Operation Pierce Arrow was a U.S. bombing campaign Military_operation at the beginning of the Vietnam War .

In response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident when the destroyers and of the United States Navy engaged Participation North Vietnamese ships , sustaining light damage as they gathered Come_together electronic intelligence while in the international waters of the Gulf of Tonkin , U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered Request Operation `` Pierce Arrow '' which was conducted Action on 5 August 1964 .

The air operations following Pierce Arrow would swell Expansion so that by war 's end , the United States bombing campaign was the longest and heaviest in history .

Arrow Air Flight 1285 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-8 jetliner that operated Using as an international charter Renting flight carrying Carry_goods U.S. troops from Cairo , Egypt , to their home base in Fort Campbell , Kentucky , via Cologne , West Germany , and Gander , Canada .