Going Downtown The US Air Force over Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, 1961–75

This vivid narrative history tells the full story of the US Air Force’s involvement in the

wars in the air over Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
The involvement of the US Air Force in the Southeast Asian Wars began in 1962 with
crews sent to train Vietnamese pilots, and with conflict in Laos, and finally ended in
1972 with the B-52 bombing of Hanoi, though there were Air Force pilots unofficially
flying combat in Laos up to the end in 1975. The missions flown by USAF aircrews
during those years in Southeast Asia differed widely, from attacking the Ho Chi Minh
Trail at night with modified T­28 trainers, to missions “Downtown,” the name aircrew
gave Hanoi, the central target of the war.
This aerial war was dominated by the major air operations against the north: Rolling
Thunder from 1965 to 1968, and then Linebacker I and II in 1972, with the latter seeing
the deployment of America’s fearsome B­52 bombers against the North Vietnamese
capital Hanoi. These operations were carried out in the face of a formidable Sovietinspired air defence system bristling with anti-aircraft guns and SAM missile sites.
Beyond this, the US Air Force was intimately involved in secret air wars against Laos
and Cambodia – one cannot speak of a war only in Vietnam regarding US Air Force
operations. The war the Air Force fought was a war in Southeast Asia.
Following on from the same author’s The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club, which told the story of
the US Navy’s involvement in the Vietnam War, Downtown completes the picture.
Featuring a wide range of personal accounts and previously untold stories, this
fascinating history brings together the full story of the US Air Force’s struggle in the
skies over Southeast Asia.