About: Rescue of Bat 21 Bravo   Sponge Permalink

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The rescue of Bat 21 Bravo, the call sign for Iceal "Gene" Hambleton, from behind North Vietnamese lines was the "largest, longest, and most complex search-and-rescue" operation during the Vietnam War. On April 2, 1972, the third day of the Easter Offensive, the largest combined arms operation of the entire Vietnam War, Hambleton was a navigator aboard one of two United States Air Force EB-66 aircraft escorting a cell of three B-52s. Bat 21 was configured to gather signals intelligence including identifying North Vietnamese anti-aircraft radar installations to enable jamming. Bat 21 was destroyed by a SA-2 surface-to-air missile and Hambleton was the only survivor, parachuting behind the front lines into a battlefield filled with thousands of North Vietnamese Army soldiers.

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  • Rescue of Bat 21 Bravo
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  • The rescue of Bat 21 Bravo, the call sign for Iceal "Gene" Hambleton, from behind North Vietnamese lines was the "largest, longest, and most complex search-and-rescue" operation during the Vietnam War. On April 2, 1972, the third day of the Easter Offensive, the largest combined arms operation of the entire Vietnam War, Hambleton was a navigator aboard one of two United States Air Force EB-66 aircraft escorting a cell of three B-52s. Bat 21 was configured to gather signals intelligence including identifying North Vietnamese anti-aircraft radar installations to enable jamming. Bat 21 was destroyed by a SA-2 surface-to-air missile and Hambleton was the only survivor, parachuting behind the front lines into a battlefield filled with thousands of North Vietnamese Army soldiers.
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  • left
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  • --04-07
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abstract
  • The rescue of Bat 21 Bravo, the call sign for Iceal "Gene" Hambleton, from behind North Vietnamese lines was the "largest, longest, and most complex search-and-rescue" operation during the Vietnam War. On April 2, 1972, the third day of the Easter Offensive, the largest combined arms operation of the entire Vietnam War, Hambleton was a navigator aboard one of two United States Air Force EB-66 aircraft escorting a cell of three B-52s. Bat 21 was configured to gather signals intelligence including identifying North Vietnamese anti-aircraft radar installations to enable jamming. Bat 21 was destroyed by a SA-2 surface-to-air missile and Hambleton was the only survivor, parachuting behind the front lines into a battlefield filled with thousands of North Vietnamese Army soldiers. Hambleton had Top Secret access to Strategic Air Command operations and was an expert in surface-to-air missile countermeasures. The North Vietnamese Army may have possessed information about his presence in Vietnam and his capture would have meant a huge intelligence bonanza for the Soviet Union. Hambleton along with 1st Lt. Mark Clark, who was shot down during rescue operations, were finally recovered from behind the front lines on two different nights in daring, covert, night-time rescues carried out by U.S. Navy SEAL Thomas R. Norris and VNN commando Nguyen Van Kiet. Norris was awarded the Medal of Honor and Nguyen was recognized with the Navy Cross for their actions. Nguyen was the only South Vietnamese naval officer given that award during the war. The Air Force did not put limits on what it took to rescue a downed airman. The direct and indirect cost of rescuing Hambleton was enormous and became a watershed event in Air Force search and rescue. To prevent friendly fire incidents, the Americans imposed a standard no-fire zone within a radius of Hambleton and diverted aircraft to aid in his rescue. It is likely that additional South Vietnamese soldiers indirectly died as a result. Five additional aircraft were shot down during rescue attempts, directly resulting in the deaths of 11 airmen, the capture of two others, and another air man trying to evade capture. The added deaths, loss of aircraft, and length of the rescue operation led the USAF to change the way they planned and conducted search and rescue missions. As a result they developed new techniques and equipment to improve their ability to rescue downed air men.
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