Bombing of Tan Son Nhat Airport
Encyclopedia
The bombing of Tan Son Nhut Air Base occurred on April 28, 1975, just two days before the Fall of Saigon
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front on April 30, 1975...

. The bombing operation was carried out by the Vietnam People's Air Force
Vietnam People's Air Force
The Vietnam People's Air Force is the air force of Vietnam. It is the successor of the former North Vietnamese Air Force and the absorbed Republic of Vietnam Air Force following the re-unification of Vietnam in 1975.-Beginning-1964 :The first Vietnamese aircraft were two trainers, a de Havilland...

 (VPAF) Quyet Thang Squadron, using captured Republic of Vietnam Air Force
Vietnam Air Force
The Vietnam Air Force began with a few hand-picked men chosen to fly alongside French pilots during the State of Vietnam era. It eventually grew into the world’s sixth largest air force at the height of its power, in 1974...

 (RVNAF) A-37 aircraft flown by VPAF pilots and RVNAF defectors led by Nguyen Thanh Trung who had bombed the Presidential Palace
Reunification Palace
Reunification Palace formerly known as Independence Palace , built on the site of the former Norodom Palace, is a landmark in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was designed by architect Ngô Viết Thụ and was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War...

 in Saigon, less than one month earlier.

In 1973, by the time the Paris Peace Accord was concluded, South Vietnam possessed the fourth largest air force in the world. Despite their size, however, South Vietnamese Air Force operations were severely curtailed due to cutbacks in U.S. military aid. Furthermore, the South Vietnamese Air Force were prevented from undertaking reconnaissance
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....

 and ground support missions due to the threat posed by formidable anti-aircraft weapons deployed by North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...

. When the North Vietnamese military renewed their offensive early in 1975, the South Vietnamese Air Force was virtually handicapped and many of their aircraft were either lost or captured as formations of the Vietnam People's Army
Vietnam People's Army
The Vietnam People's Army is the armed forces of Vietnam. The VPA includes: the Vietnamese People's Ground Forces , the Vietnam People's Navy , the Vietnam People's Air Force, and the Vietnam Marine Police.During the French Indochina War , the VPA was often referred to as the Việt...

 swept through the Central Highlands of South Vietnam.

By April 1975, morale in the South Vietnamese Air Force had sunk so low that some of their personnel simply defected to the Communist side. In a well-known incident, South Vietnamese pilot Nguyen Thanh Trung used his F-5E fighter-bomber to attack the Presidential Palace in Saigon instead of North Vietnamese troops. Shortly afterwards, Trung joined the Communist forces and he was ordered to train a group of North Vietnamese pilots to operate the U.S.-made A-37 Dragonfly
A-37 Dragonfly
The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly, or Super Tweet, is a United States light attack aircraft developed from the T-37 Tweet basic trainer in the 1960s and 1970s...

 fighter-bomber, in order to support the Ho Chi Minh Campaign
Ho Chi Minh Campaign
The Hồ Chí Minh Campaign was the final title applied to a series of increasingly large-scale and ambitious offensive operations by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam which began on 13 December 1974...

. On the afternoon of April 28, 1975, Trung led a flight of five A-37 fighter-bombers against Tan Son Nhut Air Base, which temporarily stopped U.S. and South Vietnamese evacuation efforts.

Strategic situation

Although the Paris Peace Accords
Paris Peace Accords
The Paris Peace Accords of 1973 intended to establish peace in Vietnam and an end to the Vietnam War, ended direct U.S. military involvement, and temporarily stopped the fighting between North and South Vietnam...

 of 1973 were supposed to end the war in Vietnam, fighting continued between South Vietnam and North Vietnam and the Viet Cong. Despite a pledge of support from U.S. President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

, military aid to South Vietnam was sharply reduced. By the end of 1972 the RVNAF was the fourth largest air force in the world, with 2,075 aircraft and over 61,000 personnel. However, RVNAF operations were severely affected by cutbacks in military aid, flying hours had to be reduced by 51% and bomb loads on fighter aircraft halved from four to two pieces of ordnance.

