Operation Flaming Dart

Part of the Vietnam War

Date	7–24 February 1965
Location	North Vietnam
Result	Strategic USAF and VNAF failure; escalation of the war

Belligerents

Commanders and leaders

Lyndon B. Johnson

Ho Chi Minh

Operation Flaming Dart was a U.S. and (South) Vietnam Air Force military operation, conducted in two parts, during the Vietnam War.

United States President Lyndon B. Johnson in February 1965 ordered a series of reprisal air strikes after several attacks on U.S. bases by Vietcong units, particularly in reply to a mortar attack at Pleiku. During these attacks, Viet Cong sappers planted demolition charges that destroyed four C-7 Caribous, four light aircraft, and five helicopters and damaged a further eleven helicopters.

Forty-nine retaliatory sorties were flown for Flaming Dart I on 7 February 1965. Flaming Dart I targeted North Vietnamese army bases near Đồng Hới, while the second wave targeted Vietcong logistics and communications near the Demilitarized Zone. Among the pilots was Air Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, then a member of Vietnam's ruling junta.

The Vietcong attacked a hotel billeting U.S. personnel in reaction to Flaming Dart I, prompting the Flaming Dart II air strikes. The U. S. Navy launched 99 fighter-bombers from three aircraft carriers—the USS Hancock, the USS Coral Sea, and the USS Ranger. While the naval aircraft bombed Chanh Hoa, the Vietnamese Air Force and the U. S. Air Force attacked Chap Le. While the VNAF used 28 propeller-driven A-1 Skyraiders, the USAF had an equal number of jet-powered F-100 Super Sabres on target. While Americans with Farm Gate had been flying combat with their South Vietnamese counterparts, the USAF strikes in South Vietnam escalated the war by their use of jet aircraft.

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