page_title: 3d Flying Training Squadron
section_title: Southeast Asia
hierarchical_section_title: 3d Flying Training Squadron / History / Southeast Asia
caption_attribution_description: English: 3d Tactical Fighter Squadron Ling-Temco-Vought A-7D-10-CV Corsair II 71-0309 Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, 1973 1972: Aircraft delivered to 354th Tactical Fighter Wing, 353d TFS (c/n D-220) Deployed to Korat RTAFB, October 1972; Transferred to 388th TFW/3d TFS March 1973 Transferred to 23d TFW, December 1975 Transferred to 124th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Iowa Air National Guard, 1985 Transferred to AMARC as AE0206 Sep 15, 1991. Forward fuselage, cockpit and nose seen in scrapyard February 17, 2008.
context_page_description: The 3rd Flying Training Squadron is part of the 71st Operations Group under the 71st Flying Training Wing. It operates the T-1A Jayhawk aircraft conducting advanced phase tanker/transport flight training.
  The 3rd FTS is the third-oldest squadron in the Air Force, with over 95 years of service to the nation, its origins date to the organization of the 3rd Aero Squadron on 1 November 1916 at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Deployed to the Philippines after World War I, during the 1941-1942 Battle of the Philippines, it was wiped out, with some of its personnel being forced by the Japanese to endure the Bataan Death March. It was not re-activated until 1973.
context_section_description: As a result of the successes of the A-7D Corsair II-equipped 354th Tactical Fighter Wing (Deployed) at Korat Royal Thai AFB, Thailand in the closing days of the Vietnam War, Headquarters, Pacific Air Forces requested the activation of a permanent A-7D squadron in Thailand.  The Air Force, in turn, re-activated the 3rd as the 3rd Tactical Fighter Squadron at Korat on 15 March 1973, and the 354th transferred a squadron of its A-7Ds to the squadron, along with volunteer airmen who joined the host 388th Tactical Fighter Wing.
  3rd TFS aircraft engaged in combat operations over Cambodia and Laos during the spring and summer of 1973, supporting friendly western governments in those nations against Communist aggression.  A Congressional resolution mandated the end of United States combat over Indochina, effective 15 August 1973, and the 3rd TFS flew its last combat mission that date over Cambodia. 
  With the end of active combat in Indochina, in March 1974, the 354th transferred several more aircraft to the 3rd TFS prior to its return to Myrtle Beach AFB. Squadron aircraft practiced bombing and intercept missions in western Thailand. A large exercise was held on the first Monday of every month, involving all USAF units in Thailand. "Commando Scrimmage" covered skills such as dog fighting, aerial refueling, airborne command posts and forward air controllers. These exercises were taken very seriously. The A-7D aircraft were pitted against the F-4 Phantom II aircraft in dissimilar air combat exercises. These missions were flown as a deterrent to the Communists in Vietnam as a signal that if the Paris Peace Accords were broken, the United States would use its airpower to enforce its provisions. The wars in Cambodia and Laos, however continued, and in the spring of 1975, Communist regimes took power in both of those nations.
  3rd TFS A-7Ds along with other Thailand-based USAF aircraft provided air cover and escort during Operation Eagle Pull, the evacuation of Americans from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Operation Frequent Wind the evacuation of Americans and selected Vietnamese from Saigon, South Vietnam.  On 14–15 May 1975, aircraft assigned to Korat (3rd TFS A-7D, 34th TFS F-4E, 428th TFS F-111A and 16th SOS AC-130) provided air cover in what is considered the last battle of the Vietnam war, the recovery of the SS Mayaguez after it was hijacked by the Cambodian Khmer Rouge communists.
caption: 3rd Tactical Fighter Squadron A-7 Corsair[note 1]
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