Operation Patio
Operation Patio | |||||
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Part of the Vietnam War | |||||
B-52 over Cambodia | |||||
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Belligerents | |||||
United States |
North Vietnam Khmer Rouge |
Operation Patio was a covert aerial interdiction effort conducted by the U.S.
Background
On 18 March 1970, Cambodia's chief of state, Prince
General
Operation Patio
On 18 April, Abrams requested authority from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to utilize U.S. tactical aircraft based in South Vietnam for a 30-day period. These aircraft would be acting in concert with Operation Menu, the highly classified bombing of PAVN sanctuaries and Base Areas in eastern Cambodia by USAF B-52 bombers. Two days later the Joint Chiefs granted his request.[4] All communications and messages concerning the operation were to be sent through special, secure channels and aircraft conducting the missions were assigned cover targets in Laos in the same way that the B-52s of Menu were assigned false targets in South Vietnam.[4]
The first strike of the operation was launched on 24 April and plans called for the operation to last for only 30 days, until the third week of May. The aircraft were authorized to strike targets in northeastern Cambodia extending 8 miles (13 km) west of the South Vietnamese border. On 25 April, the boundary was extended to a depth of 18 miles (29 km).[4] The onset of the
References
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
- ^ Sat, Sutsakhan (1987). The Khmer Republic at War and the Final Collapse (PDF). United States Army Center of Military History. p. 59. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
- ISBN 9780815412243.
- ^ Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Command History 1967, Annex F, Saigon, 1968, p. 4.
- ^ ISBN 9780160509148.
- ISBN 9780939526383.