Practice during Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War, starting in 1965, SAC would deploy over two complete Bombardment Wings including Bombardment Squadrons, Air Refueling Squadrons, including the Maintenance & Support Squadrons and their personnel to Andersen AFB, Guam (B-52 Bomber and a few supporting tanker aircraft), Kadena AB, Okinawa, (B-52 Bomber & the Primary Tanker Aircraft Base) & Kung Kuan (Later renamed:) / Ching Chuan Kang Air Base, Taiwan (A forward base for Tanker Operations) leaving a small caretaker force at the home base. The deployments were called Arc Light deployments.
The first units deployed flew B-52F models that could carry 27 internal 500 lb bombs and 24 external 500 or 750 lb bombs for a total of 51 bombs, These were later replaced with the B-52D as they completed the Conventional Stores and weapons release modifications referred to as the "Big Belly" Modification. The "Big Belly aircraft were modified that 3 Internal Conventional Weapons Racks could be carried & released, increasing the weapons capability of 108 internal & external 500 lb bombs, depending on the targets requirements a mixture of 750 & 500 lb bombs were also carried, but there were too many configurations to list. The mission was considered so important that the wing on Guam at the time had to be manned 110% aircraft and personnel. Since no stateside wing was ever manned to 100% of its personnel, SAC HQ drew upon other stateside wings to send their personnel to augment the wing on Guam. A third B-52 base was added in 1966 at U-Tapao Royal Thai Naval Airfield, Thailand, using rotational aircraft and aircrews from Andersen AFB and Kadena AB. B-52's were withdrawn from Kadena in Sep 1970; and Andersen AFB reduced B-52 Operations to Maintenance and Alert Operations. The B-52D force were moved PCS to U-Tapao and the crew force was now shared by all Stateside B-52 Units (B-52G/H crews were required to attend a B-52D crew Replacement Training Course at Castle AFB, while en route to Thailand. This was standard operations until Jan 1972 when Linebacker I began and Guam became active in B-52 Combat Operations.
When the primary wing on Guam came home, another wing was sent, with the second wing deploying about 14 days later, and because they were not at 100% some personnel might be tapped to augment that wing for another 179 days Temporary Duty. The 179 days was critical because any stay on excess of 179 days was considered a Permanent Change of Station. This policy at times was waivered with the approval of the Secretary of Defence mostly in 1972 with the requirement the PCS assignment would not be issued.
B-52F Wings Deployed
2nd Bombardment Wing (H) Barksdale AFB,LA.(Deployed under Project "Air Mail" B52 Deployed Alert Force); Feb 65 – Apr 65.
320th Bombardment Wing (H) Mather AFB,CA. Feb 65 – Jul 65; Dec 65 – Mar 66
7th Bombardment Wing (H) Carswell AFB,TX. 13 Apr 65 – 1 Dec 65
454th Bombardment Wing (H) Columbus AFB,MS. 16 Nov 65 – 31 Mar 66
The First Combat Mission was flown on 18 Jun 65 by the 7th & 320th BW's
B-52D Wings Deployed 22nd Bombardment Wing (H) March AFB,CA. 10 Mar 67 – 1 Oct 67
28th Bombardment Wing (H) Ellsworth AFB,SD. 15 Jan 68 – 19 Jul 68
70th Bombardment Wing (H) Clinton – Sherman AFB,OK. 1 Feb 68 – Sep 68
91st Bombardment Wing (H) Glasgow AFB,MT. 11 Sep 66 – 31 Mar 67
92nd Bombardment Wing (H) Fairchild AFB,WA. Mar 68 – Sep 68; Mar 69 – Sep 69
96th Bombardment Wing (H) Dyess AFB,TX. 22 Jun 70 – 19 Sep 70
99th Bombardment Wing (H) Westover AFB,MA.1 Oct 67 – 1 Apr 68; 22 Sep 68 – 21 Mar 69; 15 Mar 70 – 22 Jun 70.
306th Bombardment Wing (H) McCoy AFB,FL. 6 Sep 66 – Apr 67; Sep 68 – Apr 69; Oct 69 – Apr 70
454th Bombardment Wing (H) Columbus AFB,MS. 27 Jun 67 – 23 Dec 67; 28 Jun 68 – 20 Dec 68
461st Bombardment Wing (H) Amarillo AFB,TX. 17 Jan 67 – 4 Jul 67
484th Bombardment Wing (H) Turner AFB,GA. 1 Apr 66 – 29 Sep 68
509th Bombardment Wing (H) Pease AFB,NH. 1 Apr 68 – 1 Oct 68
