U-Tapao and the end of the Vietnam War

The long lasting Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975 with the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. No one had expected that the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong could conquer the country so quickly and, moreover, no one had any idea of ​​the consequences and consequences. There was no better example of this fact than the many (transport) planes full of South Vietnamese refugees, who unexpectedly landed on the U-Tapao airbase at Pattaya landed.

One immediate problem this created was a diplomatic squabble between Thailand, North Vietnam and the US over ownership of these South Vietnamese aircraft. All three claimed ownership and a three-way tug-of-war ensued.

The main contributing factor to the ill-planned and poorly executed evacuation was the unshakable faith of the US ambassador in Vietnam , Graham Martin, who believed that Saigon and the Mekong Delta could remain in the hands of the South Vietnamese army. He did not believe the ever-increasing stream of intelligence reports reporting the rapid advance of the North Vietnamese. He took no action to evacuate anyone until literally the very last minute.

When evacuation became unavoidable because American and Vietnamese personnel would be at risk, Operation Talon Vice initially came into effect in early April. The plan was to use regular civilian aircraft to collect evacuees from Saigon's Tan Son Nhut airport in an orderly manner. But the North Vietnamese advanced faster than expected. The evacuation plan was renamed Operation Frequent Wind, with helicopters landing on the roof of the US embassy and taking off.

As the North Vietnamese army moved south to take Saigon, the first sign of trouble came at the U-Tapao airbase on April 25. The departure of President Thieu that day plus the imminent fall of the South Vietnamese government marked the end of the war. The evacuation plan of US helicopters, which were supposed to take people to the US warships in the South China Sea, became a complete disorganized chaos. On that day, countless South Vietnamese military planes also landed on U-Tapao, crammed with refugees. This tragic exodus lasted for 5 days. There was no planning whatsoever and planes and helicopters landed unannounced, total chaos.

Aircraft that landed included C-7, C-47, C-119 and C-130 transport aircraft, an O-1 reconnaissance aircraft, A-37 attack aircraft and F-5 fighters plus quite a few helicopters, mainly the UH- 1 “Hueys”. On April 29, U-Tapao was home to 74 Vietnamese aircraft and nearly 2000 refugees. A day later, these numbers had grown to 130 aircraft and 2700 Vietnamese refugees.

The Thai government argued that the US government was responsible for the unwanted refugees. The new Vietnamese government demanded the return of all aircraft shortly afterwards. That was the beginning of a literal three-way tug-of-war between the Thai, Vietnamese and US governments over who would ultimately have access to the planes. Several statements came from Thailand, which contradicted each other. The Prime Minister, Mr. Kukrit Pramoj and the Secretary of State, Major Gen Chatchai Choonhavan, stated that all aircraft would be returned to Vietnam. But the Vice Prime Minister, also Minister of Defence, Mr. Pramarn Adireksa said that the planes and a large amount of weapons would be handed over to the US. mr. Pramarn explained his decision by saying that the Americans had donated the planes and weapons to South Vietnam and would return to the US when the mission was complete.

The Americans did not wait for the final decision of the scheming Thai government. On May 5, a start was made with the take-back of the aircraft. Jolly Green Giant helicopters lifted the A-37 and the F-5 planes and many helicopters one by one and took them to the aircraft carrier USS Midway, which was staying near Sattahip. Several Air America planes, the CIA's clandestine Southeast Asian airline, were also taken. Only the C-130 transport aircraft and some aircraft and helicopters, which were damaged or otherwise unusable, remained behind.

The new Vietnamese government persisted in demanding that the planes return to Vietnam and threatened Thailand with diplomatic action. That took some time, but eventually relations between Vietnam and Thailand normalized.

An article by Leonard H. Le Blanc, which was published in Pattaya Explorer, among others. The writer is an American former naval officer, who now lives in Bangkok. He writes freelance for Time Magazine, among others, and has also written two crime novels, set at U-Tapao.

Video U-Tapao 1969

An 8mm film about U-Tapao in 1969 during the Vietnam War: