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| Library > Wolf Pack Heritage > The War in Southeast Asia |
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The War in Southeast Asia
The 8th Fighter Wing was stationed at Ubon Airfield, Thailand throughout its involvement in the Vietnam conflict. Combat operations varied over the years. The wing at times concentrated on combat air patrols and other times flew interdiction, ground support and armed reconnaissance missions. In 1967 the wing flew mostly air-to-air missions against enemy MiGs.
Operation BOLO and the Birth of the Wolf Pack
During the war in Southeast Asia, political restrictions gave the North Vietnamese Air Force a distinct advantage over the US. One of the restrictions forbade US air forces from bombing North Vietnamese air bases in and around Hanoi and Haiphong. This restriction essentially gave the North Vietnamese a safe haven for their MiG fighters. Because US forces could not fire on the MiGs parked on airfields, the North Vietnamese could pick their fights. Communist targets usually consisted of aircraft like F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bombers that had to drop their bombs before they could defend themselves against an air threat. In fact, MiG pilots usually harassed the F-105 pilots just enough to get them to drop their bombs prematurely. The MiGs would then retreat to the safety of their airfields when the F-105s turned to fight. The MiGs also avoided confrontations with the powerful F-4 Phantoms. With the North Vietnamese using these tactics, MiG kills became few and far between. The situation became even more critical with the addition of the MiG-21 to the North’s arsenal.
US planners wanted to trick the North Vietnamese into committing their MiG-21s against American forces on equal ground. In concert with Seventh Air Force planners, Colonel Robin Olds, commander of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, devised a plan to draw the MiGs into a fight against F-4Cs armed for air-to-air combat—wolves in sheep’s clothing so to speak. The Phantoms would simulate F-105s by flying at the same altitude, speed, and route. The fighters would also use F-105 call signs, tanker rendezvous points, and would even make false radio calls to trick communist ground controllers. To complete the illusion, the F-4s were modified to carry electronic countermeasure pods used only on F-105s until that time. Crews trained three days for the mission.
The wing brought a lot of experience to the fight. Colonel Robin Olds (left), the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing commander, carried 12 enemy kills from World War II under his belt and his vice commander, Col Vermont Garrison, also had the distinction of being a World War II ace. Colonel Garrison also earned 10 more kills during Korea making him a triple ace.
In the final pre-flight brief on New Year’s Day 1967, Colonel Olds told his pilots, “All right you wolf pack, let’s go get them.” On 2 January 1967, 11 four-ship flights from the 8th began converging on the North Vietnamese airfield of Phuc Yen. The wing’s flights were stretched in a long line with five minutes separating each flight. The spacing allowed sustained coverage of the enemy airfield for 55 minutes—the fuel endurance of the MiG-21.
While the 8th flew into the Hanoi area from Ubon, Thailand, F-4s from the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing (now the 366th Wing at Mountain Home) flew into the area from Da Nang Air Base. Intended to prevent the MiGs from fleeing to China as the 8th attacked, the 366th returned to base due to cloud cover over the target area. The 8th continued with the mission. With a heavy cloud deck obscuring the ground, the first four-ship flight, Olds Flight, arrived over Phuc Yen Airfield at 3 PM.
According to plan, the MiGs took the bait. Colonel Olds’ Flight scored three kills. Ford Flight, led by Col Daniel “Chappie” James—the 8th’s deputy commander for operations and later the Air Force’s first black four-star general—arrived five minutes later and scored one kill. Rambler Flight scored another three kills five minutes after that. Later flights recorded no kills as the North Vietnamese realized what was happening and fled the area. The cloud deck also prevented the F-4s from pursuing the MiGs to low level.
In 12 minutes, the 8th recorded seven confirmed and two possible kills without a single loss. One Phantom sustained damage when it flew through the debris cloud from an exploding MiG. The results of the operation would have been much more impressive had the weather been clear. Regardless, Operation BOLO established US air superiority over the North. In fact, four days later, the 8th, pretending to be a weather reconnaissance flight, shot down two more MiG-21s, forcing the North to temporarily ground its fleet. The 8th Tactical Fighter Wing had destroyed nearly half of North Vietnam’s most advanced fighters in only five days.
Following Operation BOLO, the 8th began referring to itself as the Wolf Pack. Their reputation soon grew as their continued success in air-to-air missions prompted units throughout the Air Force to also refer to the 8th as the Wolf Pack. The 8th finished the war as the leading MiG-killer, logging 38.5 confirmed MiG kills. In fact, Bob Hope once referred to the 8th as the “world’s largest distributor of MiG parts.”
The wing was also successful in several other areas. On 23 May 1968, the Wolf Pack made the first-ever combat drop of the Paveway laser-guided bomb. Later on 10 and 13 May 1972, the wing destroyed two “indestructible” Communist bridges—the Paul Doumer and Than Hoa Bridges—in North Vietnam using laser-guided bombs. Hundreds of sorties over several years by a variety of US aircraft had failed to put these two key targets permanently out of commission. Wolf Pack F-4s completed the job in just two days.
Throughout the war, the wing flew the F-4 Phantom, first the C model and later the F-4D and F-4E. In addition to the main force of F-4 fighters, at various stages of the war the wing also had squadrons flying AC-123 Black Spot and AC-130 Spectre gunships, F-104 Starfighters, and B-57 Canberra bombers. From 1965 until it left Ubon in 1974, the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing earned 16 campaign streamers, three Presidential Unit Citations, six Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards with Combat V device, and the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with palm.
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