Trần Văn Minh (21 July 1932 – 27 August 1997) was a general of the

Republic of Vietnam Air Force The South Vietnam Air Force, officially the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF; vi, Không lực Việt Nam Cộng hòa, KLVNCH; french: Force aérienne vietnamienne, FAVN) (sometimes referred to as the Vietnam Air Force or VNAF) was the aer ...

(RVNAF).

Career

In 1956 Minh was promoted to captain. In 1958 he received jet-training on the

Cessna T-37 The Cessna T-37 Tweet (designated Model 318 by Cessna) is a small, economical twin-engined jet trainer type which flew for decades as a primary trainer for the United States Air Force (USAF) and in the air forces of several other nations. The ...

and was promoted to major. In 1960 he attended the Air Command and Staff School at Maxwell Air Force Base,

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. On his return to South Vietnam he served as deputy base commander of

Nha Trang Air Base Nha Trang Air Base (also known as Camp McDermott Airfield and Long Van Airfield) was a French Air Force, Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF), United States Air Force (USAF) and Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) ''(Khong Quan Nhan Dan Viet N ...

, then deputy commander Bien Hoa Air Base, then Command Assistant Deputy at Danang Air Base. In 1964 he was appointed commander of the 62nd Tactical Wing at

Pleiku Air Base Pleiku Air Base is a former air force base in Vietnam. It was established by the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) in 1962 at an undeveloped airstrip, and was used by the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War in the II Corps Tact ...

. In November 1967 Minh was promoted to brigadier-general and commander of the RVNAF, succeeding

Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (; 8 September 1930 – 23 July 2011) was a South Vietnamese military officer and politician who served as the chief of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force in the 1960s, before leading the nation as the prime minister of South V ...

who was elected as Vice-President of the

Republic of Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of t ...

. Minh would be the longest-serving commander of the RVNAF holding command from 1967 until the

Fall of Saigon The Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese or Liberation of the South by the Vietnamese government, and known as Black April by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese was the capture of Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon, t ...

in April 1975. In 1968 he was promoted to

major-general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

(Thiếu Tướng). At 08:00 on 29 April 1975, Minh and 30 of his staff arrived at the Defense Attaché Office (DAO) compound demanding evacuation, signifying the complete loss of RVNAF command and control.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tran, Van Minh 1932 births 1997 deaths South Vietnamese military personnel of the Vietnam War