Tan Son Nhut Air Base

South Vietnamese Air Force base in Saigon during the Vietnam War; now an international airport
the civil use of this facility

Tan Son Nhut Air Base (1955–1975) was a Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) facility. It was located near the city of Saigon in southern Vietnam. The United States used it as a major base during the Vietnam War (1959–1975), stationing Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine units there. Following the Fall of Saigon, it was taken over as a Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) facility and remains in use today. Tan Son Nhat International Airport, (IATA: SGN, ICAO: VVTS) has been a major Vietnamese civil airport since the 1920s.

Tan Son Nhat Airport was built by the French in the 1930s when the French Colonial government of Indochina constructed a small unpaved airport, known as Tan Son Nhat Airfield, in the village of Tan Son Nhat to serve as Saigon's commercial airport. Flights to and from France, as well as within Southeast Asia were available prior to World War II. During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army used Tan Son Nhat as a transport base. When Japan surrendered in August 1945, the French Air Force flew a contingent of 150 troops into Tan Son Nhat. After World War II, Tân Sơn Nhất served domestic as well as international flights from Saigon. In mid 1956 construction of a 7,200 feet (2195 m) runway was completed and the International Cooperation Administration soon started work on a 10,000 feet (3048 m) concrete runway. The airfield was run by the South Vietnamese Department of Civil Aviation with the RVNAF as a tenant located on the southwest of the airfield. RMK BRJ also constructed an air control radar station in 1962, and the passenger and freight terminals in 1963. In 1953, Tan Son Nhut started being used as a military air base for the fledgling RVNAF, and in 1956 the headquarters were moved from the center of Saigon to Tan Son Nhut. But even before that time, French and Vietnamese military aircraft were in evidence at Tan Son Nhut. On 1 July 1955, the RVNAF 1st Transport Squadron equipped with C 47 Skytrains was established at the base. The RVNAF also had a special missions squadron at the base equipped with 3 C 47s, 3 C 45s and 1 L 26.

As the headquarters for the RVNAF, Tan Son Nhut was primarily a command base, with most operational units using nearby Biên Hòa Air Base. At Tan Son Nhut, the RVNAF's system of command and control was developed over the years with assistance from the USAF. The system handled the flow of aircraft from take off to target area, and return to the base it was launched from. This was known as the Tactical Air Control System (TACS), and it assured positive control of all areas where significant combat operations were performed. Without this system, it would not have been possible for the RVNAF to deploy its forces effectively where needed. The TACS was in close proximity to the headquarters of the RVNAF and USAF forces in South Vietnam, and commanders of both Air Forces utilized its facilities. Subordinate to TACS was the Direct Air Support Centers (DASC) assigned to each of corps areas (I DASC – Da Nang AB, DASC Alpha – Nha Trang Air Base, II DASC – Pleiku AB, III DASC – Bien Hoa AB, and IV DASC – Cần Thơ AB). DASCs were responsible for the deployment of aircraft located within their sector in support of ground operations. Operating under each DASC were numerous Tactical Air Control Party (TACPs), manned by one or more RVNAF/USAF personnel posted with the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) ground forces. A communications network inked these three levels of command and control, giving the TACS overall control of the South Vietnamese air situation at all times. Additional information was provided by a radar network that covered all of South Vietnam and beyond, monitoring all strike aircraft. Another function of Tan Son Nhut Air Base was as an RVNAF recruiting center.

The base was adjacent to the headquarters of the Joint General Staff of South Vietnam, and was a key venue in various military coups, particularly the 1963 coup that deposed the nation's first President Ngô Đình Diệm. The plotters invited loyalist officers to a routine lunch meeting at JGS and captured them in the afternoon of 1 November 1963. The most notable was Colonel Lê Quang Tung, loyalist commander of the ARVN Special Forces, which was effectively a private Ngô family army, and his brother and deputy, Le Quang Trịeu. Later, Captain Nguyễn Văn Nhung, bodyguard of coup leader General Dương Văn Minh, shot the brothers on the edge of the base. On 14 April 1966 a Viet Cong (VC) mortar attack on the base destroyed two RVNAF aircraft and killed seven USAF and two RVNAF personnel. The base was attacked by the VC in a sapper and mortar attack on the morning of 4 December 1966. The attack was repulsed for the loss of three US and three ARVN killed and 28 VC killed and four captured. Over the next three weeks, the RVNAF flew over 1,300 strike sorties, bombing and strafing PAVN/VC positions throughout South Vietnam. Transport aircraft from Tan Son Nhut's 33d Wing dropped almost 15,000 flares in 12 nights, compared with a normal monthly average of 10,000. Observation aircraft also from Tan Son Nhut completed almost 700 reconnaissance sorties, with RVNAF pilots flying O 1 Bird Dogs and U 17 Skywagons. At 01:15 on 18 February a VC rocket and mortar attack on the base destroyed 6 aircraft and damaged 33 others and killed one person. A rocket attack the next day hit the civilian air terminal killing one person and six further rocket/mortar attacks over this period killed another six people and wounded 151. On 24 February another rocket and mortar attack damaged base buildings killing four US personnel and wounding 21. On 12 June 1968 a mortar attack on the base destroyed two USAF aircraft and killed one airman. In addition airborne "rocket watch" patrols were established in the Saigon Biên Hòa area to reduce attacks by fire. Numerous violations of the Paris Peace Accords were committed by North Vietnamese beginning almost as soon as the United States withdrew its last personnel from South Vietnam by the end of March 1973. The North Vietnamese and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam continued their attempt to overthrow President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and remove the U. S. supported government. The U. S. had promised Thiệu that it would use airpower to support his government. On 14 January 1975 Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger stated that the U. S. was not living up to its promise that it would retaliate in the event North Vietnam tried to overwhelm South Vietnam. When North Vietnam invaded in March 1975, the promised American intervention never materialized. Congress reflected the popular mood, halting the bombing in Cambodia effective 15 July 1973, and reducing aid to South Vietnam. Since Thiệu intended to fight the same kind of war he always had, with lavish use of firepower, the cuts in aid proved especially damaging.

