Operation Bolo

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Operation Bolo was a United States Air Force mission during the Vietnam War, considered to be a successful combat ruse. The mission was a response to the heavy losses sustained during the Operation Rolling Thunder aerial-bombardment campaign of 1966, during which Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) fighter jets had evaded U.S. escort fighters and attacked U.S. bombers flying predictable routes. On 2 January 1967, U.S. Air Force F-4 Phantom II multirole fighters flew a mission along flight paths typically used by the bombers during Rolling Thunder. The ruse drew an attack by Vietnamese Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 interceptors, whose pilots expected to find heavily loaded fighter-bombers. Instead, they came up against the Phantoms, which claimed seven Vietnamese MiG-21s, although Vietnamese records show five being lost. The battle prompted VPAF pilots and strategists, as well as Soviet tacticians, to re-evaluate the tactics and deployment of the MiG-21.