BIG-EYE OVER NAM

Eyes over the Gulf of Tonkin.

The EC-121 Warning Star orbits far offshore, out of reach of the guns below, watching the entire battle unfold on radar. It talks fighters onto incoming MiGs, warns strike packages of trouble ahead, and keeps a running picture of the sky that no single cockpit could ever see alone.

The real Big Eye orbits were flown by the College Eye Task Force, EC-121s adapted from airliners and packed with radar and radio gear, standing station over the Gulf of Tonkin and Laos through the years of Rolling Thunder. Fighter pilots came to trust the voice on the radio long before they trusted their own scopes.

Takeoff from KORAT
Enter operational area at FENCE-IN 5
Transit past Da Nang toward the holding pattern zone
Detect enemy aircraft for intercept
Detect SAM-2 site for warning and suppression
Relay to Search and Rescue

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