Call it the thud or the lead sled. It was the f105 thunder chief, and during the veietnam war, it was a workhorse. Im oliver north and this is war stories. Between 1961 and 73, over 3,000 aircraft like this one were shot down or destroyed in southeast asia. 1968, the last year of Rolling Thunder and 652 men piloting these planes lost their lives. From march of 65 to october of 68, air force navy and marine airmen dropped nearly a half million tons of bombs. Rolling thunder was far from a triumph. As youll see and hear, orders straight from the white house forced the men flying these missions to fight with one hand tied behind their backs. And those restrictions inevitably cost american lives. Join us tonight as we pay tribute to the heroes of operation Rolling Thunder. Took this huge hit. Every warning light came on. Nothing to do. Could this war have been won . Of course it could. It could have ended any time we wanted it to. In 1965, vietnam was divided and at war. The south was demo