October 6, 1972
Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 11:18 pm
The Than Hoa bridge in N Viet Nam went BOOM and fell down.
It was also known as the Dragon's Jaw bridge,
It was the most heavily defended bridge in North Vietnam. Over 100 Us aircraft were shot down trying to take out that bridge. 
That moring, two A-7C's belonging to VA-82 Marauders, piloted by Lt Commander Leighton (Snuffy) Smith and LtJg. James Brister, rolled in and dropped their Mk84, 2000lb gen purpose bombs and SPLATTERED that punk!!
There were only two operational A7-C squadrons in the Navy. The C bird had the A/B series engine with the E series electronics and M-61 gun. We were flying them becasue just prior to our deployment, the entire E series birds were downed because of engine issues. They sent us a bunch of C birds from Davis Monthan and we worked our butts off getting them painted in our squadron's markings and operational. the other "Charlie:" squadron was VA-86 "Sidewinders"
Both Squadrons are still operational and flying F-18's nowadays.
Those bombs wer loaded by my mates and I and I put the M904E2 nose fuses in 'em.
. Everything performed as advertised.
Neither Snuffy nor Mr Brister recieved any damage from the AAA that painting the sky black around that place.
For a big pic of what was left after the smoke cleared..
http://webpages.charter.net/palm.willia ... Bridge.bmp
You can tell there was a LOT of stuff thrown at that place from the great whackin holes in the ground.
RVAH-6 ( Heavy 6 ) flying the old RA-5C "Vigilante" took the pictures for the bomb damage assessment. It was also the ONLY place in N Viet Nam that the NVA AAA would try to shoot them down. Those old Vigi's would haul the mail when they pointed them down hill with both burners lit.
Of all the crappola on the web that I've read, none of them have gotten all the pilots names right at the same time.
It was also known as the Dragon's Jaw bridge,
It was the most heavily defended bridge in North Vietnam. Over 100 Us aircraft were shot down trying to take out that bridge. That moring, two A-7C's belonging to VA-82 Marauders, piloted by Lt Commander Leighton (Snuffy) Smith and LtJg. James Brister, rolled in and dropped their Mk84, 2000lb gen purpose bombs and SPLATTERED that punk!!
There were only two operational A7-C squadrons in the Navy. The C bird had the A/B series engine with the E series electronics and M-61 gun. We were flying them becasue just prior to our deployment, the entire E series birds were downed because of engine issues. They sent us a bunch of C birds from Davis Monthan and we worked our butts off getting them painted in our squadron's markings and operational. the other "Charlie:" squadron was VA-86 "Sidewinders"
Both Squadrons are still operational and flying F-18's nowadays.
Those bombs wer loaded by my mates and I and I put the M904E2 nose fuses in 'em.
. Everything performed as advertised.Neither Snuffy nor Mr Brister recieved any damage from the AAA that painting the sky black around that place.
For a big pic of what was left after the smoke cleared..
http://webpages.charter.net/palm.willia ... Bridge.bmp
You can tell there was a LOT of stuff thrown at that place from the great whackin holes in the ground.
RVAH-6 ( Heavy 6 ) flying the old RA-5C "Vigilante" took the pictures for the bomb damage assessment. It was also the ONLY place in N Viet Nam that the NVA AAA would try to shoot them down. Those old Vigi's would haul the mail when they pointed them down hill with both burners lit.
Of all the crappola on the web that I've read, none of them have gotten all the pilots names right at the same time.
