NORTH AMERICAN F-100C "SUPER SABRE"

In response President Johnson ordered the U.S. Navy to send planes on a bombing mission against the torpedo boat bases and an oil storage depot. On Aug. 7, Congress adopted the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving President Johnson authority to use all measures, including armed forces, to assist South Vietnam. It was then that the U.S. sent jet aircraft into South Vietnam for the first time. LAOS : PANHANDLE In May 1964, the USAF began flying reconnaissance missions over the Panhandle to obtain target information on men and materiel being moved into South Vietnam over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. By this time, the footpaths had been enlarged to truck roads, with smaller paths for bicycles and walking. The Trail had become the major artery for use by North Vietnam to infiltrate South Vietnam.  LAOS : PLAIN OF JARS In the spring of 1964, Pathet Lao and the North Vietnamese troops drove Laotian forces from the Plain of Jars. On Jun. 9, President Johnson ordered an F-100 strike against the enemy in retaliation for the loss of a U.S. airplane.