A real "feel good" story.

Sid


BRIDGES AT TOKO-RI '
The Real Story by
________________________________________
CAPT Paul N. Gray, USN, Ret,
US Naval Academy'41, former CO of VF-54.
________________________________________

Recently, on late night TV . . some friends saw the movie : " The Bridges at Toko-Ri." After seeing it they said : " You planned and led the raid. Why don't you tell us what really happened there at Toko - Ri ? "

Here goes.

I hope Mr. Michener will forgive the actual version of the raid. His fictionalized account certainly makes more exciting reading.

On 12 December 1951 when the raid took place, Air Group 5 was attached to Essex . . the flag ship for Task Force 77. We flew daily strikes against the North Koreans and Chinese. And Man was it was cold out there on that carrier's deck.

The main job was to interdict the flow of supplies coming south from Russia and China. The rules of engagement imposed on us by politicians in Washington would not allow us to bomb the bridges across the Yalu River where the enemies’ supplies could easily have been stopped. We had to wait until they were dispersed then hidden in North Korea. Then . . try to stop them.

The Air Group consisted of two jet fighter squadrons flying Banshees and Grumman Panthers plus two prop attack squadrons flying Corsairs and Sky-raiders. To provide a base for the squadrons, Carrier Essex was stationed 100 miles off the East Coast of
Korea during that bitter cold Winter of 1951 and 1952.
I was CO of VF-54, the Skyraider squadron. VF-54 started with 24 pilots . . seven pilots were killed during the cruise. And the reason 30 percent of our pilots were shot down and lost was due to our mission. The targets were usually heavily defended railroad bridges.

In addition, we were frequently called in to make low-level runs with rockets and napalm to provide close support for the troops.
Due to the nature of the targets assigned, the attack squadrons seldom flew above 2000 or 3000 feet. it was a rare flight when a plane did not come back without some battle damage from enemy AA or ground fire.
The single-engine plane we were flying carry the same bomb load that B-17 bombers carried in WWII. After flying the 100 miles from the carrier, we could stay on station for 4 hours and strafe, drop napalm, fire rockets or drop bombs. The Sky Raider was the right plane for this war.

On a gray December morning, I was called to the flag bridge. Admiral " Black Jack" Perry, [USNA’20] Carrier Division Commander, told me they had a classified request from UN headquarters to bomb some
critical enemy supply bridges . . in the central area of the North Korean peninsula. The bridges were a dispersion point for many of the supplies coming down from the North, and were vital to the flow of most of the essential supplies.

The Admiral asked me to take a look at the targets and see what we could do about taking them out. As I left, the staff intelligence officer handed me the pre-strike photos, the coordinates of the target . .
and said . . to get on with it. He did not mention those bridges were defended by fifty-six [ 56 ] . . radar-controlled anti-aircraft guns.

That same evening, the Admiral invited the four squadron Commanders to his cabin for dinner. Writer James Michener was there.

After dinner, the Admiral asked each squadron commander to describe his experiences in flying over North Korea.
By this time, all of us were hardened veterans of the war and had more than a few ' hairy stories ' to tell about life in the high speed lane over North Korea.

When it came my time, I described how we bombed the railways and strafed anything else that moved.

I also described how we had planned for the next day's strike against some vital railway bridges near a village Michener named Toko-Ri {actual village's name was something else.} Our preparations had been done with extra care. Why ? Because our pre-strike pictures showed the bridges were surrounded by 56 anti-aircraft guns . . and we knew this strike was not going to be just a 'park walk.'

All of the pilots scheduled for the rail bridges raid participated in its planning. A close study of the aerial photos confirmed the 56 guns. Eleven radar sites controlled the guns. They were mainly 37 MM. And some five inch heavies. All were positioned to concentrate on the path we would have to fly to hit the bridges. It was a known World War II air defense system, but still very dangerous.

How were we going to silence those batteries long enough to destroy those strategic bridges ? Those narrow bridges were supporting key railroad tracks . . only three feet wide. To achieve the needed accuracy, we would have to use glide bombing runs to hit those narrow targets.

A glide bombing run is longer and slower than a dive bombing run. And we would be sitting ducks for those radar assisted AA batteries to shoot us down. This meant we needed to destroy the gun radar and guns before we bombed the bridges.

