VIET CONG RAID ON AIRPORT

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30587, 2 November 1964, Page 13

VIET CONG RAID ON AIRPORT

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) SAIGON, November 1. Communist mortar fire today crippled about half the American jet bomber force now in South Vietnam and killed four Americans. Thirty-three American servicemen were wounded as Viet Cong guerrillas poured an estimated 100 mortar shells into the top secret air base at Bien Hoa, only 12 miles north-east of Saigon.

The raid was the most daring of the Vietnamese civil war.

A row of 857 jet bombers parked on the flight-line at the base was battered in the barrage.

Other mortar shells crashed through the roof of a nearby United States army barracks, killing four and injuring 33 men.

Two Vietnamese guards were killed and five wounded. Communist commandos slipped through fences at the base in the pre-dawn raid and struck so close to the flight-line that they left bullet holes in several parked planes. At one point, eye witnesses said, United States Army helicopters were strafing and firing rockets inside the base perimeter to drive the Viet Cong out Aircraft Hit An American military spokesman in Saigon said the Communist mortar bombs destroyed or damaged 27 aircraft including 20 857 jet bombers, all of which are capable of delivering atomic weapons.

The spokesman said the explosions burned and completely destroyed five 8575, inflicted “major damage” on eight and “minor damage” on seven more.

But observers at the base reported that at least six bombers appeared to be damaged beyond saving. Although the exact total of 857 s in South Vietnam is secret, it is known that there are about 40 in the country, all at Bien Hoa base. Four Vietnamese Air Force

helicopters were also badly damaged in the raid, and three propeller-driven Skyraider fighter-bombers were destroyed. One of the Skyraiders crashed while taking off with a full load of rockets to attack the raiders. Twenty American wounded were taken to hospitals at Bien Hoa and Saigon.

Six were described as being in “serious” condition. The remaining 13 wounded required only first-aid treatment. The American casualty toll was the second highest, and the most severe, of any incident in the Vietnamese civil war.

The attack occurred shortly after midnight