South Vietnamese and U.S. Jets Blast North Vietnamese Weapons Depot

Mar. 14, 1965 - South Vietnamese fighter-bombers, cloaked by clouds and protected by U.S jets, blasted into debris today a Communist supply base on tiny Tiger Island, 26 miles off the coast of North Vietnam.

The same overcast skies that helped the 24 Vietnamese planes to swoop in undetected on Tiger Island also spared North Vietnam an attack by American jets.

U.S. planes were set for a strike on another North Vietnamese base, but bad weather postponed the mission.

Officials said the South Vietnamese Skyraiders dumped 60 tons of bombs on barracks, depots, and supply dumps on mile-square Tiger Island. They also reported knocking out 49 gun emplacements and 12 coast defense positions.

Gen. Nguyen Cao Ky, air force chief, led the raiding force. Observers who saw the strike force return to Da Nang air base said two American Air Force officers were among the Skyraider pilots.

“I think we caught them by surprise,” Gen. Ky said afterward, “because we went a little farther north and then went back and attacked them.”

An undisclosed number of U.S. jets went into the target area ahead of the South Vietnamese planes to scourge flak installations. They remained on patrol until the mission was completed. 

U.S. B-57 bombers and F-100 fighter bombers also mounted several strikes against suspected guerrilla positions in South Vietnam. The attacks were made in provinces southwest and northwest of Saigon.In related news, two U.S. Marines from the recently landed force now guarding the Da Nang base were seriously wounded today, Reuters reported. The two, first of the newly arrived Marines to become combat casualties, were guarding an outlying hill outpost.

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