F-111 Missions

 Work to develop a scenario looking at F-111 Operations.  

In late September 1972 two squadrons of F-111 had arrived at Takhli Airbase in Thailand.  Following training missions and orientation the crews were gradually given more missions over NVN.  In the middle of October, the 474th TFW began scheduling 24 combat sorties per night primarily in Route Pack 6 with an occasional sorties in Route Pack 5. During the week of 14-20 Oct 72, the tempo of enemy reaction to F-111 strike sorties stepped up to indicate an increase in awareness of the presence of F-111 aircraft.

On the night of 14/15 October there were 13 strikes recorded into RP6A with another 3 sorties suffering an Air Abort.  For just over 8 hours the targets reported as struck were:

Hoa Lac Airfield 2035

Dac Duc Petroleum Pumping Station 1427

Thai Nguyen RR Repair Yard 0728

Vu Cha RR Bridge 0918

Vinh Yen Ammo Storage 1232

Bac Giang TPP 1421

Viet Tri RR Yard 1337

Phuc Yen Aircraft Dispersal area 1329

Qua Chau Barracks (Thai Nguyen) 0628

Dong Thon RR Siding 1528

Kep POL Installation 0919

Trai Hop Military Barracks 0429

Lang Lau RR Bridge 0626