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U.S. B-52s Bomb the Mu Gia Pass in North Vietnam

April 12, 1966

Cratering on Route 15 near Mu Gia Pass from B–52 bombing in April 1966.
Cratering on Route 15 near Mu Gia Pass from B–52 bombing in April 1966.
Cratering on Route 15 near Mu Gia Pass from B–52 bombing in April 1966.

Strategic Air Command B-52 bombers attack targets in North Vietnam for the first time. They strike the Mu Gia Pass, a crucial enemy supply route adjacent to Laos near an entrance to the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This bombing is part of Operation ROLLING THUNDER.1

1Jacob Van Staavern, Gradual Failure: The Air War Over North Vietnam 1965–1966 (Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, 2002), 78, 260–261.