Watch: The Air Force Wages Slow-Motion War From The Air Over Vietnam

These USAF Film Reports Were Originally Classified Because They Were Too Awesome!

The United States Air Force (USAF) produced films reporting the results of air strikes flown over North and South Vietnam. This film, produced by the 1532^nd Photo Group using footage shot by the USAF 600th Photo Squadron and reporting on air airstrikes that took place during early 1968, features both familiar and unfamiliar strike camera footage. North American F-100 Super Sabre, Republic F-105 Thunderchief, and McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter bombers, along with Douglas A-1 Skyraider and Cessna A-37 Dragonfly attack aircraft, are seen delivering ordnance. The film was uploaded to YouTube by PeriscopeFilm. Spoiler Alert:  A bonus video lurks below the rest of the story.

[youtube id=”IdB7f6KSeX4″ width=”800″ height=”454″ position=”left”]

Lots of Variety in This Footage

Air Force units mentioned in the film include the 612^th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS) Screaming Eagles of the 37^th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW), the 355^th TFW Fighting Falcons of the 37^th TFW, the 14^th Air Commando Wing, the 309^th TFS Wild Ducks of the 31^st TFW, 308^th TFS Emerald Knights of the 31st TFW, the 604^th Air Commando Squadron (ACS) Mattel Marauders, the 389^th TFS Thunderbolts of the 366^th TFW, the 559^th TFS Billy Goats of the 12^th TFW, the 557^th TFS of the 12^th TFW, and last but certainly not least the 8^th TFW Wolfpack.

Dropping Everything But the Kitchen Sink

Interestingly the air strike footage is a mix of gun camera and strike camera pod footage. The narrator refers to napalm as “incindigel.” Several types of gravity bombs and munitions are seen in the film, among them M117 750 pound general purpose (GP) bombs, Mark 82, Mark 83, and Mark 84 high-drag bombs, CBU-25 cluster bombs, BLU-23 and BLU-27 napalm canisters, and 2.75 inch folding-fin aerial rockets (FFARs) launched from LAU-3 rocket pods.

Bonus Video:  A similar US Air Force summary film reporting on airstrikes in Vietnam from early 1966 uploaded by PersicopeFilm

[youtube id=”QOENuYqjH74″ width=”800″ height=”454″ position=”left”]