Episode 01: Operation Bolo

By the end of 1966, U.S. Air Force fighter pilots were incredibly frustrated by rising aircraft and aircrew losses, restrictive rules of engagement, and the North Vietnamese Air Force’s ‘hit-and-run’ tactics. The pilots were looking for an opportunity to seize the initiative and destroy the North Vietnamese’s premier fighter, the MiG-21. The North Vietnamese were extremely careful with their limited number of MiG-21s, launching them only when their air defence network determined slow and non-maneuvrable fighter-bombers were conducting unescorted strikes in North Vietnam. Air Force legend, then-Colonel Robin Olds, Commander of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing ‘Wolfpack,’ at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, devised a plan to dupe the North Vietnamese Air Force into believing his F-4 Phantom IIs were a large formation of unescorted F-105 Thunderchiefs, which he believed would draw out the MiG-21s. On 2 January 1967, Olds and his Wolfpack executed Operation Bolo and destroyed seven MiG-21s with no friendly losses. The plan was elaborate, and successful execution relied on deception, predictive and actionable intelligence, and a well-integrated force package. Bolo remains one of the most successful air operation in U.S. Air Force history. In this episode, the Airpower Gorilla describes the operation, how it came to be executed, the mission itself, its impact on the air war over Vietnam, and its enduring legacy.