Operational since December of 1954, the B-52 Stratofortress bomber aircraft and its distinctive hulking silhouette are familiar, over 70 years Advantage, to anyone living near North Louisiana’s Barksdale Air Force Base. When the B-52 entered service, the Air Force’s Strategic Air Command (SAC) intended it for use in the “Cold War” to deter the expanding and modernizing military of the Soviet Union and its increasing nuclear capabilities. In the 1960s, projects to replace the B-52 with a new bomber had been aborted or scrapped after disappointing results. With the escalating situation in Southeast Asia, B-52 bombers were modified to continue as the US Air Force’s main bomber for eventual combat missions in the Vietnam War. Not all of these modifications were to the actual aircraft itself, but also to its “team.” The B-52s needed some extra help on the ground, and that help came in the form of radar technicians. The 1st Combat Evaluation Group (1CEVG), headquartered at Barksdale, stepped up in a secret mission named Combat Skyspot.
On August 1, 1961, SAC's 1st Radar Bomb Scoring (RBS) Group at Carswell AFB (Fort Worth) had merged with the 3908th Strategic Standardization Group to form the 1st Combat Evaluation Group (1CEVG) at Barksdale Air Force Base. This new organization had the dual mission of providing radar bomb scoring services as well as standardization and evaluation services, filling the constant need for challenging training and testing scenarios. In the mid-1960s, 1CEVG personnel at Barksdale modified SAC RBS equipment to make it capable of directing aircraft at extended distances to the precise release point over a target. These modifications were important because though the B-52 was an especially deadly weapon in itself, its accuracy fell short. The aircraft’s crew needed a way to meet the challenges of accurately finding and distinguishing points and features on the ground from the air, especially with bad weather or other obstructions to visibility.
After several months of testing, Barksdale’s 1CEVG ground-directed bombing (GDB) system was deployed to southeast Asia from various SAC RBS sites under the name Combat Skyspot. The Combat Skyspot sites were maintained and operated for more than ten years by SAC personnel on temporary duty assignments. During deployment, the forward area commander had control of the system, but overall command and administrative control remained under SAC’s 1CEVG at Barksdale.
With its integrated combination of radar, computer, and communications systems, each GDB radar station provided crucial route corrections as the bomber approached the target, and then designated when to release its bombs. The system was so effective that the radar stations and their technicians became prized targets to hostile forces. Over 3,000 Combat Evaluation Group personnel manned ground radar sites in South Vietnam, Thailand and Laos, 24 hours a day from March 1966 to August 1973.
In November 2007, a monument to all the 1st Combat Evaluation Group personnel killed in SE Asia was installed at Barksdale’s 8th Air Force Museum. Featured on the tall, middle panel of the stone triptych was the group’s last and deadliest enemy attack of the Vietnam War, occurring in Laos in March 1968 at the Lima-85 site. North Vietnamese fighters scaled the mountain, atop which sat the radar site and brutally killed 12 men. The men’s names are carved in the panel.
Special space on the panel was given to Chief Master Sgt. Richard L. "Dick" Etchberger, who posthumously received an Air Force Distinguished Cross for saving the lives of at least two of the men at the Lima-85 site. After 11 of the 19 members of the radar crew on the mountain were killed, Etchberger tended to the wounded and fought off the advancing North Vietnamese troops for hours, even though he had little or no combat training, until a rescue helicopter arrived. Braving gunfire, he helped load the wounded onto slings to be lifted into an aircraft hovering overhead. After finally boarding himself, Etchberger was killed after an enemy soldier below fired his AK-47 at the helicopter.
The Combat Skyspot Memorial at Barksdale read, in part:
During their 90-month period of service in Southeast Asia, Combat Skyspot crew directed over 300,000 USAF, Navy, Marine and RVN re-supply, reconnaissance, rescue and tactical air missions as well as 75 percent of all B-52 strikes. Over 3,000 men of CEG manned ground radar sites in South Vietnam, Thailand and Laos 24 hours a day from March 1966 until August 1973. This memorial is dedicated in memory to the nineteen members of CEG who gave their lives in this effort.
The dedication of the monument was not held until June of 2008, to coincide with a reunion of former members of the 1st CEVG and their families. Family members of those memorialized were also in attendance. An official Air Force photo shows Master Sergeant Etchberger’s brother, together with one of the men saved by Etchberger, laying a wreath in front of the monument.
Because the operations were classified, the details of the technician’s deaths were not revealed, or properly honored, until the missions became declassified. The monument was rededicated in 2012, when Chief Master Sgt. Richard L. Etchberger's Air Force Distinguished Cross was upgraded to the Medal of Honor for heroism, and Master Sgt. James H. Calfee's Bronze Star was upgraded to a Silver Star for gallantry in action. Family members were again present, but just as importantly, members of the community attended to honor their sacrifices. Bossier City’s Airline High School Viking Band played for the occasion at the museum, which that same year had been renamed the Barksdale Global Power Museum.
If you have stories or photographs of people connected to SAC at Barksdale, or have served our community in any capacity, please visit or contact us at the History Center. We are located at 7204 Hutchison Drive, Bossier City, LA and are open M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org For other local history facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok, and check out our blog http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/.
Images:
- Combat Sky Spot Area of Effectiveness. With a maximum range of about 230 miles, COMBAT SKY SPOT radars covered most areas of interest, with the notable exception of northern North Vietnam. The installation of a modified COMBAT SKY SPOT site on LS 85 in 1967 covered this gap. (U.S. Air Force photo)
- A photo of Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Richard L. Etchberger taken in an unspecified location in 1968. USAF photo
No comments:
Post a Comment