B-52 At Utapao Air Base Thailand During The Vietnam War

[zmanzoran]

dondean55, as much as i agree with your overall statement, i do think it's important that you have the fact correct....the Khmer Rouge was not in vietnam, but cambodia

[arpbfm1]

I was at that base in 1970 when a typhoon was threatening Guam. We stayed for almost a week.

[rickbster]

as we left, we bombed "open trails" in an effort to kill communists... it failed since the VC didn't have hidden headquarters in the jungle... It did drive farmers to the city... straining the institutions to the point that the Khmer were able to take power and drive the starving workers and educated city dwellers to fight each other... the result of too much power... too little thought ... and to my regret I was a button pusher in this crap.

[Uncle5cary]

10 years of terrorizing pre-industrial farmers. Yah, great fun f-king war lovers.

[univibe23]

6 yrs on B-52 G's. Loved most of it. Long tiring missions and sitting on the alert pad for 7 days once a month. What am I crazy? Yea.

[howdyk1]

Nixon wanted to NUKE Hanoi, but whomever wouldn't allow it. If we would have, the war would have ended. And Cambodia and Laos would not have been taken by the Commies. Now the commies are in charge in the U.S. And they took it without firing a shot.Can you say Manchurian candidate????????

[evildeathmonkey1]

@howdyk1 Do you think China and the soviet union would have sat back a let you nuke Hanoi? Nuking Hanoi would have triggered a third world war. Can you say ''indoctrinated hillbilly''??????

[tangmo947]

@4y6857b....Thank you for that piece of history that is so often overlooked..

I was a 20 yr old control tower operator w/ the 1985th Comm Sq in 68..My 1st base was Griffiss AFB in Rome,NY, and I cut my teeth on BUFFs& KC135s.The BUFF is one of the most awesome aircraft to work with,and they still command attention to this day...Joined the FAA upon discharge,and that was such a drag compared to the USAF air traffic I worked and the USAF controllers I worked with.

[JetMechMA]

@tangmo947 You gotta be kidding me. Civilian air traffic is a THOUSAND times more active than military traffic. I've served in both worlds.

[tangmo947]

@4y6857b....Thank you for that piece of history that is so often overlooked..

I was a 20 yr old control tower operator w/ the 1985th Comm Sq in 68..My 1st base was Griffiss AFB in Rome,NY, and I cut my teeth on BUFFs& KC135s.The BUFF is one of the most awesome aircraft to work with,and they still command attention to this day.

[4y6857b]

Inst. Tech. AFSC32551, UTapao 1973; I've spent many hours over the past several days researching US actions in SEA;I've reached one very uncomfortable conclusion(not new but newly focused for me):US involvement in VietNam was a mistake;If we wanted to be the heroes of freedom, we shouldn't have supported French colonialism in 1945 but Vietnamese liberty;They asked US for our help in '45 and we turned our back,everything after that is just lousy history! I'm sorry it took 35+ yrs for me to see

[4y6857b]

before 1945, the VietNamese admired the US and wanted to be like us;Feb'45 HoChiMinh appealed to Truman to help establish democracy in VN;Truman backed French colonialism instead;that started the VN War/Independence,10 yrs before GenevaAccords55,and pushed VN to seek aid from Russia;TrumanDoctrine was response to GreekCivilWar'46-'49,applied to VN as an after thought to justify our presence there;VN always wanted to be a free state and was never firmly in the Soviet camp

[RichadTheLionHeat]

My first duty assignment in the USAF was at U-Tapao Royal Thai Naval Air Base (UT) at the end of the Vietnam War. Looking back, so many memories, the Green Latrine, the food stands near the klungs and barraks, the big chow hall, looking for the red flag at the post office telling everyone mail is in. I miss that time. thanks for sharing this. I want to share it with my family. I am still serving in the military after all this time, by the Grace of God. Be blessed.

[blandyist]

thanks @dondean 55 from a grateful uk civilian for the good work you guys did out there.

