![]() ![]() The bomb dropped rapidly toward the enemy base. High above the target, Smith locked his Walleye onto the selected building, put the target in his cross-hairs, and released it. When it was time for his attack run, Smith aimed his plane at one of the barracks buildings. The raid included other attack aircraft and fighter escorts. His cockpit held a small TV monitor to guide the weapon onto its target. The squadron flew the A-4 Skyhawk, a light attack jet able to carry nearly 10,000 pounds of ordnance-more than a B-17. The age of precision weapons was dawning.Ĭommander Homer Smith led VA-212, an attack squadron based on the aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard (CV-31), a World War II-era, Essex-class ship modernized for the continuing struggle of the Cold War. The nose of the Walleye contained a small TV camera that allowed the pilot to monitor its descent to the target. The Walleye glide bomb was a free-fall, 1,000-pound munition equipped with an innovation that promised to change warfare. On March 11, 1967, the Americans came for Sam Son armed with a new weapon. The base was near the coast, placing it within easy reach of the United States Navy. ![]() ally, also made a port call in Vietnam last week with its largest destroyer, Izumo, following exercises in the South China Sea with the Reagan and other American ships.Ĭhina has also been reaching out in an effort to mend fences, sending a navy training ship to make its own port call in Da Nang a month ago as part of what it called a goodwill tour that also took it to Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines.The North Vietnamese Army barracks at Sam Son was less than 100 miles south of the capital city of Hanoi. Washington sees Hanoi as a key part of its strategy for the region and has sought to leverage Vietnam’s traditional rivalry with its much larger neighbor China to expand U.S. “A few Reagan sailors call Vietnam home, but for most it will be their first time visiting,” Cardone said in a release from the U.S. ![]() Daryle Cardone, the Ronald Reagan’s commanding officer, said some of the more than 5,000 sailors from the ship will volunteer at several community relations events, play sports with local athletes and take part in other cultural and professional exchanges during the visit through June 30. ![]()
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