This Alouette III was photographed an Tan Son nhut in 1963. It was flown by the 211th Helicopter Squadron. Little is known about the use of these French-built helicopters, of which just one was thought to have been operated by the VNAF, at least, until Nguyen Van Thang sent me an e-mail. (Photo: R. Baker).

I got this message from Nguyen Van Thang:

Hi, There were only two Alouettes in Vietnam, one was an Alouette II (crashed during a training mission) and the other as you see in the photograph. It was used to transport President Diem. Officially, there were only two pilots for Alouette, one is my father, he was the commander of the 211th helicopter's squadron. My father became a personal pilot for Vice-president Cao-Ky; also he was the first pilot who flew the UH-1B. When my father began with Ky, he flew the Alouette III. The Alouette always belonged to 211th HS and never to 314th SMS. When Ky received two UH-1Bs, and with parts problems, the Alouette III was sold, so it did not stay in service until 1975. My father is 79 years old and lives in Montreal.

Nguyen Van Thang.