{"id":45499,"date":"2018-02-08T20:23:47","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T20:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/02\/08\/as-tet-offensive-erupted-this-air-force-vet-bombed-his-own-base-to-repel-attack\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:49:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:49:32","slug":"as-tet-offensive-erupted-this-air-force-vet-bombed-his-own-base-to-repel-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2018\/02\/08\/as-tet-offensive-erupted-this-air-force-vet-bombed-his-own-base-to-repel-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"As Tet Offensive erupted, this Air Force vet bombed his own base to repel attack"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Military Times spoke with one of two F-100 Super Sabre pilots who carried out airstrikes to save U.S troops during the Vietnam War’s Battle of Bien Hoa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

On the first full day of the Tet Offensive<\/a>, F-100 Super Sabre pilot 1st Lt. \u201cFearless\u201d Fred Abrams was given a mission like no other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army<\/a> had sprung multiple, coordinated surprise attacks<\/a> on U.S. and South Vietnamese forces. The situation was especially dire<\/a> at Bien Hoa Air Base<\/a>, where Abrams was stationed with the 531st Tactical Fighter Squadron and where Viet Cong forces launched an early morning attack on Jan. 31, 1968. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of the day, Abrams and his flight lead, the late Maj. Joe Bulger, had carried out danger-close airstrikes on the building where the VC had dug in to make their last stand, ending the battle. Abrams said it is believed to be the only time in Air Force history that the service\u2019s fighter jets were scrambled to carry out airstrikes on their own base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fifty years later<\/a>, almost to the very hour, Abrams and other F-100 pilots gathered at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum\u2019s Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, to commemorate the battle. The event, organized by the Super Sabre Society, took place in the shadow of an F-100 that was stationed at Bien Hoa \u2015 about 16 miles northeast of the city formerly known as Saigon \u2015 during the Tet Offensive, though not one of the two that flew that day. A painting of the F-100 taking off during the battle by renowned aviation artist Keith Ferris was unveiled during the ceremony and added to the Smithsonian\u2019s F-100 display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the ceremony, Abrams reflected on the extraordinary battle that took place a half-century ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The battle began at 3 a.m., when the VC attacked the base. For hours, Air Force security forces and Army troops at Bien Hoa battled the enemy, pushing them back until the Viet Cong established a defensive position in and around a white building on the east end. They were dug in, Abrams said, and no amount of pounding from the Army soldiers and helicopters or security forces could dislodge them. Artillery also wouldn\u2019t work, because the troops were too close to the enemy. So they called in the Super Sabres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe whole east end was hot,\u201d Abrams said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abrams and Bulger were eager to get in the air, but there was a problem: The VC had already destroyed and burned out a visiting F-4 aircraft on the west end of the runway, littering the strip with shrapnel and debris. And if the Super Sabres kicked up even a single piece of that debris during takeoff, they could be destroyed before they even got off the ground. So they had to wait for hours while the flightline was cleared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, about 4 p.m., Abrams and Bulger fired up their F-100s and took off through a hail of thick ground gunfire, the likes of which he had never before seen. But that didn\u2019t rattle him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t think about it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have an expression called \u2018Golden BB\u2019: If they\u2019re gonna hit you, they\u2019re gonna hit you. And if you\u2019re lucky, you make it through and don\u2019t get hit. I\u2019ve been shot up a bunch; I didn\u2019t even take a hit that day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Col. Fred Abrams (ret.) stands in front of a F-100 Super Sabre at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center. Abrams was ordered to drop bombs on his own air base to counter Viet Cong guerillas during the Tet Offensive. (John Bretschneider\/Staff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But the 101st Airborne troops were so close to the enemy that any airstrike risked killing them, too. Abrams and Bulger circled the area while the soldiers pulled back. Finally, after about an hour and a half, they were ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the guidance of an O-1 Bird Dog spotter aircraft, Abrams and Bulger closed in and made three passes each \u2015 the first to drop napalm, and the second and third to drop 500-pound bombs on the target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon afterward, in a letter to his mother, Abrams wrote that it was the most scared he had ever been \u2015 not for his own safety, but for the troops on the ground. Even though they had pulled back, they remained dangerously close to the target, maybe 50 to 100 yards away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was really puckering,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cIf you miss, you\u2019ve just killed your own guys, and that\u2019s about the worst thing you could do. \u2026 You think a lot, \u2018I can\u2019t make a mistake, I can\u2019t make a mistake.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With modern precision-guided munitions still decades away and only \u201cdumb\u201d bombs at their disposal, Abrams and Bulger had to aim incredibly carefully. They flew about 500 miles per hour in a 15-degree dive to release the ordnance about 400 feet off the ground, and had to adjust the projected reticle on the F-100\u2019s sight to take into account how the bomb would drop and drift due to the wind \u2015 all by hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was the pride of your success at doing it accurately,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t some computer telling you what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t