USAF Withdrawal and South Vietnamese Use of Cam Ranh Air Base
See also: Ho Chi Minh CampaignBeginning on January 1, 1972, the 483d Tactical Airlift Wing phased down its activities, and active flying ended by March 31. The unit was inactivated and Cam Ranh Air Base was turned over to the South Vietnamese government on May 15, 1972, ending USAF use of the facility.
After the turnover to the South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) the base was largely abandoned. It was, quite simply, much too big for the Vietnamese to use. The base was slowly looted for its usable equipment, such as air conditioners, desks, refrigerators, and other furniture along with windows, doors and corrugated tin roofs from the buildings left by the Americans, leaving what could be categorized as a deteriorating ghost town of abandoned buildings.
The VNAF used the airfield at Cam Ranh Bay as a storage facility for many of their propeller-driven aircraft (A-1E, T-28) while the large amount of jet F-5s and A-37s provided by the United States to the VNAF were used in operations against the North Vietnamese army from other, smaller bases.
On April 3, 1975 North Vietnamese forces captured Cam Ranh Bay and all of its remaining facilities.
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