Pleiku Air Base - History - USAF Use During The Vietnam War

USAF Use During The Vietnam War

As North Vietnamese infiltration increased within and along the Laotian and Cambodian borders the importance of Pleiku Air Base increased, and base facilities were expanded and improved. American Army and Air Force civil engineering units resurfaced and extended to 6000 ft (1829 m) runway and the base was jointly used for both VNAF and USAF air activities, but never reached the saturation and population proportions of the major air bases of the coastal lowlands. The USAF forces stationed at Pleiku were under the jurisdiction of the Seventh Air Force, United States Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). The APO for Pleiku was APO San Francisco, 96318. During the construction period, a Viet Cong attack on Pleiku airbase was made on 6 February 1965. The attack killed nine U.S. servicemen and wounded 128 others that led to the sending of conventional American combat forces to Vietnam.

The first United States Air Force unit to move to Pleiku AB on a permanent basis was the 633d Combat Support Group, which was activated on 14 March 1966. It took over the duties of the provisional Seventh Air Force 6234th Air Base Squadron which had managed construction and other activities at the base after the SVNAF moved to Nha Trang.

The primary mission of Pleiku Air Base was forward air controller missions coordinated with the South Vietnamese and also as a base for United States special operations forces (initially called Air Commando units) in the South Vietnamese Central Highlands. It was a joint-service base, with units from the Army, Navy, Marines stationed there as well as the Air Force which operated and maintained the base. With its diverse units, a wide variety of propeller-driven aircraft operated from the base, along with a large number of helicopters.