United States Air Force Operations in Vietnam 1967 - Restored Color 

Fifty seven yers ago, I was there as a B-57 weapons loading crew member. Our team arrived at Bien Hoa AB about a month after we had started bombing. Our B-57's moved later to Tan Son Nhut and then to Danang. During my 13 months in-country, I saw almost every kind of military aircraft that operated there during 1965-66. I look back with pride at that period in my life. Lots of interesting memories and life-long friendships formed from that common experience. I consider all military as "brothers" regardless of where or when they served. A salute to you guys (and gals)!

My Dad sadly died from Parkinson's after many years of suffering from this awful brain disease. He flew KC-135s and B-52s out of Guam in 1966 and then again in 1968, while we stayed at McCoy. He also flew the T-6, B-25, B-29, C-45, C-47, C-54, C-119, KC-97, L-19 and the H-13 helicopter. The government had a fire at Maxwell AFB which destroyed the records we needed to get the VA to believe he was on the ground in The Nam. He told us many times about his being ordered to go there to pick up the bodies of those even less fortunate. He said those flights were unusual and nobody said a word, while trying to fly the airplane perfectly well. My Mom somehow "lost" his logbooks so the VA eventually did not cover his treatment to the tune of over $400,000. The gatekeeper crook on the phone said "your Dad's airplanes did not fly to Vietnam"...but his commanding officer said different...and that he had asked my Dad to go himself. He said he already had so many calls like mine, and had written letters/etc...to no avail: "We never thought that someday we might need to prove anything to the same people who gave us our orders". My Dad did the right thing and never mentioned it again. We bought him wings for the car but they stayed in the garage. There were people who lived next door for 40 years that did not know he was in the military. He had over 4,000 hours "and twice that many sitting in the back". If a man like this can be so hosed by the same people who sent him to war and to Vietnam...what does that say about them and our controllers. Some of them could not even be bothered to defend the Capitol and it is at least good that Dad did not have to see that.

I was a Forward Air Controller in 1971, with 300 combat missions. I can assure you of two things: that nobody saw the war the same way as anyone else because none of us saw more than our own infinitesimal slice of it. And also that we DID win that war. Not then, but eventually. Today, Vietnam is technically Communist, but in reality is a thriving capitalist success engine. Because we were there. Crisp salute to all my brothers and a slow salute to the brothers we left behind.

Thanks for putting this up, it's awesome to see the old jets, love the F-100's first wild weasel planes!

Good ol' "non-toxic" agent orange.....😑

Phan Rang AB was my home or almost two years working as a Weapons Load Crew Supervisor on F-100s.

Love the Phantom, my fav fighter. While living in Tustin CA during high school, 2 neighbors were F4 pilots - Waldvogel & Norton. Both survived their Nam tours.

ZENOS,you go above and beyond the outer atmosphere of Pluto to bring us the very best of the U.S.Airforce operating in the Vietnam war.Thank you,from the people of Earth.😮

Thank you for your service and sacrifice. The Air Force was a powerful force to reckon with over the sky of Vietnam

I was a kid in a small East African country called Swaziland during the Vietnam war and it played a big part in my life. Some of my teachers were Peace Corps and it was through them that I took a keen interest in the war the cold war and life in general .

Our mission is to preserve these historic films for future generations. Your DVD purchases at our store make this channel possible. www.zenosflightshop.com We need your support! Get this video & four more on our "Airstrike Vietnam" DVD: Includes three F4 Phantom Fighter/Bomber tech manuals with over 1400 pages of info! We have 100s of films in our library. We have licensed footage to major TV networks and cable channels. For more info see ru-vid.comabout Zeno

Best Upload US Air Force History At Vietnam Country ( 1967 ) After WW II Agration In All ASIA Area ( 1942 ) , - God Bless All, - Thanks , ..... Cheerio.*****.

I enjoyed the video, so thanks for that. But, it made me sad, too. All the loss and waste of it. I was a young soldier back then and idealistic. I read about how Westmoreland often lied about the conduct of the war and that made me totally sick at heart. Our politicians are people lacking in character and do not deserve the offices they hold and held. When the military lies to the government and the government lies to the people, we ALL get what we deserve. The time is coming when the People of America will have to take back the country from the big liars in office.

