page_title: South Vietnam Air Force
section_title: 1972
hierarchical_section_title: South Vietnam Air Force / History / 1972
caption_attribution_description: A Lockheed C-130A-45-LM Hercules (s/n 57-0460) at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, South Vietnam, in 1972. The aircraft served with the South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) from October 1972 to April 1975. During the fall of Saigon in 1975, it was flown from Tan Son Nhut Air Base to Singapore, carrying about 350 Vietnamese. Returned to USAF service in August 1975, it was assigned to the 16th Special Operations Squadron (SOS) at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, then used by the United States Air Force Air National Guard before being retired in 1989. Today, this aircraft is part of the National Air and Space Museum, Washington D.C. (USA).
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: Phan Rang AB was progressively handed over to the RVNAF in March–May 1972.
  At the start of the Easter Offensive the RVNAF strength was 1,285 aircraft organized into 44 squadrons. 9 squadrons flew A–1s, A–37s, or F–5s, a total of 119 aircraft classified as combat-ready fighter-bombers; two squadrons operated AC–47 or AC–119G gunships, 28 of the aircraft ready for action; 17 helicopter squadrons had 367 helicopters combat-ready out of a total of 620; seven FAC squadrons flew O–1 or U–17 light aircraft, 247 operationally ready out of 303, and the remaining units carried out training, transport and reconnaissance duties.
  The Easter Offensive showed that the ARVN couldn't defeat the PAVN without continuous and massive air support. The basic assumption surrounding the expansion of the RVNAF was its ability to provide close air support to the ARVN under permissive conditions. For this reason the RVNAF was not given the type of aircraft to be able to operate in a Surface-to-air missile (SAM) environment augmented by heavy concentrations of radar-directed AAA fire. From experience in North Vietnam and in the Easter Offensive it was obvious that high performance aircraft, backed up by Electronic countermeasures (ECM) and supporting forces, were necessary to penetrate and operate in such defenses. These types of defenses had to be neutralized with a high degree of survivability. This was the reason why it was necessary to pull the RVNAF out of the high threat areas and use USAF aircraft to handle these targets.
  Under Operation Enhance beginning on 23 May the US began the supply of additional equipment to South Vietnam to make up losses suffered in the Easter Offensive. For the RVNAF this initially comprised 5 F–5As, 48 A–37s and 32 UH–1s to be delivered by 1 August. For the remainder of the year the US Army would deliver CH–47s to equip two squadrons by September. The USAF would accelerate the delivery of 14 RC-47s, 23 AC-119K gunships, 23 EC-47s, 28 C-7 transports and 14 C-119Gs modified for coastal fire support and maritime patrol.
  By the end of October, the RVNAF had activated 51 squadrons and actual strength stood at 52,400.
  In October, as Operation Enhance neared completion, the Nixon administration approved another infusion of equipment, Operation Enhance Plus. This served two purposes: to rush war material to South Vietnam before a ceasefire imposed restrictions on military assistance and to reconcile President Thiệu to the fact that the US, without having consulted him, now stood ready to accept a settlement that would permit North Vietnamese troops to remain on South Vietnamese soil, thus legitimizing the results of the Easter Offensive. For the RVNAF Enhance Plus included 19 A–1s, 90 A–37Bs, 32 C–130s, 126 F–5s, 177 UH–1s, together with the AC–119Ks and some other types not yet delivered in Project Enhance. The plan originally called for completing Enhance Plus by 20 November, but later changes moved the deadline to 10 November and added 35 O–2 observation craft, already in South Vietnam, as replacements for the older O–1s and U–17s. The collapse of truce negotiations, which did not resume until after the Christmas Bombing, caused the possible signing of a peace agreement to recede beyond 1 January 1973, and eased the pressure for prompt completion. Reflecting the changing circumstances, the last items in Enhance Plus did not arrive until 10 December.
  Enhance Plus increased the inventory of the RVNAF by some 595 aircraft, excluding about 30 of the helicopters intended for a postwar truce surveillance agency. To absorb this influx, the RVNAF by mid-1973 organized 8 additional fighter or attack squadrons, 2 transport squadrons, 14 squadrons or flights of helicopters, and 1 training squadron. Besides accomplishing all of this, the project reequipped some tactical air support squadrons with O–2s, increased each UH–1 squadron from 33 helicopters to 38, and began organizing the squadron of armed C–119Gs for coastal and maritime patrol. When the RVNAF absorbed all the Enhance Plus aircraft and eliminated the recently organized C
caption: 53rd Tactical Wing C-130A at Tan Son Nhut AB in 1972
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