Douglas B-66 Destroyer - Operational History

Operational History

Deliveries to the USAF began in 1956 with 145 of this model produced. RB-66s were used as the major night photo-reconnaissance aircraft of the USAF during this period, many examples serving with tactical reconnaissance squadrons based in the United Kingdom and in West Germany. A total of 72 of the B-66B bomber version were built, 69 fewer than originally planned. A total of 13 B-66B aircraft later were modified into EB-66B electronic countermeasures aircraft for the Vietnam War. Unlike the U.S. Navy's A-3 Skywarrior, which performed some bombing missions, the Destroyer was not used as a bomber in Vietnam.

The RB-66C was a specialized electronic reconnaissance and ECM aircraft with an expanded crew of seven, including additional electronics warfare experts. A total of 36 of these aircraft were built with the additional crew members housed in what was the camera/bomb bay of other variants. RB-66C aircraft had distinctive wingtip pods and were used in the vicinity of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis and later over Vietnam. In 1966, these were redesignated EB-66C.

Unarmed EB-66B, EB-66C and EB-66E aircraft flew numerous missions during the Vietnam War. They not only helped gather electronic intelligence about the North Vietnamese defenses, but also provided protection for the daily bombing missions of the F-105s by jamming North Vietnamese radar systems. Early on, B-66s flew oval "racetrack" patterns over North Vietnam, but after one of the aircraft was shot down by a MiG, the vulnerable B-66 flights were ordered back, just outside of North Vietnam.

On 10 March 1964, a 19th TRS RB-66C flying on a photo-reconnaissance mission from Toul-Rosières Air Base in France was shot down over East Germany by a Soviet MiG-21 after it crossed over the border due to a compass malfunction. The crew ejected and were taken prisoner briefly before being repatriated.

The final B-66 variant was the WB-66D weather reconnaissance aircraft, 36 of which were constructed.

The EB-66C/E was removed from USAF service by 1975 and most examples either scrapped in place or placed in storage for eventual scrapping.