Peter E. DaviesF-105 Wild Weasel vs SA-2 ‘Guideline’ SAM: Vietnam 1965–73 (Duel, 35)

This is a very unique book and because of that, it is a must purchase for every personal library.This book reviews the electronic war over North Vietnam from both sides and that makes it unique. It also gives the name of the pilot and the airplane number for each significant engagement.My overwhelming reaction while reading this book is that the U.S. military planning bureaucrats are going to get us all killed. How could these people have been so stupid! Gives new meaning to REMF!!The author, Peter Davies, goes into detail without getting excessively wordy. Very concise and economical ... you can draw your own conclusions ... without much difficulty.I wonder what they edited out for length.I cannot say that I was there. I was not a USAF pilot and did not put in any time over North Vietnam. But I was at Korat RTAFB during the peak period of F-105D and F-105F Wild Weasel ... I remember when the "F" models arrived ... operations ... April 1966 to April 1967 ... and the losses were horrendous. Non-stop ... every day ... and if you added up Korat's losses to Thakli's losses to the Navy's losses, it was ... our guys were just butchered.One day, which the author reports, but not in its full entirety, we lost a total of 13 airplanes ... while attacking a SAM site from which all the missiles had been removed ... and replaced with bamboo mockups painted to look like missiles ... and both President Johnson and Secretary McNamara KNEW that the missiles had been removed and that the target had been surrounded by EVERY AAA gun in North Vietnam to create a huge flak trap. And they ordered the attack anyway ... just to show our determination.LBJ and RSM's behavior was either stupid or criminal or treasonous. If you read the bio of LBJ ... pages 141 to 145 of "Master of the Senate" by Robert Caro ... but read other biographies as well because Caro is sympathetic to LBJ ... , his mistress was a Communist ... no joke ... who Nixon defeated for re-election ... for which the Democrats never forgave Nixon. So you have to wonder where LBJ's loyalty really was during this period.I apologize for getting off topic, but it's all tied together.Also read everything you can find on "venona" ... there is a lot of it on Amazon ... because it ties together the behind-the-scenes political "stuff" that was going on. Only one-third of the code named Soviet agents were ever identified before the President cancelled the venona project in 1995. Makes you wonder who all is linked together. Read what you can find about the back stage efforts of Elizabeth Bentley, as well. Nasty business.Anyway, back on topic ... What our "leaders" did to our F-105 pilots back then made me sick then, and made me sicker now.Davies reports the blessed relief [my words ... my experience at the time] when the QRC-160 pods arrived. He also reports, but I was not aware at the time that the QRC-160 pods had been sent back to the States by the mission planners in, he says PACAF ... but I wonder about that ... because I guess our REMF's preferred white scarf flying.And Davies provides both the USAF side of the operations and the NVA side of the operational aspects of the "electronic war" ... and the missile war ... he covers briefly the evolution of the SA-2 / S-75 missile system. And the B-52 jamming systems.A lot of the EWO's never came back after being shot down and were known to have successfully ejected. Another story that needs to be told.Do not read this before going to bed ... you will not be able to sleep.And I wish the type face was a little bigger.

The Osprey "Duel" series generally serves to introduce and contextualize important opponents from various conflicts. With "F-105 Wild Weasel vs SA-2 'Guideline' SAM: Vietnam 1965-73," Peter Davies has written one of the stronger volumes in the series, and it serves as an excellent introduction to Weasel versus SAM development, tactics, implementation, and combat in a very user-friendly and readable format. I appreciated that Davies went to great effort to explain key developments including the origins and evolution of the F-105 and SA-2 series weapon systems, and their ancillary equipment (radar, ECM, etc.)The book is quite well illustrated, though many of the illustrations appear randomly placed in the book with the captions having little to do with the subject under discussion on the pages. I was especially pleased to see the detailed SA-2 illustrations (especially the "Fan Song" interior on p. 54.) I was puzzled to see the generally excellent depiction of the front cockpit of the F-105G with quite good legend on pp. 58-59, but was annoyed by the inexplicable absence of an equivalent illustration of the rear EWO cockpit: that's the thing that made the "G" model most unique, after all. I thought the first half of the book was strongest, but the second half was not quite as polished. I found in particular the "Statistics and Analysis" and "Aftermath" chapters to be fairly cursory, and really didn't think the F-105 and Weasel programs got enough credit for developing current SEAD methodologies and equipment. The inset box on pp. 44-45 about Leo Thorsness is a welcome summary of the actions of this true American hero, but I would have appreciated an equal treatment of the other Weasel pilot to earn the Medal of Honor, Merlyn Dethlefsen, who is mentioned but not in great detail (his name is at one point misspelled as well.)In short, this is a generally very good effort, and serves as an excellent introduction to the world of the Weasels versus SAMs in Vietnam. It's not perfect, but it is generally well-told, many of the illustrations are previously unseen (or at least I haven't seen them, and my F-105 library is quite extensive,) and serves a needed niche in telling the story of the North Vietnamese SA-2 operators from their vantage point. It's a solid volume, and I recommend it.

