Military Model Scene

Title: Going Downtown
Author: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-4728-4875-8

This is a new paperback edition from Osprey, of a book first published in 2022, 'The US Air Force Over Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, 1961-1975. A 352-page book which is another from well known author, Thomas McKelvey Cleaver, and it is a great accompaniment to his earlier Vietnam War title, 'The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club'.
Spread across 18 chapters it covers times when America was not officially engaged in fighting in Vietnam, just the same situation at both the beginning and the end of the book. It starts with ground attack operations using the old T-28 Trojan it goes on chronologically describing the aircraft, the weaponry, the tactics and the politics of both the USA and North Vietnam. It also features a host of individual accounts from aircrew who saw combat in the theatre of South East Asia, so including not only Vietnam itself, but also Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. A large part of the book features the F-105 Thunderchief, and especially their work in the various phases of Rolling Thunder operations. Facing them were North Vietnamese fighters (Vietnam Peoples Air Force, or VPAF), using MiG 19s and 21s. They operated within a number of set routes, which of course helped the VPAF target them. Their tactics were not necessarily to shoot down the US aircraft but to attack and cause the F-105s to jettison their bomb loads and so not hit their intended targets. Other restrictions included an inability to attack targets close to the Chinese border, the capital Hanoi and their main port of Haiphong, to reduce the possibility of upsetting the Russians or Chinese and therefore widening the war. The North of course took advantage of this. The US attackers used airborne radar/control aircraft which evolved over the years and their usefulness is all included. It also features the arrival of the various models of the F-4 Phantom and the changes in their armament over the years. I was surprised at the number of accounts which recounted the problems the US crew had with reliability of AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-9 Sidewinder and the AIM-4 Falcon air to air missiles. In contrast, the VPAF Migs had internal guns fitted, and only the F-4E version of the Phantom had one fitted. Earlier version had to carry them in an external pod and were more difficult to use. Only in the final stages of the war did the 'gloves come off', and those forbidden target areas were finally given approval for attacks in the Linebacker operations.
I still find it hard to believe that it is now nearly 50 years since the Vietnam war came to an end, a war which I would see on the news bulletins every day when I came home from school/work. There is detail in here about those events, including the politics that so heavily influenced American operations, the technical capabilities of the aircraft and weapons involved from both sides plus the personal experiences of so many veterans. Slotted into chapter 12 there is also a section of 16 pages of archive photos. Personalities include the likes of Robin Olds and many others. For anyone interested in the aircraft and the history of the Vietnam War, I am sure you will find this an excellent read.
Thanks to Osprey for our review copy.

Robin