[blandyist]

@dondean55 you are so right, and thanks from a grateful civilian for the work you guys did out there, we owe you

[militaryvideocom]

It is actual film footage of Linebacker II taken by combat camera.

[wkat950]

I wonder if this is just stock footage of air strikes in the South or if this was actual footage of Linebacker II? This material does capture the time period well.

[siqwonnowqis]

my moms familys rice farm was at the end of this runway

[hcgnkhu]

@siqwonnowqis lol

[steamjerry]

that big ugly flying

peace is the way

3

[dondean55]

Fucking useless killer B52s. Americans turned tails to run home anyway. The biggest contribution of B52s their crews were killing at least 1 millions innocent Vietnames people. Fucking those war criminals.

[NFAtoys]

@dondean55 - Bleeding heart morons like yourself are so totally devoid of any knowledge of history. The reason for the U.S. involvement in Vietnam was noble; to stop the spread of Communism. The best proof of that is what happened after we left. Communists like the Khmer Rouge moved in and slaughtered millions of innocent Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian people. This was face-to-face genocide. Not collateral causalities from air bombing at 30,000 feet. You ignorant dip shit.

[dondean55]

@NFAtoys U.S. involvement in Vietnam was not noble. Every American involved with VN war got nervous breakdown with guilt. You know anything about Robert McNamara? He too. Hippies America soldiers went there to manipulate the South Vietnam, did drug, killed a lot of friends and foes then ran away. Three millions Vietnamese died. The country was left in ruins. Anyway we only remember 55K Americans died for that not - noble cause.

[NFAtoys]

@dondean55 - To speak in such generalities shows how ignorant you are of facts. I served a year at UTapao AFB Thailand, the base shown in this video. And I can assure you, and all your bleeding heart friends, that nobody, myself included, ever got nervous or had a breakdown. I'm proud of my service. But I'm also upset with the way the war was mismanaged.

If you put soldiers in harms way, then let them win the damn war. Otherwise stay the hell out. That's where the U.S. failed in Vietnam.

[DemonoidCFH]

@dondean55 Yes, the moment US Forces withdrew, I'm sure the Cambodians run by the Khymer Rouge and the millions killed loved the fact that the USA was out of there and keeping the despots in check.

[OOOCHIMENN]

@NFAtoys Yeahh hey the us govt did the same thing to the indians slaughtered like what 99 percent of them? took all their lands, fucked em over completely, and then we decide to go get ourselves colonies all over the carribean, the americas, and the pacific where we also killed a shit load of people face to face! its the same shit asshole except one was for communism and the other for capitalism which as we can see today is a system thats gunna keep the lower classes at their feet

[mhrehaber]

I am the one loading the bomb in this clip. This was shot in 1971. In the later part of 1971 we were flying 60 sorties a day out of Utapao. That is 180 B-52's with nearly 100, 500# bombs on each plane.

307MMS, Utapao Thailand, 1971-72

Sorry busterbone, but I was homping a lot of bombs in late 1971.

[hotelhotel111]

shit, 2 months ago I took a plane from Utapao to Phuket

[DemonoidCFH]

@hotelhotel111 I'm there now!...

[Deadlytacos]

Lol , Im thai

[bluediver2]

We made the mistake of not doing linebacker raids from the start and do it for years if needed

[glenizett]

You can never go wrong with a B 52 out of Utapao Thialand Glen Izett

[busterbone]

Love the B-52-an awesome heavy bomber.

It's a good thing for North Vietnam the we (the USA) halted bombing for about 4 years (1968-1972) as Pres. Nixon and Sec. of State Kissinger tried to get the Communists to the peace table. Otherwise we would have blown Vietnam into the South China Sea where it belongs. I had family fight in that messy war.

[stockhausen]

YES! We (USA) did win the war. I was in SouthEast Asia recently and they love Americans and their culture. I heard American music everywhere I went. Shame that 57000+ had to lose their lives for nothing...