Peter Davies did a good job of analyzing the SA-2 surface to air missile system, the most capable air defense weapon provided to Hanoi, and its most dangerous opponent: the F-105 G/H Wild Weasel SAM killer. The SA-2 sites, augmented by antiaircraft artillery, made Hanoi the most heavily defended places since World War II. F-105s were adapted to the sam killer role when SA-2s threatened the B-52 campaign meant to destroy the North Vietnamese communist regime trying to undermine South Vietnam. Armed with antiradiation missiles and adopting tactics meant to minimize the effectiveness of the SAMs the F-105s made history over Asian skies.With many great and rare photos of both systems and rare descriptions of how the systems were actually operated this is a neat book and a good visual reference if you intend to do more reading on this topic. The artwork is first-rate. However, there should have been better vetting of the material: page 32 purports to show an RF101 VooDoo overflying an SA-2 site... except that it isn't. AAA sites also organized their weapons in a star pattern and if I'm not mistaken what is shown is an antiaircraft battery composed of S60 57mm AA guns. The giveaway is the narrow-beam base which replaces the trail; the wheels are not removed for emplacement.

This was an interesting book. It was more technical and less about actual combat. I thought when I bought, it would was about combat stories. It would be good read for someone that was more into the technical specifications of the equipment.

A série Duel da Osprey normalmente trata o combate avião x avião, embora também haja com carros de combate x carro de combate.São bons livros que brevemente descrevem os oponentes, vantagens e desvantagens, para depois entrar na descrição de combate, por meio de relatos factuais de ambos os lados.Mas esse livro acerta em cheio ao escolher um avião e um míssil, que, a princípio, não foram projetados para se enfrentar. O avião foi projetado para ataques nucleares a baixa altura contra a URSS. O míssil, para abater os grandes bombardeiros americanos voando alto. Uma década depois de entrarem em serviço, eles se enfrentam sobre a selva do sudeste asiático a baixas e médias altitudes, com resultados alarmantes para a aviação americana. Lá o SA-2 abatia aviões, que não eram e nem voavam nas condições para qual foi projetado abater. E o F-105 teve que passar a atacar alvos pequenos e que se defendiam.Para conter essa nova e terrível ameaça nasce, assim, o conceito do Wild Weasel, que até hoje perdura na USAF e USN. Equipamentos eletrônicos, mísseis e táticas foram desenvolvidos e colocados no F-105 para suprimir e destruir a ameaça dos mísseis SA-2. Estes, por sua vez, também evoluíram suas táticas.E o livro muito bem narra esse jogo de gato-e-rato, com os resultados que oscilam de cada lado. E tem narrativas de ambos os lado: pilotos americanos e militares vietnamitas das baterias anti-aéreas.

Eficientes baterías Sam derribando a los F-105. Cantidad de misiones por parte de los F-105 para eliminar en Vietman las "sites" de los misiles SAM, con niveles de pérdidas muy elevados por parte de los F-105, aunque propagandísticamente ocultadas por EE.UU. Otra vez Duel y Osprey. Impresionante. Descripción y esquemas tanto del F-105 como de las baterías SAM. Muy aconsejable. relación calidad precio muy buena.

Kauftipp, vietnam

Sehr gute Informationen zur Elektronischen Kriegsführung in Vietnam. Als Einstieg in das Thema gut Geeignet. Ein paar Vietnamesische Quellen mehr wären zwar noch besser gewesen, aber vermutlich kaum zu Bekommen.

ベトナム戦争の航空戦で大きな脅威となっていたのがSA-2ガイドライン対空ミサイルです。SA-2に対する対抗策の一つである発射サイトの発見と攻撃して無力化する手段としてワイルドウィーゼル機が使用されましたが、本書はベトナム戦争時のワイルドウィーゼル機の主力だったリパブリックF-105F、GとSA-2発射部隊との闘いをテーマにした本です。　本の構成は他のDuelシリーズと同様、夫々の開発経緯、仕様、それを操作する人員の訓練状況、戦略的な状況、実戦の様子、実戦の結果の分析、後日談という形になっています。　ガイドラインは本国のソ連では改良が続けられレーダー妨害に強いレーダーも開発されましたが、当時悪化しつつあった中国に情報が洩れることを恐れベトナムには改良型が配備されない中、ベトナム軍とソ連のアドヴァイザーはワイルドウィーゼル機に対し多数の高射砲陣地に偽のミサイル発射サイトでおびき寄せる攻撃や対レーダーミサイルが発射されてレーダーが使えない状況では目視による無線操縦でミサイルを誘導したり、対する米軍もメモリー機能があり誘導用レーダーを切っても、その位置にホーミングするスタンダード対レーダーミサイルを使用したりと両軍の駆け引きが限られた頁数内にうまく描かれていると思います。一つ惜しい点は米軍側の人的損害は明らかにされているのに対し、ベトナム側の損害が無いことは少し残念な処です。　尚、本文にはカラー、モノクロ写真の他、F-105Gの前面、上面、左側面の三面イラスト、ガイドラインのランチャー装着状態のイラスト、ガイドライン誘導用のファンソンBのイラスト、F-105の機関砲・対レーダーミサイルのイラスト、ガイドラインの内部透視図（本書用の書き下ろしです）、ファンソンB内部イラスト、F-105計器盤のイラスト、インアクションイラスト（ベトナム戦争最後のF-105の被撃墜機になった63-8359機のガイドラインとの交戦）が彩を添えてくれます。