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Kép Air Base is a Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) ''(Không quân Nhân dân Việt Nam)'' military airfield located near the town of
Kép Kép is a township (''Thị trấn'') of Lạng Giang District, Bắc Giang Province, in north-eastern Vietnam.Minist ...
, Bắc Giang Province approximately northeast of
Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi i ...
.


History


Vietnam War

A September 1965 CIA intelligence briefing stated that Kép airfield had been extensively improved with the runway lengthened to 6000 ft allowing for jet fighter operations and photo-reconnaissance indicated that 8 aircraft, identified as MiG-15s or MiG-17s were at the airfield. In April 1966 the CIA concluded that a small number of MiG-21s had possibly deployed to Kép from Phúc Yên Air Base. On 24 April 1967, jets from VA-112 and VA-144 attacked Kép in the first U.S. airstrike on a VPAF airfield of the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. On 1 May 1967 during a sortie against Kép a
Douglas A-4 Skyhawk The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single-seat subsonic carrier-capable light attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps in the early 1950s. The delta-winged, single turbojet engined Skyhawk was designed a ...
of VA-76, shot down a
MiG-17 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-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 ...
with Zuni rockets, this was the only MiG kill by an A-4 during the Vietnam War. A Regiment-sized unit of Korean People's Air Force MiG pilots known as ''Doan Z'' (Group Z) flew from Kép from late 1967 through 1968. On 15 June 1972 during Operation Linebacker U.S. fighter-bombers attacked the base cratering the runway. The base was attacked again on 18 June with further damage to the runway. Kép, Phúc Yên and Hòa Lạc were targeted on the first night of Operation Linebacker II on 18 December 1972 to suppress fighters that might otherwise intercept US attack aircraft.


Current use

The VPAF 927th Fighter Regiment operating MiG-21s and Su-30MK2s is based at Kép.


References

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