Chronology of The USAF Involvement in Vietnam
What began as a small US military assistance program to South Vietnam, grew into a wider regional conflict. American efforts focused on four major areas of combat: South Vietnam, North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
The first USAF personnel assigned to South Vietnam arrived in August 1950, when the United States established Military Assistance Advisory Group, Vietnam (MAAG-V), with headquarters in Saigon. To enable military supplies and equipment to be transferred, the US signed a Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement on 23 December 1950 with France, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Indochina, being a French colony at the time meant that American aid went first to the French forces in Vietnam, with limited aid to the Vietnamese auxiliary units in existence. Subsequently much of the military aid, mostly C-47 transports went to reinforce French Air Force units.
Other aircraft supplied to the French in Indochina in 1950-51 were Douglas B-26 Invaders, Bell P-63 Kingcobas, former U.S. Navy Grumman F6F Hellcats, Grumman F8F-1B Bearcats and Vought F4U Corsairs.
With the withdrawal of the French in 1955, the South Vietnamese Air Force came into existence and inherited much of the former French aircraft. American support continued though the 1950s, with additional B-26s, Douglas A-1 Skyraiders and North American T-28 Trojans for pilot training.
Read more about this topic: United States Air Force In South Vietnam
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