12/5/2012 - BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of articles highlighting the B-52's involvement in the Vietnam Conflict up to Operation Linebacker II. The 40th Anniversary of Linebacker II takes place Dec. 18-29.
An FB-111, tail number 67-7194, flies 50,000 feet over the target. The charted path, altitudes and target site had been planned days before, just like any other sortie. The bomber crew approaches their target, radar from below locks on to the air craft. The crew jams the signal, quickly enough to break the automatic tracking lock. With the target below, the weapons operator releases the weapon.
The bomb run described was not an attack on a hostile location, but a simulated practice bombing run against the Combat Evaluation Group (CEVG) in Northern Wyoming. The bomb they dropped was not ordinance, it was an electronic signal used to calculate how close a bomb would have come to the target. The only difference between this training sortie and a war time strike was electronic scoring. The ability to score these practice sorties made the CEVG important in training, maintaining and standardizing the way Strategic Air Command (SAC) bomber crews preformed their missions from 1961 through the early 1990s.
Prior to 1961, during the formative years of SAC, bomber crews suffered from high accident rates, low bombing accuracy and lack of command standardization. Gen. Curtis LeMay in 1949, formed a new squadron to standardize and instruct aircrew bombing across SAC, he formed the 3908th Strategic Evaluation Squadron. On Aug. 1, 1961, the 3908 SES combined with 1st Radar Bomb Scoring, a World War II-activated ground based radar bomb scoring group. This combined group had a three-fold mission; to create command standardization, to provide radar bomb and electronic warfare scoring and provide contingence combat support.
With headquarters at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., the CEVG had permanent detachments in more than 10 states including; Maine, New York, Kentucky, Colorado, Idaho and Arizona to name a few. The CEVG also had locations in Korea, Guam and Germany. With all of these locations having completely different terrains, crews could train for nearly any mission, and be afforded realistic locations.
Strategic Air Command crews were not the only ones who used the training sites. Navy, Marines, National Guard, NATO and Korean Forces all used the radar scoring system to gauge the accuracy of their bomb drops. Strategic Air Command crews, in particular, practiced so regularly they became over prepared at flying against the stationary targets, so SAC took the Radar Bomb Scoring, or RBS, portion of the CEVG that detected how close a bomb drop was to the target by using electronic signals and combined the RBS task with the mobile capability of a train, creating the RBS Express to increases the degree of bombing difficulty.
Originally using borrowed Army Hospital cars, planners designed the Express to be a self-contained facility, intended for remote locations. Lodging, maintenance and scoring equipment, SAC equipped the train cars with all the necessities to perform the RBS mission. The RBS Express began running routes in February 1961 before becoming part of the CEVG. The men on the RBS Express went on call 24 hours a day in remote duty locations for 45-day tours and serving two tours a year. The trains would be on location for months at a time before moving.
The Express crews scored the flights exactly the same the stationary sites did. The RBS transmitted S and X band radio waves at the approaching plane. This allowed the RBS to communicate directly with the incoming bombers and to score the mock bomb drop. Once the RBS crew picked up the plane on the radar screen, they begin playing the role of an enemy target. First the RBS crew locked on to the aircraft, giving the Electronic Warfare Officer on the plane, seconds to detect the lock-on and counter jam it, or in theory, the aircraft would had been scored as destroyed. The electronic warfare officer must also concurrently detect other types of electronic interference the RBS created while jamming the CEVG.
The RBS crew graded the reaction time and effectiveness in all cases graded and the total added to the overall bomb run score. Meanwhile, ground crews produced different jamming signals to block the radar navigator's image of the target area. This technique tested the ability of the radar navigator to hit the target in adverse conditions.
The primary scoring radar was also locked on to the bomber and plotted the course of the bomber. When the bomber was a certain distance of the target the radar navigator transmitted a high pitched tone that the RBS site received. The radar tracking equipment followed the tone until the bombardier mock dropped the weapon, causing a break in the tone received by the RBS. Bomber crews often referred to theses practice missions as dropping tones. Once the mock weapon was released, the tone would break and the RBS men determined mathematically the ground speed, direction and location a real bomb would have exploded.
By using the RBS system, SAC standardized bomber flying, and identify weakness in training. The CEVG did not exist just to remedy weak flyers, but identified the best flyers. Since 1961, the CEVG assumed the responsibility of scoring the Bomb Comp. By using the same methods they would have used to score any other bomb run the CEVG determined who won the prestigious Competition.
In addition to their other duties, in 1966, the men of the CEVG began fulfilling their contingency operations role in the Vietnam War. When the U.S. began using the B-52, commanders found that the crews had trouble navigating and delivering ordnances with accuracy. The thick vegetation and rolling terrain of Vietnam limited their ability to use radar. To remedy this, SAC used the CEVG to direct aerial bombing raids, under the code name Combat Sky Spot. The CEVG personnel guided bombers along a designated routes, and signaled aircrews when to release their weapons. More than 3,000 men manned multiple Sky Spot locations, 24 hours a day, from March 1966 until August 1973 in South Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. They directed more than 300,000 USAF, Navy, and Marine sorties, including reconnaissance and rescue. They also directed 150,000 tactical air strikes, as well as 75 percent of all B-52 strikes. The men in Sky Spot also participated in many Arc Light sorties including the Linebacker II missions. Unfortunately, like many who supported Vietnam, Sky Spot suffered causalities.
Civilian surveyors and builders as well as Airmen died in building Sky Spot locations, and unfortunately once built, radar sites were vulnerable. Once located, the Sky Spot personnel became high targets, as hostile Vietnamese realized that by destroying a relatively undefended radar building that U.S. air power became inaccurate and ineffective.
Recently, some of the men and women of the CEVG held a reunion at Barksdale AFB. Many talked about the missions they were a part of, or what it was like at these secluded radar sites, but mainly they spoke about impact the CEVG had on their lives. For many, traveling on the CEVG Express allowed them to go places in the country that they would have otherwise not have seen, and to visit with people they otherwise would never come into contact. People who never had contact with the military or the Air Force before. Memories were shared about how communities would adopt the RBS teams during the holiday season, and the events in the towns they participated in.
The 1 CEVG held a unique mission in SAC's history. Though the Air Force has nothing to compare to it today, with most ordnance being GPS or laser guided, the CEVG represented something completely SAC - a group whose main purpose was to train bomber crews to be flawless at their work. Practice and perfection is what these crew offered to the bomber community. With their unique mission, they are if nothing else an interesting part of our SAC past.
Below is as complete a list as can be formed at this time from the AFGSC History Office records of the CEVG combat casualties.
Lt. Col. Clarence F. Blanton
Tech. Sgt. James H. Calfee
Staff Sgt. James W. Davis
Chief Master Sgt. Richard L. Etchberger
Staff Sgt. Henry G. Gish
Staff Sgt. John P. Guerin
Staff Sgt. Willis R. Hall
Tech. Sgt. Melvin A. Holland
Airman 1st Class Rufus L. James
Tech. Sgt. Bruce E. Mansfield
Tech Sgt. Antone P. Marks
Staff Sgt. Jerry Olds
Staff Sgt. David S. Price
Tech. Sgt. Patrick L. Shannon
Tech Sgt. Lowell V. Smith
Tech Sgt. Donald K. Springsteadah
Staff Sgt. Ephraim Vasquez
Staff Sgt. Don F. Worley
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