[quote=Fieseler;6313145]
Hanoi
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On 22 November 1972, a B-52D (55-0110) from U-Tapao was hit by a surface-to-air missile (SAM) while on a raid over Vinh. The crew was forced to abandon the damaged aircraft over Thailand. This was the first B-52 to be destroyed by hostile fire in Vietnam.[139] In total, 30 B-52s were lost during the war, which included 10 B-52s shot down over North Vietnam and five others being damaged and crashing in Laos or Thailand.[140]
The zenith of B-52 attacks in Vietnam was Operation Linebacker II (sometimes referred to as the Christmas Bombing) which consisted of waves of B-52s (mostly D models, but some Gs without jamming equipment and with a smaller bomb load). Over 12 days, B-52s flew 729 sorties[141] and dropped 15,237 tons of bombs on Hanoi, Haiphong, and other targets.[142][143] Originally 42 B-52s were committed to the war; however, numbers were frequently twice this figure.[144] During Operation Linebacker II, there were 15 B-52s shot down, five B-52s were heavily damaged (1 crashed in Laos), and five B-52s suffered medium damage. A total of 25 crewmen were killed in these losses.[145] Vietnam claimed 34 B-52s were shot down.[146]