Operation Bolo
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Operation Bolo
On Jan. 2, 1967, with aircraft losses in Southeast Asia on the rise, the United States Air Force resorted to an elaborate combat sting. The mission, called Operation Bolo, constituted an electronic Trojan Horse concealing the hard-hitting F-4 Phantoms of USAF's 8th Tactical Fighter Wing within a radiated image that simulated bomb-laden F-105 Thunderchiefs.1
The operation was the idea of then Col Robin Olds who was the new commander of the 8th TFW based at Ubon Thailand. At the time the USAF could not bomb the NVA air fields so he pitched a plan to bring the NVA Mig 21s into an ambush of F-4Cs loaded for air to air combat. He did this by having his aircraft simulate the formations, routes, fueling points, speed and altitude of the more vulnerable F-105s on a bombing run. This included the use of QRC-160 jamming pods with the F-105s used to avoid SAMs. The mission was a success with 7 of the 14 Migs shot down. It is also noteworthy that the NVA to be Ace Nguyen Van Coc was flying one of the Mig 21s that was shot down but survived when he successfully ejected .
I wanted to model both aircraft involved in the operation. I used the 1/72 Fine Molds F-4C to model Olds 4, flown by Capt. Walter Radeker II, with 1st Lt, James E Murray. The kit included the markings for Olds 1 which was Col Olds aircraft but Olds 4 actually shot down a Mig on Olds 3 tail and I wanted to honor the others in the conflict.
The kit was built out of the box but I also used the Fine Molds seat belt set and accessory weapons kit. The model went together well with no need for filler and I was very impressed with the AK seat belt set which worked well with Tamiya very thin cement. The model was primed with Mr Surfacer 1000 and then splotched using an AK template and Vallejo Air black. I used the AK real color set to paint the camouflage substituting white for the F-4C undersides in lieu of the light gray normally used on other aircraft. I lightly weathered the aircraft using flory grime. It was also the first time I used Uni Posca paint marked to detail the cockpit instruments.
I was going to use some editorial license to mount a SUU-16 gun pod on the centerline but in research I discovered Col Olds did not like using the pods in his wing. He thought they were useless since his pilots had no gunnery training. The aircraft is armed as they flew the mission with 4 AIM-9Bs and 4 AIM-&E Sparrows. They also carried an asymmetric load with an ALQ-160 pod on the right outside pylon and a fuel tank on the left with a centerline fuel tank.
With all the detail in the cockpit I decided to finish the build with open canopies.
The VNA flew the Mig 21 PF during the time of Bolo and I used the Eduards PFM kit to model the aircraft of Nguyen Van Coc. I did model a later aircraft than the natural metal aircraft used during Bolo, I wanted to do the camouflage pattern he used after Bolo in which he shot down 7 USAF aircraft and 2 drones in the course of the conflict. He eventually earned the rank of Lt General with the North Vietnam Air Force.
The model was built straight from the box using the photoetch and markings included in the kit. I Primed the model with Mr Surfacer 1000 and then splotched using an AK template and Vallejo Air black. Vallejo Air aluminum was airbrushed lightly to build the base coat. My plan was to airbrush the green mottle, but I doubted my ability to do this successfully so I opted to add them using a micro q tip and Vallejo Air field green paint. I varied the paint density of the mottle by pressure and paint on the applicator. The main markings for the 921 Regiment included in the kit were used, but I opted not to use the stenciling decals. I experimented and even the larger stencils disappeared into the mottle so I decided it was not worth the effort to apply them. I finished it by using Flory grime to weather the model and bring out the panel lines
The aircraft was armed with a GP-9 gun pod (probably not used in Bolo) and 2 heat seeking R-3S missiles (ironically AIM-9 reverse engineered copies) As with the F4C I decided to keep the canopy open to show all the photo etch detail in the cockpit
If you want to know more about Bolo here is a good reference
1 airandspaceforces.com/article/1198sweep/