Day 7 - Dec. 24, 1972Christmas Eve 1972--for the past seven nights the United States had sent its B-52 bombers over North Vietnam. A majority of the 405 sorties flown as of December 24, 1972 had been concentrated on military targets in Vietnam's capitol city of Hanoi.
The first three evenings of Operation LINEBACKER II nine B-52s had been shot down with another five B-52s damaged by the 114 Soviet made SA-2 Surface-to-Air missiles (SAMS) launched at the fleet.
After the third evening, targets in Hanoi was avoided in hopes to prevent further aircraft losses, preserve B-52 crewmen's lives, and raise crew moral. Missions flown on the previous three nights seem to be doing all three.
No B-52s had been shotdown or damaged since the early morning hours of December 22, 1972.
Missions to be flown on the evening of December 24, 1972 were scheduled following these same tactics. The 307th Strategic Wing at U-Tapao, Thailand provided the 30 B-52Ds necessary to carry out the mission. Twelve B-52Ds were would be the Kep rail yards and the eighteen other B-52Ds would bomb the Thai Nguyen rail yards. Each of these targets were located about forty miles north of Hanoi. Mission plans called for the bomber force to separate, approach the target from multiple directions, and fly at different altitudes while over the target areas. By striking the rail yards, crippled Hanoi's efforts to resupply SAM missiles to their air defense forces. Hanoi was running out of SAM missiles.
The Vietnamese were again caught by surprise. MiGs were scrambled to attack the B-52s. Two cells of B-52s were threatened by a MiG. On December 24, 1972, Airman First Class Albert Moore, the aerial gunner onboard RUBY 03 engaged one of the MiGs and shot it down as it closed within 2,000 yards of his aircraft. This was the second MiG shot down by a B-52 during combat. PURPLE 02, a B-52D, tail number 5051, experienced AAA flak from its initial point (IP) to its bomb release point (BRL) for about five seconds causing only minor damage. Damage to the aircraft was discovered upon completion of the mission after landing safely back at U-Tapao.
