Originally Posted by
Phil Space
You are right on the price
Khon Kaen is ripe for GA but at the moment only a government training school.
U-Tapao is a major airfield. There is a Cessna U17 in the museum in Ho Chi Minh city. Did you ever fly in Saigon? I'll be flying in Chiang Mai next week and I'll post some pix. Do you ever come back?
You must have been in the Ravens
I flew out of a field called Long Thanh North with the Royal Thai Army Volunteer Force (RTAVF) and the Black Panther Division. Our main base was Bearcat, about 20 miles east of Saigon and Bien Hoa on the way to Vung Tao. I tried to avoid Tan Son Nhut as much as possible. Too much traffic and too many guys who thought they were still stateside.
Our area was a bit odd in that we had Thais, New Zealanders and Aussies all quite close. This, at times, created siginificant problems in getting clearance to fire on targets.
I did not fly with the Ravens but had a chance. When they were recruiting, they told us that many Ravens were being shot down, not many were being rescued. The Raven slot, for many reasons, was not a career advancing move. Exciting, yes. Good for longevity, no.
I keep trying to find some buddies to visit Thailand and Vietnam. I hope to make it back in 07. I have used Google Earth to visit the area I flew in. No date on the satellite shot but my field is now derelict except for the parade field which seems still intact. (???) Oddly enough, when I Googled Bien Hoa, it was mostly empty except for a Su-27 taxiing out... Odd.. the Vietnamese flew out of that field, the Japanese in WWII, the French in the 50s, the US in the 60s and now the runway is being used by a Russian.. interesting.