page_title: Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base
section_title: Wild Weasels
hierarchical_section_title: Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base / History / 388th Tactical Fighter Wing / Wild Weasels
caption_attribution_description: A Republic F-105G Thunderchief (S/N 63-8320) of the 561st Tactical Fighter Squadron, 388th Tactical Fighter Wing, over Southeast Asia in the summer of 1972. This aircraft is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
context_page_description: Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base is a base of the Royal Thai Air Force in northeast Thailand, approximately 250 km northeast of Bangkok and about 8 km south of the centre of Nakhon Ratchasima Province, the largest province in Thailand.
  During the Vietnam War, from 1962 to 1975, Korat RTAFB was a front-line facility of the United States Air Force in Thailand.
  During the 1980s and early-1990s, the airfield was jointly operated as a civil airport for Nakhon Ratchasima. This ended with the opening of Nakhon Ratchasima Airport in the early-1990s.
context_section_description: The Wild Weasel concept was originally proposed in 1965 as a method of countering the increasing North Vietnamese SAM threat, using volunteer crews. The mission of the Wild Weasels was to eliminate SAM sites in North Vietnam.
  In early 1966, standard F-105Ds with no special electronic countermeasures (ECM) equipment accompanied F-100 Wild Weasel I aircraft equipped with basic ECM equipment. In general, the F-100 would identify the SAM site and the F-105Ds would fly the strike. The mission gradually evolved with the addition of new weapons and ECM equipment until the F-4 replaced the F-100 and the F-105D was replaced by the more capable and specialized two-place F-105F and G models.
  F-105F/G Wild Weasel SAM Anti-Radar squadrons assigned to the 388th TFW were:
  13th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 15 May 1966 (F-105F)
  Activated at Korat, aircraft being deployed from the 41st Air Division in Japan
  Inactivated October 1967, aircraft assigned to 44th TFS.
  Designation reassigned to 8th TFW, Udorn RTAFB and reequipped with F-4Ds.
  Detachment 1, 12th Tactical Fighter Squadron
  Formed with F-105Fs transferred from inactivating 333d, 354th and 357th TFS at Takhli RTAB 24 September 1970, aircraft at Korat in TDY status from 18th TFW, Kadena AB, Okinawa
  Re-designated: 6010th Wild Weasel Squadron and PCS to 388th TFW: 1 November 1970
  Re-designated: 17th Wild Weasel Squadron: 1 December 1971 – 15 November 1974
  F-105G November 1970 – December 1974
  Detachment 1, 561st Tactical Fighter Squadron
  TDY from George Air Force Base California, F-105G, 2 January – 5 September 1973
  The tactics employed on the Iron Hand missions were primarily designed to suppress the SA-2 SAM and gun-laying radar defenses of North Vietnam during the ingress, attack, and egress of the main strike force. In the suppression role, AGM-45 Shrike missiles were employed to destroy, or at least harass, the SA-2 and/or fire control radar which guided the SA-2 missiles.
  On 23 April 1967 the 44th TFS's primary mission became one of flying escort to the wing's regular strike force to suppress AAA and SAM fire as a Wild Weasel squadron.
  The 12th TFS was equipped with the F-105G and was temporarily reassigned to Takhli in June 1967. The detachment returned to its main unit at Korat and the 44th TFS was returned to Korat in September 1970 from the 355th TFW to the 388th TFW when the decision was made to consolidate the units of the Wild Weasel mission. With their return, the 6010th Wild Weasel Squadron was formed. The squadron was redesignated the 17th Wild Weasel Squadron on 1 December 1971.
  In February 1972, the 67th TFS returned on temporary duty to Korat from Kadena AB, this time being equipped with the EF-4C aircraft. The EF-4C was the initial Wild Weasel version of the Phantom. It was a modified version of the F-4C, designed in parallel with the F-105G Wild Weasel program. The EF-4Cs suffered from certain deficiencies which limited their combat effectiveness. For example, they were unable to carry the standard ARM. Consequently, the EF-4C was seen only as an interim Wild Weasel aircraft, pending the introduction of a more suitable type. In February 1973, after the end of combat operations in Vietnam, the 67th TFS with its EF-4C Wild Weasels were withdrawn and returned to Kadena.
caption: F-105G (S/N 63-8320) of the 561st Tactical Fighter Squadron, 388th Tactical Fighter Wing, over Southeast Asia in the summer of 1972. Aircraft scored three MiG kills in Vietnam
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