The extraordinary feat of the SA-2 missile made of...pressed iron

"Ra-ket" is the name of the Vietnamese Missile Corps, a transliteration of the Russian word Ѐакета which means missile - referring to the SA-2 system produced by the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, "Ra-cót" is the name of the fake missile designed by the Engineering Corps of the Air Defense - Air Force, made entirely of reed and bamboo.

Later, Raccot was improved by coating it with metal and creating smoke to lure enemy planes.

Ra-cot was a creative strategy of the Vietnam Missile Corps in combat. Our fake missile sites caused many enemy planes to drop bombs on the wrong target, thinking they had completed their bombing mission in the North.

July 1965 was the time when our Missile Corps unexpectedly entered the field and won right from the first battle.

This historic victory took place on Du Hill and Chua Ghe Hill by the Da River (old Ha Tay), where Battalion 63 and Battalion 64 of Regiment 236, Hanoi Air Defense Division placed launch pads to "ignite" the first battle.

Here, the first missile with the code ILP-246 of Battalion 63 left the launch pad, followed by 3 missiles of Battalion 64. In less than a minute, through the precise control of the 2 combat crews, the target signal was erased from the oscilloscope.

Vietnam's SA-2 surface-to-air missile during the war against America.

When the battle ended, Battalions 63 and 64 were urgently ordered to move 2/3 of their vehicles and equipment to two new positions, leaving the position they had just fought to "two other battalions".

Our army set up a fake battlefield made entirely of bamboo, but the shape and color of the paint were exactly the same as the real shells and launchers that had just been pulled out.

Along with "deceiving" the enemy with two "Racot" positions, we also set a large "trap" with 120 anti-aircraft artillery barrels from 37 to 100 mm and hundreds of low-range guns of the militia and self-defense forces arranged continuously around the fake position to wait for the enemy.

The SA-2 missile made of pressed steel "Ra-côt" is displayed in the premises of the Air Defense - Air Force Museum.

As predicted, on July 27, President Johnson personally ordered the US Air Force to “retaliate and destroy two North Vietnamese missile sites”. The US deployed 50 aircraft, including 36 F-105 fighter-bombers, to directly bomb the area.

The F-105 "Thunderbolts" flying from Thailand fell into a trap and dropped a lot of bombs on fake battlefields.

From the very first minute, our anti-aircraft guns and hundreds of low-range guns opened fire simultaneously.

According to the book From Failure to Failure: The War in the Skies of North Vietnam 1965 - 1966 by author Jacob van Staaveren published in the US and translated and published by the People's Army newspaper, in this battle, the US Air Force lost 6 F-105s.

This is the most extraordinary feat of the Vietnamese Missile Corps during the Resistance War against America.

According to Baodatviet