The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia. The Advisory Years to 1965

393 Pages·2017·20.02 MB·English

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THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
IN SOUTHEAST ASIA-
The Advisory Years To 1965
by
ROBERT F, FUTRELL
With-the-assistance-of
MARTIN )BLUMENSON
OFFICE OF AIR FORCE HISTORY
UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
WASHINGTON, D.C., 1281
DISTRIBUTION STATE. mNA -
j
Approved for public reloml
I
Diatribution Unlimited ,
T
L~ibrary of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Futrell. Robert F-rank.
The advisory' years in Southeast Asia. to 1965.
(Thie United States Air Force in Southea! Asia series)
BitL..ography p.
Includes index.
Stipi. of Does, no.: 1)3 01.2:5098
1 Vietnamese Conflict. 196f-1975 - Aerial operations.
American. 2. United States Air Force -- histor% Viet-
niamese Conflict, 1961-1975. 3. Asia. Southecasiernt History.
1. Bllunienson. Martin. joint author. 11. Title. 1ll. Series: United
States Air Force in Southeast Asia Series
1Lbrary of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
DS558.81F87 959.074.348 80-24547
Stock #008-.070-.00445-3
F-or sate by the Superintendent of D)ocuments. U.S. Gosernmcnt Printing Office
Washington, D.C 20402
Foreword
This publication is tile 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 with 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-
JoIN W. HUtsIoN
Major General, USAF Accession For
Chief Qfice of Air Force listor ,NTIS GRA&I
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Unannounced
Just ificati on
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Availibility
Avail and/or
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Preface
Robert Frank Futrell's works on Air Force history span the decades from
the second World War to vietnam. For the former conflict he contributed
sections to The Army Air Forces in World War II, edited by Craven and Cate.
His volume The United States Air Force in Korea, 1950-1953 is the official
history of the Air Force in that action. His Ideas, Concepts, Doctrine book is a
fundamental primer of basic thinking about air power among American military
services from 1907 through 1964. Before his retirement in 1974, Dr. Futrell wrote
a detailed manuscript on the early years of the USAF involvement in the
Vietnamese war. I consider it an honor to have been called upon to prepare this
manuscript for publication.
I wish to thank Major General John W. Huston, Chief, Office of Air Force
History, for a hospitable environment; Dr. Stanley L. Falk, Chief Historian, for
invaluable counsel and support, Mr. Max Rosenberg, Deputy Chief Historian,
Mr. Carl Berger, Chief, Histories Division, Colonel John Schlight. Chief. Special
Histories Branch, and Mr. Jacob Van Staaveren, historian, for helpful com-
ments; Dr. George M. Watson for responses to my requests for information; and
all the members of the Office of Air Force History for making me feel at home.
I am responsible for any omissions or distortions in this narrative.
Martin Blumenson
Contents
Page
Foreword.. .... .... .... .... .... .... ..... iii
Preface ........ ................. v
Part One: The Truman Years
1. Origins of the American Commitment
to Vietnam ...... ............. 3
Part Two: The Eisenhower Years
II. Dien Bien Phu .... ............ 15
111. The Geneva Agreements and French Withdrawal . 29
IV. U.S. Command Problems in the Pacific: Emphasis on
Southeast Asia ..... ............ 41
V. Strained Civil-Military Relations in South Vietnam,
1957-1960 .... ............. 49
Part Three: The Kennedy Years
VI. Initial Challenges and Actions .. ........ 63
VII. Opening Farm Gate . . . ......... 79
VIII. The Taylor Mission ... ........... 85
IX. U.S. Command Arrangements: 2d ADVON
and MACV .... ............ 93
X. Tactical Air Control, Mule Train,
and Ranch Hand ... ........... 103
XI. Air Policy: Too Cautious? .. ......... 119
XII. Farm Gate and the Vietnamese Air Force . ..... 127
XIII. Air Operations, 1962: Interdiction, Strikes, and
Reconnaissance ... ........... 135
XIV. Ap Bac and Related Matters .. ........ 151
XV. Air Operations. 1963 ... ........... 167
XVI. Collapse of the Diem Government .. ....... 185
Part Four: The Johnson Years
XVII. Objectives Confirmed, Methods Expanded . ..... 195
XVIII. The War in Vietnam, 1964 ... ......... 207
XIX. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident ... ......... 227
XX. Diffusion of Air Assets ... .......... 236
XXI. End of the Advisory Phase .. ......... 253
Appendices
I. Growth of Major United States Air Force and Vietnamese
Air Force Units to February 1965 ... ........ 271
- - t.
