1972-Contin ued

28 April The AIM-54A Phoenix missile was launched

from an F-14 for the first time. The aircraft was flying

from Point Mugu, Calif.

30 April Operations by Navy and Marine Corps air-

craft in Vietnam had expanded significantly through-

out April, with a total of 4,833 Navy sorties in SVN and

1,250 sorties in NVN. The Marine Corps flew 537 sor-

ties in SVN. The dramatic increase in Navy sorties was

supported by directing all four carriers operating in

the western Pacific to the support of operations in

Vietnam. Coral Sea and Hancock were on Yankee

Station when the North Vietnamese spring offensive

began. Kitty Hawk was ordered to Yankee Station on 1

April and arrived on 3 April. Constellation was ordered

to Yankee Station on 2 April and arrived on the line 7

April. Between 8 and 30 April the Navy effort grew

gradually from 240 sorties a day to a peak of over 300,

resulting in a monthly average of 270 sorties per day.

1 May While flying weather was good for the first

seven days of May, the Navy averaged 97 attack sor-

ties daily into NVN while flying an average of 168 a

day into SVN. The Navy's efforts at this time were still

concentrated in support of SVN forces attempting to

stem the NVN offensive, then a month old. SVN troops

were retreating toward Hue. Quangtri City had fallen 1

May and an attack against Hue appeared imminent.

The city of Anloc remained surrounded by the NVN.

The first week of May also witnessed NVN's newly

deployed combat support surface-to-air missiles, the

SA-7 Grail infrared-seeker missile.

4 May The Navy's first night carrier landing trainer

was unveiled at NAS Lemoore, Calif. This trainer per-

mitted pilots to simulate night landings of the A-7E on

carrier decks.

5 May VP-9 aircraft departed NAS Moffett Field,

Calif., for NAS Cubi Point, R.P., to augment the VP

units tasked with ocean surveillance air patrols in rela-

tionship to the mining of NVN harbors and the corre-

sponding movement of Communist bloc ships.

6 May In the second most active dog-fight day of

the war, Navy flyers shot down two MiG-17s and two

MiG-21s. Scoring the kills were flyers from VF-111 and

VF-51 aboard Coral Sea and two planes from VF-114

off Kitty Hawk.

8 May For the first time in more than three weeks,

U.S. forces attacked targets in the vicinity of Hanoi,

with Navy pilots flying 50 attack sorties. Another 96

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

293

sorties were flown in southern NVN between the capi-

tal and the DMZ, while 99 were directed against the

enemy in SVN.

9 May Operation Pocket Money, the mining cam-

paign against principal NVN ports, was launched.

Early that morning, an EC-121 aircraft took off from

Da Nang airfield to provide support for the mining

operation. A short time later, Kitty Hawk launched 17

ordnance-delivering sorties against the Nam Dinh rail-

road siding as a diversionary air tactic. Poor weather,

however, forced the planes to divert to secondary tar-

gets at Thanh and Phu Qui which were struck at

090840H and 090845H, Vietnam time, respectively.

Coral Sea launched three A-6A and six A-7E aircraft

loaded with mines and one EKA-3B in support of the

mining operation directed against the outer approach-

es to Haiphong Harbor. The mining aircraft departed

the vicinity of Coral Sea at 090840H in order to exe-

cute the mining at precisely 090900H to coincide with

the President's public announcement in Washington

that mines had been seeded. The A-6 flight led by the

CAG, Commander Roger E. Sheets, was composed of

Marine Corps aircraft from VMA-224 and headed for

the inner channel. The A-7Es, led by Commander

Leonard E. Giuliani and made up of aircraft from VA-

94 and VA-22, were designated to mine the outer seg-

ment of the channel. Each aircraft carried four MK 52-

2 mines. Captain William R. Carr, USMC, the

bombardier/navigator in the lead plane, established

the critical attack azimuth and timed the mine releases.

The first mine was dropped at 090859H and the last of

the field of 36 mines at 090901H. Twelve mines were

placed in the inner segment and the remaining 24 in

the outer segment. All MK 52-2 mines were set with

72-hour arming delays, thus permitting merchant ships

time for departure or a change in destination consis-

tent with the President's public warning. It was the

beginning of a mining campaign that planted over

11,000 MK 36 type destructor and 108 special MK 52-2

mines over the next eight months. It is considered to

have played a significant role in bringing about an

eventual peace arrangement, particularly since it so

hampered the enemy's ability to continue receiving

war supplies.

10 May Operation Linebacker I, the heavy strike of

targets in most of NVN, evolved and lasted until

restrictions on operations above 200N were imposed

22 October. The operation was an outgrowth of

Freedom Train and the President's mining declaration

which also stated that the U.S. would make a maxi-

mum effort to interdict the flow of supplies in NVN.

On this first day of Linebacker I, the Navy shifted its

attacks from targets in southern NVN to the coastal