Rolling Thunder - 94 Thunderchiefs Attack the Dragon's Jaw Bridge, 1965 

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Legend has it that the engineers that worked at the bridge were later hired by the Nokia company to create a cellphone capable of withstanding bombing runs as well as the Dragon's Jaw Bridge did during the war.

Fun fact. This bridge caused the USAF to go to the budding silicon valley and request development of laser guided bombs.

Angry bridge refuses to die.

Props to the engineer of that bridge. With however little money it cost to build that bridge, it was enough to stop 100s of millions of dollars worth of explosives and air power from collapsing the bridge. That is efficiency.

Vietnamese here, my grandpa was a mig pilot back in the day and he told me the story behind this. The north vietnam HQ knew for sure that the us will target Ham Rong bridge way before they actually lauch the first airstrike. They prepared a sofisticated AA layers to welcome any enemy aircraft , some claimed that not even Hanoi was this well defended until operation rolling thunder. The first SAM 2 land to air missile regiment stationed here to protect the bridge, not Hanoi or any important city. VN airforce was also on high alert everytime the us striked the bridge. Normally we just use a squadron of 2 migs against enemy formation, only to protect Ham Rong bridge that 8 migs were sent on the air at the same time. And about the bridge, it was designed to stand firm against the us attack, but at the same time it has to be easy to fix and replace the damage. I have no fcking clue how the engineer could have done this impossible task but they did. Whenever the US air raided at daylight, the military engineer will fix the damage at night and the bridge return to fully functional by dawn. It is like a gangster who have been through shit but stand firm and yes, the bridge can still be used until this day.

Dang, if a container ship crashed into this bridge it would probably come to a dead stop and cause the earth to shift on it's axis instead.

For those who don't know, the gentleman with that spectacular mustache at the end is Brigadier General Robin Olds, mastermind behind Operation Bolo. He was a real life Maverick and overall big badass.

32 missiles and 100+ bombs, and the bridge was still standing? Thats insane!! Wait actually its 400 bombs? Woah ..

Can I ask you all a favour? If you enjoy this episode, could you please hit the like button and/or leave a comment, it helps us massively. Appreciate you all!

For some reason, in my mind, when the F-105s start swarming to bomb the bridge, I can hear the seagulls from Finding Nemo. Possibly, instead of squaking "mine," it is perhaps "bomb, " "bridge," or "thud.""

parachute fail . . . what an awful way to die. Rest in peace Major Bennett.

The bridges after dozens of missiles and bombs were dropped on it: Tis but a scratch.

Thanh Hoa resident here! There are alot of wreckages of us fighters and bombers still lying under the bed of the river, the bridge is still standing strong to this day, very proud of the people of my hometown for having put up such a incredible fight!

Lt Col Risner was an absolute legend. The man was already a Ace from Korea at the start of Vietnam. Look into him. He was featured on the History Channels dogfight show. Probably the best dogfight in modern history.

the ominous image of Robin Olds at the end lmao

Thats a suprisingly sturdy bridge!

I live near this bridge in Thanh Hoa. My parents used to tell me that when they were younger, at night, if they looked in the direction of the bridge, they could see the horizon lit up with fire from the bombs and the anti aircraft guns firing, and sometimes, some fragments from the anti aircraft shells would land on their yards. My grandma had to cover her head with an iron basin to protect herself from the fragments every time she went to get the laundry. In high school, I used to cycle to this bridge and it seemed so surreal that such a small bridge was under constant attacks from the US and a lot of men and women lost their lives to protect this bridge.

Gentlemen, meet: The bridge that took more bombs to destroy than a battleship

Your Hanoi map right at the start is around 2015-2020 in satelite imagery and roads. A lot of those roads and the NIA terminal at Noibai airport did not exist in 196x

With that ending I can only hope what the next video is on 😂

Its nice that, right from the beginning, you can tell that those are RF-101s........proper.

What a tough bridge. Guess they needed to do Mk-84 two thousand pounders vs the 750's.

I'm going to need a magnifying glass to watch your videos from now on

Robin olds at the end!!!! Operation bolo next! Can’t wait. Great video operations room.

Those bridges have stronger foundation than my previous relationship

Last time I was this early the French were still in Indochina

If the trees speaking Vietnamese wasn't enough, the clouds started speaking Vietnamese as well, that's when they knew, this wasn't gonna go their way.

Dragon's jaw bridge stood up to its name at least

We're back around to Vietnam? I'm locked in. Oh and world of Warships is fun as ever, RTX/4k really amped it up.

Another fantastic video from one of the best channels on youtube. So much detail yet so easy to follow. Well done.

Bridge might as well have been built of stalinium

I love the foreshadowing by showing Col. Robin Olds. Looking forward to your video concerning Operation Bolo by this legendary WW2 ace and leader of men.

Sometimes attaching the support is better than attacking the structure. Bridges and dams are a great example. Amazing how hard they are to take down with direct hits but how much damage can be caused by taking out the base.

The F-105 Thunderchief is my favorite jet aircraft of all time. This was a great watch!

Great content as always, thanks for producing this!

