President Richard M. Nixon announces at 8 p.m. EST (May 9, 8 a.m., in Saigon) that Operation Linebacker I, the bombing of Hanoi and mining of ports, will begin on May 10.
Aircraft readiness will suffer if Congress does not approve some $1.5 billion worth of spare parts the Air Force requested in its annual Unfunded Priorities List, sent to Capitol Hill last week, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said.