Day One of Operation Desert Shield--the air attack

[dawg80]

There is a YouTube video covering the first 24 hrs of the 1991 Iraqi War. Amazing...

First, 7 B-52's leave Barksdale the day before in anticipation of Saddam Hussein violating the January 15th deadline to leave Kuwait. They embark on a 14,000 mile, 35-hour mission making it the longest attack mission in history. Thirty years later, it still is. At 2:38 am on January 17th, H-hour, the massive air attack begins. Just clearing the coast from the Mediterranean Sea, the seven Barksdale bombers fire the first shots of the war, each launches 6 cruise missiles. They then turn back, heading back to Bossier City, on their incredible 35-hour non-stop flight. Along the journey they get 57 tanker refills.

While they fired the first shots of the war, the travel time of the cruise missiles are not the first to impact. That honor went to 8 Apache helicopters firing missiles at two advanced Iraqi radar sites on the border. The coordination of the attack, with US, British, and French air units involved, was nothing short of IMPOSSIBLE! The timing of the more than 2,700 sorties in the span of 24 hours, attack groups flying at different altitudes, and timing attacks to precision, took intense planning and control. For instance, 8 Wild Weasels strike Iraqi SAM batteries who had picked up incoming defenseless fighter-bombers, a mere 30 seconds before the SAMs were to be launched. The Wild Weasels took off from Turkey, the bombers from carriers.

About 45 minutes into the start of the war, the cruise missiles from the Barksdale B-52s hit their targets.

In the first 24 hours coalition forces had 19 aircraft hit, 6 shot down and 13 damaged pretty seriously. Only 4 pilots were killed. And some were captured after they had to bail out over Iraqi-held territory.

[TYLERTECHSAS]

Thanks for posting.

[BullPupN'46]

being an ex nasal radiator​ wow !!!

[FriscoDog]

As a side note, it is not a very widely known fact, but the Clash's Rock the Casbah, was the first song played on AFN radio, and became an "unofficial" anthem for Gulf War I.