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So I'm reading a book called "The 11 days of Christmas" which is a non-whitewashed account of the last great air battle in Vietnam, the Hanoi Raids in '72. To say I am appalled at what I am reading is an understatement. The book looks at all sides of the battle; the Political (Nixion), the Political (SAC/8th AF/7th AF/CINCPACAIR), Tactics (or lack there of), and 1st hand accounts of the Vietnamese who conducted the defense of Hanoi.

So I'm reading and I remember a conversation I had with my dad. He wanted to see what I was talking about in this PC sim thing. So I set him up at my PC with all the sticks and such, and because IL2 at the time really didnt allow flying bombers, I put him in a P51. When I showed him an exterior shot of the bird, painted in 352nd Blue Noser paint with "Petie 2nd" on the nose and the call letters the 352nd used; HO-M. He asked who plane that was. I replied, "Lt. Col. John C. Meyer, CO of the 352nd FG....Petie 2nd". He said change the paint job, anything but that one. When I asked why, he said "just change it". So I did and he had a great time flying the PC, but did comment that it was good but not as good as the Sims he worked with/on at Boeing. I didnt give the matter of Meyer's plane another thought.

Then I'm reading this book, and it dawns on me why my Dad wouldnt fly in Petie 2nd. At the time, Mid '72, he was CinC of SAC, and I now understand why my father hated the man. Because SAC completely and utterly screwed the pooch, the 1st two days of the operations were almost a disaster, and the night of Dec. 20th WAS as disaster, with the loss of 6 BUFFS.

Anyway, the book really explained a lot, and saddened and angered me. No wonder my Dad didnt go into detail, only rolled his eyes.

Between reading this book and the tapes I have of Dads 3 missions "Downtown", I have a greater appreciation for what these guys went thru. Over the Christmas Holiday, I'll be out in Denver and I'll head down to Colorado Springs and visit with my Dad's radar-nav from those days and pick his brain a little.

interesting BUff. small world.

any chance you would be interested in digitizing and sharing those tapes?

Hammer, I have them on CD and on my iTunes. The tapes of the 19th and 27th are good, the one from the 29th is a crappy recording.....volume was so low, that by the time you can hear them talking, the noise is horrible.

But yes, I'd share them.

I'd be interested in hearing the tapes as well.

Buffalo Six wrote:Hammer, I have them on CD and on my iTunes. The tapes of the 19th and 27th are good, the one from the 29th is a crappy recording.....volume was so low, that by the time you can hear them talking, the noise is horrible.

But yes, I'd share them.

I remember you put some clips of one of the cd's on-line at one point. something like 30 sams in a very short time period you counted out in that clip.

I think on that one, after listening to these from Dec. '72 (the other was from April 72, in mid North Vietnam during the Bullet Shot missions) those were not really close and nowhere near as many as Hanoi. On the Dec. 19th Mission, one is close enough that the gunner has to ask "Is everything ok aboard this aircraft?" after one detonated at 9 o'clock and at the same time a Weasel (not sure if it was a 105 or F-4) got hit and ejected covering the lead cell so the beepers are going off on the guard channel. It detonated about 1/2-1/4 mile from them which is pretty close.