Warbird Information Exchange

I'm curious with the opening of relations with Vietnam in recent years. Have aircraft that were left behind or were given to the SVNAF been discovered? I thought i heard years ago that some had been discovered including French Bearcats along with UH-1s. But I assumed it was just a rumor. Of interest to me would be the discovery and recovery of one the AC-119Gs or Ks that were transferred to the SVNAF. But overall curious about all that were left behind. Well just wondering if anyone knew anything about it?

Shay

I knew a guy that was negotiating for a group of Skyraiders. Unfortunately it wasn't the government per se that was the problem, it was the payola and corruption. There was no telling if you would ever get your planes no matter how much you paid. All it would take is one "official" stepping forward to request his cut or else, trying to get rich on one transaction (and thinking a Skyraider project was worth $1 Million each). Then the whole deal could get derailed- but you wouldn't get any of the payola back you had already spent to that point. That's the way things go in despotic little coutries... Contracts don't mean anything and the politicians have absolute power. Sounds a bit like PNG, doesn't it?

Hi

A lot of stuff has been brought out and shipped to Australia including 20+ Birdogs and about 6 A37 Cessna Dragonfly's although in their usual charming way the US military threatened all sorts of consequences if they weren't handed over to them. This did not bother us here too much and 3 of the Dragonflys and a heap of the Birdogs are flying however it did stifle any plans to sell them back to the US!!!

In addition about 10-12 T28s were also inported and are operating here although I think some of these came from Laos or Cambodia including some former Air America jobies that had removable/interchangeable national insignia on them!!!

I can post photos if anybody wants to see them.

I suspect that a lot of the bigger stuff is still there but is probably pretty banged up/ cactus by now and the cost of recovery would be difficult to justify,

Kindest regards
John Parker

Hi John,

I would like to see the photos. I have always wanted to know what was left over after the war.

Thank you,

Patrick

I would love to see pictures of these aircraft for the registry.

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What about the rumours of the Kingcobra's and the Seafires? I read something about this in WWW I think.

Cees

There was an article in Flypast or Aeroplane about five years ago, with pictures of several Skyraiders in a hangar, as well as dozens of R-3350's still in their pressurized packing crates. A lot of the stuff looked in superb condition. Just wish I could remember which mago it was in.... anyone have any ideas? Hadn't heard about the bearcats though... that wasn't well publicised if it was anything more than a rumour.

Cheers,
Richard

PS. Hope someone manages to get them all out in good condition! It's probably going to be the Aussies, since they have proven so adept at getting out so many other airframes.

I remember seeing the same article and it was in Flypast.

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It's you and me against the world.

We attack at dawn.

Not too many years back, I saw four Skyraiders at an "undisclosed location" in Vietnam. It's an ex-USAF base and pretty well known. Three were A1-E models and one was an A1-H. They were in pretty bad shape, but not beyond saving. There are also several A-37s, C-47's, a couple of C-123's, lots of helicopters and what I believe were a few more Skyraiders at different airfields in Vietnam. There are lots of parts laying around and I did see a few engine cans in hangers, but I don't know the condition of the engines. In down town Hanoi, there is a Skyraider at the "American Atrocities" museum.

There were supposd to be Bearcats at Tan Son Nhut, Nha Trang and Bien Hoa Air Bases in Vietnam as well as Nakorn-Sawan and Takhli Air Bases in Thailand. I never saw any of them, but at Nakorn-Sawan, I saw what might possibly have been a Bearcat across the field from me, but I can't say for sure what it was. In 2000, I was shown the concrete pad that had been the home of an F8F up until the late 90's. Nobody knew what had happened to it. The only Bearcat I've ever see in that part of the world was in the Thai Air Force museum in Bangkok. If all goes according to plan, I will be back in both countries around Oshkosh time. Courtesy of my employer.


I don't think Australia will be the Lone Ranger when it comes to getting stuff from Vietnam anymore. Up until recently, America had an embargo against Vietnam that stopped us from doing any kind of legal business over there. Now that times have changed, hopefully some of the booty will come home. Or go to Australia, New Zealand, England or where ever. As long as everything flies, I don't care who gets it.

I seem to remember that the Bearcat that was restored for David Price was tied up in some sort of legal battle not too many years ago. Something about the plane coming from Vietnam in violation of the embargo.

The A-37B the the Olympic Flight Museum owns (68-7975) had a similar problem prior to the museum getting it. It got stuck in customs at the Canadian border for a while because of how it was obtained. As I recall, it came from Vietnam via Australia and France and was heading to the National Warplane Museum. I don't know what their reasons were for parting with it, but it now sits in the hanger in Olympia waiting it's turn at a rebuild.

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Brad

THAT'S where one of those A-37's went! I was at the NWM when our local congressman got them transferred to the NWM as part of some sort of omnibus bill. It wasn't "on it's way" to them... actually it was intercepted at the border going into Canada by a private "trader" and was impounded and eventually handed over by the feds to NWM. My thought was that they sold it b/c they had another along with it and needed the money more than a second Tweet. I think the other one is being (or has been) static restored at the museum formerly known as NWM in Elmira, but I haven't been there in quite some time.

Is OFM going to make it a flyer?

Ryan Keough

Ryan,

Thanks for that info. The ownership of the airplane prior to us getting it is sort of cryptic...........

The plan is to make it fly. The A-37 and F-86 are probably the next two in line. Just the amount of maintenence on the stuff that flys right now makes it nearly impossible to add to the workload. Before I moved out to the east coast, I was doing the parts inventory on the F-86 with orders to make it fly. Then the Air Force stepped in and sent me out here! If I had a place to put it, I'd bring it out here and work on it.

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Brad

The recent spam made me dig through the really old posts - BUT - have any more a/c come out of Vietnam that are around? I assume the A-37 Brad referred to is flying now?

Tom P.

Talk about raising the dead threads. I was still on Active Duty when I posted this LOL

Actually I was just thinking about this very topic after I finished reading "The A-1 Skyraider in Vietnam: The Spad's Last War".

Maybe this just hopeful wishing but I took a quick look at Bien Hoa AB and it sure looks like there may be some possiblities. And if I squint hard enuf those aircraft on the left sure looked to be engineless, wingless or wings folded Skyraiders. Have a gander....

Shay
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Semper Fortis

If you skip back to 11-1-15, the image is pretty clear, and it looks like they are Skyraiders with their wings folded.


Will

It'd be great if a) the Bearcat story were true and 2) they could be released and exported. I love stuff like this.

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Zac in NZ
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG".
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"It's his plane, he spent the money to restore it, he can do with it what he wants. I will never understand what's hard to comprehend about this." - kalamazookid, 20/08/2013
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