Combat Aircraft reviews the success of the B-57 in battle

AMAJOR EFFORT TO � nd

a replacement for the

piston-engine Douglas

B-26 Invader light bomber/

ground attack aircraft

started long before the

Korean War ended in 1953. In fact, by

1950 the number of B-26s in service was

dwindling rapidly and � gures issued by

the USAF stated that they would all be

gone by 1954, so something had to be

done, and fast. There were several types

to choose from, including the Martin

XB-51, North American B-45 Tornado

and North American AJ-1 Savage.

Another possibility was the English

Electric Canberra bomber, which had

made its maiden � ight in May 1949. On

February 21, 1951 it became the � rst jet

to make a non-stop, unrefueled � ight

across the Atlantic Ocean when it � ew

from Britain to the US to be evaluated

against the other potential B-26

replacements. The tests took place on

February 26, 1951 and the Canberra was

a clear winner.

The Glenn L. Martin company entered

into an agreement with English Electric

to produce the Canberra in a modi� ed

form, under license in the US as the

B-57. The � rst of the new bombers

for the USAF made its � ight debut,

Stateside, in mid-1953.

As the situation in south-east Asia

began to heat up in the early 1960s,

a pair of reconnaissance-con� gured

RB-57Es were deployed to South

Vietnam as part of Project ‘Patricia

Lynn’ in April 1963. The two high-

altitude recce aircraft were tasked

with seeking out enemy troops who

were redeploying during the hours

of darkness and Viet Cong bases. The

Canberras proved highly successful,

and the deployment carried on right

through until 1971.

Combat Aircraft reviews the success of the B-57 in battle over

south-east Asia during the Vietnam War, as it rained down

bombs with accuracy in support of ground troops.

REPORT Warren E. Thompson

A B-57B heads north out of Phan Rang air base to bomb targets in North Vietnam. During the later stages of the war, this camoufl age scheme replaced the bare metal fi nish. John DeCillo

via author

January 2019 // www.combataircraft.net82

Bombers enter the frayThe USAF’s 8th ‘Liberty’ and 13th ‘Grim

Reaper’ Bombardment Squadrons

were the � rst B-57 units to get the call

to arms. Late in the evening of April 5,

1964, orders came through for both

squadrons to prepare for immediate

deployments to Bien Hoa Air Base in

South Vietnam. They received the ‘go’

command and were fully up to speed in

theater four months later.

On the night of October 31, 1964 the

Viet Cong launched a deadly mortar

attack on Bien Hoa in which � ve B-57s

were destroyed and several others

damaged. It was a warning sign of how

vulnerable aircraft were on the ground.

The Canberra crews stood ground alert

and � ew visual reconnaissance missions

over the many roads leading into South

Vietnam, but no bombs were carried

and no strike missions were assigned

during the early days. The crews had

to simply ‘grin and bear it’ when their

counterparts in Douglas A-1 Skyraiders

� ying from Bien Hoa engaged in good-

natured banter about the B-57’s lack of

combat experience. These A-1 pilots,

along with Vietnamese airmen, were the

stalwarts of the air war against the Viet

Cong in the mid-1960s.

The B-57 pilots were itching for a

chance to prove their worth. Late on

February 18, 1965, the order � nally

came, sending the Martin type on

its � rst live bombing mission. The

armament crews worked through the

night, loading aircraft with four 750lb

bombs on the wings and nine 500lb

bombs in the weapons bay. Wing

guns were loaded with high-explosive

incendiary (HEI) ammo.

The mission objective was only 50 miles

away, but everything had to be exactly

right. This sortie, and many more that

followed, led to the two-man B-57 crews

excelling in hitting di� cult, well-defended

targets and ensured their position among

the close air support elite in Vietnam.

Capt Bill Madison remembers his time in

the B-57 during the early years of the war.

‘It was a joy to � y with a 65ft wingspan and

chord of nearly 30ft. It could make very

short-radius turns. It held 3,000 gallons

of fuel with wing tips [tanks], which gave

us range and loiter time over any target.

The Canberra had a rotor-type bomb door

that, when closed, was an upside-down

bomb rack. The door could hold 21 260lb

frag bombs or 12 250lb GPs, or we could

Inset: A rare patch — the only way aircrew could earn one was to fl y at least one night mission over North Vietnam. via Warren Thompson

83www.combataircraft.net // January 2019

load the 500lb or 1,000lb bombs instead.

The four external pylons under the wings

could be itted with anything up to the

large cluster bombs.

‘Outside of the wing bomb racks were

two rocket rails on each wing that could

be loaded with pods that carried either

seven or 19 2.75in rockets. We didn’t

have self-sealing fuel tanks; instead we

carried nitrogen that would be gently

blown into the empty tanks, greatly

reducing the risk of ire should we have

taken hits from ground ire. The B-57

was well-known for its accuracy and

dive-bombing capabilities. This meant

that we stayed down low on many of the

missions, which put us well within range

of enemy ground ire. But, on the other

hand, we could easily cruise up above

40,000ft. One day, on a test hop, I took

one up to 54,500ft and that was about

the maximum.’

