| Date: 18 June 1965 |
| Aircraft type: B-52F Stratofortress |
| Serial Number: 57-0047 |
| Military Unit: 441 BS, 7 BW attached to 3960 SW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Andersen AFB, Guam |
| Name(s): |
| Maj James Monroe Gehrig, Jr. (KWF) |
| Capt Tyrell Gordon Lowry (KWF) |
| 1Lt James Albert Collier III (Survived) |
| 1Lt James L Erbes (Survived) |
| 1Lt Kenneth Donald Harten (Survived) |
| TSgt William Edward Neville (KWF) |
| Aircraft type: B-52F Stratofortress |
| Serial Number: 57-0179 |
| Military Unit: 441 BS, 7 BW attached to 3960 SW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Andersen AFB, Guam |
| Name(s): |
| LtCol Charles Paul Andermann (Survived) |
| Capt Robert Laurence Armond (KWF) |
| Capt Joe Carrol Robertson (KWF) |
| Capt Frank Peter Watson (KWF) |
| 1Lt James Alfred Marshall (KWF) |
| MSgt Harold James Roberts, Jr. (KWF) |
| The first Arc Light raid on South Vietnam was targeted on a VC stronghold at Ben Cat, 40 miles north of Saigon. Thirty B-52s from the 9th BS and the 441st BS took off from Andersen just after midnight on the 17th for the raid. Twenty-four bombers each carried a full internal and external bomb load of 51 x 750lb bombs while six carried 1,000lb armour-piercing bombs. Thirty KC-135 tankers took off from Kadena to rendezvous with the bombers over the South China Sea between South Vietnam and the island of Luzon in the Philippines. However, when the first wave of bombers arrived at the rendezvous point they were several minutes early due to a strong tailwind and they started manoeuvring to remain near the planned refuelling point. Green cell in the lead began a 360-degree turn that took it across the path of Blue cell and directly towards the oncoming Yellow cell. In the darkness two aircraft in the opposing cells collided at a position of 17 degrees 30 minutes North, 118 degrees east, about 250 miles from the coast of Vietnam. Eight airmen were killed while four survived. The survivors were located and taken on board an HU-16 Albatross amphibian (51-5287) but on attempting to take off in a heavy swell the aircraft was damaged and the survivors had to be transferred to a Norwegian freighter (Argo). The Albatross was taken under tow by a Navy vessel, USS Point Defiance (LSD-31), but it sank a few hours after the crew and B-52 survivors were rescued.
The 28 remaining B-52s were further reduced when an aircraft suffered a hydraulic pump failure and lost its radar. Unable to refuel, the aircraft diverted to Kadena. The remaining 27 aircraft aimed 1,300 bombs from between 19,000 and 22,000 feet at a target box one mile wide by two miles long. The formation used a helicopter-borne radar beacon to assist their navigation and bombing. After the target had been hit another B-52 left the formation and diverted to Clark AFB with an electrical problem. The remaining 26 aircraft landed back at Andersen after this inaugural 13-hour mission. A post-raid assessment by ground forces found that only just over half of the bombs had landed in the target box and that the Viet Cong had left the area before the raid took place. This was undoubtedly a bad start to the more than 125,000 B-52 sorties that would be flown over the next eight years. |
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