Way to make a Friday awesome. Thanks Ops Room

My Uncle flew Thuds during this time. He was probably part of these raids. He was never shot down and retired from the Air Force several years ago. Nice video

Did they not consider a larger bomb after the clear inability of the 750s to damage the bridge the first day?

One hell of a bridge.

I cannot wait for Bolo. The Vietnam air war is such a fascinating entity that often gets overlooked. Fantastic work as always operations room team.

Ending with a picture of Robin Olds is pretty sweet.

Dragons Jaw Bridge 1,000,000/1,000,000 HP Bullpup: 35,000 Damage *Hits bridge* Not very effective 1250 Damage dealt 7 yrs to KO a single bridge. Sounds like Dragon's Jaw is the US's Tirpitz.......no matter how hard they try they cant seem to kill it.

i've binged almost every series you produced, amazing vids

This became a major talking point for people who wanted the Navy to recommission the Iowa class battleships in the 1970s. The argument was that the 16" shells of the battleships' guns could have dropped the bridge in a matter of hours, without sacrificing so many pilots lives.

Still one of the best channels on youtube

In the far distance, with heavy british accent, laughs in Tallboy

You know I was just thinking it's been a little while since The Ops Room uploaded, I've always enjoyed your channel and the Intel Report. Is there any chance of covering actions during the Korean war in the future? I feel like it's an interesting but largely unexplored conflict from a historical perspective.

Fantastic video. The air war over vietnam was something else.

Killer video, thank you guys at ops room

Great video! Always excited to see you upload.

Another kick ass effort of the Operations Room!

Great video as always. You are much appreciated

Whoever build that bridge needs a raise because holy shit!

And the bridge was not dropped until the 1972 Linebacker campaigns, when F-4's using guided munitions against it.

great video! I would love more vietnam war content. Still to this day an incredibly interesting conflict and one that really shook up US command.

Glad to hear you're doing more videos on the Vietnam war, the subject of my undergraduate dissertation in history. Could you also cover Linebacker 1 and 2. Also, more videos on the air war in the Falklands conflict would be appreciated. RIP Commander Sharkey.

Great video as always!

Always fantastic! Thank you so very much 🙏

I like the sneak hint of the next video with Robin Old's photo

Can’t wait for your video about Operation BOLO

I just did my APUSH Capstone project on this topic. What a coincidence.

Thanks for another great episode!

If my memory serves, one of the 105 pilots, Lt Col. Robinson Risner, also served in the Korean War as an air superiority pilot in a F86 Sabre. Both himself and his stories from the war are featured in the show Dogfights in the pilot episode and I'd highly recommend giving it a watch here on RU-vid

Great video, love your channel!

Great video! The MiG15 was really underrated.

Another amazing video! Well done!

I got to meet Vietnamese fighter ace Van Bey in 1990 He was a short man and reminds you that he was a farmer Little people know he has 7 confirmed kills against the US during the war All confirm by the US I got a picture with him

Thanks for these

The stubbornness of the USAF brass was absolutely insane!

Perfect as always.......

my god, even the Yamato couldn't even stand off against that damage

They say anybody can build a bridge, but only an engineer can build one that barely stands. In this case, I wonder if it was exceptional engineering or somebody said 'damn the costs'.

Awesome work as always.

They should have tried using using something like the WW2 RAF'sTallboy bombs. Tallboy worked on the principle that a near miss was better than a direct hit, because while a hit would certainly damage the structure, Tallboy was designed to drill down through the earth adjacent to the target and explode at depth, blasting a huge cavity out from underneath the target, depriving it of its foundations and bringing it down. Wasn't there anything similar in the USAF's arsenal that the B52s could have carried?

Another idea for videos that you guys can make: the beginnings and evolution of the Wild Weasel. All of that started in Vietnam, with the F-100.

Best animations on RU-vid! 👍

This event was the definition of "underestimating your enemy"!

I hit the like button and commented . Cause you make great videos

Can you imagine the life expendancy of a bridge like that in a modern war? Hours at most. I'd say half a dozen Storm Shadow would do the job.

As a civil engineer, I just wanted to say THAT is one strong ass bridge lol

This era of aerial warfare is fascinating. It’s like a bridge between old WW2 tactics and machinery and modern methods and technology.

One of the reasons the US lost the Vietnam war was because the military leaders failed to read Sun Tzu's 'Art of War'. Coming off the victories of WWII, their attitude was "We'll show them how it's done." Hubris reigned supreme at the Pentagon.

Great content as always

Educational video tbh, good job

The foreshadowing of General Robin Olds at the end has me looking forward even more to the next video. Regardless, the brave pilots of the Vietnamese Air Force really deserve a ton of respect for the way they managed to contest a much superior opponent.

The bridge was built by French during the colonial rule with roughly the same technique as the Eiffel Tower hence the strength of the Thanh Hoa bridge

Superb!!!Much obliged....

Always excellent work!

The birth of smart, and later, brilliant bombs.

Another great video

North Vieatnam where the good guys all along as we know today

Excellent as usual!

Just commenting to support the channel.

Robin Olds. What a legend.

Outstanding job!

10/10 as per usual

Incredible, as always. Do you plan making videos telling stories about the Korean War?

Great video!

Great episode cheers