Hòa Lạc Airfield 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 heliport located approximately west of

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

History

Vietnam War

The airfield started operation in February 1967. On 26 March 1967 Col Robert Scott flying an

F-105 The Republic F-105 Thunderchief is an American fighter-bomber that served with the United States Air Force from 1958 to 1984. Capable of Mach 2, it conducted the majority of strike bombing missions during the early years of the Vietnam War. It ...

shot down a Hòa Lạc-based

MiG-17 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 an ...

. In May the base was first attacked by the USAF. Hòa Lạc, Kép and

Phúc Yên Phúc Yên is a city in Vĩnh Phúc Province in the Red River Delta region of Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a ...

were targeted on the first night of

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 ...

on 18 December 1972 to suppress fighters that might otherwise intercept US attack aircraft.

Current use

The VPAF 916th Helicopter Squadron is based at Hòa Lạc. On 7 July 2014 a VPAF Mi-171 crashed while on a parachute training mission near Hòa Lạc killing 17 passengers and crew.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoa Lac Air Base Installations of the Vietnam People's Air Force Military airbases established in 1967