Operation Swan Lake
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Operation Swan Lake
Operation Raindance was a military operation of the Laotian Civil War, staged from 17 March to 7 April 1969. It was launched by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) in support of Hmong guerrillas raised by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). As the guerrillas were being pressured by enemy troops pushing to within ten kilometers of their main bases, the aerial campaign was planned to cause a pullback by the pressing communists. As the first well-targeted aerial campaign in Laos, Operation Raindance's 65 strikes per day gained such great results that it was extended indefinitely. Even after its "ending" on 7 April, the interdiction continued; eventually, it would be dubbed Operation Stranglehold. In all, it was the most successful Lao air strike operation to date. Among enemy losses to air were two tanks, two BTR-40 armored cars, 32 other vehicles, 28 antiaircraft guns, 28 bunkers, and six gun positions. Bombing caused over 1,500 secondary explosions of munitions, and destroyed over 2,000 st ...
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Laotian Civil War
The Laotian Civil War (1959–1975) was a civil war in Laos which was waged between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975. It is associated with the Cambodian Civil War and the Vietnam War, with both sides receiving heavy external support in a proxy war between the global Cold War superpowers. It is called the Secret War among the American CIA Special Activities Center, and Hmong and Mien veterans of the conflict. The Kingdom of Laos was a covert theater for other belligerents during the Vietnam War. The Franco–Lao Treaty of Amity and Association (signed 22 October 1953) transferred remaining French powers to the Royal Lao Government (except control of military affairs), establishing Laos as an independent member of the French Union. However, this government did not include representatives from the Lao Issara anti-colonial armed nationalist movement. The following years were marked by a rivalry between the neutralists ...
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Xam Neua
Xam Neua (ຊຳເໜືອ , sometimes transcribed as ''Sam Neua'' or ''Samneua'', literally 'northern swamp'), is the capital of Houaphanh Province, Laos, in northeast Laos. Demographics Residents are mostly Lao, Vietnamese, and Hmong, with some Tai Dam, Tai Daeng, and Tai Lu. The predominant language is Lao with minorities of Vietnamese and Hmong. French is spoken by a minority of people as a legacy of the French colonial era. It is taught in schools and used in public works and government. Daily life Xam Neua is in a valley in Houaphanh Province. At 05:45 and 17:45 each day there are public addresses from loudspeakers atop a tower on the school playground, expounding on communist life and philosophy. These addresses are usually accompanied by Lao music. It is said that there is a communist re-education camp in Xam Neua and that it was the Pathet Lao capital during the Laotian Civil War Battle of Lima Site 85 (LS-85), 11 March 1968. It is near the Pathet Lao refuges in ...
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Covert Sites Of The Laotian Civil War
Covert sites of the Laotian Civil War were clandestine U.S. military installations for conducting covert paramilitary and combat operations in the Kingdom of Laos. Airstrips within the Kingdom of Laos were originally designated by Air America as "Site XX" (with XX being a number). In September 1961, the designation changed to "VS XX", meaning "Victor Site XX". On 16 May 1964, the airstrips received their final designation; the site names then used the abbreviation "LS"—Lima Site—for unimproved strips, or "L"—Lima—for paved runways. The terms "Victor" and "Lima" were taken from the existing military phonetic code. These sites typically were centered on a dirt landing strip for STOL aircraft such as the Air America Helio Courier or Pilatus Porter. These strips were often carved out along ridge lines, and were seldom flat, straight, or of sufficient length. However, they were crucial for resupply and personnel transport, including medical evacuations. To quote one source: "Som ...
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North American T-28 Trojan
The North American Aviation T-28 Trojan is a radial-engine military trainer aircraft manufactured by North American Aviation and used by the United States Air Force and United States Navy beginning in the 1950s. Besides its use as a trainer, the T-28 was successfully employed as a counter-insurgency aircraft, primarily during the Vietnam War. It has continued in civilian use as an aerobatics and warbird performer. Design and development On September 24, 1949, the XT-28 (company designation NA-159) was flown for the first time, designed to replace the T-6 Texan. The T-28A arrived at the Air Proving Ground, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, in mid-June 1950, for suitability tests as an advanced trainer by the 3200th Fighter Test Squadron, with consideration given to its transition, instrument, and gunnery capabilities. Found satisfactory, a contract was issued and between 1950 and 1957, a total of 1,948 were built. Following the T-28's withdrawal from U.S. military service, a numb ...
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Seventh Air Force
The Seventh Air Force (Air Forces Korea) (7 AF) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Osan Air Base, South Korea. The command's mission is to plan and direct air component operations in the Republic of Korea and in the Northwest Pacific. Established on 19 October 1940 as the Hawaiian Air Force at Fort Shafter, Territory of Hawaii, the 7 AF was a United States Army Air Forces combat unit in the Pacific Theater of World War II, providing air defense of the Hawaiian Islands and engaging in combat operations primarily in the Central Pacific AOR. It was assigned units engaging enemy forces in the Gilbert Islands; Marshall Islands; Caroline Islands; Mariana Islands, and in the last major battle of the Pacific War, the Battle of Okinawa. Returning to its defense role in Hawaii after the war, 7 AF became the primary USAF command and control organization in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. 7 AF is commanded by Lt Gen Scot ...
