Document created: 1 June 06
Air & Space Power Journal - Summer 2006

Launch the Intruders: A Naval Attack Squadron in the Vietnam War, 1972 by Carol Reardon. University Press of Kansas (http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu), 2502 Westbrooke Circle, Lawrence, Kansas 66045-4444, 2005, 440 pages, $34.95 (hardcover).

Carol Reardon, an accomplished military historian of nineteenth-century America, has served as an editor of the Papers of Henry Clay and has written two attention-getting books on the legacy of the Civil War. The first book looks at the impact of the conflict on the system of professional military education during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era; the second explores the history and memory of Pickett’s Charge. She now turns her attention towards another war and a totally different topic—naval aviation—in an effort to avoid becoming a “one-war wonder” among military historians.

As the subtitle implies, this book is a unit history of one naval-aviation squadron during the last stages of the Vietnam War. Medium Attack Squadron 75 (VA-75) (the “Sunday Punchers”), which flew off the USS Saratoga (CVA-60), lacks the notoriety of squadrons such as Freiherr Manfred von Richthofen’s Flying Circus, the Eagle Squadrons of the Royal Air Force, or Greg Boyington’s Black Sheep. The Sunday Punchers, though, were the best in the Navy at the time, receiving in 1972 the Admiral C. Wade McClusky Award presented by the chief of naval operations to the best attack squadron. This lack of attention is one of the reasons Reardon decided to study this squadron. VA-75 flew A-6 Intruders and participated in the two Linebacker operations of 1972. Other than the novel and film Flight of the Intruder, naval aviation in general and the tactical-attack community in particular have received little attention from those who write about airpower in Vietnam. “This is an effort to explore, through one squadron’s experiences, the contribution of the A-6 to LINEBACKER I and II” (p. xv).

The account that follows is the product of a good deal of varied historical research. Appearing at a history conference while she was working on this book, Reardon remarked that she considered the greatest strength of the project the fact that many of the veterans were still alive and consented to interviews. At the same time, their willingness to talk posed the greatest problem she had in writing this book. We all know that memory is a tricky thing and that war stories get better and better with each telling. Judging from the text, though, having living sources proved an important asset for Reardon. Many of the squadron members shared their personal papers, diaries, and photos with her, thus giving the account more immediacy and detail than it would have had otherwise. These types of documents often end up long forgotten in attics, and surviving family members rarely know what to do with them.

Although Reardon gives ample attention to combat operations, she is not one to focus just on bombs and bullets. Rather, she examines the debate over A-6 doctrine and spends time looking at the enlisted personnel in the squadron and the maintenance problems they faced in keeping planes in the air. Furthermore, covering the lives of family members who stayed at home adds rich detail and explains the concerns of many squadron members.

No book is perfect. The use of military acronyms seems excessive at times but will probably not bother readers of this journal. The study also lacks a conclusion that firmly assesses the impact of the A-6 on the Linebacker operations. These blemishes aside, this book is authoritative, and any officer taking command of a squadron should read it carefully.

Dr. Nicholas Evan Sarantakes
University of Southern Mississippi

Disclaimer

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.

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