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Phantom Raiders by Simon Atack. (FLY)
Just 50 miles north west of Hanoi in North Vietnam, lies the long and winding valley of the infamous Red River - a name that was to become bitterly familiar to the F4U Phantom pilots of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing. Flowing for miles through the countrys deep interior, the waters of the Red River fed the strategically important steel mills at Thai Nguyen, and the power stations at Viet Tri; they also irrigated the rice and shrimp paddy fields that fed the armies of the North Vietnamese and Vietcong, distributed to the combat areas through a sophisticated network of hidden trails and tracks, bridges and railways. Defending these vitally important targets was a vast array of anti-aircraft systems of every conceivable type and calibre; at Yen Bai the North Vietnamese even established a secret fighter airfield where their Mig jet fighters were hidden in hangars dug by hand deep into the surrounding hills - in short it was one of the most heavily defended and awesome places on Earth. But these targets had to be destroyed, and one aircraft above all others became inextricably and forever linked with the fast, low-level jet attacks to obliterate these heavily fortified objectives - the legendary F4U Phatnom, the fastest, the most powerful, versatile fighter of the day. The bravery and determination of the Phantom crews as they flew into the maelstroms of intense, deadly, flak and ground fire remain an inspiration to all ground attack combat pilots and crew. Simon Atacks powerful limited edition depicting the high-speed, low-level attack by F4 Phantoms of the 435th Tactical Fighter Squadron on the bridge near Viet Tri, 24 May 1967. |
