Thanh Hoa Bridge - Operation Rolling Thunder - MiG-17s Jump USAF F-105s

MiG-17s Jump USAF F-105s

During the 4 April 1965 engagement, a tiny force of eight MiG-17s (half flying as decoys) from the 921st "Sao Do" (Red Star) Fighter Regiment (FR) was again given the daunting task of confronting a massive armada of modern American supersonic fighter-bombers. The 46 F-105 Thunderchiefs tasked as fast attack bombers were escorted by a flight of 21 F-100 Super Sabres daylight fighters from the 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS), 4 Sidewinder-armed for MiGCAP, and 17 armed with 2.75-inch HVAR to suppress AAA batteries. Each flight was given a call sign. These included "Steel," "Iron," "Copper," "Moon," "Carbon," "Zinc," "Argon," "Graphite," "Esso," "Mobil," "Shell," and "Petrol." "Cadillac" flight conducted Bomb Damage Assessment, while the search and rescue included A-1 Skyraiders, call sign "Sandy," and HH-3 Jolly Green Giant rescue helicopters, call sign "Jolly Green."

The VPAF made ground-based AAA sites the first line of defence, with fighters attacking after ground gunners ceased fire. After taking off at about 10:20, the MiGs would break into decoy and attack flights. The leader was second-in-command Nguyen Van Tien, while Dao Ngo Ngu handled the ground control command.

The Americans started with recon flights over Thanh Hoa. Then the attacking jets flew in flights of four. One flight would attack at a time while others circled awaiting their turn. Although, on paper, the F-105 was double supersonic (Mach 2+), when loaded with ordnance under its small wings, it was subsonic and unready to tangle with any fighters that might get past the escorts. Covering the north, in the direction of Hanoi's airfields, escorting F-100s sixty miles north of the Song Chu estuary where the river meets the sea, were to warn of enemy aircraft. and if possible to intercept, while 4 others orbited south of the estuary. The MiG attack came instead from the south, with part angling off toward the west, perhaps to draw away escorts as a decoy. As the MIGCAP F-100s flew south, they spotted MiG-17s flying in from the sea toward the F-105s, and urgently radioed the warning: "Break off!" But their warnings weren't heeded due to garbled transmission. The strike aircraft flew on like sitting ducks, unaware of the incoming threat. While North Vietnam had full radar coverage and ground control of their pilots, the short-range, forward-scanning radars in the F-100s didn't spot the MiGs in a part of the sky where they were not expected. The USAF would later use EC-121s and develop the E-3 AWACS to provide full 360-degree radar coverage for strike packages.

Coming from clouds above, the MiG-17s tore past the escorts and dove onto the bomb laden Thunderchiefs, Vietnamese flight leader Trần Hanh spotted four F-105Ds at 10:30 starting to drop their bombs, ordering his wingman, Pham Giay, to cover his attack. He fired at 400 meters, observing one F-105, piloted by Major Frank E. Bennett (355th TFW, KIA) fall in flames into the Gulf of Tonkin. The flight leader attempted to recover at Da Nang but had his controls freeze up within sight of the base. Ejecting, he was killed when his parachute failed to open before he struck the water and he drowned. As the F-105s turned to attack the MiGs, the MiGs split into two groups on the north and south sides of the bridge. Supported by Tran Nguyen Nam, Le Minh Huan downed another F-105D, callsign Zinc 2 piloted by Capt. J. A. Magnusson. He radioed that he was heading for the Gulf if he could maintain control of his aircraft. Magnusson finally bailed out 20 miles away over the Gulf of Tonkin near the island of Hon Me, and was eventually listed as missing and then killed after a 48-hour search. The USAF confirmed the two F-105 losses during that engagement.

The remaining fourth plane found himself in the sights of another MiG-17 who he could not shake. In desperation, he tried a snap roll which slowed his plane so that the MiG-17 over-shot him, as his captain had recommended. Finding himself on the MiG's tail, he was too surprised to attempt to shoot down the MiG with his gun. The fortunate survivor was briefed the day before about this maneuver by a captain from Nellis, the legendary John Boyd who would be a significant voice in the design of America's future dogfighters.

