(ArtKramr) wrote:


No point watching flak. There is nothing you can do about it, Watch the
target, there is a lot you can do about that. Never forget why you are flying
the mission in the first place. And it is not to look at flak..Flak is always
there no matter what. Now forget it and get on with the job.

Well, yes and no. If you watch the flak, you can tell whether you're
dealing with aimed or barrage fire. You can tell the general caliber
of the guns and so estimate the effective range and threat.

I recall one day operating in the panhandle of N. Vietnam in a flight
of four F-105s cruising in spread formation at about 20k feet. We saw
a battery of 85s fire. Lead smoothly rolled into about 30 degrees of
bank and changed heading by about 30 degrees. About ten seconds later,
the 85s burst at our altitude in the airspace we would have been
transiting.

If you've got barrage fire--guns aimed at a sector of airspace, then
you fly through it quickly. If you've got aimed fire (optical or
radar) then you need to jink or they will nail you. Watch the
flak--it's part of the job.


Just be glad these "new guys" weren't shooting at you. Your casual dismissing
of their abilities doesn't hold with the way the war worked out. We won that
one remember?. Which is more than can be said for wars that came later.

Arthur Kramer

Well, while we may have lost the political war, I reminded one of my
political science students last year when he mentioned the US losing
the Vietnam war, that there are 58,000 names on the Wall. The enemy in
SEA lost (according to various sources) between one and three million
dead. That sort of a ratio would indicate to me that we won a military
victory. And, it also would suggest that our enemies can't sustain too
many victories for themselves with that sort of cost.

And, as for "wars that came later" you might want to consider Desert
Storm and Iraqi Freedom as victories in your list.



Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (ret)
***"When Thunder Rolled:
*** An F-105 Pilot Over N. Vietnam"
*** from Smithsonian Books
ISBN: 1588341038