The Air War: To See Is to Destroy

For U.S. Air Force pilots in Viet Nam, it was one of the busiest weeks of the war, as TIME Correspondent David DeVoss discovered when he visited the big American airbase at Danang. His report:

THE flying weather was poor, air traffic heavy and hazardous, and there were rumors about the infiltration of SAM antiaircraft missiles south of the DMZ. Nevertheless, U.S. Air Force Captain Donald E. Waddel, 26, was elated as he walked away from his F-4 Phantom fighter-bomber. "It was unbelievable," he said. "I've never seen anything like it--columns of tanks, columns of trucks, even men marching along the road."

Until the North Vietnamese unleashed their attack across the DMZ, U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots in the war rarely saw their prey. Elusive guerrillas and camouflaged trucks on jungle trails seldom afforded high-flying supersonic pilots a visible target. Last week, whenever the cloud cover lifted, the flyers could sight the enemy on the ground. "You had the feeling," said Waddel, "that you were really doing something significant."

Last week's bad weather compelled the flyers to take even more risks than usual. Fighter-bombers had to slice below the overcast to "unload their ordnance" at heights of only 500 ft. or so. At that low altitude even a rifle bullet can bring down a jet if it strikes a vulnerable point.

The FACs--forward air controllers who spot targets from tiny two-engine Cessnas for the fighter-bombers--were also forced to fly dangerously lower. During one four-hour mission, FAC Captain Conrad Pekkola, 32, dodged 15 SAMS as he circled the area between Khe Sanh and the DMZ. "A lot of 23mm. and 37mm. antiaircraft artillery have been moved south since the offensive began," said Pekkola. "Usually they aim at any break in the clouds because they know that's where we'll eventually be." In the first six days of the offensive, the North Vietnamese shot down five U.S. aircraft and two South Vietnamese aircraft. One American-manned HH-53 helicopter crashed while on a rescue mission.

The stepped-up tempo of the air war was reflected last week in the frenzied activity on the ground. "We're working double shifts to keep the planes ready to roll," said Staff Sergeant John Maey, a crew chief at Danang.

When a flight of four Phantoms lands on the twin 10,000-ft. runways, the planes quickly taxi to rows of protective concrete revetments. Once a plane is safely parked, the pilot climbs out and is handed a cold can of Budweiser. While he sips the brew, a yellow forklift truck trundles up with armaments, and the ground crew hurriedly rearms the Phantom with an awesome array of weaponry--iron bombs, rockets and napalm canisters. Normally, the entire operation takes only 20 minutes. The beer never gets warm before the pilot climbs back into his Phantom to take off on another sortie.

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