Thank You Zeno. I, for not a moment, thought you had done the unusable crossouts. I still, and truly do believe , you did an awesome job with the presentation. Never will I consider that anyone knows all there is to know about any given subject. This includes me as one of the great unwashed. My goal is to be in an ongoing learning stage and simply share, on occasion, those things I am aware of. I appreciate your response.

Flight Engineer 1st Aviation Batl. 1st Inf Devision. 213 th ASAH. Chinooks... whew. August 1968. Aircraft shot down. Exiting the aircraft a F 4 dropped aboard directly over our head.... saved my life and have been grateful.

lot of great folks fought,died, served . Shameful they did not have more folks watching their back.

I always wanted to fly the. F100 Sabre but managed a F3 EE lightning for a few years

Respect to bravely Vietnam people.

Unfortunately, Vietnam was the second "war" that the US fought that ended badly for us due to political interference by those who did not have any idea of how to wage war. The first was Korea, which ended in a stalemate that continues to this day, and then Vietnam which the US essentially lost. War should be avoided whenever possible, but when war is inevitable it should be left to the military professionals to wage and win.

So sad, to say early on in this film. A war ran by Washington from Washington and not the men in Theater.

Thanks you so much for the clip so interesting to me the south Vietnamese people

Vietnam sure was a terrible steep learning curve for The U.S. and caused a hell of a lot of changes in equipment, tactics and new craft designs. I still believe the conflict was not a total lost and worth the effort. All who fought in it deserve our greatest respect and honor.

"A harmless herbicide" Riiiiiight! "get to keep your doctor" Riiiiiight! Times change but the government stays the same. After all, "What difference does it make...."

Wow, we built all these facilities and never knew there were underground Vietcong bases under us the whole time. It’s really quite amazing.

Late but !!! I flew in SEA from 67 to 68 then again from late 68 thru 70. The main problem was Washington said 'Go there and fight a war but be careful not to hurt anyone !!!!!!!!' If we had turned the B52s lose on Hanoi and mined the harbors it would have been over in 6 months.

My brother in law , a Vietnamese helicopter pilot, trained in Georgia. He ended in labor camp for 7 years. He settled in San Diego and still living there.

The S.Vietnam people thank you Us Air force in Vietnam War.

Saw the dragon ship workout many times around DaNang... it's a killer..

good restoration work.

Great video I love videos like this this history is fantastic

my dad was in the usmc. it was him who played the drum roll at the start of this production. 0:00

"Black Friday"- Strike aircraft losses were common, but on December 2, 1966 the U.S. Air Force lost five aircraft and the Navy lost three aircraft to surface to air missiles or anti-aircraft gun fire. Air Force losses included three F-4Cs, one RF-4C, and an F-105. The Navy lost one F-4B and two Douglas A-4C Skyhawks.

Agent Orange: "A non-toxic type of weed killer". Oh the irony.

A Horrid Century. Lest We Forget. Another great post Zeno,thanks.

Remind me, what exactly were we doing there? And how have things been for Vietnam since we left? Big hearted people; they bear no grudge towards us Americans.

Great video on the early years of the Viet-Nam War. Historic Documentary

All that air power could not prevent the loss of face.

America no matter what, allways in my Heart and#1

Got to see a couple of old familiar places . Thanks Zeno

Rarely has the truth of death been so honestly displayed.

Obviously, awesome technological and military superiority is shown. The Bien Hoa raid in 1964 coincided with the National Security Advisor, McGeorge Bundy, arriving in Vietnam. Something like 25 out of 29 B-57 bombers were destroyed. Bien Hoa was only 16 miles from Saigon. Ton Son Nhut still exists (currently re-built as the International Airport) and is only 15 minutes from the Center of Ho Chi Minh City when traffic is flowing. It became the headquarters for Westmoreland. All of the Vietnam War-era buildings have since been removed except two hangers. This film amply documents the other air operations in place beyond the MACV headquarters of Westmoreland. What the film omits is how the Revolutionary Forces defeated the technological strength of the US Air Force. For example, American triangulation on the enemy radio emissions of transmitters were quickly relayed to US bombers. As the Vietnamese soon realized how this technology was operating, they became more mobile and occasionally decoyed villages for Americans to bomb providing propaganda reports detailing the deaths of civilians. The American strategy used forward ground patrols to be inserted to reveal the operating positions of Vietnamese forces; then American fighters were called in to attack and pound the positions of the enemy. The Vietnamese learned to attack ground forces more fiercely, then the attack helicopters which arrived to join the attack and or to remove the wounded. Or the Vietnamese would quickly withdraw. This strategy turned the American patrols into decoys resulting in heavy loss of life, frequent downing of helicopters, and demoralization of Army and Marine personnel on patrols. This was an enormously complicated war zone, but the viewer of the video has to read between the lines of this war-era film that was attempting to boost the American attitudes toward the war. The full complications of the fighting are developed in part, but not in full.

