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Operation LINEBACKER Ends

October 23, 1972

A U.S. Air Force SAM Hunter killer group of the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing takes fuel on the way to
A U.S. Air Force SAM Hunter killer group of the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing takes fuel on the way to
A U.S. Air Force SAM Hunter killer group of the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing takes fuel on the way to North Vietnam for a strike during "Operation Linebacker" in October 1972. (U.S. Navy)

As a peace agreement acceptable to the U.S. government begins to emerge in Paris, President Nixon decides to end Operation LINEBACKER north of the 20th parallel. The intense bombing campaign has lasted for over five months.1

1Spencer C. Tucker, ed., The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History (2nd edition; Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011), 659–60; John Schlight, A War Too Long: The USAF in Southeast Asia, 1961–1975 (Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program, 1996), 93; Unknown Author, The Air Force in the Vietnam War (Arlington, VA: Aerospace Education Foundation, 2004), 14.