There were four strategies discussed to take out the radar sites. One was to fly in on the deck and strafe the guns and radars. This idea was discarded because the area was too mountainous, and in our way.

The second was to fly in on the deck and fire rockets into the gun sites. But this idea was discarded because our rockets didn't have enough killing power. The third was to come in at a high altitude and drop conventional bombs on the targets. This is what we would normally do. But this idea was also discarded in favor of an insidious cunning modification. We all agreed the best idea would be to come in fairly high, rotate to straight down vertically overhead and release our bombs that were triple checked and carefully fused . . to explode immediately above the protective guns and their radar assisted sites.

To do this, we decided to take 12 planes: 8 Skyraiders and 4 Corsairs.
Each plane would carry a 2,000 pound bomb with a proximity fuse set to detonate about 50 to 100 feet above the ground, allowing shrapnel from those huge bombs to explode in mid-air .. hopefully devastating the exposed enemy gunners and radar operators.

Our flight plan was to fly in at 15,000 feet until entering the target area . . make VERTICAL bombing runs to drop the proximity-fused weapons on them. Each pilot had a specific complex to hit. But as we approached the target we started to pick up some
flak; but it was high and behind us.

At the initial point of the bombing runs we separated and rolled into our vertical dives, where the defensive flak really became heavy.
I rolled in first. After I released my bomb, I pulled out south of the target area and waited for the rest to join up.

One of the Corsairs reported that he had been hit on the way down thus he had to pull out before dropping his bomb. Three other planes suffered minor flak damage but nothing serious yet.
After the join up, I detached from the group and flew over the target area to see if there were any AA guns still firing. Sure enough, there was heavy 37 MM fire from one site. I whipped my airplane around and got out of there in a hurry.

Then I called in our reserve big bomb-laden Skyraider . . still circling at 15,000 feet to strike the remaining gun site. He dropped a one ton bomb which exploded right over the target. Suddenly things became very quiet. The shrapnel from those 2,000 lbs. bombs must have been deadly for the crews serving the guns and radars. We never saw another 37 MM burst from any of the FIFTY SIX radar-directed guns.

From that moment on, it was just another day at the office. Only sporadic machine gun and small arms fire was encountered. As we made repeated glide bombing runs and completely destroyed all
the bridges. We even brought gun camera pictures back to prove those bridges were gone.

After a final check of the target area, we joined up, inspected each others plane for damage before heading for the carrier.

Mr. Michener plus most of the ship's crew watched from Vulture's Row . . while 'Dog' Fannin, the landing signal officer, brought us back aboard. With all the pilots returning to the ship safe and on time, the Admiral was actually seen to be dancing a joyful jig on the flag Bridge.
From that moment on, the Admiral had a soft spot in his heart for us attack pilots. I think his fatherly regard for us had a bearing on what happened in our liberty port after the raid on Toko-ri.

This raid was indeed was exciting. But in our minds, it became dwarfed by the incident that occurred at the end of this combat tour .
The next operation was officially named . . OPERATION PINWHEEL.
We pilots called it: OPERATION PIN HEAD !

This third tour had been particularly savage for VF-54. Five of our pilots had been shot down; three of them not recovered. I had been shot down three times. The mechanics and ordnance men had worked back-breaking hours under medieval conditions to keep us flying. Finally we were headed for Yokosuka for ten days of desperately needed rest and recuperation.

As we steamed up Japan's coast, the Air Group Commander, CDR Marsh Beebe, called CDR Trum, the CO of the Corsair squadron, and me to his shipboard office. He told us that the prop squadrons would participate in an exercise dreamed up by the ship's commanding officer. And it had been named OPERATION PIN-WHEEL.
The Corsairs and AD Skyraiders were to be tied down on the port side of the flight deck. And upon signal from the bridge, all engines were to be turned up to full power to assist the tugs to push the ship sideways to the dock.

CDR Trum and I both said to Beebe : " You realize that those engines are vital to the survival of all the attack pilots. We fly those single engine planes 300 to 400 miles from the ship over freezing water and over very hostile land. Overstressing these engines is not going to make any of us very happy." Marsh knew the danger. But he said, " The captain of the ship, CAPT. Wheelock wants this done. So do it!"