2. Development of a Viet Cong Antiaircraft Capability. g
1962-1965.................283
Notes.....................287
Glossary....................325
Bibliogiaphic Note.................347
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
viii
Photographs
F-9F Ileacats ferried to Vietnam:. C-47 and C-1 19s with French
m arkings .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
11-26 bombers: Morane-500 Crickets: F-81F Bearcats at Dien Bienl
..................................................... 9
USAF C-I 24 at Ceylon airlifting French soldiers to Vietnam, French
paratroop drop;: French Foicign Legion .............. 20
President Eisenhower, Gen. Paul Ely. an(l Adm. Arthur W. Radford:
supplies unloaded in Indochina under the Military Defense Assist-
anice Programl ........................................... 21
Refugees fleeing from North Vietnam w~hen the country was divided al
the l7th parallel .......................................... 32
Richard M. Nixon. Plierr Mendes-France, and John Foster Dulles:
Operation Wounded Warrior: OSAF evacuation of' French Foreign
Legionnaires after Diern Bien Phil............................. 33
Gen. Nat &ut F. Twining: Gen. .). Lawton Collins and Premier Ngo Dinh
1
Diem: MA AGt lcadquar tels in Saigon ......................... 38
Gen. Latremce S. Kumer: Gen. Thomas 1). WVhite................... 45
L-19s of the Vietnamese Air Force:. Sikoisky 1--19 helicopter at Tanl Son
Nhut.................................................. 51
W. A erell Ha rrinman. President Kennedy',and Deatn Rusk: Robert S.
McNamara and Gen. Lyman L. Lemnitzer; members of the Viet-
namese Self D~efense Corps fromn Biron Enao. female. members of the
Civil Defense Gurard at I lao Cain ......................... ... 66
T-28 fighter-bombers: Lt. Richard A. Mathison and A IC Tri Pham
Minh. VNAF, stand with a collection of Farm Gate aircraft: T-28 in
foregrotrnd. 11-26 in left background. A-IL in right background, and
C-47 in distance-, R F-10I1 Voodoo............................ 77
Gen. Maxwell 1). ' aylor. Gen. Emmett O'Donnell, Jr.. Adm. J. IL.
Sides, and Lt. Gen. C. A. Roberts. in Hawaii: Gen. Paul D. Harkins,
Adm. Il arry 1). Felt, and Ambassador Frederick E. Nolting at Tan
Son Nhtrt Airport: Gen. Curtis E. LeMay ....................... 87
Page
Brig. Gen. Rollen Anthis and Air Force Secretary Eugene Zuckert on
tour in the Pacific ....... ......................... 99
Viet Cong prisoners unload rice from a C-123 at Quang Ngai during a
Mule Train resupply mission: supplies pushed from a C-1 23 for an
outpost at Binh Hung: C-1 23s at Da Nang: aerial view ofa
government outpost ....... ........................ 109
C-I 23s on a defoliation mission, brass sprayers in the rear of a C-1 23:
C-123K aircraft at Hickant AFB, Hawaii, enroute to Vietnam for
defoliation activities ....... ........................ 114
C-1 23B on defoliation mission near Saigon: view from inside a C-1 23
as it sprays foliage: USNS Core in Saigon harbor with a cargo of
Ranch hland spray and equipment .... ................. 115
Vietnamese officers and American advisems plan an airlift of Vietnamese
paratroopers at Tan Son Nhut: Ist Lt. Wilfred G. Narr demonstrates
aircraft maneuvers to Vietnamese students at Moody A-B, Ga.: A IC
H. R Wilson and AIC R. L. Fleury install rockets into a B-26
bonber at Bien Hoa: F-102 Delta Daggers .... ............. 130
Maj. Ivan L. Slavich briefs Gen. Earle G. Wheeler and Gen. Paul D.
Harkins on a rocket mount of the UH-I B helicopter: ARVN para-
trooper prepares for a jump over Cu Chi: TSgt William W. Cameron
instructs Vietnamese airmen in the operation of the gunsight on a
T-28. Vietnamese tanks move toward the burning presidential palace
after its bombing ....... .......................... 164
ARVN paratroopers leap from USAF C-123: 0-I E Bird Dog FAC:
Capt. B. D. Lassman and Capt. 1). F. Schell with Vietnamese
observer ........ .............................. 180
Vietnamese troops outside the presidential palace in Saigon ........ 192
Pres. Johnson, W. Averell Harriman; Adm. U.S. Grant Sharp. Jr.:
Maj. Gen. Joseph H. Moore, Gen. Jacob E. Smart, with Maj. Xuan
Vinh, VNAF ...... .. ........................... 209
Air Commodore Nguyen Cao Ky and Col. William E. Bcthea:
Gen. William Westmoreland: Al E aircraft: VNAF CH-34
helicopter ........ ............................. 222
x
Outposts or hamlets of South Vietnlam. .. .. ... .... ... .. 223
US S iwconleroga............................231
Canberra bomber-. rocket pod on 1-IOO0: Australian Caribou aircraft at 3
Tanl Son Nhut..................................23
A I C .eonard A. Rowe: SSgt I larold Inman: AC-47 at Tall Son Nhut:
7.62 minigun m1ounted in AC-47 ............................ 242
Loudspeakers installed in C-47, leafllets dropped from a C-47 .......... 249
13-57 destroyed by Viet Cong mortar attack: Brink~ 3OQ area. following
... 262
terrorist attack...................................