North Vietnam continued to build-up its combat units in South Vietnam. With the threat of U.S. airpower removed, the North Vietnamese military moved anti-aircraft units into South Vietnam, and deployed a sophisticated air-defence network that included the long-range SA-2
S-75 Dvina
The S-75 Dvina is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude, command guided, surface-to-air missile system...

 surface-to-air missile system, radar-guided anti-aircraft guns and the SA-7 Grail shoulder-launched missile The strong presence of North Vietnamese anti-aircraft units, which covered much of the northern provinces of South Vietnam, forced RVNAF reconnaissance and fighter aircraft to fly at higher altitudes to avoid being hit by surface-to-air missiles. Consequently, when North Vietnam went on the offensive again in 1975, the RVNAF was severely handicapped.

Ho Chi Minh Campaign

The Ho Chi Minh Campaign commenced on March 9, 1975 and by mid-March the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
The Army of the Republic of Viet Nam , sometimes parsimoniously referred to as the South Vietnamese Army , was the land-based military forces of the Republic of Vietnam , which existed from October 26, 1955 until the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975...

 (ARVN) had withdrawn from the Central Highlands. The RVNAF 6th Air Force Division had been given only 48 hours to evacuate its aircraft and personnel from Pleiku Air Base
Pleiku Air Base
Pleiku Air Base is a former air force base in Vietnam. It was established by the South Vietnamese Air Force in 1962 at an undeveloped airstrip, and was used by the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War in the II Corps Tactical Zone of South Vietnam. It was seized by the Vietnam People's...

 leaving 64 aircraft intact, including 36 aircraft in flyable storage, and no attempt were made to put those aircraft into commission. On March 27 with South Vietnamese forces of I Corps facing imminent defeat, RVNAF Brigadier-General Nguyen Duc Khanh, commander of the RVNAF 1st Air Force Division, was ordered to evacuate all flyable aircraft from Hue
Hue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...

 and Da Nang
Da Nang
Đà Nẵng , occasionally Danang, is a major port city in the South Central Coast of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea at the mouth of the Han River. It is the commercial and educational center of Central Vietnam; its well-sheltered, easily accessible port and its location on the path of...

.

On March 28 North Vietnamese forces closed in on Da Nang, and they subjected Da Nang Air Base
Da Nang Air Base
Da Nang Air Base was a Republic of Vietnam Air Force facility. The United States used it as a major base during the Vietnam War , stationing Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine units there...

 to heavy artillery bombardment. Under adverse conditions, the RVNAF was able to fly about 130 aircraft out of the city, but they had to abandon 180 aircraft, including 33 A-37 Dragonflys, due to chaos, confusion, poor discipline and the break down of airfield security. On March 29, the North Vietnamese captured Da Nang, followed by Quy Nhon on April 1 and Tuy Hoa
Tuy Hoa
Tuy Hòa is the capital city of Phu Yen province in south-central Vietnam. The city has the total area of 107 km2 and the population of 262 000 ....

 and Nha Trang
Nha Trang
Nha Trang is a coastal city and capital of Khanh Hoa province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the North by Ninh Hoà district, on the East by the South China Sea, on the South by Cam Ranh town and on the West by Diên Khánh district...

 on April 2. At Phan Rang Air Base
Phan Rang Air Base
Phan Rang Air Base is a Vietnam People's Air Force military airfield in Vietnam. It is located north-northwest of Phan Rang-Thap Cham in Ninh Thuan Province....

, remnants of the RVNAF continued to battle North Vietnamese troops for two days after ground units of the ARVN had given up the fight. Elements of the ARVN Airborne Division
Vietnamese Airborne Division
The Vietnamese Airborne Division was one of the earliest components of the State of Vietnam's military forces . The Vietnamese Airborne Division began as companies organised in 1948, prior to any agreement over armed forces in Vietnam...

 were also committed into the fight, but they were overwhelmed by the North Vietnamese and Phan Rang was captured on April 16.

Attack on the Presidential Palace

On April 8, a formation of three RVNAF F-5E Tiger fighter-bombers lined up at Bien Hoa Air Base
Bien Hoa Air Base
Bien Hoa Air Base is a Vietnam People's Air Force military airfield located in South-Central southern Vietnam about 20 miles from Saigon near the city of Bien Hoa within Dong Nai Province....

, each armed with four 250-pound bombs, for an attack on North Vietnamese positions in Binh Thuan Province
Binh Thuan Province
Bình Thuận is a province of Vietnam. It is located on the country's South Central Coast, not far from Ho Chi Minh City. It is sometimes seen as part of the Southeast Region. Binh Thuan is known for its scenery and for its good beaches...

