To meet the raid, the VPAF (Vietnam People's Air Force) had sent out two flights of four MiG-17PFs from Noi Bai airbase at 09:47. The original plan was for the first flight to act as a decoy. The second flight never reached the strike force, as flight leader Pham Ngoc Lan spotted F-8E Crusaders from the USS Hancock covering the operation. The metal-finished MiG-17PF, was an all-weather interceptor version of the MiG-17 first flown in 1951. Armed with three 23mm cannons but no missiles, it was a faster upgraded MiG-15 fitted with an afterburning engine, and a radar-ranging gunsight reverse-engineered from the F-86A (as well as a new, more sharply swept wing to increase its critical Mach number, therefore top speed).[5][6]
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873 air sorties were expended against the bridge and it was hit by hundreds of bombs and missiles before finally being destroyed. It became something of a symbol of resistance for the North Vietnamese, and various legends of invincibility were attached to it.For the US planners it became an obsession, and many raids were planned against it despite their unpopularity with the pilots. A cynical rewording of the song the "Red River Valley" was sung by fighter pilots, referring to this dangerous target.[22] 2ff7e9595c
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