Fifty nine years experience in the publication arena, including 26 years in the United States Air Force. Vast knowledge of military standards, procedures, and specifications as well as technical publications. Responsibe for administrative and technical management of personnel, facilities and equipment of Technical Publication Departments. Responsible for all departmental functions in support of companies aerospace programs and technical and logistics data requirements.
(FOB) U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield
From Month/Year
May / 1965
To Month/Year
June / 1972
Description U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield is a military airfield of the Royal Thai Navy (RTN) approximately 140 kilometres (87 mi) southeast of Bangkok in the Ban Chang District of Rayong Province near Sattahip on the Gulf of Thailand. It is serves as the home of the RTN First Air Wing.
In 1965 the RTN was permitted by the Council of Ministers to build a 1,200 meter long airfield near U-Tapao village, Ban Chang District, in Rayong Province. The US, seeking a Southeast Asian B-52 base, reached an agreement with the Thai government to build and operate the base in conjunction with the Royal Thai Navy. The US began construction of the runway and all facilities on 15 October 1965 and completed it on 2 June 1966. The base was administratively handed over to the RTN on 10 August 1966. The 11,000-foot (3,355 m) runway became operational on 6 July 1966 and U-Tapao received its first complement of United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air Command (SAC) KC-135 tankers in August 1966. The USAF had been flying B-52 Operation Arc Light bombing missions from Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, but Okinawa was judged to be too far from Vietnam to meet mission requirements. An optimal solution was to base the B-52s in South Vietnam or Thailand, however base security in South Vietnam was problematic. U-Tapao had an existing runway suitable for the bombers and the cost for upgrades to the base was minimal. In January 1967, negotiations between the US and Thai government started to base them at U-Tapao. The agreement, reached on 2 March 1967, allowed 15 B-52s and their support personnel to be based at U-Tapao, with the provision that missions flown from Thailand would not over fly Laos or Cambodia on their way to targets in Vietnam. The first B-52's arrived on 10 April 1967. The next day, B-52 sorties were flown from U-Tapao. By 1972 there were 54 B-52 aircraft stationed in Thailand.
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