. Before the second aircraft took off, First Lieutenant Nguyen Thanh Trung, who piloted the third F-5, reported his aircraft was experiencing afterburner problems. When the second aircraft departed, Trung also took off, but flew towards Saigon instead of joining the formation. At around 8.30am Trung dived upon on the Presidential Palace
Reunification Palace
Reunification Palace formerly known as Independence Palace , built on the site of the former Norodom Palace, is a landmark in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was designed by architect Ngô Viết Thụ and was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War...

 and dropped two bombs; the first bomb landed on the Palace grounds and caused some damage, but the second bomb failed to explode. Trung climbed to over 1000 metres (3,280.8 ft) before making a second pass, this time both bombs exploded, causing minor structural damage but no casualties. After the attack, Trung flew out of Saigon and landed at the petroleum storage facility at Nha Be on the outskirts of the city, where he removed the ammunition for the 20mm cannon.

Shortly afterwards Trung took off again and flew out to Phuoc Long Province
Phuoc Long Province
thumb|right|200px|[[Binh Duong Province|Binh Duong]], Phuoc Long and [[Binh Long Province|Binh Long]] in map of South VietnamPhuoc Long is former province of Dong Nam Bo region in South Vietnam...

, which was occupied by the Provisional Revolutionary Government since North Vietnamese troops had captured it earlier in the year, and he was warmly received by North Vietnamese soldiers. The North Vietnamese claimed that Trung had been a Viet Cong agent since 1969, and was infiltrated into the RVNAF where he served with the RVNAF 540th Fighter Squadron of the 3rd Air Force Division. Trung later revealed that he was originally from Ben Tre Province
Ben Tre Province
Bến Tre is a province of Vietnam. It is one of the country's southern provinces, being situated in the delta of the Mekong River.-Administration:Politically, Ben Tre is divided into eight districts:*Ba Tri*Bình Đại*Châu Thành*Chợ Lách*Giồng Trôm...

 in the Mekong region, where his father had served as the district secretary of the People's Revolutionary Party
People's Revolutionary Party (Vietnam)
The People's Revolutionary Party was a political party in South Vietnam established in 1962. It provided leadership for the Vietcong uprising. In 1976, the party was merged with the Worker's Party of North Vietnam to form the Communist Party of Vietnam....

. In 1963 Trung’s father was killed and his body was mutilated by the South Vietnamese police. Angered by the death of his father, Trung vowed to take revenge on the South Vietnamese Government, so in 1969 he secretly joined the Viet Cong after he had been accepted into the RVNAF.

Preparation for the mission

Prior to the bombing of the Presidential Palace, North Vietnamese General Van Tien Dung and his field commanders had been discussing the possibility of deploying units of the Vietnam People's Air Force
Vietnam People's Air Force
The Vietnam People's Air Force is the air force of Vietnam. It is the successor of the former North Vietnamese Air Force and the absorbed Republic of Vietnam Air Force following the re-unification of Vietnam in 1975.-Beginning-1964 :The first Vietnamese aircraft were two trainers, a de Havilland...

 (VPAF), to attack high-value South Vietnamese targets in support of North Vietnamese ground troops. Use of the Soviet MiG-17 fighter was considered, North Vietnamese pilots already had significant combat experience with the type. However, moving MiGs from their bases in North Vietnam was problematic; South Vietnamese defenses were falling much faster than anticipated, there was simply little time in which to deploy the MiGs in support of North Vietnamese units encircling Saigon. As the North Vietnamese had captured a large number of U.S.-made aircraft from the RVNAF at Pleiku and Da Nang Air Bases, so it was decided to use captured aircraft instead.
The decision to use the captured aircraft presented a challenge for the VPAF, because they lacked experience in flying U.S.-made aircraft. Furthermore, VPAF pilots were not proficient in the English language, most had trained on Soviet equipment using the Russian language
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

. Upon receiving news of Trung’s actions on April 8, General Dung decided that Trung would provide conversion training so that a group of North Vietnamese pilots would be able to fly the A-37 Dragonfly, the type selected for an upcoming operation. Trung was sent out to Da Nang Air Base where he was joined by Lieutenants Tran Van On and Tran Van Xanh, both former RVNAF fighter pilots, captured when Da Nang capitulated on March 29. Trung, Xanh and On were tasked with translating manuals from English to the Vietnamese language, as well as translating instructions on board the A-37 to Vietnamese.

