Submitted by: Submitted by swsslp
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Category: US History
Date Submitted: 11/01/2013 07:37 AM
Air War in Vietnam
Outline the Air war in Vietnam from the various air operations enacted by the United States from 1964-1972. What were its immediate and long term goals. How did this air campaign influence future policy makers after the Vietnam war (1973-2001)?
The war fought in the air during the Vietnam War was decisively in favour of US forces. America’s air power dwarfed North Vietnam’s and, in theory, such dominance should have had a decisive say in the outcome of the Vietnam War. There were those in America who supported the idea of simply bombing North Vietnam to destroy the country – Curtis LeMay stated that the US should reduce North Vietnam to rubble. The ‘hawks’ in the White House would have been sympathetic to this.
America’s air power had three bases. There were US bases actually in South Vietnam such as the one at Danang. A variety of planes flew from US carriers based in waters off of North Vietnam while the huge B-52 bombers flew from bases in Thailand and Pacific Islands such as Guam.
At the start of the bombing campaign against the North, President Johnson wanted restraint and caution. He had gone into an open war with the North based on the aggression of the North Vietnamese government and he wanted the world to se that America held the higher morale ground. This would have been lost if there had been indiscriminate raids on the North which resulted in the loss of civilian life. As it became clear that the bombing of military targets was not stopping the North Vietnamese government from supplying the NLF, the number of targets that could be bombed was increased and included bridges, rail lines and other communication systems. When it became clear that this was failing to stop the North, the US turned to saturation bombing using her fleets of B-52 bombers. These planes flew at a height whereby they were reasonbly safe from attack. They carried a variety of bombs but the most common was high explosive. These bombs could leave a...