Attack on TSN

VNAF A-37Bs attack Tan Son Nhut air base

By Nghia T. Ta

The attack took place in the early evening April 28, 1975. A flight of three A37Bs from Phan Rang AB (already captured by the NVA) were enroute to Tan Son Nhut. The flight did not attempt to contact the tower and started to bomb the parked aircraft right away. It was around dinner time so there wasn't much activity at Tan Son Nhut. The flight was led by Nguyen Thanh Trung who had bombed the presidential palace weeks earlier. The wingmen were Lt. Ky and Lt. On from the 516th Fighter Squadron. My uncle friend, Capt. Nguyen Bay, has trained these two pilots as they came from an observation squadron flying O-1E. Capt. Nguyen Bay said that these two pilots were stuck in Da Nang when the city fell. They were forced to fly this mission. Also on board (in the right seat) were pilots from the North Vietnamese Air Force. The bombing destroyed some transport aircraft. There was return fire from ARVN anti aircraft artillery. but none of the attacking planes were hit.

Vo Giap congratulates Nguyen Thanh Trung after the attack. (Photo: VPAF museum).

After taking over SVN, the Communists forced some of the VNAF pilots and maintenance personnel to train them on the left behind aircraft. One VNAF C130 pilot told me that he was forced to translate the C130 flight manuals into Vietnamese. The Communists would reportedly fuel the aircraft with just enough fuel so the pilots couldn't escape to neighboring countries. However, there was one incident where a UH-1H had escaped to Thailand. The VNAF pilot and the rest of the Communist crew had agreed to flee. 1st Lt. Ho Kim Hai who flew UH1 out of Pleiku AB. As the VC advanced south in March 1975. His squadron was moved to Can Tho to regroup. When SVN was lost, Lt. Hai was forced to train the VC pilot on the UH1s. On March 1976, Lt. Hai stole a UH-1 along with a VC crew. First, he flew the UH-1 to a predetermined landing spot to pick up his wife and four kids before heading to Chantaburi, Thailand (I presume that he did not have enough fuel to fly farther than that). Lt. Hai is now an electrical engineer working and residing in San Jose, CA.