Yên Bái Air Base is a

Vietnam People's Air Force The Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF, ), formally refers itself as the Air Defence - Air Force (ADAF, ) or the Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF, ), is the aerial warfare service branch of Vietnam. It is the successor of the former North Vietnamese ...

(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, approxima ...

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 Combat Skyspot was the ground-directed bombing (GDB) operation of the Vietnam War by the United States Air Force using Bomb Directing Centrals and by the United States Marine Corps using Course Directing Centrals (" MSQ-77 and TPQ-10 ground r ...

guided bombing mission. In February 1969 the 925th Fighter Regiment was formed at the base operating the

MiG-17F 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 ...

and

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

. 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 originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bowe ...

#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 the Vietnam War and Operation Line ...

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 variants of the F-111 had roles that included ground attack (e.g. interdiction), strategic bombing (including nuclear weapons c ...

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

Operation Linebacker II Operation Linebacker II was an aerial bombing campaign conducted by U.S. Seventh Air Force, Strategic Air Command and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 against targets in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) during the final period of ...

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