223. Diary Entry by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Moorer)1
1146 Telecon/Out—to General Meyer (Secure)
It looks like the plan worked out beautifully on the strikes.2 I don’t think anybody in the world could coordinate an operation as well as we did. Only two birds were damaged on this strike. This is the one that came from all directions at once and it worked out beautifully. One down and two damaged. One with the fuel problem trying to get into DaNang may have to ditch or bail out over the gulf. Another with two engines out going to Nam Phong [Air Base]. Hanoi reported a shoot-down over the city. We are not sure of it yet. The one that is damaged heading for DaNang is trying to nurse it back to base. Country is mighty lucky that we have got the crews that will press on to the target in the face of heavy opposition, Meyer said. In view of the general attitude of the Country it is miraculous to have this courage and determination.
We only had a four hour window in this whole time to use LGB’s on the Hanoi power plant and they made it in there. I told him he had authority to keep striking Lang Dang railroad yards. We want to put it completely out of business. Told him we were looking at some of those Army training areas as targets for the B52’s.
General Meyer thinks we are really running them out of SAMs and I agree. SAC wants to go against the Buffer Zone target rather than the Haiphong area for tonight’s operation.
[Page 827]Meyer said that the one that was heading for Nam Phong is on the ground. The other one we don’t know yet. The best we can hope for is three with battle damage.
- Source: National Archives, RG 218, Records of the Chairman, Moorer Diary, July 1970–July 1974. Top Secret. This diary entry summarizes a telephone conversation between Moorer and Meyer at 11.46 a.m., Washington time. Moorer in Washington called Meyer at Strategic Air Command headquarters in Nebraska.↩
- The plan entailed 78 B–52s in 4 flights simultaneously attacking Hanoi from 4 different directions as 42 aircraft in 3 other flights struck Haiphong. (Boyne, “Linebacker II,” p. 56)↩