This month marks the 48th anniversary of the start of the Linebacker bombing campaign in the Vietnam War. Its 1st day, May 10, 1972, saw the biggest air-to-air combat of the war and the war's 1st American ace. Here's a thread about it:

The campaign was a response to the "Easter Offensive," which was a switch in communist forces' tactics. Moving away from their usual insurgency approach, they attacked the South with massive infantry, artillery, and tanks. These are more vulnerable to air power

Linebacker also called for a more intensive bombing of the North: attacking more targets at once, hitting previously restricted targets, and using new weapons like laser-guided bombs and TOW missiles

This increased bombing up North meant the North Vietnamese Air Force's MiG fleet came up to stop those bombers, and US fighters went after them, mostly with newer model F-4 Phantoms.

The first morning of Linebacker, May 10, 1972, started with Air Force strikes against targets in Hanoi. USAF F-4Ds had a new advantage, the APX-80 "Combat Tree" system that could detect MiGs from far beyond visual range

The F-4s detected several MiG-21s and -19s and went after them. Firing a flurry of AIM-7 Sparrows, USAF pilots shot down 3 MiG-21s. One of the credits went to Cptns Steve Ritchie and Charles DeBellevue. Later they would become the 1st USAF aces of the war.

Another of those kills went to Maj Bob Lodge and 1Lt Roger Locher. It was their third kill, and many thought Lodge was sure to become the 1st American ace. But while chasing a target, a MiG-19 shot them from behind

Lodge apparently chose to go down with the plane rather than be captured, to which colleagues said "He was that kind of guy." Locher, a fellow K-State grad, ejected and had an adventure that I talked about in this thread: https://twitter.com/Hankinstien/status/1232308767175233536

Later in the day, the Navy led a major attack on Haiphong and got into an ever bigger brawl. Using improved comms jamming, the Navy cut off MiG pilots from their ground controllers, turning it into what 1 pilot called "a turkey shoot."

Lts Randy Cunningham and Willie Driscoll managed to shoot down 2 MiG-17s before a 3rd got behind them and started a vertical climbing fight. Cunningham & Driscoll knew the F-4 had the advantage in the vertical

With clever maneuvering, they took out the third MiG-17, which was their 5th, making Cunningham & Driscoll the 1st American aces of the Vietnam War. One their way back they got hit by a SAM and ejected into the Gulf before being rescued.

All said and done, on the 1st day of Linebacker, USAF shot down 3 MiGs and lost 2 F-4s (3 KIA, 1 survived), the Navy got 8 MiGs and had 2 F-4s downed by ground weapons (2 rescued, 2 POWs). So what can we take from all this?

Both services were trying new things and were seeing successes. USAF's Combat Tree gear enabled early warning and situational awareness that was vital. Many people point out that the Navy's new Top Gun school paid off here, which has some truth, but I think there's more to it

The Navy was also using new jamming techniques that paid off big time. Plus, their newer model F-4Js had the powerful new AWG-10 radar. Note also that all the kills were with missiles: USAFs were Sparrows, Navy's were Sidewinders

Air-to-air combat doesn't win or lose the war, obviously, but Linebacker marked a big shift in which new technologies and new training worked together & pointed toward a future that looked very different and presaged the Gulf War.