THE TONKIN GULF YACHT CLUB
EXAMINING THE ROLE OF NAVAL AVIATION IN THE VIETNAM WAR Author: Thomas Mckelvey Cleaver Publisher: Osprey Publishing Price: £20 On sale: 14 October
In July 1964, a North Vietnamese attack on US warships in the Gulf of Tonkin sparked direct American involvement in the Vietnam War. Within days, US Navy aircraft were making retaliatory attacks on the Communist Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam. It was the start of a decade-long commitment, which would see navy aircraft operating across North Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and the Republic of (South) Vietnam. It was a campaign limited by politics and technology, and the Navy found their superior equipment was far less effective than hoped. The author pulls no punches in critiquing the shortcomings of American tactics and technology, which were geared towards intercepting lumbering nuclear bombers and ill-suited to swirling dogfights. Solutions including new aircraft and missile types, and the establishment of the Navy Fighter Weapons School – ‘Top Gun’. Marked improvements in performance followed.
This book examines the development of the US Navy’s campaigns from the initial 1964 strikes to the fall of Saigon and Mayaguez Incident of 1975. The story is told largely from the US point of view but also covers the development of the North Vietnamese air defences, with testimony from Vietnamese aircrew. The author achieves a good balance between the technicalities of the equipment and the human experiences of the operators, making the book both detailed and readable. Although the author concentrates on the fighter war, other roles – ground attack, tanker, electronic warfare, search and rescue – are also covered. Throughout the author quotes extensively from surviving aircrew to put the reader right in the cockpit.