Editing Operation Linebacker (section)

{{Short description|Part of the Vietnam War (1972)}}
{{For|the December 1972 military operation|Operation Linebacker II}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox military conflict
|partof=the [[Vietnam War]]
|image=KC-135A refueling Wild Weasel team Oct 1972.jpg
|image_size=300px
|caption=A 388th TFW SAM hunter-killer team refueling on its way to North Vietnam, October 1972
|date=9 May – 23 October 1972
|place=[[North Vietnam]]
|commander1= [[John W. Vogt Jr.]]<ref name="auto1">Thompson, p. 257.</ref><br />[[Damon W. Cooper]]<ref name="auto1"/>
|commander2= Nguyen Van Tien{{citation needed|date=March 2012}}
|combatant1={{flagicon|United States}} [[United States]]<br /> {{flag|South Vietnam}}
|combatant2={{flagicon|Vietnam}} [[North Vietnam]]
|casualties1={{flagicon|United States}} 134 aircraft lost<br />in combat or operational accidents<ref name="Ed Rasimus">{{cite book| author=Ed Rasimus| chapter=Appendix I – Linebacker Losses| title=Palace Cobra: A Fighter Pilot in the Vietnam Air War| publisher=St. Martin's Press| isbn= 978-0-312-35356-8| year=2006}}, pp. 233–248. Losses are enumerated by date, aircraft type and serial number, and crew members.</ref> (excluding the number of aircraft that were badly damaged beyond repair{{Sfn|Drenkowski|Grau|2007|p=3}})<br />{{flagicon|South Vietnam}} 10 aircraft lost{{citation needed|date=March 2012}}<br />'''North Vietnamese claim''': 651 aircraft shot down, 80 warships sunk or damaged<ref name="Victory in Vietnam, p. 301">Van Thai & Van Quang 2002, p. 301.</ref>
|casualties2='''U.S. claim''': 63 aircraft shot down<br />'''North Vietnamese claim''': 47 aircraft shot down (26 MiG-21s, 5 MiG-19s and 16 MiG-17s)<ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=http://old.vko.ru/pictures/2006_26/42_01.jpg |title=Archived copy |website=old.vko.ru |access-date=11 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203010754/http://old.vko.ru/pictures/2006_26/42_01.jpg |archive-date=3 February 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
|result=Both sides claim victory<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-04-05 |title=How Nixon's Operation Linebacker Countered North Vietnam's All-Out Bid to Conquer the South |url=https://www.historynet.com/how-nixons-operation-linebacker-countered-north-vietnams-all-out-bid-to-conquer-the-south/ |access-date=2023-11-07 |website=HistoryNet |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Haun |first1=Phil |last2=Jackson |first2=Colin |date=2015 |title=Breaker of Armies: Air Power in the Easter Offensive and the Myth of Linebacker I and II in the Vietnam War |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43828564 |journal=International Security |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=139–178 |doi=10.1162/ISEC_a_00226 |jstor=43828564 |s2cid=57564546 |issn=0162-2889|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pribbenow |first=Merle L. |date=2001 |title=Rolling Thunder and Linebacker Campaigns: The North Vietnamese View |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23613043 |journal=The Journal of American-East Asian Relations |volume=10 |issue=3/4 |pages=197–210 |doi=10.1163/187656101793645524 |jstor=23613043 |issn=1058-3947|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

|campaignbox={{Campaignbox Vietnam War}}
}}

'''Operation Linebacker''' was the codename of a U.S. [[Seventh Air Force]] and [[U.S. Navy]] [[Task Force 77 (U.S. Navy)|Task Force 77]] [[air interdiction]] campaign conducted against [[North Vietnam]] from 9 May to 23 October 1972, during the [[Vietnam War]].

Its purpose was to halt or slow the transportation of supplies and materials for the ''Nguyen Hue Offensive'' (known in the West as the [[Easter Offensive]]), an invasion of the [[South Vietnam]] by the North Vietnamese [[People's Army of Vietnam]] (PAVN) that had been launched on 30 March. ''Linebacker'' was the first continuous bombing effort conducted against North Vietnam since the end of [[Operation Rolling Thunder]] in November 1968.