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Sortie
A sortie (from the French word meaning ''exit'' or from Latin root ''surgere'' meaning to "rise up") is a deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops, from a strongpoint. The term originated in siege warfare. In aviation In military aviation, a sortie is a combat mission of an individual aircraft, starting when the aircraft takes off. For example, one mission involving six aircraft would tally six sorties. The sortie rate is the number of sorties that a given unit can support in a given time. In siege warfare In siege warfare, the word ''sortie'' refers specifically to a sudden issuing of troops against the enemy from a defensive position—that is, an attack launched against the besiegers by the defenders. If the sortie is through a sally port, the verb ''to sally'' may be used interchangeably with ''to sortie''. Purposes of sorties include harassment of enemy troops, destruction of siege weaponry and engineering works, joining the relief ...
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Air Attaché
The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for liquid water to exist on the Earth's surface, absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention (greenhouse effect), and reducing temperature extremes between day and night (the diurnal temperature variation). By mole fraction (i.e., by number of molecules), dry air contains 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor, on average around 1% at sea level, and 0.4% over the entire atmosphere. Air composition, temperature, and atmospheric pressure vary with altitude. Within the atmosphere, air suitable for use in photosynthesis by terrestrial plants and breathing of terrestrial animals is found only in E ...
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Operation Barrel Roll
Operation Barrel Roll was a covert U.S. Air Force 2nd Air Division and U.S. Navy Task Force 77, interdiction and close air support campaign conducted in the Kingdom of Laos between 14 December 1964 and 29 March 1973 concurrent with the Vietnam War. The operation resulted in 260 million bombs being dropped on Laos, making Laos "the most heavily bombed nation in history". The original purpose of the operation was to serve as a signal to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) to cease its support for the insurgency then taking place in the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). This action was taken within Laos due to the location of North Vietnam's expanding logistical corridor known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail (the Truong Son Road to the North Vietnamese), which ran from southwestern North Vietnam, through southeastern Laos, and into South Vietnam. The campaign then centered on the interdiction of that logistical system. Beginning during the same time frame (and expan ...
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Souvanna Phouma
Prince Souvanna Phouma (; 7 October 1901 – 10 January 1984) was the leader of the neutralist faction and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Laos several times (1951–1954, 1956–1958, 1960, and 1962–1975). Early life Souvanna Phouma was the son of Bounkhong, the last vice-king of Luang Prabang and a nephew of King Sisavang Vong of Laos, given a French education in Hanoi, Paris and Grenoble, where he obtained his degree in architecture and engineering. He returned to his homeland in 1931, married Aline Claire Allard, the daughter of a French father and a Lao mother, and entered the Public Works Service of French Indochina. Souvanna Phouma, together with his brother, Prince Phetsarath Rattanavongsa (1891–1959) and his half-brother, Prince Souphanouvong (1909–1995), around the end of World War II, joined the Lao Issara (Free Laos) movement established to counter the French occupation and its provisional Vientiane government (1945–46). When the French reoccupied Laos, Sou ...
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William H
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of England in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." Shortened familiar versions in English include Will, Wills, Willy, Willie, Bill, and Billy. A common Irish form is Liam. Scottish diminutives include Wull, Willie or Wullie (as in Oor Wullie or the play ''Douglas''). Female forms are Willa, Willemina, Wilma and Wilhelmina. Etymology William is related to the given name ''Wilhelm'' (cf. Proto-Germanic ᚹᛁᛚᛃᚨᚺᛖᛚᛗᚨᛉ, ''*Wiljahelmaz'' > German ''Wilhelm'' and Old Norse ᚢᛁᛚᛋᛅᚼᛅᛚᛘᛅᛋ, ''Vilhjálmr''). By regular sound changes, the native, inherited English form of the name shoul ...
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Muang Soui
Muang Soui(In Lao: ເມືອງສຸຍ) (also called Muang Souy or Muong Soui) is a small town in Xiangkhouang Province Laos. It is located on Route 7 of Laos, so east of Phoukhoune district, northwest of Phonsavan, and Ban Phou Pheung Noi, but north of Sam Thong, and Long Tieng. History Muang Soui (in Lao:''ເມືອງ ສຸຍ'') or Muang Souy was a small town which was located in the Xiangkhouang Province, Laos. Its population was around 10,000 in 1965. It was a small town among many like the cities of Phonsavan, Plain of Jars, Lathuang, Nong Het, Long Tieng, Sam Thong and many others. These towns were all located in Xiangkhouang Province. They were all well known during and before the Vietnam War 1961–1975. Muang Soui was created shortly before 1960 when Captain Kong Le overthrew the Royal Lao Government in a coup, 1960 Laotian coups, on August 10, 1960. Before this town was created and called Muang Soui, the old name of that town was ''Ban NongTang'' (in lao ...
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Vang Pao
Vang Pao ( RPA: ''Vaj Pov'' , Lao: ວັງປາວ; 8 December 1929 – 6 January 2011) was a major general in the Royal Lao Army. He was a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States. He was also known as General Vang Pao to the people in the Hmong community. Early life Vang, an ethnic Hmong, was born on 8 December 1929, in a Hmong village named Nonghet, located in Central Xiangkhuang Province, in the northeastern region of Laos, where his father, Neng Chu Vang, was a county leader. Vang began his early life as a farmer until Japanese forces invaded and occupied French Indochina in World War II. His father sent him away to school from the age of 10 to 15 before he launched his military career, joining the French Military to protect fellow Hmong during the Japanese invasion. While taking an entrance examination, the captain who was the proctor realized that Vang knew almost no written French. The captain dictated the answers to Vang so he could join ...
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