Phan Rang Air Base

History

Phan Rang Air Base (also called Thành Sơn Air Base) is a Vietnam Air Defence - Air Force (VADAF) (Khong Quan Nhan Dan Viet Nam) military airfield in Vietnam. It is located 5.2 miles (4.5 nmi; 8.4 km) north-northwest of Phan Rang – Tháp Chàm in Khánh Hòa province.

Initially built by the Imperial Japanese Army about 1942, the airfield was also used by the French Air Force (French: Armée de l'Air) during the First Indochina War then abandoned in 1954. The United States rebuilt the airfield in 1965 and it was used by the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) and the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War in the II Corps Tactical Zone of South Vietnam.

It was seized by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) in April 1975 and has been in use by the VADAF ever since.

Text from Wikipedia: Phan Rang Air Base, CC BY-SA 4.0, lightly trimmed.

Key dates

1. 1954
   The airfield at Phan Rang was used by the Japanese during World War II. In the late 1940s and early 1950s the French Air Force used the same 3,500-foot (1,100 m) runway, and abandoned the facility when French control over Indochina ended in 1954.
2. 1966
   On 10 October 1966, the 366th TFW and the 389th Tactical Fighter Squadron moved to Da Nang AB and the 35th Tactical Fighter Wing at Da Nang AB moved to Phan Rang.
3. 1966
   612th Tactical Fighter Squadron: 10 October 1966 – 8 January 1967 and 14 April 1969 – 15 March 1971 (F-100D/F Tail Code: VS)
4. 1967
   2 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force: 19 April 1967 – 4 June 1971 (Canberra B.20)
5. 1967
   309th Special Operations Squadron: 15 June 1967 – 31 July 1970 (C-123B/K Tail Code: WH)
6. 1968
   Between 10 August 1968 and 31 May 1969, the 554th Civil Engineering Squadron built an armament and electronics shop, fire station, a concrete access taxiway, 6 troop barracks and 2 officers quarters protecting by a revetment wall, a 49,000-square-yard asphalt hardstand, and a base theater.
7. 1969
   4th Special Operations Squadron: 15 October 1969 – 15 December 1969 (AC-47D Spooky)
8. 1969
   604th Special Operations Squadron (detached): 15 October 1969 - I March 1970 (A-37A)
9. 1971
   In 1971 the 315th TAW expanded its mission with the control of the interdiction and the psychological warfare and visual reconnaissance operations of the following counter-insurgency squadrons:

Dates and events quoted from the same Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Records that place someone at this base

A base history doesn't name everyone who served. These records do:

• Morning reports (include Army Air Forces units)
• Search Army and AAF morning reports, 1912–1946 (National Archives Catalog)
• Air Force organizational records and lineage (AFHRA)

More history

• U.S. Army Center of Military History
• Air Force Historical Research Agency
• Wikipedia: Phan Rang Air Base