Whatever your country, just pray that the Americans don't decide to "defend" or "Bring Freedom" to it.

Thanx for the video....pilots back then had huge brass ones...flying them hot rods...

Without the many levels of military hierarchy and all of the state of the art combat aircraft the war could have been lost.

In the early 1970's there was this soldier who just hiked around town. He is still here today, but he bikes.

"And the times, they are a changing"

Salute and respect from NZ 👍🇳🇿

This so awesome and interesting

I was a F-100 crew chief at Tuy Hoa 1969.

loading orange Falcon missile onto F-102 internal missile bay for interceptions that never happened. Some F-102s were jumped by MiGs, and some tried using IR missiles against trucks on Ho Chih Minh trail.

Good documentary written from the standpoint of the US at the time. Watching the scenes of wreckage of the Vietcong attacks at the various American airbases and in Sàigòn, we know from hindsight the South Vietnamese at that time (1964) were proving unable to eliminate, much less control, the Vietcong. When Johnson authorized landing combat forces in Vietnam and they pushed out from the major airbases far enough to interdict Vietcong attacks, the second Indochina War, the American one, began.

Like how the commentary back in the day sounded like cheering lol

Moral of the story is USA lost the war miserably.

nice video!

Fantastic post.........THANKS

I flew 237 refueling missions over 4 years and many TDYs as a KC-135 captain from U-Tapao Air Base in Thailand (’68 - ’70. PCS at Carswell AFB, Fort Worth). I estimate I refueled way over 1,300 fighters. It was very sad when we refueled 5 birds (F-4s or F-105s) going up North and only 3 on their return to their base in Thailand. (Refueling famous pilot Col. Robin Olds many times). What a waste of some very brave men. And we’re going to do it again in Iraq via misguided foreign policy decisions. Politicians never listen to their military leaders. Thank you, Mr. Obama, our amateur leader.

thank you zenos....

I guess should have read more of the comments more people caught the agent orange being non-toxic than I thought

Excellent

Question: at 14:40 one of the Crewman on the C-47 is cranking a handle on the Mini Gun? I know they were electric so what's the Handle for? Thanks in advance

Funny story I was an airplane nut from the age of 8, but in the 70s WW2 was still a very big deal, lots of TV shows and even kids toys had a WW2 theme. And in WW2 people also called the German's, Hun's, but they also referred to the F 100 as the Hun, in my youth I could not make the German connection with the F100 super saber and the name Hun, I felt embarrassed when I learned it was just the first part of One HUNdred.

Somewhere I read that in Vietnam America dropped 2.4 times the amount of bombs dropped on Nazi Germany but that the destruction produced, put together all these bombs explosion by explosion, "Alone" would cover the twentieth part of the State of New York.

17:04 What is that aircraft?

Having lived through the Vietnam War and watching history unfold in '73 Yom Kippur War and the 'aftermath' in the Middle East, and then 9-1-1 and all the "Little Wars" like Panama invasion, Falkland Island (farcical), etc. etc... I watch old propaganda films like this and feel almost nostalgic. I've worked for DoD at an Aerospace Plant in California for over 34 years so I was a "Cold Warrior" for first 12 years of my career until Soviet Union passed away. Now, we needed an Enemy real bad to keep the machine running so we went to our ancient and forever enemy of Christianity, the Muslims of the Middle East! Perfect for our War Machine because they aren't going away and we can't eradicate them, even if we used Nukes. I used to take this sh*t serious, but now, with age I just smile and watch history repeat itself. We are now leaving Iraq (Peace with Honor??) and Mosul, Tikrit and Fallujah fall back into the Insurgent's hands without nary a shot. Fallujah, like Hue City was a hard fought battle for the USMC and then handed back (1968-75) and Fallujah was an identical debacle for the Marines and then handed back (2004-2014). This is hilarious if it didn't get people hurt. All I know for sure is that I'm "Joe Nobody" and I've made over $200K since we decided to 'get even' for the WTC. My Defense Stocks have tripled in value, 2006-2014 and that was after riding out the horrid recession of 2008. Now all I have to do is make sure none of my grandsons join the elite boys club called the US Army. They can "Be all that they can Be" without getting yelled at by a DI AND make double the money easily if they go to University instead of the Recruiter's Office...

