9781422287811

10 SURVIVING CAPTIVITy

In the history of theUnited States air forces, one of the worst places to become a prisoner was over North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. North Vietnam was a communist country attempting to take over South Vietnam. From 1965, U.S. aircraft started to bomb North Vietnam when it became involved in the war. On February 13, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson authorized Operation “Rolling Thunder”—one of the biggest bombing campaigns in history. Only nine months later, over a million tons of U.S. bombs had exploded inside North Vietnam—around 800 tons of bombs every single day. Rolling Thunder lasted for three years, and the U.S. Airforce (USAF), U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft flew more than 304,000 missions.

Bombing raids over North Vietnam during the Vietnam War were conducted by B52 Stratofortress aircraft. Working in groups of three, B52s could bomb a tar- get area of three square miles (4.8 sq km).