More contactsTowards the end of February 1965, B-57s

were called to the aid of two Vietnamese

combat companies. The troops were

surrounded and under heavy attack by

the Viet Cong along Route 19 in the An

Khe valley in the central highlands. Since

the clouds hung only 2,000ft above

the terrain, the jets switched tactics to

level bombing, swooping in to keep the

enemy pinned down while helicopters

lifted the friendly forces to the safety of

nearby An Khe airield. B-57s covered

one side of the road and North American

F-100 Super Sabres the other, amid

Left top to bottom: This photograph was taken shortly after the Viet Cong attacked the B-57 flight line at Bien Hoa in 1965. Shelley Hilliard via author

Ordnance crews get a B-57 ready for the next mission. Ed Brousson via author

Below: 13th Bomb Squadron B-57s fly over Mount Fuji in Japan. Brian Parker via author

GLORY DAYS // B-57 IN VIETNAM


Our Canberra rolled

into a dive and

dropped two 750lb

bombs into a thick,

green jungle canopy.

Our intelligence

indicated it was a Viet

Cong command post

and communications

center. A huge

secondary explosion

produced a dirty grey

mushroom cloudMaj Frank R. ‘Smash’ Chandler

withering ground � re and the ever-

present danger of being blown out of the

sky by their own bomb bursts at such a

low altitude.

Maj Frank R. ‘Smash’ Chandler, of the

13th Bomb Squadron, one of the most

experienced navigators in theater,

recalls a mission he � ew with pilot Maj

‘Nails’ Nelson (the unit CO) to hit a target

45 miles east of Saigon. ‘Our Canberra

rolled into a dive and dropped two 750lb

bombs into a thick, green jungle canopy

below. Our bombs fell squarely on the

smoke grenades that had been dropped

seconds before by a forward air controller

[FAC]. Our intelligence indicated it was

a major Viet Cong command post and

communications center. We sure struck

a nerve with the bombs because there

was a huge secondary explosion that

produced a dirty grey mushroom cloud.’

Chandler’s was not the only B-57 to

strike that area. Both the 8th and 13th � ew

another 15 sorties, many of their bombs

causing secondary explosions. Each of

their attack runs was controlled by a FAC.

Days later, friendly troops entered the area

and reported that the entire complex,

which — unexpectedly — had turned

out to be a large ammunition dump, had

been destroyed. It was another big plus in

determining how accurate the Canberra

force could be.

Nocturnal operationsCapt Bill Madison � ew many night

missions in the B-57. ‘I � ew with the 13th

Bomb Squadron out of Phan Rang and

a large percentage of my missions were

night,’ he remembered. ‘On a typical

path� nder � ight, we would brief on the

target area which included the join-up

point with our [Douglas] EB-66, which

would be departing from its base in

Thailand. We would head out in a three-

ship formation to meet at a designated

point using TACAN navigation, so � nding

each other was our � rst goal. Once we

hooked up, we moved into a diamond

formation with our EB-66 in the lead. As

we headed toward the target, we would

hold at an altitude of about 24,000ft.

‘We had a ‘tattletale’ beeper and � ashing

light box that came on during radar or

SAM [surface-to-air missile] detection

and our escort would shut the threat

down. About two minutes out, we would

get a call to arm. At that time, we would

rotate our bomb doors open and arm our

entire bomb load. We had a time-release

mechanism to schedule bomb separation

and 150ft was a good setting. I have to

admit, many of our pilots, with a fast

thumb, did not use the installed release

timer. After the release, the EB-66 — using

its great jamming abilities against SAMs

and radar — would lead us to a safe area

where we would part company and return

to our respective bases.

‘On one occasion, one of our B-57 pilots

elected to turn and go back the same

way we came in to the target area rather

than continue over North Vietnam. A

SAM got him in less than two minutes

after he broke away from the shield of

protection provided by the path� nder.

‘One night, while we were out there

bouncing around on the wings of the

path� nder inside of the very low-visibility

clouds there was a lightning strike that

lit the sky around us. One of the B-57

navigators got on the radio and said, ‘Did

you see the bottom of the lead aircraft?

It looks like a comb’. Of course, he was

talking about all the antennae on our

ECM EB-66 that was keeping us out of

harm’s way.

Top: An aerial view of the B-57 revetments at Phan Rang in the mid-1960s. via author

Right: 8th Bomb Squadron B-57Bs leaving their base in the Philippines on the way to South Vietnam in August 1964. Bruce Kramer via author


After climbing and making a quick 180° turn, we went

down the opposite side of the road and shredded a lot of

trees as we expended the remainder of our ammo

Maj Ernie Carlton

angle to the road, but reduced our total

exposure time to the � ak than if we had

made two normal passes. We made the

drop and hit at least four trucks while

rolling out on a heading for Nakhom

Phanom [NKP]. The reason for this was

we had spent more time in the area than

anticipated, which put us too low on fuel

to get back to Phan Rang.

