The Way to Survive

The bombing of the DMZ marked an anniversary of sorts. Two years ago this month, the U.S. launched its aerial punishment of the Communist North with the retaliatory raid against Communist PT-boat installations in the Gulf of Tonkin. Six months later, it became a daily routine. The American campaign from the skies is running some 670 sorties a day over both North and South Viet Nam, rivaling that of the Korean War. For the third time, Navy jets returned to the big oil-storage tanks outside the port of Haiphong, claimed afterward that cumulative destruction of the complex now stood at 90%. Though monsoon clouds hampered raids north of the Red River, American planes elsewhere in Ho Chi Minh-land pounded 41 smaller fuel depots, bridges, flak sites and more than 230 barges.

Never before has tactical air power been used so intensively to help fight a ground war. As a result, American pilots in Viet Nam must possess a versatility unknown to their World War II counterparts. They man a varied flock of craft ranging from the sleek, 1,500-mile-an-hour F-4C Phantom jets to windmilling Skyraiders. Their work is peculiarly dangerous, involving multiple threats from sky and ground; more than 300 American planes have been shot down. It takes guts and guile.

Yellow Birds. Typical of the breed--and to many the hottest pilot--is U.S. Air Force Major James Kasler, 40, of Indianapolis, who is dubbed by his wingmates a "one-man Air Force." A World War II tail gunner and six-kill ace in Korea, Kasler in five months of flying missions over the North has limped home four times with his F-105 riddled by flak or MIGs, has seen 30 SAM missiles ("They're long, very slender and a dirty-yellow color") zoom up in his vicinity, tangled in the longest dogfight with MIGs thus far in the war (17 minutes). Six weeks ago, Kasler flew as co-leader of the raid on Hanoi's oil installations.

But his forte is the fine art of target spotting--the No. 1 challenge of a war in which U.S. airmen, in contrast to World War II's saturation-bombing of sprawling cities, must search out isolated objectives against a foe supremely skilled at camouflage. Says a fellow pilot of Kasler: "He is part hawk." Blue-eyed Kasler has his own explanation of the job. "When you know where to look for ground targets," says he, "suddenly they start popping into your vision. When you look at rivers, you are looking for camouflaged boats under overhanging trees. You look for roads running up to rivers. They have to traverse a river somehow, so somewhere near that area are pontoon bridges or barges, motor tugs or ferries."

Shiny Rails. Recently Kasler was roving over North Viet Nam's southern panhandle, where intelligence said no trains had operated for months. "I noticed the tracks were shiny," he recalls. "So I followed them and suddenly I saw a train. Since then, we have destroyed several trains there and put the line out of commission." Last week, busy as ever, Kasler picked out some suspicious tracks leading into an out-of-the-way forested area near North Viet Nam's Mu Gia Pass. "I dropped down to 500 ft., and sure enough, there was a truck. My first burst of 20 mike-mike [Air Forcese for another helpful weapon, his 20-mm. cannon] hit it. It looked like a small Hanoi going off--there was a 2,500-ft. fireball." Joining the attack, Kasler's buddies set off nine other explosions and 18 fires--demolishing what turned out to be a major staging area.

In all, the four-plane flight that Kasler commands as part of the 354th Tactical Fighter Squadron claims to have destroyed or damaged 219 buildings, 66 barges, 53 railroad cars, 44 trucks, 36 fuel tanks, 28 bridges and 16 flak sites--a record for any such air unit. And, miraculously, in 72 missions Kasler has yet to be shot down--though statistically, every American airman is downed at least once by the time he has reached 60 missions. The Indianan has an explanation for that too. Says he: "The best way to survive is by being aggressive."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.