​Operation Linebacker II

In December 2023 it will be 51 years since the United States conducted a strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnam. Operation Linebacker II was the final major military operation carried out by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. It was also the largest bombing campaign since World War II. The U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and the North Vietnamese Politburo member Le Duc Tho met in Paris, France to discuss peace between South Vietnam, (the Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam) and North Vietnam. Unfortunately, the South Vietnamese president Nguyen Van Thieu had not attended the talks. He rejected the agreement. President Nixon gave North Vietnam a deadline of December 16th, to go back to the peace talks. Two days after the deadline, the U.S. began bombing Hanoi. The bombers approached Hanoi in the same pattern based on MiG threat tactics, which the Strategic Air Command (SAC) expected.   Due to the repetitive nature of the strikes on day one and two, the North Vietnamese were able to get 34 missiles in the area to strike back at the U.S. planes. Additionally, the Electronic Warfare (EW) systems were degraded and had limited jamming capability. The U.S. learned from their mistake and quickly changed tactics, and finally the bomber missions began to make a significant impact, hitting surface-to-air-missile (SAM) sites and other high value targets. Of the 741 B-52 sorties dispatched to bomb North Vietnam, 729 completed their mission. Over 15,237 tons of ordnance on 18 industrial and 14 military targets (8 were SAM sites) were dropped. The loss of U.S. service members included 33 B-52 crew members either killed or missing in action, 33 were taken prisoners of war.  Nixon suspended bombing operations on December 30th after the North Vietnamese assured the president, they would return to the peace talks. The North Vietnamese denied the bombings were their motivation.
This week we salute Al Krebs. Al served in the U.S. Air Force from March 1969 to September 1993 retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel.  LTC Krebs was an Electronic Warfare officer. LTC Krebs had a very interesting career. He had 11 years of flight time. He spent six years at Carswell, Fort Worth, Texas, with over 600 days away on Temporary Duty (TDY). On December 18, 1972, he was in the briefing room with 40 crew members when their higher command briefed the Linebacker II mission. His military service included combat crew instruction, the Air Force College, liaison with Douglas on the KC10’s, Combat Evaluation group and finally as the Commander of the U.S. Air Force 1st Combat Evaluation Group, Detachment 18. Al is married and has two adult children.
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Dr. Irene Dickerson has a doctorate in Business Administration and is a retired Army Colonel living her best life in Big Sky Country.