Just one kill had been achieved for every 10 firing attempts over a three-year period, the Naval Air Systems Command wrote in a document informally known as the Ault Report.Ĭhristopher Browne, a former naval flight officer that trained in the program in the early 1980s (above), says the pilots were the "difference between success and failure for the carrier." When naval officials reviewed their own air-to-air missile performance in 1968, they gave themselves a dismal grade. Navy, which played an essential role in the air war over Vietnam, the situation was unacceptable. But the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong flew them in dogfights with a frustrating-and deadly-level of daring and success.įor the U.S. They weren’t built for dogfights in the air-their original intent was to intercept the bombers cruising at altitude and dropping ordinance straight down from on high. North Vietnam's air force was equipped with MiG 17s, a Soviet-designed aircraft that was surprisingly effective. military, 58,220 American troops were killed in Vietnam, the vast majority before 1970. Though the proxy war's biggest toll was on the Vietnamese people-it took the lives of an estimated 2 million civilians, 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong, and an estimated 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers-the conflict proved deadly to American troops, too. troops were at a disadvantage in the air war over southeast Asia. And by 1968, it was painfully clear that U.S.
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