List of US aircraft losses to missiles during the Vietnam War

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During the Vietnam War, the U.S. confirmed 206 aircraft lost to North Vietnamese surface-to-air missiles.

However, some of the U.S. aircraft "crashed in flight accidents", in fact, were lost to S-75 missiles. When landing at an airfield in Thailand, one B-52 was heavily damaged by a SAM, rolled off the runway and exploded on mines that had been installed around the airfield for protection from enemy attacks; only one crewman survived. Subsequently, this B-52 was counted as "crashed in flight accidents".[ citation needed ] According to Dana Drenkowski and Lester W. Grau, the number of U.S. aircraft lost, confirmed by the U.S. is uncorroborated since the U.S. figures are also suspect. If a plane was badly damaged, but managed to land, the USAF did not normally count it as an aerial combat loss, even if it was too damaged to fly again. [1]

During the Vietnam war, the Soviet Union deployed missile operators along with 95 S-75 systems and 7,658 missiles to the North Vietnamese. From 1965 thru 1967 Soviet missilemen downed nearly 50 U.S. attack or reconnaissance jet aircraft. [2] [3] 6,806 missiles were launched or removed because they were outdated (including 5,800 launches [4] ). In total, the U.S. lost 3,374 fixed wing aircraft in combat during the war; in both North and South Vietnam. According to the North Vietnamese, 31% were shot down by S-75 missiles (1,046 aircraft, or 6 missiles per one kill); 60% were shot down by anti-aircraft guns; and 9% were shot down by MiG fighters. The S-75 missile system significantly improved the effectiveness of North Vietnamese anti-aircraft artillery, which used data from S-75 radar stations [5]

The following is a list of 205 U.S. aircraft lost to surface-to-air missiles during the Vietnam War (confirmed by the U.S.)

Vietnam War: Summary of U.S. fixed-wing aircraft (excluding allied aircraft) Lost to SAMs by year, 1965–1973. [6]
Year / aircraft / totalsSAM typeAltitude struck: low to high in feet
1965
F-4B, F-4C Phantom II (4) SA-2 11,000 to 23,000
F-8E Crusader (2)SA-230,000 to 33,000
F-105D Thunderchief (3)SA-24,000 to 18,000
A-4E Skyhawk (1)SA-29,000
A-6A Intruder (1)SA-24,000
RA-5C Vigilante (2)SA-21,500 and 3,200
Year total: 13
1966
F-4B, F-4C Phantom II (8)SA-24,000 to 25,000
F-8E Crusader (2)SA-26,000 and 12,000
RF-101C Voodoo (3)SA-27,000 (2 unknown)
F-105D, F-105F Thunderchief (5)SA-26,000 to 16,000
F-104C Starfighter (3)SA-24,000 to 10,000
A-1H Skyraider (2)SA-21,000 and 7,500
A-4C Skyhawk (8)SA-24,000 to 12,000 (3 unknown)
RB-66C Destroyer (2)SA-229,000 and 30,000
EF-10B Skynight (1)SA-2Unknown
RA-5C Vigilante (1)SA-23,000
Year total: 35
1967
F-4B, F-4C, RF-4C, F-4D Phantom II (14)SA-21,500 to 24,000 (1 unknown)
F-8C, F-8E Crusader (4)SA-21,500 15,500
RF-101C Voodoo (2)SA-218,000 to 30,000
F-105D, F-105F Thunderchief (15)SA-26,000 to 19,000 (1 unknown)
A-4C, A-4F Skyhawk (21)SA-21,200 to 17,000 (1 unknown)
A-6A Intruder (3)SA-23,500 to 12,000
A-7A Corsair II (1)SA-215,000
EB-66 Destroyer (1)SA-230,000
O-1 Bird Dog (1)SA-28,000
Year total: 62
1968
F-4D, F-4J Phantom II (2)SA-22,600 and 15,000
F-8E Crusader (2)SA-25,000 and 15,000
F-105D, F-105F Thunderchief (2)SA-28,000 and 12,000
A-4C, A-4E Skyhawk (2)SA-211,000 and 12,000
A-6A, A-6B Intruder (3)SA-25,000 and 15,000 (1 unknown)
A-7A Corsair II (1)SA-210,000
Year total: 12
1970
F-105G Thunderchief (1)SA-2unknown
Year total: 1
1971
F-4B, F-4D, F-4E Phantom II (4)SA-218,000 and 20,000 (2 unknown)
F-105G Thunderchief (1)SA-218,000
O-2 Skymaster (1)SA-27,000
A-6A Intruder (1)SA-212,000
Year total: 7
1972
F-4D, F-4E, F-4J, RF-4C Phantom II (20)SA-23,500 to 21,000 (5 unknown)
F-8J Crusader (1)SA-211,000
F-105G Thunderchief (4)SA-211,000 and 19,000 (2 unknown)
A-1E, A-1H, A-1G Skyraider (3) SA-7 3,500/5,500/6,500
A-6A Intruder (1)SA-213,000
A-7A, A-7B, A-7C, A-7E Corsair II (13)SA-21,000 to 19,000 (2 unknown)
TA-4F Skyhawk (1)SA-24,500
RA-5C Vigilante (1)SA-23,000
EB-66C Destroyer (1)SA-224,000
AC-130A Spectre (2)SA-2/SA-78,500 (SA-7 unknown)
O-1 Bird Dog (2)SA-74,000 (second SA-7 unknown)
O-2 Skymaster (2)SA-2/SA-7Unknown
OV-10A Bronco (5)SA-2/SA-75,000; unknown;5,000/SA-7 6,500
(10) B-52D, (6) B-52G Stratofortress (16)SA-225,000 to 38,500
Year total: 72
1973
B-52D Stratofortress(1)SA-2Unknown
A-6A Intruder (1)SA-2Unknown
OV-10A Bronco (1)SA-76,000
UH-1H (1)SA-73,200
Year total: 4
War total: 206

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References

  1. ↑ Drenkowski & Grau p. 3.
  2. ↑ Note-The North Vietnamese had a MIG jet Air Force since 1959. But surface-to-air missiles were new. Until North Vietnamese missilemen completed their training in the Soviet Union, Soviet operators were used. Davies p. 40, 53, 72, 74 & Axe p. 79
  3. ↑ Michel III. p. 1-4. First clash between U.S. vs USSR air attack/ground defense technologies
  4. ↑ Davies p. 72, 74.
  5. ↑ "Русская "Двина", сбив сотни "Фантомов", довела американцев до психоза - Статьи - История - Свободная Пресса". 14 October 2018.
  6. ↑ Hobson p. 270, 271.

Sources

  • Axe, David. Drone War Vietnam. Pen & Sword, Military. Great Britain. 2021.
  • Davies, Peter. F-105 Wild Weasel Vs SA-2 "Guideline" SAM Vietnam 1965-1973. Osprey 2011.
  • Drenkowski, Dana; Grau, Lester W. (December 2007). "Patterns and Predictability: The Soviet Evaluation of Operation Linebacker II" (PDF). Journal of Slavic Military Studies. 20 (4): 559–607. doi:10.1080/13518040701703096. S2CID   143833568. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  • Hobson, Chris. Vietnam Air Losses, United States Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps Fixed-Wing Aircraft Losses in Southeast Asia 1961-1973, 2001, Midland Publishing, Great Britain. ISBN   1-85780-115-6.
  • Michel III, Marshal L. Clashes, Air Combat Over North Vietnam 1965-1972. Naval Institute Press. 1997.
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