NAM PHONG CONSTRUCTIONIn 1966 Nam Phong was conceived as a supplemental US Air Force Base in the Khon Kaen district,Thailand. [Note: Rumors that a dirt airfield existed in the vicinity of the new airfield location in Khon Kaen, Thailand, are apparently valid - a listing of Air Accidents (numbering over 1000 in Thailand from 1929 to 2014) compiled by Steve Darke of PWS Ltd records an RAF Sycamore HR-14 Helicopter "damaged when the rotors hit a wall during take-off from Nam Phong RTAFB" on 14 Dec 1960. Whether this was the same location the airfield was constructed , or the RTAFB was relocated upon airfield completion is unsure.] Nam Phong was envisioned
either as an "expeditionary base" (with steel AM-2 matting) or as a
"permanant base" (concrete airfield). Or not at all -
the DoD, State Department and Johnson Administration wasn't of one
mind on much of anything at the time, much less consistently, and
even less so with Nam Phong. Amid the ambiguity,
the Air Force apparently also considered a full-blown installation as
evidenced by rather elaborate site plans. This would have been quite
suitable for the contemplated Air Force EC-121 AWACS aircraft. But
this obviously didn't survive the ongoing political and budgetary planning
process. Something in between
expeditionary and permanent was decided (at least for initial
construction) and Utah Mining Corporation was contracted by the
the US Navy to simultaneously construct a "bare" Nam Phong
airfield and expand RTAFB Korat, 120 miles south of Khon Kaen.
However, with the "down-grade" of Nam Phong to a
"bare" field, no further enhancements were authorized as the Air
Force (and Utah Mining Corp.) hoped.
The EC-121 AWACS (553rd Recon Wing) were instead
deployed to RTAFB Korat following completion of the
Korat expansion project, and envisioned siting of the new
Air Force F-111 did not pan out. [Six F-111's were deployed to Thailand
for combat trials in 1968, but soon three were lost (due to horizontal
stabilizer problems) and the combat trials, and possible siting at Nam
Phong, were abandoned.]. From 1968 until 1972 Nam Phong, as a "bare" air field, would be used exclusively by covert USAF Special Operations Airmen ("Blue Berets"), US Army Special Forces ("Green Berets"), and Thai and Laotian counter-insurgents and their T-28 fixed-wing and UH-1M, (and CH-47, and CH-53 special forces) rotary wing aircraft as part of Project 404 / Project Unity, until Task Force Delta arrived in April of 1972. Pictures of Utah
Mining's construction effort in 1966-67 at Nam Phong and RTAFB Korat
are archived on this web site.
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