Monday, April 22, 1968

Pacific Stars & Stripes

April 22, 1968

[Handwritten annotation at top: "April 22, Stars + Stripes"]

Record for Year

160 Missions Pound N. Vietnam

SAIGON (AP)—For the second day in a row U.S. warplanes flew a record number of missions over North Vietnam for the year. But all of the strikes Friday were in the Panhandle, within the limits set by President Johnson three weeks ago.

U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine pilots mounted 160 missions Friday, hitting bridges, roads, trucks and supply points. It was the largest number of raids flown so far this year, exceeding the record 145 set only Thursday.

The pilots said they encountered light ground fire and evaded several surface-to-air missiles fired at them in the [underlined] coastal area between Vinh and Dong Hoi. [/underlined]

[starred] * The weather is rapidly improving over the North with the monsoon ending, so U.S. air strikes are expected to increase unless additional curtailments are ordered by Johnson.

Johnson, in a major move to encourage North Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh to begin peace talks, declared three weeks ago that U.S. planes would not attack any targets above the 20th Parallel. The action spares the major cities of Hanoi and Haiphong.

Although Friday's 160 missions set a high for 1968, that is well below the all-time record of 209 set last Aug. 19 before the northeastern monsoons swirled in over North Vietnam.

No U.S. planes were reported shot down, but in its weekly release the U.S. command announced that as of Tuesday, 1,070 planes have been downed by enemy gunners — 823 over North Vietnam and 247 in South Vietnam.

Another 1,002 airplanes have been lost in accidents not involving direct enemy action. The command also announced that 643 helicopters have been shot down, nine in North Vietnam and 634 in South Vietnam, and another 920 choppers have been lost in nonhostile actions.

[starred] * U.S. warships, also in line with Johnson's de-escalation move, did not bombard any targets in North Vietnam, according to the U.S. command. The destroyer Robert H. McCard, in a mission that was the farthest north reported, blasted enemy bunkers and trenchlines inside the Demilitarized Zone.

The primary air raid in South Vietnam was carried out by the giant B52 bombers that sailed in over the clouds above A Shau Valley with four strikes Friday night and Saturday morning.

A fifth mission was in the same general vicinity southwest of Hue.

The B52s have now carried out nearly 30 missions involving about 180 of the high-altitude bombers in the past four days against enemy forces in the valley.

A Shau, near the Laotian border and 30 miles west of Hue, has been a North Vietnamese Army stronghold since March, 1966, when guerrillas overran the U.S. Special Forces camp there.

A huge network of roads and trails has been cut through the valley by NVA engineers, making it a key infiltration area for enemy units moving in to attack South Vietnamese cities along the populated coastal areas to the east.