RAIL YARD 45 NM SW HANOI
By Wilton Strickland
The night of 21 Dec '72, my target was a major rail transshipment yard
about 45 nautical miles southwest of Hanoi. SAM and anti-aircraft artillery
(AAA) activity in this area was relatively light. In fact, this mission was
so routine that I remember little about it, and my recording of it has been
destroyed (recorded over by a teenage son 35 years ago, I suspect). This
night was anything but routine for many of the other BUFFs, however. Two
were lost to SAM's.
During the withdrawal, I heard John Graham, co-pilot on my Kincheloe
crew, flying as a substitute with another crew, report to Red Crown, the
Navy ship monitoring all air traffic in North Vietnam, "We just lost Blue
02. He blew up right in front of me." (Destroyed by a SAM.)
During the latter stages of our withdrawal, the gunner reported a
"bandit" (fighter) approaching us rapidly from the rear. Enemy fighters had
joined several formations of B-52's, possibly to aid ground defenses in
tracking, and B-52 gunners had shot down two of them. Our gunner was locked
on the fighter approaching us and was prepared to fire. Just as the fighter
came within range, however, we heard a frantic call on the radio, "Your
bandit is friendly; your bandit is friendly!"
Gunner replied, "Okay, you were about to 'get' it, you'd better speak up
a little sooner!" The American F-4 quickly departed to do business
elsewhere.
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