Previously Held AFSC/MOS 42652-Jet Engine Mechanic
43270-Jet Engine Technician
27650-Aerospace Control and Warning Systems Operator
Service Years
1963 - 1984
Official/Unofficial US Air Force Certificates
Cold War Certificate
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
What are you doing now:
Retired to the Mountains of northern California.
(FOB) Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base
From Month/Year
July / 1961
To Month/Year
May / 1973
Description akhli RTAFB was established in the 1950s. In the late 1950s, the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used Takhli as operating base for CIA resupply of Tibetan freedom fighters. CIA-operated C-130A Hercules transports flew men and supplies over Indian airspace, with the consent of Prime Minister Nehru, for parachute drops into Communist Chinese-occupied Tibet.[2]
Political considerations with regards to Communist forces engaging in a civil war inside Laos and fears of the civil war spreading into Thailand led the Thai government to allow the United States to covertly use five Thai bases beginning in 1961 for the air defense of Thailand and to fly reconnaissance flights over Laos.
Under Thailand's "gentleman's agreement" with the United States, RTAF bases used by the USAF were commanded by Thai officers. Thai air police controlled access to the bases, along with USAF Security Police, who assisted them in base defense using sentry dogs, observation towers, and machine gun bunkers. All USAF personnel were fully armed after 1965.
The USAF airmen at Takhli were under the command of the United States Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). Takhli was the location for TACAN station Channel 43 and was referenced by that identifier in voice communications during air missions.