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  • Dirty Thirty

    In April 1962, 30 U.S. Air Force pilots were sent to fly as advisors in the South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) 43rd Air Transport Group. Their arrival permitted the VNAF to release some of its own experienced pilots to form new units for its rapidly-expanding air arm.This small group of Americans

  • South Vietnam: The Advisory Years, 1961-1965

     INTO THE FRAYPreventing South Vietnam from falling to communism was the United States' key goal in the Southeast Asia War. The 1954 Geneva Peace Accords called for a temporary division of North and South Vietnam at the 17th Parallel, with a unification election to be held in 1956. At the time,

  • Tonkin Gulf Resolution: Authority for War

    The Tonkin Gulf Resolution was Congress' permission for the president to use force in response to North Vietnamese hostile action. It became a turning point in American involvement in Southeast Asia.On Aug. 2, 1964, three North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked the destroyer USS Maddox 28 miles off

  • The Southeast Asia War: Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

    A product of the Cold War, the Southeast Asia War (1961-1973) began with communist attempts to overthrow non-communist governments in the region. United States participation in the Southeast Asia War resulted from the policy of "containment," which aimed to prevent communism from expanding beyond

  • SUU-7 Dispenser

    The SUU-7 was a device used to release hundreds of small bomblets over a target. Externally mounted under an aircraft, the SUU-7 ejected the bomblets through openings in the rear (the SUU-7 itself was not dropped). This SUU-7 is loaded with 1.75-lb. BLU-3/B antipersonnel bomblets for use against

  • SA-2 Surface-to-Air Missile

    Developed in the mid-1950s, the V-750 Dvina was the first effective Soviet surface-to-air missile. The Soviets used it to shoot down Gary Powers' U-2 over the USSR in 1960 and Maj. Rudolph Anderson's U-2 over Cuba in 1962. The missile was better known by the NATO designation SA-2 Guideline. The

  • M117 General Purpose Bomb

    The M117 is a 750-pound general purpose bomb that can be employed in several different configurations. The basic M117 dates from the Korean War and uses a low-drag tail fin for medium and high-altitude deliveries. The M117R (Retarded) uses a special fin assembly providing either high-drag or

  • LAU-3 Rocket Launcher

    The early Wild Weasels (and the accompanying F-105Ds) employed the reusable nineteen-shot LAU-3 rocket launcher to attack SAM sites. The F-100Fs typically carried two LAU-3s while the F-105Ds carried four. The LAU-3 could fire its 2.75-inch rockets individually, rapidly in sequence or all at once.

  • Rockwell International GBU-8 Electro-Optical Guided Bomb

    The GBU-8 Electro-Optical Guided Bomb was one of the "smart bombs" that revolutionized aerial warfare. A standard bomb fitted with a Homing Bomb System (Hobos), the GBU-8 was first used during the Southeast Asia War.In 1967 the Department of Defense asked Rockwell International Corp. to develop the

  • DShK-1938/46 Heavy Machine Gun

    A Deadly "Sweetie" Used by communist forces in Southeast Asia, the Degtyarov-Shpagin Krupnokaliberny (DShK) machine gun presented a deadly threat to low-flying aircraft-like the Forward Air Controllers (FACs). Sometimes called Dushka (meaning "Sweetie"), they could be mounted on armored vehicles or