WW2 DESERTER

V I E T N A OR
M PATRIOT?
RA A F CA N B E R RA I N ACT I O N

WW2 DESERTER
V I E T N A OR
M PATRIOT?
CA N B E R RA

MAGPIE WEAPONRY

Tom Spencer describes Australia Canberra operations in Vietnam

Usually, 2 Squadron dropped

World War Two vintage
500lb (and 1,000lb bombs in
sticks. To increase the load,
engineers developed a wing
tip bomb rack to replace the
drop tank to supplement
those carried in the bomb
The last bomb dropped by 2 Squadron
bay.
In August 1968 HQ 7th
in Vietnam on the specially developed
wing tip pylon.
Air Force decided to employ
the Canberra mainly for visual bombing and standardised on
USAF 750lb weapons with six being carried.

Right

Fully bombed up Canberra

B.20 A84-228 heading
towards its target in
Vietnam. ALL RAAF VIA
AUTHOR UNLESS NOTED

Far right

Bombs from the Wg Cdr

Jack Boasts Canberra
exploding on a road
target near Phu Cat in
November 1969.

ouching down at Phan Rang,

northeast of Saigon, the
Magpies arrived in Vietnam on
April 19, 1967. The first Canberra
jet bombers of 2 Squadron Royal
Australian Air Force (RAAF) were
part of the Australias commitment to
the defence of South Vietnam against
the communist Viet Cong guerrillas
and North Vietnamese regular forces.
Given the callsign Magpie after 2
Squadrons badge, the eight Canberra
B.20s were integrated into the
USAFs 35th Tactical Fighter Wing
to provide support by day and night.
Led by Wg Cdr Rolf Aronson, the
Magpies began operations after just
four days familiarisation. Wg Cdr
Vin Hill, OC Flying for 2 Squadron,
flew Canberra A84-240 off on the
first mission on April 23 to attack a
supply dump.
All the early sorties were Combat
Skyspot missions and mostly staged
at night. One navigator described the

process: You would give the details

of your bomb load and ballistics and
[the controllers] would compute the
release point. The radar would then
guide you to a point in the sky giving
a countdown to bomb release.

Impressive elite
Wg Cdr Aronson pressed the
Americans to allow 2 Squadron to
conduct daylight visual low-level
attacks. Despite US reservations,
the Canberras proved successful
and accurate and they became the
only tactical aircraft to conduct
level bombing from low altitude.
Daylight sorties were also flown
under control of a Forward Air
Controller (FAC) in a spotter
aircraft, often marking the target
with smoke or flares.
The squadrons reputation quickly
grew and when General William
Westmoreland, MACV commander,
visited in October he described

the Magpies as: An elite Canberra

squadron that has impressed me
very much.
During the Communist Tet
Offensive of early 1968 the
Canberras were heavily engaged
against enemy troop positions
around the besieged Marine camp
at Khe Sanh. Although prohibited
from flying into North Vietnam,
the Canberras did occasionally
unwittingly stray across the border,
one crew noted an accidental
incursion of at least 100 miles!
On April 27 the new CO, Wg
Cdr David Evans, made a daylight
strike along a canal in the face of
anti-aircraft fire destroying several
sampans and bunkers and killing
19 enemy troops. He conducted
another successful attack in midSeptember under control of a FAC
whose pilot recalled: We were
being subjected to heavy ground
fire on the way to a target. I was

Above

Aircrew brieng for a

mission at Phan Rang
in 1968.
Below

Canberra B.20 A84-246

heading back to base in
late 1970. J W BENNETT

able to silence heavy ground fire

and obtain BDA [bomb damage
assessment] of six enemy killed,
plus bunkers destroyed.

Ho Chi Minh Trail

Strikes throughout South Vietnam
up to the demilitarized zone
(DMZ) were flown daily, often

in the face of heavy anti-aircraft

artillery and surface-to-air missiles
(SAMs). At times bombing was
carried out directly in front of
troops in contact so accuracy was
paramount.
Attacks on fixed bunker
complexes, supply routes and direct
support to troops were the normal
fare. From April 1970 interdiction
on the Ho Chi Minh Trail began
and the winding route through
the A Shau Valley from Laos was
constantly hit using 1,000lb
bombs.
On November 3, 1970, Canberra
A84-231 was lost while hitting a
target to the north of Da Nang.
The bodies of Fg Off Mike Herbert
and Plt Off Robert Carver were not
found until 2009.
Wg Cdr John Downing became
the CO in 1970 and with his
navigator, Flt Lt Al Pinches; he was
shot down by an SA-2 Guideline

SAM near the DMZ on March

14, 1971. Both ejected and spent
an uncomfortable night in an area
infested with enemy troops before
being rescued.
Soon after this Flt Lt Fenton flew
one of 2s most successful missions
on a target on the Laos-Cambodia
border. Dropping his bombs just
20 yards ahead of US troops under
heavy pressure, 80 enemy personnel
were killed.
This raid was almost 2 Squadrons
swansong as on May 31, 1970, Fg
Offs Dave Smith and Pete Murphy
flew the last Magpie mission in
support of the US 101st Division in
the A Shau Valley. This brought the
sortie total to almost 12,000 for the
loss of seven men and two aircraft.
The Magpies had been awarded
three DSOs, two MBEs, seven
DFSs and an MM. The Battle
Honour Vietnam 1967-1971 for 2
Squadron had been hard won.

Flt Lt Fenton ew one of 2s most successful missions on a target

on the Laos-Cambodia border. Dropping his weapons just 20 yards
ahead of US troops under heavy pressure, 80 enemy personnel
were killed

Magpies
102 FLYPAST September 2015

Repatriation of the missing crew of A84-231, Fg Off

Mike Herbert and Plt Off Robert Carver, in 2009.

104 FLYPAST September 2015

September 2015 FLYPAST 103