"...a 'non-toxic' weed killer." Agent Orange was anything but 'non-toxic'. Ironic that they referred to the defoliants as such.

My grandfather was an f100 super Sabre pilot

Well. We know how this expenditure of blood and treasure ended up.

Many flew out of Thailand, where the daily temperatures are in the 90's with at least 60% humidity. All of Southeast Asia has similar weather, must have been quite miserable in their flight suits.

With all the technology and abilities.. finally lost in a very humiliating way... chased until saigon.. ran away to save themselves

10:33 “we have the air defense to deal with them” shows an AIM-4 Falcon, probably one of the shittiest missiles ever

Ben Hoa wasn't attacked, all those B-57's were destroyed or damaged because of sloppy ordinance handling. Piling bombs haphazardly, and one went off.

The C-130 at the 9:12 mark is NOT the ABCCC aircraft. I was a comm operator on ABCCC and the interior shots were correct but our aircraft (EC-130E's) were painted camouflage.

Non-toxic weed killer?! Oh brother! You mean non-toxic as in "It will only destroy your DNA and cause you a lifetime of misery?" Oh, I see. THAT kind of non-toxic. I get it.

My Grand Dad (26 yrs MSGT.) told me to go USAF in the late '70's but we had no Marines in the family ... yet :). You all definitely had better food *AND* women lol.

My uncle was Lt. Gen. Joe H. Moore

"...spraying a non-toxic kind of weed killer..." - yeah, TCDD.

24:37 Well the DC and UN politicians made damn sure that was all a lie and for naught. Next time, how about we put the politicians on the front lines.

"...spraying a non-toxic type of weed killer." Sure it was. Sure it was.

DaNang, excitment,joy,saddness,terror,comratary and growing up FAST...

Roger,give em all ya got ,and bring back all your ships, Roger

The biggest problem was boss’s were in the states and generals were void at mostly. Politicians ran the war. That why we lost the main war but won the battles.😊

nice thanks

At the end u lost after all this like in Afghanistan They always say striking military targets we only see civilian bodies falling

Ah, the Bullshit Bombers. My cousin was a pilot of a U-10. It was his scariest combat flying.

11:12 are those Mirage III?

13:11 ".. a non-toxic type of weed killer..." They make Agent Orange sound so benign, I think I'll go to Ace Hardware and buy some Agent Orange to spray on the dandelions in my front yard today.

tak pernah ragu akan jln ku masalah alat militer ku tak di ragu kn semua .pasti kembali semua..dari yg keren keren ..aja lh alat alat ku

The bright shining lies ; "A non-toxic type of weedkiller".

Did he really just call agent orange 'non toxic'?

The only thing we got out of this war was lots of dead young guys and a country that makes towels for our Hotels..

All that superior air power and weaponry against a pajama wearing enemy, and we still lose. What was all that about? BTW I was over there then too.

Narrated by Tony Randall??

good up load thanks

Imprecionante video,charly de argentina.-

I was born in Edwards Air Force base in 1964

so how did that go for you?

After reading a significant amount of the comments I will say fellas this video was made back in the 1960s Also mentioning modern day Monsanto's "safe" chemicals should trigger some spacial clarity(no offense intended just stopping the snowball from turning into an avalanche) As to the lady from Vietnam I think she is wrong in her assumption. The US pulled out of there because of the massive costs in blood and treasury for a non existant gain. My own humble opinion of why the US was there is much darker. I feel the preacher caste in charge of the US government wanted to make money off it and also to kill off those in society they did not tolerate(people that smoked marijuana, questioned religion, hippies, etc) Now in 2015 things in the US don't seem all that different.....

❤🇺🇸тогда так было надо!

Anybody remember when they hit the jet fuel dump in DaNang either 69 or 70 with 122mm rockets??

does anyone know how to find more information about individuals in Vietnam?. My grandfather was a master sergeant in the air force named jose padilla. sadley he passed before i was born but i want to learn more about him other than the stories im told by my aunts and uncles