In early 1975 North Vietnam realized the time was right to achieve its goal of re uniting Vietnam under communist rule, launching a series of small ground attacks to test U. S. reaction. On 8 January the North Vietnamese Politburo ordered a PAVN offensive to "liberate" South Vietnam by cross border invasion. The general staff plan for the invasion of South Vietnam called for 20 divisions, it anticipated a two year struggle for victory. By 14 March, South Vietnamese President Thiệu decided to abandon the Central Highlands region and two northern provinces of South Vietnam and ordered a general withdrawal of ARVN forces from those areas. Instead of an orderly withdrawal, it turned into a general retreat, with masses of military and civilians fleeing, clogging roads and creating chaos. On 30 March 100,000 South Vietnamese soldiers surrendered after being abandoned by their commanding officers. The large coastal cities of Da Nang, Qui Nhơn, Tuy Hòa and Nha Trang were abandoned by the South Vietnamese, yielding the entire northern half of South Vietnam to the North Vietnamese. By late March the US Embassy began to reduce the number of US citizens in Vietnam by encouraging dependents and non essential personnel to leave the country by commercial flights and on Military Airlift Command (MAC) C 141 and C 5 aircraft, which were still bringing in emergency military supplies. In late March, two or three of these MAC aircraft were arriving each day and were used for the evacuation of civilians and Vietnamese orphans. This was the last USAF fixed wing aircraft to leave Tan Son Nhut. At approximately 10:30 Maj. Pham heard of the surrender broadcast of President Dương Văn Minh and went to the ARVN Joint General Staff Compound to seek instructions, he called General Minh who told him to prepare to surrender, Pham reportedly told Minh "If Viet Cong tanks are entering Independence Palace we will come down there to rescue you sir." Minh refused Pham's suggestion and Pham then told his men to withdraw from the base gates and at 11:30 the PAVN entered the base. After 1966, with the establishment of the 7th Air Force as the main USAF command and control headquarters in South Vietnam, Tan Son Nhut functioned as a headquarters, a Tactical Reconnaissance base, and as a Special Operations base. With the drawdown of US forces in South Vietnam after 1971, the base took on a myriad of organizations transferred from deactivated bases across South Vietnam. Between 1968 and 1974, Tan Son Nhut Airport was one of the busiest military airbases in the world. Pan Am schedules from 1973 showed Boeing 747 service was being operated four times a week to San Francisco via Guam and Manila. Continental Airlines operated up to 30 Boeing 707 military charters per week to and from Tan Son Nhut Airport during the 1968–74 period. It was from Tan Son Nhut Air Base that the last U. S. airman left South Vietnam in March 1973. The Air Force Post Office (APO) for Tan Son Nhut Air Base was APO San Francisco, 96307.

On 13 May 1961 a 92 man unit of the Army Security Agency, operating under cover of the 3rd Radio Research Unit (3rd RRU), arrived at Tan Son Nhut AB and established a communications intelligence facility in disused RVNAF warehouses on the base This was the first full deployment of a US Army unit to South Vietnam. On 21 December 1961 SP4 James T. Davis of the 3rd RRU was operating a mobile PRD 1 receiver with an ARVN unit near Cầu Xáng when they were ambushed by VC and Davis was killed, becoming one of the first Americans killed in the Vietnam War. On 1 June 1966 the 3rd RRU was redesignated the 509th Radio Research Group. The 509th RR Group continued operations until 7 March 1973, when they were among the last US units to leave South Vietnam.

25 October 1967: F 105D Thunderchief #59 1737 crashed into a C 123K #54 0667 on landing in bad weather. The F 105 pilot was killed and both aircraft were destroyed. 19 June 1968 at 14:15 a pallet of ammunition exploded on a truck in the munitions area north of the base killing one U. S. soldier. An ambulance crossing the runway to the scene of the explosion was hit by a U. S. Army U 21 on takeoff killing two USAF medics in the ambulance. 11 October 1969: an AC 119G of the 17th Special Operations Squadron crashed shortly after takeoff. Six crewmembers were killed and the aircraft was destroyed. 28 April 1970: an AC 119G of the 17th Special Operations Squadron crashed shortly after takeoff. Six crewmembers were killed and the aircraft was destroyed.