From 1965 to 1974, the base was a front-line facility of the USAF during the Vietnam War. In June 1965, the
15th Tactical Fighter Wing deployed its
45th Tactical Fighter Squadron the first
F-4C Phantom II unit in Southeast Asia to Ubon where they flew combat missions to North Vietnam. On 10 July 1965, pilots of the 45th TFS were credited with the first air victory of the Vietnam War, downing two North Vietnamese
MiG-17s. The 45th TFS was on
Temporary duty assignment (TDY) from its permanent home at
MacDill AFB, Florida. The 45th flew 1,000+ hours with 24 aircraft over North Vietnam in August 1965. It was replaced by the
47th Tactical Fighter Squadron, also equipped with F-4Cs which arrived in July and returned to the US on 27 November 1965.
8th Tactical Fighter Wing The
8th Tactical Fighter Wing The Wolfpack arrived at Ubon on 8 December 1965 from
George AFB,
California as part of the US deployment of forces for
Operation Rolling Thunder and became the host unit. •
497th Tactical Fighter Squadron 8 December 1965 – 16 September 1974 (F-4C/D) •
555th Tactical Fighter Squadron 25 February 1966 – 1 June 1968 (F-4C/D) •
435th Tactical Fighter Squadron June 1967 – May 1968 (F-4D) deployed from 33d TFW
Eglin AFB Florida. Transferred to 432d TFW at
Udorn RTAFB. •
25th Tactical Fighter Squadron 25 May 1968 – 5 July 1974 (F-4D) also from the 33d TFW replaced the 435th TFS • No. 79 Squadron RAAF which provided top-cover for USAF aircraft whilst in Thai airspace with its CAC Sabres.
Operation Rolling Thunder On 23 April 1966, the 8th TFW scored its first MiG kills of the Vietnam War, shooting down two MiG-17 fighters. By the end of June 1966, after only six months in the theater, the wing had flown more than 10,000 combat sorties, achieving a 99% sortie rate, for which they received commendations. In late December 1966 the 8th TFW commander Colonel
Robin Olds developed a plan to lure North Vietnamese MiGs into combat and destroy them.
Operation Bolo took place on 2 January 1967 and resulted in the loss of 7
MiG-21s for no US losses. On 10 March 1967 8th TFW F-4s took part in the first attacks on the
Thái Nguyên ironworks, losing 2 F-4s to antiaircraft fire. In April 1966 4
AC-47 Spooky gunships were deployed to Ubon for interdiction operations over Laos.
LORAN-equipped 8th TFW F-4Ds began the
Operation Igloo White sensor-dropping mission over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos from February 1968 taking over this role from the more vulnerable
CH-3s and
OP-2E Neptunes. On 27 February 1968 the first prototype
AC-130A Gunship II began operations from Ubon, destroying 9 trucks and 2 services areas in Laos on its first sortie. It remained at Ubon until 14 June when it was transferred to
Tan Son Nhut Air Base. On 22 July 1974, the 16th SOS was transferred to Korat RTAFB. Initially manufactured as B-57Bs in the early 1950s, the B-57G was fitted with a moving target radar as well as a low light level television system and a forward-looking infrared camera carried in a pod underneath the nose for use as night intruders over South Vietnam under a project known as
Tropic Moon III. Operations with the B-57G continued until April 1972, when they were moved to
Clark Air Base in the Philippines to make room for the deployment of F-4E squadrons arriving from the United States. The 13th BS remained but was no longer manned or equipped and was kept in a non-operational status with the 8th TFW until finally being inactivated on 24 December 1972. •
336th Tactical Fighter Squadron 12 April 1972 – 15 September 1972; 9 March 1973 – 7 September 1973 •
335th Tactical Fighter Squadron 8 August 1972 – 31 December 1972 •
31st Tactical Fighter Wing, Homestead AFB, Florida •
308th Tactical Fighter Squadron 11 December 1972 – 11 January 1973 •
33d Tactical Fighter Wing, Eglin AFB, Florida •
58th Tactical Fighter Squadron 8 June 1973 – 14 September 1973 The 334th TFS flew its first missions of
Operation Freedom Train on 14 April, followed by the 366th the following day. • 12 January 1970: at 22:30 on 11 January a Thai villager reported seeing 16 armed Vietnamese 3 km and the base was put on alert. At 02:01 a Security Policeman fired on a sapper inside the base perimeter and further sappers and Security Police joined the engagement with 5 sappers being killed. 35
satchel charges were found on the bodies.