‘The sun was just coming up when we

took o� from NKP and headed back to

our main base, leveling o� at 28,000ft.

Suddenly, we heard a frantic call on the

guard channel and it was in Vietnamese.

We were just passing over a small base in

the central highlands, Pleiku. We called

down to see if we could help them as

we still had our 20mm rounds intact. We

learned that a South Vietnamese truck

column had been ambushed and the

lead truck was on � re. They were awaiting

the arrival of a gunship, but they were in

dire straights, so we rolled over and went

down to help. It was the only stra� ng run

I ever made that started at 28,000ft as we

skimmed down over the trees still � ring

on one side of the road. After climbing

and making a quick 180° turn, we went

‘Later, path� nder missions were

replaced by ‘Sky Spot’ missions where

radar controllers on the ground vectored

us into targets of possible interest on

bad weather days. Not long after that,

we began to run short of bombs. At

that time, we were sent out with maybe

20 per cent of a gun load and just two

bombs to hit a defended target. The

typical ‘Sky Spot’ drop altitude was

at 24,000ft. As I recall, the path� nder

concept was pretty much short-lived as

we were in the process of moving out of

Phan Rang.’

Cluster bombsOn some of the daylight search and

destroy missions, the B-57s were

loaded with four 500lb general purpose

bombs and four ‘funny bombs’. The GPs

were used to cut the road and destroy

stranded road tra� c. The latter bombs

were identi� ed as M62s and each carried

900 1lb Thermite bomblets. The primer

cord would open the weapon up like

a clamshell at about 1,000ft above the

ground and they would disperse out over

an area close to that of a soccer � eld.

Maj Ernie Carlton, a pilot in the 8th

Bomb Squadron, � ew these missions

and describes what proved to be one of

his toughest. ‘We were vectored north of

Dong Ha to hit some North Vietnamese

Army [NVA] trucks coming down the

coastal highway at night. The mission

was pretty routine as we walked our four

GPs across the road and blocked it both

ways. As we leveled out to climb up for

the ‘funny bomb’ run, all hell broke loose.

The 35mm � ak looked like a blanket of

red at their burst altitude of 12,000ft. I

often wondered how we got by it without

taking hits. At this point, we immediately

decided to drop four of the M62s in one

pass. This meant coming in at a smaller

Top: A B-57 cartridge start on the Phan Rang AB alert pad in 1967, with napalm on the wing stations. John DeCillo via author

Above: This B-57 is dropping a maximum load of 500lb bombs on the Viet Cong. via Warren Thompson


GLORY DAYS // B-57 IN VIETNAM

down the opposite side of the road and

shredded a lot of trees as we expended

the remainder of our ammo. As we

pulled up to leave, we saw an AC-47

gunship arrive over the smoking column

and we watched as it leveled everything

on both sides of the road. We never

heard any more of the incident, but it

had been just another average day for a

B-57 crew.’

Soon after their arrival at Da Nang,

the B-57s were assigned to � y � ak

suppression missions with the Fairchild

C-123 ‘Ranch Hand’ aircraft. These

defoliation sorties were � own low and

slow, and hits from ground � re were the

norm rather than the exception. The

‘Ranch Hands’ and the Canberra � iers

immediately established a � ne rapport

and set about developing tactics that

would make the fast B-57 compatible

with the slow-moving C-123. The result

of their experimentation was what was

tagged locally as an ‘alternating spiroid

maneuver’. As the C-123s sprayed the

jungle in echelon, the Canberras would

spiral back and forth across the top

of them. Each bomber, in turn, would

have the area immediately ahead of the

‘Ranch Hands’ in his gunsight so any

enemy ground � re could be neutralized

immediately.

Fighting onThe bitter air war over the plains and

jungles of south-east Asia became ever

more ferocious and the Canberras were

superseded by newer, more capable

types such as the Phantom. By the late

1960s nearly all of the early-model B-57s

had been withdrawn from the � ght.

However, the newer B-57Gs, equipped

with sophisticated sensors, deployed to

Thailand in the fall of 1970 for Operation

‘Tropic Moon III’. Their tenure lasted

until May 1972.

The B-57 was a solid performer for

many years, but o� cial USAF records

show that 15 of them were lost during

operations in South Vietnam. Another

� ve came to grief � ying missions over

the north, and 11 failed to return

from sorties over Laos. B-57s logged

more than 31,750 sorties during their

outstanding presence in south-east

Asia and were much feared by the

enemy. The aircraft proved itself to be a

remarkable warrior.

Top: A photo from May 1965 as the 8th Bomb Squadron returned to Clark AB in the Philippines from a tour in South Vietnam. Bruce Kramer via author

Above: B-57Bs loaded with fuel and ordnance at Phan Rang AB. via Warren Thompson


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Combat Aircraft reviews the success of the B-57 in battle