BEHIND THE LINES

Flight Journal: How did the idea for the book come about between the two of you?

Barrett Tillman: In the late ’80s, I was managing editor of the Tailhook Association’s quarterly, and we ran several articles on Vietnam. I began noticing vastly different numbers for U.S. aircraft lost in attacks on Thanh Hóa Bridge: from 10 to 100+ (the Vietnamese claim for the immediate area). So I spent a lot of time going through nearly 3,000 entries in the Center for Naval Analyses’ list of Southeast Asia in-flight losses. I came up with 11 to start, and during the five-year work on Dragon’s Jaw I added three more. Therefore, when Steve called me in April 2014, suggesting that we work together, we had the basic format we needed.

FJ: Was there any kind of message you wanted to get across to the reading public?

BT: Actually, we wrote the book more for those who flew against Thanh Hóa Bridge than for a general audience because so many of the survivors had waited 50 years or more to tell their stories. But along the way, we realized that the bridge was a microcosm for “that crazy Asian war.”

FJ: In doing research for the book, did you come across anything surprising and/or upsetting?

BT: Yes, in an unexpected way. Among the 14 verified losses of U.S. aircraft targeted on the bridge, there were no A-4s. It was surprising because more Skyhawks were lost than any other naval aircraft during the war. Half of the losses were F-105s.