S.E.A.T.O. BUILD-UP N.Z. Planes Arrive At Bangkok

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29832, 26 May 1962, Page 11

S.E.A.T.O. BUILD-UP N.Z. Planes Arrive At Bangkok

( N .Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) BANGKOK, May 25. Three Bristol Freighters of the Royal .New Zealand Air Force No. 41 Squadron arrived in Bangkok today, carrying ground personnel and maintenance crews to prepare a base and organise supplies for the New Zealand Special Air Service paratroops in Thailand.

The New Zealand planes were on their way to Korat, on the north-eastern plateau. A little over an hour earlier, six Hunter jet fighters and a Canberra jet bomber of the Royal Air Force flew out of an overcast sky to land at Bangkok Military Airport. They were the advance flight of Britain’s contribution to the South-east Asia Treaty Organisation military buildup in Thailand. The British planes will form part of the Royal Air Force unit to be stationed at Cheng Mai, northern Thailand. The Hunters belong to Number 20 Squadron and the Canberra to Number 45 Squadron. S.E.A.T.O. Control

Group Captain T. R. Pierce. Station Commander at Tengah, Singapore, said the Royal Air Force unit in Thai-

land would be placed under the "operational control” of S.E.A.T.O. Military Com. mand. But, he added, "national forces sent to Thailand will retain their nationality and will decide individually before they are actually committed.” Two more Royal Air Force aircraft —a Hastings and a Pembroke transport—were due from Singapore later today. A spokesman said that all Air Force planes would be initially stationed at Munang Airport, Bangkok, the

British United Press reported. The R.A.F. planes would fly to Cheng Mai Air Base either late today or early Saturday. Additional pianos from the squadron would arrive later, probably joining the Hunters at Cheng Mai. There has been no official announcement in Singapore so far as to whether an Australian squadron would fly from Butterworth, in north Malaya. Australia has already promised Thailand air units to support other S.E.A.T.O. forces now stationed in Thailand.