Stephen Emerson - Vietnams Final Air Campaign: Operation Linebacker I & II, May–December 1972 (Cold War 1945–1991)

OPERATION LINEBACKER I & II

MAYDECEMBER 1972

STEPHEN EMERSON

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by

PEN AND SWORD MILITARY

an imprint of

Pen and Sword Books Ltd

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Copyright Stephen Emerson, 2019

ISBN 978 1 52672 845 6

eISBN 978 1 52672 846 3

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52672 847 0

The right of Stephen Emerson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Stephen Emerson was born in San Diego, California into a U.S. Navy family; his father was a career naval aviator and his mother a former Navy nurse. Steve and his siblings grew up on various Navy bases during the Vietnam War. His father served two combat tours as an attack pilot in Vietnam flying the A-4 Skyhawk as part of Operation Rolling Thunder while flying off the USS Midway in 1965 with VA-22 and later as commanding officer of VA-146 flying the A-7 Corsair II while embarked on the USS Enterprise in 1969. Steve holds a Ph.D. in International Relations/Comparative Politics from the University of Florida and currently resides in Orlando, Florida. His most recent book, Air War Over North Vietnam: Operation Rolling Thunder, 19651968 , examines initial American efforts to use air power as a tool of coercive diplomacy.

Map 1 Southeast Asia Theater of Operations

Map 2 Easter Offensive, 1972

Map 3 North Vietnam Theater of Operations, 1972

Map 4 The North Vietnamese Heartland

Map 5 B-52 Flight Routes and Support Aircraft Locations

Map 6 Hanoi Targets

Map 7 Haiphong Targets

Chart U.S. Troop Levels, 19641973

Diagram Typical Linebacker Strike Force Composition

Table U.S. Air Losses for Linebacker II, December 18-28, 1972