page_title: Cam Ranh Base
section_title: US military use of Cam Ranh Air Base
hierarchical_section_title: Cam Ranh Base / US military use of Cam Ranh Air Base
caption_attribution_description: A U.S. Air Force De Havilland C-7B Caribou (s/n 63-9725) of the 535th Tactical Airlift Squadron, 483d Tactical Airlift Wing, at Cam Ranh Air Base, South Vietnam, in October 1971. This aircraft was later transferred to the South Vietnamese VNAF 427th Transport Squadron.
context_page_description: Cam Ranh Air Force Base is located on Cam Ranh Bay in Khánh Hòa Province, Vietnam. It was one of several air bases built and used by the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War.
  Cam Ranh Air Force Base was part of the large Cam Ranh Bay logistics facility built by the United States. It was the major military seaport used by the United States for the offloading of supplies, military equipment and as a major Naval base. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force units all had compounds and units assigned to the Cam Ranh Bay facility from its opening in 1965 until its closure in 1972 as part of the drawdown of United States military forces in South Vietnam.
  Between 1979 and 2002, the facility was used by the Soviet Navy and then Russian Navy. At the end of 2013, Russia resumed the use of the base by its Navy and in 2014 by its Air Force.
  On 19 May 2004, after major reconstruction, Cam Ranh Airport received its first commercial flight. As Vietnam considers the facility to be important to its defense, a small garrison of troops are stationed there.
context_section_description: In April 1965 CINCPAC instructed an engineering survey for a new airfield at Cam Ranh Bay.
  In mid-1965, the American construction consortium RMK-BRJ was directed by the Navy Officer in Charge of Construction RVN (OICC RVN) to construct a new airfield at Cam Ranh Bay, starting with a temporary 10,000-foot (3,000 m) runway consisting of 2.2 million square feet (200,000 square meters) of AM-2 aluminum matting to accommodate jet fighter-bombers. By September, RMK-BRJ had employed 1,800 Vietnamese workers for the work, over half of whom were women. The runway was completed in 50 days, with Admiral U.S.G. Sharp, CINCPAC, laying the last AM-2 plank on 16 October 1965. The airfield was opened for U.S. Air Force operations on 1 November 1965. A 1.3 million square feet (120,000 square meters) cargo apron using pierced steel planking, airport facilities and utilities, mess halls, and 25,000 square feet (2,300 square meters) of living quarters were also prepared for use by the USAF. By the end of 1966, RMK-BRJ and OICC RVN completed construction of an additional 10,000-foot (3,000 m) concrete runway and taxiway at the air base.Once the concrete runway was built, the original AM-2 runway was to be removed and replaced with a new concrete runway. In addition between June and September US Army engineers built fuel storage areas and 30 miles (48 km) of roads and lengthened the pier before handing over the work to RMK-BMJ.
  In July 1965 it was planned that 3 fighter squadrons would be deployed to Cam Ranh Air Base once it was completed in October. On 28 October 1965 an advance party of the 43rd Tactical Fighter Squadron arrived at the base, the squadron equipped with F-4C Phantom II fighter-bombers arrived on 1 November and began flying missions over South Vietnam the following day.
caption: C-7B Serial No 63-9725 of the 535th Tactical Airlift Squadron, October 1971
exif: {}