Air Vietnam
There are some details to share with you about AirVietnam. The C46 was leased from China AirLines and flown by Chinese crew. AVN did not have any C46 in stock. The side band by the windows is blue and not green like the AVN's DC4 or B727. None of AVN planes belongs to the VNAF. Crew members came from many origins: a group of pure civilian pilots, a group of VNAF retirees (politically), a group of transferees (no longer earning military senority but better pay), a group of temporary transferees. Members of this last group flew Cessna 170s serving small towns, on few-month rotation. Out of this group, one was shot down on a DC4 by SA7 in the central highlands in early 1975. One flew for Corse Air after he fled the country, now retired. AVN planes were not maintained by VNAF 314th but by its own crew and hangar. Engines were sent to HongKong and Taiwan for overhaul. One B727, stuck in Taipei at the end of the war, was later nationalized by China AL to cover the debts of late engine work and plane leases. AVN later added about a dozen civilian pilots, with basic training in Thailand, then flight school in Australia. Most owned DC3s, DC4s were transferred from AirFrance. One B727 was purchased, one B727 (possibly) and one B707 were leased from PanAm. B727s were operated by American crew then later by Vietname. I had a chance to talk to a former VNAF major who piloted 219th helicopters. Once, his chopper tail boom was shredded like a honeycomb in a mission to fish out US and SVN SpecForces in South Laos. After the fall of SVN, he spent 13 years in "reeducation camps". Despite the designation as a helicopter squad, there were some A1s and C47s. 219th used H34s painted in black without markings, like the "loaned" A1s and C47s. They were parsed to other wings, not based at a central base like other squads. The Than Phong squad (translation for Kamikaze), later disbanded, was a brain child of Nguyen cao Ky. Paris-Match had a story and pictures of this squad, around 1964~65. They flew A1's and made a number of raids in NVN. The chinese-looking character on the cowling is 9, in mahjong game, since it is a lucky number in many Chinese game. Pham phu Quoc was shot down (MIA or KIA). Many were later converted to Special Ops planes to "support" 219th, unassigned to any squad.
