On 27 December 1978, 300 NUFSK members “invaded” Cambodia, “supported” by a 200.000 strong Vietnamese Army. For the invasion of Cambodia, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Air Force (SRVAF) deployed the 901st Air Group – to a better part consisting of the units from the 372nd Air Division that was almost completely equipped with US-built aircraft. The 901st Air Group had no permanently assigned units, but for invasion of Cambodia it consisted of following regiments:
- 935, equipped with F-5As and F-5Bs, stationed at Bien Hoa AB
- 937, equipped with A-37Bs, stationed at Phan Rang AB
- 938, equipped with a mix of C-130s, C-119Ks, and C-47s, based at Gia Lam AB
- 917, equipped with U-17s, L-19s, UH-1s, and CH-47s, based at Tan Son Nhut AB
At some point in time the 901st Air Group was also to get the 916th Regiment SRVAF, equipped with Mi-24A helicopter gunships. According to Vietnamese records, this unit was already operational at the time of the invasion of Cambodia; according to DIA reports, however, the SRVAF received its first Mi-24As only in January 1980 – a full year after the invasion of Cambodia. According to the same source, the 916th Regiment was initially deployed at Hoa Lac, in northern Vietnam, in order to counter any Chinese offensive. The first independent reports about the deployment of Mi-24s in Cambodia indicated their appearance at Than Son Nhut and then at Pochentong only in 1983.
A Vietnamese U-17 seen at the Tan Son Nhut AB: the type was used extensivelly as FAC-aircraft during the Vietnamese invasion on Cambodia. (A. Grandolini collection)
The invasion began by a series of heavy air strikes flown by F-5s, and A-37s, which prepared the ground for the advance of the 207th, 325th and 968th, all well-supported by artillery and tanks (one of the SRVAF F-5-pilots that participated in the invasion was Nguyen Thanh Trung, the same former pilot of the South Vietnamese Air Force, that bombed the presidential palace in Saigon, on 5 April 1975, before defecting to the North Vietnamese side). It is possible that the SRVAF deployed also some of ist A-1 Skyraiders in combat as well, however, no known official Vietnamese documents mention this, even if some DIA reports indicate that the Vietnamese continued to keep up to two dozens of Skyraiders in service until at least 1977. In fact, the SRVAF Museum in Hanoi has a photograph of a Skyraider just coming out of maintenance hangar in full markings of the Vietnamese Air Force.
SVRAF F-5E seen at Bien Hoa: the F-5s of the 372nd Air Division were insturmental for support of the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, in December 1978. The aircraft served with distinction for the folllowing three years, before the SVRAF almost run out of spares for them. Most of the support equipment, spares and weapons for Vietnamese F-5s was sold to Ethiopia, in the early 1980s, and to Iran during the mid-1980s: the aircraft, however, were never sold anywhere. (A. Grandolini collection)
The Vietnamese advanced very fast, within days reaching the areas of Parrots Beak and Fishook, where fierce and bloody mop-up battles were to rage for weeks. The Vietnamese did not hesitate to use the US-developed tactics of forward air controllers: quite on the contrary, they deployed Cessna U-17s to find a concentration of some 30.000 Khmer fighters at Fishhook and direct heavy air strikes that literally decimated their enemies. From the second week of the invasion the SRVAF also started deploying MiG-21MFs and a batch of Mi-24As, both of which were usually equipped with UB-16-57 and UB-32-57 rocket launchers, as well as FAB-500 bombs. A number of C-130A transports was also converted into make-shift bombers, while the balance of the SRVAF was involved in intensive transport, liaison, and other kind of support missions. Curiously, a number of Vietnamese aircraft has got the NUFSK national markings, alleging to be a part of the “National Liberation Air Force”: at least a single C-47 and one Mi-6 were seen wearing such insignia. This practice was introduced actually already in 1975, when a small number of SRVAF transports engaged in supporting the final offensive against South Vietnam have got the Viet Cong insignia – instead of the usual North Vietnamese, ironically maintaining that “no” North Vietnamese forces would be involved in the invasion of the South.
In general – and despite some problems with the maintenance, due to the lack of spares - the SRVAF preferred the F-5As and F-5Es to MiGs for air-to-ground missions, because they could carry heftier warloads over better ranges. Also, the A-37s were used – with a considerable success – for close-air-support, sometimes also in coordination with Mi-24As. The AFKLA’s response was minimal: it is known that it continued to fly some transport and liaison operations, and there are rumours that few F-6Cs also survived the initial Vietnamese strikes, and flew a number of combat sorties – perhaps flown by Chinese pilots. There is no firm confirmation for this yet, however.
While the Khmer concentration at Fishhook was methodically destroyed, two Vietnamese divisions continued the advance deeper into Cambodia. In face of fanatic counterattacks, on 30 December 1978 Kracheh was captured, and two days later also Stung Treng. The Vietnamese then landed Marines and the 12th Division into the port of Kampot, in order to prevent Chinese from resupplying the Khmer: the Marines continued a swift advance along the coast.
SRVAF CH-47A of the 917th Regiment seen while unloading 2.75-in air-to-ground rockets at a Cambodian airfield during the operations of 1979. The rockets would be used by a detachment of UH-1H gunships. (Albert Grandolini collection)
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