On April 19, the VPAF Command was ordered to prepare for an operation in South Vietnam, so a group of pilots from the 4th Squadron of the VPAF 923rd Fighter Regiment was selected to undertake conversion training in Da Nang and form a new squadron for the operation. The selected group was led by Upper Captain Nguyen Van Luc along with Tu De, Tran Cao Thang, Han Van Quang and Hoang Mai Vuong. Together with former RVNAF pilots Trung and On, the group would form the Quyet Thang (“Determined to Win”) Squadron. On April 22 the VPAF pilots arrived at Da Nang Air Base and they began training on two A-37 aircraft that were restored to flying condition with support from Trung, On, Xanh and a few captured South Vietnamese technicians. In just five days, the VPAF pilots were able to independently fly the A-37 without support from the former RVNAF pilots.

As the VPAF pilots were completing the final phases of their conversion training, the VPAF Command chose to attack Tan Son Nhut Air Base
Tan Son Nhut Air Base
Tan Son Nhut Air Base was a Republic of Vietnam Air Force facility. It is located near the city of Saigon in southern Vietnam. The United States used it as a major base during the Vietnam War , stationing Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine units there...

 in Saigon. On the afternoon of April 27, the pilots were flown out to Phu Cat Air Base
Phu Cat Air Base
Phu Cat Air Base is a Vietnam People's Air Force military airfield in Vietnam. It is located northwest of Qui Nhon in Binh Dinh Province....

 in Binh Dinh Province
Binh Dinh Province
Bình Định is a province of Vietnam. It is located in Vietnam's South Central Coast region.-Administration:Binh Dinh is divided into one city and 10 districts:*An Lão*An Nhơn*Hoài Ân*Hoài Nhơn*Phù Cát*Phù Mỹ*Tuy Phước*Tây Sơn*Vân Canh...

 where Major-General Le Van Tri, commander of the VPAF, briefed them on the upcoming operation. Tri also instructed the pilots to ensure that their bombs should not hit civilian areas in Saigon. From the original group of trainees, Luc, De, Quang, Vuong, Trung and On were selected to take part in the attack. Meanwhile, On and Xanh were also instructed to test-fly five captured A-37 bombers, which would be the mainstay of the Quyet Thang Squadron. On the morning of April 28, the Quyet Thang Squadron became operational with Luc as the squadron’s commander, when it was transferred to Thanh Son airfield in Ninh Thuan Province
Ninh Thuan Province
Ninh Thuận is a province in the South Central Coast region of Vietnam .-History:The Cham principality of Panduranga had its center in Ninh Thuan Province, but also included much of what is now Binh Thuan Province. Panduranga became the political centre of Champa after the fall of Vijaya in 1471...

.

The attack

At Thanh Son airfield, Luc submitted the squadron’s plan of attack to the VPAF Command, Trung would lead the formation in the first aircraft because he was familiar with the skies over Saigon, De would be positioned behind Trung in the second aircraft, followed by Luc in the third, Vuong and On together in the fourth and Quang would pilot the last aircraft in the formation. At around 16:05 on April 28, the five A-37 bombers of the Quyet Thang Squadron, each armed with four 250-pound bombs, took off from Thanh Son airfield and each aircraft flew between 600 metres (1,968.5 ft) and 800 metres (2,624.7 ft) apart from each other. To save fuel over the 400 kilometres (248.5 mi) distance between Thanh Son and Saigon, the five-aircraft formation had to fly at a height of just 1000 metres (3,280.8 ft). Their first navigation point was Vung Tau
Vung Tàu
Vũng Tàu is a city in southern Vietnam. Its population in 2005 was 240,000. The city area is including 13 urban wards and one village. It is the capital of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, and is the crude oil extraction center of Vietnam. It is also known as one of the most beautiful cities of tourism...

, from where the formation would turn towards Tan Son Nhut. When the squadron flew over Bien Hoa Air Base
Bien Hoa Air Base
Bien Hoa Air Base is a Vietnam People's Air Force military airfield located in South-Central southern Vietnam about 20 miles from Saigon near the city of Bien Hoa within Dong Nai Province....

, two RVNAF AD-6 Skyraiders were sighted conducting bombing sorties near the area, but they were not allowed to engage.

