Tây Lộc Airfield

Tây Lộc Airfield (also known as Huế Citadel Airfield) is a former United States Air Force (USAF), U.S. Army and Vietnam Air Force (VNAF) airfield located within the Huế Ciadel in Thừa Thiên–Huế Province, Vietnam.[1]

Tây Lộc Airfield
 
Part of Republic of Vietnam Air Force (VNAF)
Pacific Air Forces (USAF)
Tây Lộc Airfield, July 1967
Tây Lộc Airfield
Coordinates16°28′28″N 107°34′23″E
TypeAirfield
Site information
Conditionabandoned
Site history
Built1930s
In use1930s-75
Battles/wars
Vietnam War
Battle of Huế
Airfield information
Summary
Elevation AMSL5 ft / 2 m
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
12/30 2,400 732 crushed rock

History

The airfield was originally built in the 1930s by the French to serve as the airfield for Bảo Đại, the last Emperor of Vietnam.

USAF units based at Tây Lộc included:

O-2A of the 20th TASS taxiing for takeoff, Huế Citadel Airfield, July 1967

US Army units based at Tây Lộc included:

  • 220th Aviation Company

VNAF units based at Tây Lộc included:

  • 219th Squadron Kingbees

Battle of Huế

In the early morning of 31 January 1968 at the start of the Battle of Huế, the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) 800th Battalion of the 6th Regiment attacked the airfield which was defended by the Army of Vietnam (ARVN) "Black Panther" Reconnaissance Company of the 1st Division. The fight for control of the airfield continued until dawn when 1st Division commander General Ngô Quang Trưởng called the Black Panthers back to defend the 1st Division headquarters in the northeast corner of the Citadel.[2] All aircraft at the airfield were destroyed in the fighting including 4 newly delivered O-2s. The airfield was recaptured on 3 February by the ARVN 3rd Infantry Regiment and 7th Armored Cavalry Squadron.[3]

Current use

The airfield is now covered with housing while the former runway is now La Sơn Phu Tử road. The airfield's former control tower remains in a park area by the road.

References
  1. Kelley, Michael (2002). Where we were in Vietnam. Hellgate Press. pp. 5–253. ISBN 978-1555716257.
  2. Schulimson, Jack; LtCol. Leonard Blasiol; Charles R. Smith; Capt. David A. Dawson (1997). U.S. Marines in Vietnam: 1968, the Defining Year. History and Museums Division, USMC. p. 167. ISBN 0-16-049125-8.
  3. DiMarco, Louis (2012). Concrete Hell: Urban Warfare From Stalingrad to Iraq. Osprey Publishing. pp. 95–6. ISBN 9781782003137.
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