Other tenant units 1982 Comm. Sq (AFCS) providing Air Traffic Control services for the Ubon tower, terminal radar approach area and enroute services for Bangkok Center. 1982 Comm, Sq. also maintained the AB Telcom and VOR/TACAN (VORTAC channel 51) equipment. In 1973 until 1974 the 1982nd Radio Maintenance section maintained the electronic sensor intrusion detection system on the perimeters of both the base and the bomb dump. It was also the only USAF base that ran opposite direction, single runway, air traffic; landing runway 23, departing runway 05. Detachment 17, 10th Weather Squadron (MAC) In mid-1965 Detachment 3,
38th Air Rescue Squadron equipped with 2
HH-43Bs deployed to Ubon to provide base search and rescue. On 1 July 1971 with the inactivation of the 38th Rescue Squadron, Detachment 3 became a detachment of the
3d Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Group. Detachment 3 was inactivated in August 1974 with the winding down of base operations. Two
A-1 Skyraiders of the
1st Special Operations Squadron were usually based at Ubon to escort combat search and rescue missions over southern Laos and Cambodia. From December 1971 a detachment of 2
HH-53s from
Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Navy Base were based at Ubon for combat search and rescue missions. From February to October 1967
EC-121 Warning Star aircraft of the
College Eye Task Force were based at Ubon. The 222nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, RTAF, performed their mission with
T-28s, C-47s and
UH-34 helicopters.
1973–1975 USAF withdrawal The
Paris Peace Accords were signed on 27 January 1973 by the governments of North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and the United States with the intent to establish peace in Vietnam. The accords effectively ended United States military operations in North and South Vietnam. Laos and Cambodia, however, were not signatories to the Paris agreement and remained in states of war. The US was helping the
Royal Lao Government achieve whatever advantage possible before working out a settlement with the
Pathet Lao and their allies. The USAF flew 386 combat sorties over Laos during January and 1,449 in February 1973. On 17 April, the USAF flew its last mission over Laos, attacking a handful of targets requested by the Laotian government. In Cambodia the USAF carried out a massive bombing campaign to prevent the
Khmer Rouge from taking over the country. Congressional pressure in Washington grew against these bombings, and on 30 June 1973, the
United States Congress passed
Public law PL 93-50 and 93–52, which cut off all funds for combat in Cambodia and all of Indochina effective 15 August 1973. Air strikes by the USAF peaked just before the deadline, as the
Khmer National Armed Forces engaged a force of about 10,000 Khmer Rouge encircling
Phnom Penh. At 11:00 15 August 1973, the Congressionally-mandated cutoff went into effect, bringing combat activities over the skies of Cambodia to an end. The last of the
Constant Guard F–4 augmentation forces were released in September 1973. In mid-1974 the wing began to lose personnel, aircraft, and units. The last scheduled F–4 training flight occurred on 16 July 1974 and on 16 September the wing and most of its components moved without personnel or equipment to
Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, where the wing absorbed resources of the 3d TFW that had moved without personnel or equipment to the Philippines. On 16 September 1974 the USAF forces at Ubon were inactivated and the facility turned over to the Thai Government. On 11/12 April Ubon served as a staging base for 8 HH-53s of the
40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron as they took part in
Operation Eagle Pull, the evacuation of US civilians from Phnom Penh. ==Accidents and incidents==