page_title: South Vietnam Air Force
section_title: 1968
hierarchical_section_title: South Vietnam Air Force / History / 1968
caption_attribution_description: A South Vietnamese Air Force Sikorsky CH-34C Choctaw (US Army s/n 63-13201) lifting a VNAF Cessna O-1 Bird Dog in 1968.
context_page_description: The South Vietnam Air Force, officially the Republic of Vietnam Air Force was the aerial branch of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, the official military of the Republic of Vietnam from 1955 to 1975.
  The RVNAF began with a few hand-picked men chosen to fly alongside French pilots during the State of Vietnam era. It eventually grew into the world's sixth largest air force at the height of its power, in 1974. It is an often neglected chapter of the history of the Vietnam War as they operated in the shadow of the United States Air Force. It was dissolved in 1975 after the Fall of Saigon; many of its members emigrated to the United States.
context_section_description: When the Tet Offensive began on 31 January, 55 percent of the RVNAF's personnel were on leave, many in rural areas that had been isolated by VC infiltration. Within 72 hours, 90 percent of the force was back on the job. Helicopters, operating with fewer aircraft, flew more than half their normal monthly number of missions. By the end of February RVNAF A-1s and F-5s had flown over 2500 sorties, helicopters had flown over 3200 hours and transport aircraft had flown over 1000 soties. The overall damage was moderate and casualties were light, with less than 1 percent of the RVNAF personnel lost, including deserters. 18 aircraft were destroyed, 11 in ground attacks. The RVNAF played an active role in the repelling the Tet Offensive attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base and the attack on Bien Hoa Air Base.
  Training remained the number one priority and the hardest to accomplish. Trying to fight while modernizing, RVNAF commanders were reluctant to assign their personnel to training, which meant losing them from combat. The RVNAF still relied principally on US units in both Vietnam and the United States for advanced flying and technical training. Mobile training teams taught F-5 and C-119 maintenance, logistic management, and the English language inside Vietnam. The US Army was training the H-34 pilots to fly the new UH-1s; and USAF units in the country taught Vietnamese airmen control tower operations, meteorology, armament maintenance and missile handling. Between 1965 and 1968, almost 1,000 Vietnamese airmen were trained in the United States.
  The RVNAF was a rapidly maturing force, flying one-fourth of all the strike sorties in South Vietnam and was on its way to becoming a modern, effective jet age fighting force. However the ARVN was not making full use of the RVNAF's resources. Preoccupied as it was with immediate, day-to-day combat, the RVNAF by early 1968 was still unable to develop the concept of long-range force development. For such planning, it was still heavily reliant on the US. Major aircraft accidents, which claimed an average of 22 aircraft each month throughout 1966 and 1967, remained the biggest problem. Over 60% of these accidents were caused by pilot error on takeoffs and landings. Only eight accidents occurred during the Tet Offensive, suggesting a dramatic increase in motivation during the crisis. However apart from the peak during Tet, combat sorties averaged only 1800 per month, 9 percent of total Allied sorties.
  The RVNAF's maintenance record was improving. Between 1965 and 1968, it integrated six new types of aircraft and showed that it could maintain them. Its maintenance depot, however, was unable to handle all crash and battle damage repairs, much of which was done by US contractors. Maintenance discipline and proficiency were still showing the strains caused by traditional work habits and a shortage of personnel. The RVNAF's supply system early in 1968 was slowly digging its way out of the inundation that started 2 years earlier. As US aid increased from $15 million in 1965 to $264 million in 1967, the RVNAF did not have enough personnel to cope with the deluge of supplies. The result was a mountainous backlog in receiving, processing, storing and recording the new equipment.
  In late 1968 MACV proposed its Phase I plan to prepare the RVNAF to assume a greater share of responsibility for fighting the war. The plan called for the addition of four UH–1H helicopter squadrons (124 helicopters) to the 20 squadron RVNAF. There would also be modernization: T–41 trainers replacing some of the older U–17s, four H–34 squadrons converting to UH–1Hs, a C–47 transport squadron reequipping with the AC-47 Spooky gunship, and three A–1 squadrons receiving jet-powered A–37s. These changes increased by some 41 percent the authorized number of aircraft. However, as it became apparent that US forces would start withdrawing from South Vietnam MACV revised the plan to expand the RVNAF by a further 16 squadrons, all of which would be in service by July 1974. Besides an additional 5 helicopter squadrons, for a total augmentation
caption: CH-34C lifts a battle-damaged O-1 in 1968
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