Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base - History

History

Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base was established in the 1950s as a RTAF base. 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, Royal Thai Air Force Bases used by the USAF were considered Royal Thai Air Force bases and 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.

Numbers of other USAF personnel were assigned as Security Police "Augmentees" and placed on perimeter guard duty as alerts of possible enemy intrusions developed. One such attack occurred in early 1970 when North Vietnamese Sappers penetrated defenses. Six of them were killed, but there were no casualties among U.S. or Thai personnel. USAF personnel, other than Security Police, Augmentees and combat aircrew members, were normally unarmed. Also, under the U.S.-Thailand operations agreement, USAF military serving guard duty at Ubon were prohibited from "chambering a round" in their weapons until fired upon by an enemy.

The USAF forces at Ubon were under the command of the United States Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). Ubon was the location for TACAN station Channel 51 and was referenced by that identifier in voice communications during air missions.

The APO for Ubon was APO San Francisco, 96304