Dreadful Lady over the Mekong Delta

RAAF Canberras in the Vietnam War

No.7 in the Australian Air Campaign Series

By Bob Howe

Published by Big Sky Publishing | RRP $19.99 in paperback
ISBN 9781922896407

This book, in a new edition, is the seventh in the Australian Air Campaign series funded by the RAAF.

The author, Bob Howe, in the years 1969-1970, flew 260 operational bombing missions on Canberra jets with No 2 Squadron in South Vietnam. He was appointed Bombing Leader in the latter part of his tour of duty.

His aim with the book was ‘to synthesise events into a kind of assessment of the performance of no 2 Squadron RAAF and its Canberra Mk.20 bombers in supporting riverine warfare operations in Vietnam, focussing on the period during which he served.

The riverine operations supported by No 2 Squadron were but a small part of an allied effort to disrupt the enemy’s movement of troops and supplies to locations in South Vietnam.

This book, when first published in 2016 by the RAAF’s Air Power Development Centre, filled a gap in the recording of the RAAF’s operations in Vietnam. It also describes how crews overcame the difficulties of operating in an intense Asian war in an aircraft that was designed for a completely different environment.

This new edition is intended to bring the experiences and exploits of Bob Howe, No 2 Squadron and its Canberra bomber aircraft to life.

VERDICT: It offers an excellent analysis of the application of air power in an Asian war.