[xdxdjoker13]

thay dont no wat the hell ther doing in vietnam it was a war between north and south thay had to get in to every thing

[hondaaccourd5]

no not really. Ho Chi Minh asked us (americans) for help, we basically rejected him because he was a communist. The Americans then thought the Communist were gonna take over the world THATS why we joined the war. (if you have any probs thats wat my history teacher told me so dont get all pissed at me)

[jeppzzz14]

i hate usa ! GO VIETNAM! ^^

[masteropie001]

Loosing a war requires your surrender. The US did not surrender in any war. They achieved there goal of stopping the spread of communism. I would say they won but you could also say it was a tie.

[LogiKLai]

They didn't achieve their goal...

Vietnam turned into a communist ruled country and later on, so did Laos and I think Cambodia

Also, I'd rather surrender from a fight rather than run away, just my imo

[HippoSamut]

I would say it was a Political defeat for the AMericans and not a military defeat. THe reason why America withdrew, was because turmoil back home and that forced the Politicians to pull them out. HEck, the americans could've been pounding the HECK out of the NVA/NLF for more years if it wasnt or the turmoil at home.

[skater729]

i love this video i wannafly B-52s in the air force im 15 rite now and im workin on my privte pilots

[chaff2]

dude, you have to learn how to spell first...gud luck.

[aam0050]

My dad was a B-52 navigator in Utapao. This is really cool, thanks for posting!

[kanoodlegirl]

Death from Above! My dad was a B-52 tail gunner in Utapao. Nice video.

[johnkeig]

90% of the vc's explosives (for IED's)came from unexploded bombs dropped by the US air force, ironic!

[b52driver]

We never open a can of whoop ass like we used to. That's why our modern enemies don't stop misbehaving.

[cccpredarmy]

enemy? you mean iraq and korea?

[milesofftarget]

whoop ass ? i seem to remember you lost in vietnam, cuba bay of pigs, lebanon, iran (hostages) and now are losing in iraq (?) and have lost in afghanistan already, but bush does not realise it yet.

Mmmmmmmmm.

Thanks for helping us defeat the Nazis though.

[odale1606]

1st of all, all but one of those were not wars, and the objective of Vietnam was not as it seemed. And we were sucessful. All you need to know is the US used vietnam as a cover up to eliminate another threat which would eventually crumble 20 years later because of it.

[milesofftarget]

If you were to argue that Soviet Russia was 'defeated' by Reagan's tough negotiations in Iceland, supremacy of programs such as the F117, B1B, AWACS, Trident and Tommahawk, meaning that the Russians realised that they couldn't compete with the west (well, the USA really) and give the population consumer goods then I would agree.

But Vietnam as pivotal in the collapse of communism is unthinkable. Even the Russian debacle in Afghanistan (their Vietnam) had more of an effect.

Cheers,

MoT

[odale1606]

LMAO. How about you believe what text books and media tell you then. Vietnam was deeper than what most people would begin to realize. For anyone to think the US would send thousands upon thousands of troops into Vietnam to defend a fledgling country (south vietnam) bareley the size of the American west coast is unbelievable. There is info that i am obligated not to discuss. If you want, i might via mail.

[ffej980]

hey smartass...what did you gamble...did you stand up and fight or are you a fucking cunt...your comments are shit...when was the last time you had to stand up and fight...MMMMmmmmmm

[702V12]

the rolling thunder review, nice! take that commies!!

[inbox77gmail]

20% of these fortress were shot down in Linebacker 2 - Vietnam 1972 by old SAMs

[StrategicAirCommand]

We need to recreate these bomb runs over Iraq!!

[conagher1880]

BUFF rocks...I love that old bird!

[GutoTomcat]

That´s why I'm studying English!!.Yeah!.I love the B-52 and I have respect and admiration for the USAF crews of B-52!!

[ssgd1960]

Luv the BUFF  Rolling Thunder

[jumpacliff2]

YEAH LINEBACKER 2!