Shortly after 17:00 the formation was able to approach Tan Son Nhut Air Base unchallenged as they were still wearing South Vietnamese code numbers. From about 2000 metres (6,561.7 ft) above the target Trung dived down on the target, but the bombs could not be released from the pylons, so Trung was forced to pull his aircraft up again. Next in line was De, who was able to drop his entire bomb load on the target. Luc dived upon on the target, but he too experienced problems with the weapons release system, so only two bombs were dropped. After the last two aircraft piloted by Vuong, Quang and On had successfully hit their targets, they strafed aircraft on the ground with gunfire. Trung and Luc made another pass, but again their bombs could not be released from the pylon.

By that stage the South Vietnamese had already responded by firing their anti-aircraft guns, so Luc ordered the squadron to withdraw as Trung made one final attempt at dropping his load using emergency mode. Several RVNAF F-5s were scrambled to pursue the attackers, but they escaped without any damage. On the return trip Quang led the formation, followed by Luc, De and Vuong and On. Trung, who had flown back for the third bombing attempt, was trailing the rest of the group. As they flew over Phan Thiet
Phan Thiết
Phan Thiết town is the capital of Binh Thuan province, in southeastern Vietnam. Phan Thiet is a municipality in central, south central sector, however, the development plan to 2025, it would be municipality Southeast Vietnam. The population of Phan Thiết city in 2005 is roughly 350,000 and is...

, they had to fly at a lower attitude to avoid mistakenly being hit by North Vietnamese anti-aircraft weapons. When the formation came within 40 kilometres (24.9 mi) of Thanh Son airfield, De was granted permission to land first because he only had about 600 litres (1,268 US pt) of fuel left. Squadron commander Luc was next to land, followed by Vuong and On, then Quang. Trung, who had led the attack during the mission, was the last aircraft to arrive back at base. By 18:00 on 28 April all the pilots of the VPAF Quyet Thang Squadron had landed at Thanh Son airfield, after completing North Vietnam’s first successful air attack against Saigon during the entire Vietnam War.

Aftermath

The attack on Tan Son Nhut temporarily closed the airport but it was soon returned to operation. The true extent of the damage is unknown, the North Vietnamese claimed that 24 aircraft had been destroyed and about 200 South Vietnamese personnel were killed, but U.S. sources state that only 3 AC-119s
Fairchild AC-119
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Hobson, Chris. "Vietnam Air Losses, USAF/USN/USMC, Fixed-Wing Aircraft Losses in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973." North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press, 2001. ISBN 1-85780-1156....

 and several C-47s were destroyed with no mention of casualties.

By the night of 28 April North Vietnamese artillery and rockets were hitting Tan Son Nhut. At dawn on 29 April the RVNAF began to haphazardly depart Tan Son Nhut Air Base as A-37s, F-5s, C-7
De Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou
The de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou is a Canadian-designed and produced specialized cargo aircraft with short takeoff and landing capability...

s, C-119s and C-130s departed for Thailand while UH-1 helicopters took off in search of the evacuation fleet of Task Force 76. Some VNAF aircraft did stay to continue to fight the advancing North Vietnamese however. One AC-119 gunship had spent the night of 28/29 April dropping flares and firing on the approaching North Vietnamese. At dawn on 29 April two A-1 Skyraiders began patrolling the perimeter of Tan Son Nhut at 2500 feet (762 m) until one was shot down, presumably by an SA-7. At 07:00 the AC-119 was firing on North Vietnamese formations to the east of Tan Son Nhut when it too was hit by an SA-7 and fell in flames to the ground. Due to the deteriorating situation at Tan Son Nhut, the fixed wing evacuation of Saigon was cancelled and Operation Frequent Wind
Operation Frequent Wind
Operation Frequent Wind was the evacuation by helicopter of American civilians and 'at-risk' Vietnamese from Saigon, South Vietnam, on 29–30 April 1975 during the last days of the Vietnam War...

 was commenced.

See also

  • Republic of Vietnam Air Force
  • Tan Son Nhat Airport
  • Vietnam People's Air Force
    Vietnam People's Air Force
    The Vietnam People's Air Force is the air force of Vietnam. It is the successor of the former North Vietnamese Air Force and the absorbed Republic of Vietnam Air Force following the re-unification of Vietnam in 1975.-Beginning-1964 :The first Vietnamese aircraft were two trainers, a de Havilland...

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