As soon as the news of this brilliant scheme hit the ready rooms, the operation was quickly named OPERATION PIN HEAD. And CAPT. Wheelock became known as Captain Wheel Chock.

On the evening before arriving in port, I talked with CDR Trum and told him, "I don't know what you are going to do. But I am telling my pilots that our lives depend on those engines and do not give them
more than half power. And if that engine temperature even begins to rise . . cut back to idle." And that is what we did.

About an hour after the ship had been secured to the dock, the Air Group Commander screamed over the ships intercom for Gray and Trum to report to his office. When we walked in and saw the pale look on Beebe's face, it was apparent that CAPT. Wheelock had cut a new aperture in poor old Marsh.

The ship's CO had gone ballistic when he didn't get the full power from the lashed down Corsairs and Skyraiders. He informed CDR Beebe his fitness report would reflect this miserable performance of duty.

Air Group Commander Beebe had flown his share of strikes. And it was a shame that he became the focus of the wrath of CAPT. Wheelock for something he had not done. However, tensions were high and in the heat of the moment, he informed CDR Trum and me that he was placing both of us and all our pilots 'in hack' until further notice. This was a very severe sentence after 30 days on the line in combat.

The Carrier Division Commander, Rear Admiral John "Black Jack" Perry could present a personally considerate and soft side. But his official character would strike terror into the heart of the most hardened criminal. Otherwise, he loved to talk to the pilots; and in deference to his drinking days, Admiral Perry would reserve a table at the Fujia Hotel bar and would sit there drinking Coca cola while buying drinks for any pilot enjoying R & R in the hotel.

Even though we were not comfortable with this gruff older man, he was a good listener and everyone enjoyed telling the Admiral about his latest escape from death. I realize now he was keeping his finger on the morale of the pilots and how they were standing up to the terror of daily flights over a very hostile land.

The Admiral had been in the hotel about three days. One evening, he said to some of the fighter pilots sitting at his table, "Where are the attack pilots ? I have not seen any of them since we arrived." One of them answered, "Admiral, I thought you knew. They were all put in hack by the Air Group Commander and restricted to the ship."

In a voice that could be heard all over the hotel, the Admiral bellowed to his aide, "Get that idiot Beebe on the phone in 5 minutes. And I don't care if you have to use the Shore Patrol, Army Military Police or the Japanese Police to find him. I want him on the telephone NOW !"

The next morning, after three days in hack, the attack pilots had just finished marching lockstep into the wardroom for breakfast, singing the ‘prisoners' song, when the loudspeaker blared out for Gray and Trum to report to the Air Group Commander's stateroom immediately.

When we walked in, there sat Marsh looking like he just had a near death experience. It was apparent that he had been worked over by a real pro. In a trembling voice, his only words were, " The hack is lifted. All of you are free to go ashore. There will not be any negative note of this in your fitness reports. Now get out of here and leave me alone."
Posters saying, "Thank you Black Jack" went up in the ready rooms. The long delayed liberty was now at hand.

When writing about this cruise, I must pay homage to the talent we had in the squadrons. LTJG Tom Hayward was a fighter pilot who went on to become the U.S. Navy's Chief Naval Operations. LTJG Neil Armstrong another fighter pilot became the astronaut who took the first step on the moon. My wingman, Ken Shugart, was an all-American basketball player, then later a Navy Admiral. Al Masson, another wingman, became owner of one of New Orleans' most famous restaurants. All of the squadrons were manned with the best and brightest young men the U.S. could produce.

The mechanics and ordnance crews who kept the planes armed and flying deserve as much praise as the pilots for without the effort they expended, working day and night under cold and brutal conditions, no flight would have been flown. It was a dangerous cruise. I will always consider it an honor to have worked with those young men who served with such bravery and dignity. The officers and men of this air group once again demonstrated what makes America the most outstanding country in the world today.

To those whose spirits were taken from them during those grim days and didn't come back, I will always remember you."



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I've seen the movie, very impressive. Had to google the aircraft, apparently stand ins for the real planes.

Grizz

I think they used F9F5's in the movie. I trained in F9F8's, the swept wing version.

I think the movie is one of the best about Naval aviation .