page_title: Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base
section_title: 474th Tactical Fighter Wing
hierarchical_section_title: Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base / History / 1972 Reopening / 474th Tactical Fighter Wing
caption_attribution_description: English: F-111A 67-081 taken at Nellis AFB Nevada in 1975. During the Vietnam war, the aircraft was assigned to the 429th TFS/347th Tactical Fighter Wing at Takhli and Korat Royal Thai Air Force Bases.
context_page_description: Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base is a Royal Thai Air Force facility in central Thailand, approximately 144 miles northwest of Bangkok in Takhli District, Nakhon Sawan Province.
context_section_description: With the departure of the 366th, the 474th Tactical Fighter Wing (Deployed) equipped with F-111s arrived at Takhli on TDY from Nellis AFB on 27 September 1972.
  The 474th TFW flew F-111As. Operational fighter squadrons of the 474th were:
  428th Tactical Fighter Squadron
  429th Tactical Fighter Squadron
  430th Tactical Fighter Squadron
  Their first combat mission, started only hours after their arrival at Takhli, resulted in the disappearance of one of the aircraft and a week-long cancellation of F-111 missions. The F-111s returned to action losing a further 3 aircraft in the next 6 weeks of airstrikes.
  The 474th's F-111s also participated in Operation Linebacker II in December 1972 flying 154 night/single-ship sorties into the high-threat area of North Vietnam with the loss of 2 aircraft.
  In early 1973, with the suspension of bombing in North Vietnam and the resumption of peace negotiations, inflight refueling requirements decreased markedly. As a result, in late January 1973 many of the augmented tankers of the 11th Air Refueling Squadron and the 92nd Air Refueling Squadron returned to the US. The 430th TFS returned with the 474th TFW to Nellis AFB on 22 March 1973.
caption: General Dynamics F-111A of the 429th TFS/347th TFW taken at Nellis AFB, Nevada in 1975 still showing its 347th TFW tail code
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