1936–40 Gia Lam Airfield () was built in , according to an
urban plan laid out by French architect
Ernest Hébrard over a decade earlier. Hébrard was hired by the city of Hanoi's Urban Planning and Architecture Services department in 1923 to supervise a number of
urban renewal projects, including a new industrial area in
Gia Lâm District, on the eastern bank of the
Red River. Hébrard's plan for Gia Lam included a renovated
railway station, along with space for factories, industrial establishments, and the new airfield. Upon its completion, it was one of two major airfields in the Hanoi area, the other being the (now-disused)
Bach Mai Airfield. The airfield itself was constructed according to a design by French architect Félix Godard.
1940–46 On September 26, 1940, as part of the
Invasion of French Indochina, Japanese forces took possession of the airfield, maintaining control throughout
World War II, until their surrender to the
Việt Minh during the
August Revolution. During the Japanese occupation period from early-on, Gia Lam had faced attacks from the combined forces of the
RoCAF bombers escorted by
AVG fighters, including a major offensive-strike operation on 22 January 1942, where RoCAF
Tupolev SB-2 bombers from Taipingsi air base in
Sichuan, rendezvoused with AVG fighter escort enroute to attacking the occupying Japanese forces stationed at Gia Lam. Soon after the end of WWII, the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed following the August Revolution, with Việt Minh leader
Hồ Chí Minh as head of government. France initially accepted the new government, but this position changed when negotiations about the future of Vietnam as a state within the French Union collapsed. Guerrilla fighting began between Việt Minh fighters and the French, and on December 19, 1946, in response to attacks on French installations in and around Hanoi, French troops re-occupied the airfield.
First Indochina War Gia Lam and Bach Mai later became the two major logistics bases supporting French operations at the
Battle of Dien Bien Phu. Much of the equipment sent to the remote French military base at Dien Bien Phu passed through Gia Lam airfield, including the ten French
M24 Chaffee tanks assigned to the isolated stronghold in northwestern Vietnam, which were each dismantled into 180 individual parts and flown to Dien Bien Phu on heavy cargo aircraft. After their defeat at Dien Bien Phu and the following 1954 Geneva Peace Accords, French forces, obliged to leave Vietnam, handed over the airfield to the Viet Minh. Gia Lam airfield was thereafter taken over by Ho Chi Minh's North Vietnamese government and used by the VPAF as their main airbase in the Hanoi area.
Vietnam War 's
airlifters at Gia Lam in 1970 to repatriate
POWs. During the
Vietnam War, the American
Joint Chiefs of Staff placed Gia Lam on a list of 94 recommended bombing targets in
North Vietnam, identifying it as a major airbase and as a storage location for petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL). All North Vietnamese airfields were removed from the USAF's "restricted target" list in April 1967, and Gia Lam was one of six deemed suitable for fast jet operations. As a result, it sustained heavy damage as part of
Operation Rolling Thunder, suffering repeated bomber attacks. Following the cease-fire mandated by the
Paris Peace Accords in January 1973, Gia Lam was the site of
Operation Homecoming, the return of American
POWs held by the North Vietnamese. The first repatriation, effected by the
United States Air Force's
Military Airlift Command, happened on February 12, 1973, when
C-141s of the
63d Military Airlift Wing, flying from
Clark Air Base in the
Philippines, flew to Gia Lam and returned with a total of 116 former POWs. The first C-141 to return came to be known as the
Hanoi Taxi, named after the writing on the flight engineer's panel by the POWs aboard the plane for the freedom flight. Arizona Senator
John McCain was one of the POWs who flew home from Gia Lam on the
Hanoi Taxi. From February 12 to April 4, there were 54 C-141 missions flying out of Hanoi, bringing the former POWs home. ==Facilities==