For eleven days In December 1972, B-52s penetrated the strongest air defense network ever encountered In the history of aerial warfare to bomb military targets in Hanoi and Haiphong, North Vietnam. Code named Linebacker II, this operation brought the North Vietnamese to the bargaining table to end the Vietnam War. The crews who flew the B-52s In Southeast Asia called the aircraft the Buf(F). B-52D 55-0094 is seen at sundown, eastbound From U Tapao, Thailand, to its target In Hanoi. The artist was privileged to fly a combat mission In 094 to the Mu Gia Pass in North Vietnam four years earlier from U Tapao, recovering on Guam on his way home from his November 1968 F-4E deployment across the Pacific to Korat, Thailand. B-52D 094 stands Honorably Retired today on Static Display at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, wounds from an exploding SA-6 SAM over Hanoi clearly visible on her side.
