Air+Craft_bs

The B-52 Bomber and F-4 Phantom 2

The war campaign during Vietnam was an important part in crippling the North Vietnamese Army’s supply lines, and providing support for the ground troops. A number of aircraft were used in the Vietnam War including the B-57 Bomber, B-52 Bomber, SR-71 Blackbird, F-100, F-105, F-104, F-5, F-102, F-111, F-8, F-4 Phantom 2, A-4, A-6, AC-47, A-7, C-130. Also a few helicopters were used such as the CH-47, UH-1, OU-10, AH-16, and the OH-6A. The two planes I want to talk are the F-4 Phantom 2, and the B-52 Bomber. The F-4 Phantom 2 was a fighter-bomber that first aired on December 30, 1960, it was the main fighter-bomber used by all branches of service in the Vietnam War. The reason it was used by all branches was due to Secretary of State Robert McNamara’s view of having a plane for all branches of service to use. The F-4 Phantom 2 were capable of reaching speeds up to 1,600mph, and are capable of reaching altitudes of 60,000ft up. In Vietnam the Phantom’s primary job was fighting enemy aircraft, damaging enemy supply lines, and if specially equipped, destroying SAMs or Surface to Air missles. The F-4 measures 58ft and 2in long, and is 16ft 6in tall. The F-4 Phantom has a wingspan of 38ft 5in. The next plane I will talk about is the B-52 Bomber which played a very important part in the Vietnam War. The B-52 started up in Vietnam during 1965 (in Operation Arc Light which was the carpet bombing of South Vietnam,) and would end its tour of duty in 1973. The B-52’s main job was to destroy supply lines of the North Vietnamese Army, destroy North Vietnamese storage areas, and to destroy troop concentrations. More than 50% of the B-52s missions were flown out of South Vietnam. Also the B-52s would bomb suspected Viet Cong areas. By August of 1973 the B-52s had flown a total of 126, 615 combat missions. Out of that number only 17 bombers had been lost. Come the end of the war a total of 29 B-52 Bombers would be lost. B-52 Bombers had the ability to range high in the sky, due to that when B-52s released there bombs they were near impossible to detect. In only three years of service, the B-52s had dropped a total of 860,000 tons of explosives. The B-52 was mainly a heavy bomber that was designed to carry nuclear weapons. B-52s measured 159ft 4inches in length, 40ft 8inches tall, and had a wingspan of 185 feet. Both of these planes had a dramatic effect on the Vietnam War in the sky.

I used the following www.diggerhistory.info, www.fas.org, www.centennialofflight.gov, www.wikipedia.org, www.tgnyc.org, www.cavanaughflightmuesem.com and Modern Attack Planes, Modern Attack Helicopters, A History of the USAFAir Craft_bs