Here’s a 1967 Republic aircraft documentary featuring the F-105 Thunderchief and other airframes supporting the ground forces in Vietnam. Interestingly, there’s actually coverage of the ground crew and maintainer effort.
Many of our readers are overt or closet airplane nerds. See if you can count and identify the various aircraft.
How far we have come in precision.
Thanks for mentioning the “ground crew and maintainer effort.”
Well, I tallied at least 15:
F-4
KC-135
A-8 Vigilante (on carrier)
A3D ? (on carrier – Navy version of RB-66)
F-4’s and maybe other type on carriers)
F-105
F-100 ?
HU-16 Albatross (Air-sea rescue – wish we had a long range amphibian now)
0-1 Birddog (in USAF FAC role)
A-1 / AD1 Skyraiders (in “Sandy” role)
CH-53 (in “Jolly Green Giant” role)
UH-1 “Huey”
C-123
C-130
AC-47 (“Spooky” or “Puff the Magic Dragon”)
B-52
Perhaps most interesting, and painful, was MacNamara reading off the stats: “Since last year, the enemy has delivered 150% more munitions…120% more personnel…” , and the narrator explaining the daily Mission Planning Process: “the FRAG Order comes down from the DoD and the JCS…” No wonder we spent a decade losing a war wherein we dropped more bomb tonnage on mud trails on Laos than was dropped by all sides in WWII (or some such statistic).