At War, But Out of Harms Way

I served on a Minot AFB B-52 crew from 1970-72, and in early July 1971 our crew left Minot on a 4-month temporary duty assignment that included about 95 days at U-Tapao AFB near Pataya, Thailand. While in Thailand, our crew flew 58 missions, each with two other B-52s.

Since each of the three planes carried 66 bombs, a typical mission dropped 198 bombs on the designated target. The US was not yet bombing North Vietnam; those missions began about six months after our crew's return from Thailand. Our very destructive missions were relatively safe for the aircrews.