After the quick success of downing two American fighters, the outnumbered North Vietnamese defenders faced a sky full of the remaining angered F-100s and F-105s now fully alerted to their presence and turning their attention to the MiGs. Tranh Hanh ordered his flight to split into two groups. He and wingman Pham Giay stayed south side of the bridge, while Le Minh Huan and Tran Nguyen Nam flew to the north. Three F-100s from the MiGCAP, piloted by LTC Emmett L. Hays, CPT Keith B. Connolly, and CPT Donald W. Kilgus, all from the 416th TFS, engaged the MiG-17s. As the F-100s closed in, they hesitated to fire missiles which might hit their F-105s. The lead F-100 got a locking tone as he fired an IR guided Sidewinder air-to-air missile once he had a clear shot, but it passed above its target, while Connolly and Kilgus engaged with 20mm cannon.

Kilgus recognized what was Pham Giay's MiG just after it appeared out of the haze. He dropped his wing tanks and turned into the target that had just turned a 90 degree corner to face him. He shook off Tranh Hanh's second MiG which appeared as Giay overshot and missed him. Closing in from behind Giay, Kilgus closed in and pulled up his nose so that the four M39 20mm guns would bear on the target. Lighting his afterburner and using his height advantage, he accelerated and dived after the MiG at 450 knots. Kilgus recognized the Vietnamese pilot was pulling him into a game of chicken as both jets hurtled down towards waters of the Gulf of Tonkin and the lighter MiG should have been able pull out of a dangerous dive more quickly. Now headed nearly straight down, Kilgus armed his guns and took aim at the spot projected on the glass of his A4 radar-ranging gunsight. While worrying about the rapidly falling altitude, he opened fire at 7,100 feet, observing puffs and sparks coming off Giay's vertical tail fin before losing visual contact as he pulled up, just barely clearing the Gulf of Tonkin.

Historian Don McCarthy later concluded he was certain Kilgus brought down the MiG-17. Aviation writer Larry Davis also records his that Kilgus' wing man also reported a kill, but it was denied by higher headquarters at 7th Air Force. Although not immediately reported that day, only Kilgus claimed and was credited with a probable kill. Based upon the report, the F-100s had obtained the first US aerial combat victories during the Vietnam War. If confirmed, Kilgus would have made the be the only air-to-air MiG kill by an F-100 during the conflict., while it was assumed the other MiGs escaped.

MiG-17 flight leader and sole survivor Tran Hanh was credited with his confirmed F-105. His own plane narrowly escaped through hard maneuvering, but he lost contact with ground control. Low on fuel, he opted to land at the nearby Ke Tam valley, but was detained by the locals until he produced his VPAF badge. Hanh says that he saw his wingman, Le Minh Huan and Tran Nguyen Nam also shot down by F-105s. Hanh probably confused the escorting F-100s for F-105s. As only one American pilot even claimed a probable kill, his other comrades may have instead collided or been hit by their own AA fire. Nevertheless, in exchange for their significant sacrifice, the North Vietnamese MiG-17s had scored their first confirmed aerial victories in jet-to-jet combat against supersonic fighters.

North Vietnamese AAA gunners on the ground were credited with downing a "Sandy" A-1H Skyraider, killing Capt. Walter Draeger, and also initially credited with the F-105 of Capt. Carlyle "Smitty" Harris, who survived and became one of the earliest American prisoners of war. Later on 15 April 1965, a communist publication interviewed a MiG pilot who had actually shot down Capt. Harris' F-105 rather than ground fire. Harris was classified MIA, but had been actually imprisoned in Hanoi until 1973, when fellow POWs credited Capt. Harris with introducing the "tap code" into the prison system.

In North Vietnam, MiG-17 flight leader Tran Hanh became a national hero. What in retrospect might seem to be tactical draw after losing all of their defending fighters and three pilots, and viewed by anti-war activists as aggression against civilian targets, the action was celebrated as a "glorious victory over US aircraft to ensure the flow of war supplies to the south". For their part, anti-aircraft gunners received the Victory Order and the Military Exploit Order. On the 45th anniversary of the battle in 2010, Vietnam celebrated the downing of 47 US aircraft over the two days of the 454 sorties over two days that dropped 350 bombs on and around the bridge, calling it "the symbol of the Vietnamese people's will to defend their country...the Great Spring Victory to liberate the South and reunify the country."