, I'll still say little or no "carpet bombing" in SEA.
As BUFDRVR notes, a B-52 bomb string covers some ground, but Arc Light
missions were specific targets and virtually always jungle areas, not
cities or villages. Linebacker II BUFF drops were quite remarkable in
accuracy, with recce runs that confirmed almost every crater location
in the Route Pack.

In numerous areas the BDA photos showed bomb strings precisely on
military targets and clearly bypassing civilian or cultural
infrastructure.

Carpet bombing generally recalls the mass formations of WW II bombers
dropping en masse on European cities. Nothing like that ever happened
in SEA. Maybe if it had, we'd have finished it up in less than eight
years.


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