70 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN Issue No 21guide. A third MiG-21 popped up at Olds’s ten
o’clock position. Olds barrel-rolled to starboard
and found himself above the third MiG, half
inverted. He held his position until the MiG-21
had finished its turn, and moved into position
1,500yd behind the MiG. With a deflection angle
of 20°, Olds launched two Sidewinders, one of
which hit the MiG and tore off its starboard wing.Put ’em up
Meanwhile, Wetterhahn had lined up behind
a MiG-21 pursuing Olds, and fired a pair of
Sparrows that turned the MiG into a ball of fire.
At roughly the same time, Capt Walter S. Radeker
III, Olds 4, spotted a MiG-21 tracking his element
leader and manœuvred to engage it. Unable to
acquire a consistently good tone (indicating a
missile lock) Radeker launched a Sidewinder that
guided perfectly anyway, and struck the Fishbed
forward of its tail, sending it into a spin.
Next it was the Ford flight’s turn to be engaged
by three MiG-21s, which also attempted a pincer
attack; one closed in from the six o’clock position
and two from the ten o’clock position. The latter
pair tracked the two leading F-4Cs, which broke
hard. Captain Everett T. Raspberry Jr, Ford 2,
performed a barrel roll that placed him in a
perfect position behind the trailing MiG, which
he brought down with a Sidewinder.
The NSA translators now heard the angry and
worried voices of the MiG pilots explaining that
instead of the expected F-105s, they were facing
AAM-equipped Phantoms. One MiG pilot even
requested authorisation to land. It was too late. In
the confusion of the moment, additional Fishbeds
were launched, a total of 14 MiG-21s taking off.
Rambler flight, led by Stone, arrived over Noi
Bai to be confronted head-on by four MiG-21s,
followed by two more slightly below and twomiles (3km) behind. Stone put his Phantom into
a dive and launched a Sparrow, which failed to
ignite. He fired a second, then a third Sparrow
which locked on and hit one of the MiGs. Seconds
later, a MiG-21 crossed in front of Rambler 2
(Lawrence Glynn), who fired a pair of AIM-7Es
— one of which turned the Fishbed into a ball
of flame and debris, which slightly damaged
his Phantom. Finally, Rambler 4 (Maj Philip
P. Combies) also fired two AIM-7Es against a
MiG-21, one missile hitting its tail, forcing the
pilot to eject. The American aircraft were now
targeted by SAMs and Olds ordered everybody
to withdraw towards the Laotian border. The
entire combat had lasted 12min.
The final four flights of 8th TFW aircraft arr-
ived to find the engagement over and, wary
of the SAM threat, departed the area. The Da
Nang-based East Force assessed the weather
conditions and decided against penetrating
North Vietnamese airspace. Two Phantoms of the
Ubon-based West Force had aborted the mission
for technical reasons, and ultimately only 26 of
the 56 assigned fighters entered the target area; of
those only 12 had engaged.
The triumphant return of the Phantoms was
awaited at Ubon. All the pilots performed their
traditional victory rolls except Stone, who,
exhilarated that his planning had worked as
planned but exhausted, did not want to push his
luck and landed directly. Olds organised a huge
party for all involved, taking care to thank the
groundcrews for their efforts too.
The USAF claimed a record seven MiG-21s
shot down on a single engagement during
Bolo. The American missiles, well maintained
and upgraded for the operation, had worked
well, achieving a kill ratio of 20 per cent for the
AIM-7E Sparrow and 33 per cent for the AIM-9BABOVE Olds (left) before he had
grown his distinctive but strictly
non-regulation moustache, alongside
Capt John B. Stone, the operations
officer responsible for planning Bolo.
LEFT Captain Walter Radeker of the
555th TFS poses with an “FG”-coded
Phantom of the 433rd TFS at Ubon in
Thailand in early 1967. The Phantoms
were pooled for Bolo, and only those
WALTER RADEKER III VIA WARREN THOMPSON deemed best were used.
USAF