First Arc Light mission: the B-52's combat debut in Vietnam

On 18 June 1965, B-52Fs of the 9th and 441st Bombardment Squadrons (7th and 320th Bomb Wings), operating out of Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, flew the first Arc Light mission of the Vietnam War, bombing a suspected Viet Cong staging area near Bến Cát, about 40 miles north of Saigon. Of the 30 sorties dispatched, 27 completed the mission after two aircraft were lost in a mid-air collision and a third was diverted.