The U S Air Force In Southeast Asia And The Vietnam War A Narrative Chronology

Thunder from U.S. aircraft first rolled over Hanoi in 1942, two decades before most Americans date U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia. Japanese activities in Vietnam remained bombing targets for the rest of World War II. Just after the conclusion of the conflict, in September 1945, U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) P-38s buzzed aloft as Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnamese independence. USAAF planes had flown aid to Ho and his group of Viet Minh guerrillas and also carried French authorities who were intent on reestablishing France's colonial claim on Indochina.The story of how the United States became entangled in Southeast Asia is a long and complicated one, and the U.S. Air Force (USAF) was a part of the equation at every step. The USAAF/USAF was flying in the region from 1942 through the collapse of the U.S.-supported government in Saigon in 1975. This chronology seeks to document, and to honor the service and sacrifice of, U.S. airmen for the full span of U.S. involvement. It ranges beyond strictly Air Force topics to provide a framework of context for why U.S. service members deployed to the region. Much of the context is not as far removed from the USAF as it might first appear, as any time senior leaders discussed potential U.S. military involvement in Southeast Asia throughout the 1950s, nearly all scenarios prominently featured air assets of the USAF and/or carrier-based U.S. Navy (USN) aircraft.This study significantly expands the story of the USAF in Southeast Asia during the period covered and includes many details not found in previous books. It is also one of the few works that places the evolution of U.S. and French military involvement within the context of international and U.S. political affairs. The book draws heavily on documents and interviews in the Air Force archives, held by the Air Force Historical Research Agency, many of which have been recently declassified. It has also benefitted from the work of several scholars over the last couple of decades in Vietnamese, French, Chinese, and Russian archives that has greatly enlarged the international context for developments in Southeast Asia.

Recently declassified study written in January 1972. Describes the many problems which faced the first air controllers after their arrival in South Vietnam in early 1962. He discusses their efforts to overcome the language barrier and help train Vietnamese Air Force personnel, their role in establishing a centralized air control system, and the tactics and techniques they developed during the years prior to President Lyndon B. Johnson's decision in 1965 to dispatch large U. S. ground forces to Southeast Asia to help thwart the attempted conquest of South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese.

This study is the first of a two-part history of Air Force forward air control operations in Southeast Asia. Part II currently in preparation, will take the story through the years 1965-1970, a period which witnessed many thousands of air control missions flown in support of U.S., South Vietnamese and Allied ground combat units during operations against enemy forces. In this narrative, Major Rowley describes the many problems which faced the first air controllers after their arrival in South Vietnam in early 1962. He discusses their efforts to overcome the language barrier and help train Vietnamese Air Force personnel, their role in establishing a centralized air control system, and the tactics and techniques they developed during the years prior to President Lyndon B. Johnson's decision in 1965 to dispatch large U.S. ground forces to Southeast Asia to help thwart the attempted conquest of South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese. Major Rowley's study is one of a series of historical works currently being written by Air Force historians on air operations in Southeast Asia. His account is based on primary source materials in the Office of Air Force History; the USAF Historical Archives at Maxwell AFB. Ala.; the Air University Library; and the records of the Air Staff and the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force. The author has examined official correspondence- - letters, memoranda, and working papers- -plus a variety of historical studies and reports, including organizational histories. Interviews with forward air controllers and other key personnel-conducted both by the author and other military historians- -also were drawn upon. Transcripts of these are available in the Office of Air Force History or in the collections of the Historical Archives at Maxwell AFB. Ala.

This publication is the first of a series titled The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia. It tells the story of the Air Force's involvement in the region from the end of the second World War until the major infusion of American troops into Vietnam in 1965. During these years, and most noticeably after 1961, the Air Force's principal role in Southeast Asia was to advise the Vietnamese Air Force in its struggle against insurgents seeking the collapse of the Saigon Government. This story includes some issues of universal applicability to the Air Force: the role of air power in an insurgency, the most effective way to advise a foreign ally, and how to coordinate with other American agencies (both military and civilian) which are doing the same thing. It also deals iwth issues unique to the Vietnamese conflict: how to coordinate a centralized, technological modern air force with a feudal, decentralized, indigenous one without overwhelming it, and how best to adapt fighter, reconnaissance, airlift, and liaison planes to a jungle environment. Additional volumes in this series will tell the story of the Air Force in South Vietnam, in Laos, and over North Vietnam until the cessation of the Air Force's direct role in 1973, (Author).

The Air Force instinctively disliked the slow, gradual way the United States prosecuted its war against the Vietnamese communists. While Americans undoubtedly delayed a communist victory in South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia long enough to spare Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries a similar fate, the American public grew very tired of this war years before its dismal conclusion. Due to questionable political policies and decision-making, only sporadic and relatively ineffective use had been made of air power's ability to bring great force to bear quickly and decisively. The United States and its Air Force experienced a decade of frustration made more painful by the losses of its personnel killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. Fighting resolutely and courageously, the Air Force played the decisive role in forcing North Vietnam to the peace table in 1973. The demands of the Vietnam War forced new developments such as laser-guided-bombs that would eventually radically transform the shape of air warfare.

Set in the time of greatest intensity during the Southeast Asia war, The War in South Vietnam: The Years of the Offensive, 1965-1968 describes men and machines living and working in an alien environment. In 1965, when the United States first began to take a full-scale combat role in the war in Southeast Asia, the Air Force was called on to provide direct fire support and airlift to the ground forces. Men and planes adapted admirably, ultimately flying more missions, dropping more bombs, and delivering more men and supplies, with a lower loss rate, than in any previous conflict. The aircraft involved in this war ranged from ancient lumbering propeller planes to sleek supersonic jets. While most aircraft flew traditional missions, others found new roles - huge intercontinental nuclear bombers performed close air support and transport aircraft were used as gunships. Because of this war and the way airmen accomplished their tasks, Air Force thinking was modified, and the realization of the need for a response to all levels of conflict set the tone for future Air Force doctrine.Involved with the conflicts in Southeast Asia throughout his 31-year Air Force career, Col. John Schlight, USAF, Retired, flew aircraft in Indochina in support of the French during the early 1950s, was deputy director of the Air Force Project CHECO (Contemporary Historical Evaluation of Combat Operations) in South Vietnam in 1969 and 1970, and head the Vietnam War Section in the Office of Air Force History from 1977 to 1981. With a PhD in history from Princeton University, he has taught military history at the United States Air Force Academy, the National War College, and at universities in the United States and overseas. He is the author of Monarchs and Mercenaries and Henry II Plantagenet and editor of The Second Indochina War. Colonel Schlight's last assignment with the Air Force was Deputy Chief, Office of Air Force History. He is currently Chief of the Southeast Asia Branch at the U. S. Army's Center of Military History in Washington, D. C.

United States Air Force in Southeast Asia. Documents the Air Force's support of the ground war in South Vietnam from 1965 to early 1968. Includes sections on the air campaign conducted during the Communists' siege of the Marine camp of Khe Sanh. Also contains several appendices, a glossary, and bibliographical notes.