Yên Bái Air Base is a

Vietnam People's Air Force The Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF; ), officially the Air Defence - Air Force Service (ADAF Service; ) or the Vietnam Air Force (), is the Aerial warfare, aerial, Anti-aircraft warfare, air and Space warfare, space defence service branch of ...

(VPAF) ''(Không quân Nhân dân Việt Nam)'' military airfield located north-northwest of

Yên Bái Yên Bái () is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of Yên Bái Province, in the north-east region of Vietnam. The city borders Yên Bình District and Trấn Yên District. The city is a settlement along the banks of the Red River, approxi ...

History

Vietnam War

On 15 November 1967 F-105s of the

357th Tactical Fighter Squadron The 357th Fighter Squadron is part of the 355th Fighter Wing at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. It operates Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft training pilots for close air support missions. The squadron was first activa ...

bombed the base as part of a Commando Club guided bombing mission. In February 1969 the 925th Fighter Regiment was formed at the base operating the

MiG-17F The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (; NATO reporting name: Fresco) is a high-subsonic fighter aircraft produced in the Soviet Union from 1952 and was operated by air forces internationally. The MiG-17 was license-built in China as the Shenyang J-5 and ...

and

Shenyang J-6 The Shenyang J-6 (wikt:歼, Chinese: 歼-6; designated F-6 for export versions; NATO reporting name: Farmer) is the Chinese version of the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19, MiG-19 'Farmer' fighter, the world's first mass-produced supersonic airc ...

. On 10 May 1972 a VPAF J-6 of the 925th Fighter Regiment ran out of fuel after a combat air patrol mission, deadsticked from an altitude of 1,400 meters, descending too rapidly, and overran the runway overturning and exploding, killing the pilot instantly. On 1 June 1972

F-4D The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber that was developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bowers ...

#65-0784 was shot down by a VPAF J-6 near the base, the weapons system operator Capt

Roger Locher Roger Clinton Locher (born September 13, 1946) is a retired Colonel in the U.S. Air Force and a former McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II Navigator/Weapon Systems Officer (WSO) and subsequent Pilot who, during Operation Linebacker in the Vietnam ...

successfully evaded capture for 23 days before being rescued. On 27 September 1972 USAF jets attacked the base, destroying one MiG-21 on the ground and damaging another. On 30 September 1972 U.S. jets attacked the base destroying two MiG-17s on the ground. In late 1972 USAF

F-111 Aardvark The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark is a retired supersonic, medium-range, multirole combat aircraft. Production models of the F-111 had roles that included attack (e.g. interdiction), strategic bombing (including nuclear weapons capabilitie ...

strike bombers attacked the base, rendering it temporarily inoperable, the only time Yên Bái was inoperable during

Operation Linebacker II Operation Linebacker II, sometimes referred to as the Christmas bombings and, in Vietnam, Dien Bien Phu in the air, was a strategic bombing campaign conducted by the United States against targets in North Vietnam from 18 December to 29 December ...

Current use

The VPAF 931st Fighter Squadron operating Su-22M-4/UM-3K is based at Yên Bái.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yen Bai Air Base Installations of the Vietnam People's Air Force