During Operation Arc Light (sometimes Arclight) from 1965 to 1973, the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

deployed B-52 Stratofortresses from bases in the U.S. Territory of

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

to provide battlefield air interdiction during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. This included strikes at enemy bases, supply routes, and behind the lines troop concentrations, as well as occasionally providing close air support directly to ground combat operations in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

. The conventional bombing campaign was supported by ground-control-radar detachments of the

1st Combat Evaluation Group The 1st Combat Evaluation Group (initially "1CEG", later "1CEVG") was a Strategic Air Command (SAC) unit. It was formed on 1 August 1961 to merge the 3908th Strategic Standardization Group for SAC aircrew evaluation with the 1st Radar Bomb Sco ...

(1CEVG) in Operation Combat Skyspot. Arc Light operations usually targeted enemy base camps, troops concentrations, and supply lines.

Aircraft used

Previously dedicated to carrying

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

s, the U.S. Air Force began to train strategic bomber crews in 1964 to deliver conventional munitions flying the B-52F. The B-52Fs were deployed to

Andersen Air Force Base Andersen Air Force Base (Andersen AFB, AAFB) is a United States Air Force base located primarily within the village of Yigo in the United States territory of Guam. The host unit at Andersen AFB is the 36th Wing (36 WG), assigned to the Pacific ...

on Guam and

U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield U-Tapao–Rayong–Pattaya International Airport ( th, ท่าอากาศยานอู่ตะเภา ระยอง–พัทยา; ) also spelled ''Utapao'' and ''U-Taphao'', is a joint civil–military public airport serving ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, southeast of

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

. To add conventional bomb capacity, Project Big Belly modified all B-52Ds to enable them to carry 30 tons of conventional bombs. By mid-April 1966, all B-52Fs were redeployed back to the U.S. and were replaced by Big Belly-modified B-52Ds. Later in the

, the B-52G was also deployed with the B-52D.Operation ArcLight
from The Air Force Historical Studies Office. B-52Ds were also used from the

376th Strategic Wing 376th may refer to: * 376th Air Expeditionary Wing, inactive wing of the United States Air Force, last stationed at the Transit Center at Manas International Airport, Kyrgyz Republic *376th Air Refueling Squadron, inactive United States Air Force u ...

of Kadena Air Base,

Okinawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 Square kilometre, km2 (880 sq mi). ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. The 96th Strategic Air Wing from Dyess AFB,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, deployed for Arc Light in June 1970 for 180 days. Upon completion of the Arc Light deployment, the 376th SW B-52Ds either returned to the continental U.S. or were sent to U-Tapao. The 376th SW then ceased bomber operations, but continued flying Young Tiger tanker missions.

Operations in Laos and Cambodia

Congressional investigations of secret

CIA activities in Laos CIA activities in Laos started in the 1950s. In 1959, U.S. Special Operations Forces (Military and CIA) began to train some Laotian soldiers in unconventional warfare techniques as early as the fall of 1959 under the code name "Erawan". Under thi ...

revealed that B-52s were used to systematically bomb targets within Laos and Cambodia.

Operational use

The bombers were first used in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

on June 18, 1965. Flying from Andersen AFB, Guam, 27 aircraft dropped and bombs on a

Viet Cong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...

stronghold. During this mission two B-52Fs were lost in a mid-air collision on June 19, 1965, while circling over the South Pacific Ocean, approximately offshore at the point of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), unable to conduct mid-air refueling in awaiting arrival of

KC-135A The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of transport ...

tankers for pre-strike air refueling. Missions were commonly flown in three-plane formations known as "cells". Releasing their bombs from the

stratosphere The stratosphere () is the second layer of the atmosphere of the Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is an atmospheric layer composed of stratified temperature layers, with the warm layers of air h ...

, the B-52s could neither be seen or heard from the ground. B-52s were instrumental in destroying enemy concentrations besieging Khe Sanh in 1968, and in 1972 at An Loc and

Kontum Kon Tum is the capital city of Kon Tum Province in Vietnam. It is located inland in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam, near the borders of Laos and Cambodia. History After the People's Army of Vietnam invaded South Vietnam on March 30, 1 ...

Bombs from B-52 Arc Light strike exploding

Arc Light was re-activated at Andersen on February 8, 1972, when

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

resumed bombing of

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

in an effort to move peace talks along. Over 15,000 men were sent to Andersen on temporary duty over the next 90 days. With limited barracks and other facilities, tents were set up for use by men working 80-hour weeks. Arc Light missions continued until the cessation of hostilities by U.S. forces on August 15, 1973. Between June 1965 and August 1973, 126,615 sorties (B-52D/F/G) were flown over Southeast Asia. During those operations, the U.S. Air Force lost 31 B-52s; 18 were lost from hostile fire over North Vietnam and 13 from operational causes. The typical full bomb loads were: * B-52F: 36 and bombs in a mixed load, or 51 500-lb. bombs, 27 in the bomb bay and 24 on underwing pylons. * B-52D: 108 500-lb. bombs, or a mixed load of 64 500-lb. bombs in the bomb bay and 24 750-lb. bombs on underwing pylons. * B-52G: 27 bombs, all in the bomb bay, no external bombs were carried.

Problems

Communication leaks undermined the effectiveness of the campaign. According to Stephen Budiansky, "Despite

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collec ...

's occasional success in tightening up particularly leaky communication practices, the problems continued throughout the war. On Andersen the Vietcong were given as much as eight hours' warning and often revealing exact launch times and likely targets. Because of a Russian trawler stationed off the island listening to conversations and seeing actual B-52 launches.

Combat Skyspot Memorial

Nineteen technicians of the

were lost in ground combat. On September 21, 2010, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

presented the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of val ...

to the sons of Chief Master Sergeant Richard L. Etchberger for his actions in the battle of Lima Site 85. A memorial to all 1CEVG technicians is located directly behind the Arc Light memorial.

References