1. BABYLIFT ACCIDENT - THE WORST AIR ACCCIDENT IN VIETNAM HISTORY
2. In 1975, after the army of the Republic of Vietnam suffered consecutive defeats against the South Vietnamese Liberation Army, confirming the inevitable fall of the Saigon government, the administration of US President Gerald Ford decided to implemented a plan to evacuate their people from South Vietnam. In order to make a good impression on the international media, orphans, and children of people in the army of the Republic of Vietnam were also evacuated to the US and allied countries on the plane. It was called "Operation Babylift", carried out in early April 1975.
3. This controversial campaign, about sending non-orphaned children abroad, has severed the children's contact with their parents and homeland. Some have called this a systematic kidnapping.
4. Even in Saigon, those opposed to Thieu also opposed the Babylift campaign. The People's Daily newspaper on April 8, 1975 quoted UPI news agency as saying that Cora Weiss, a leader in the Committee of Americans Against the War in Vietnam, declared this was "a robbery of young children". born".
5. Returning to the topic of the article, on the afternoon of April 4, 1975, the first flight in the Babylift campaign bearing the number 68-0218 took off from Tan Son Nhut Air Base (Tan Son Nhat International Airport today). ) with the destination being Clark Airport, Philippines. The flight was carrying 285 children along with 29 crew members. When the plan is successful, the children will be taken to San Diego on another flight, where they will eventually become US citizens. But the flight ended in a disaster.
6. At 16:15, the plane was at sea, 24km from Vung Tau, when the problem occurred. The C-5, like many other aircraft used in the US military, had a rear door and on this flight the door's keychain popped out, and the entire back compartment was filled up. by fragments. The problem caused the stabilizer (called the aileron) and the aircraft's lifts to stop working.
7. The pilot, Captain Dennis "Bud" Traynor, and co-pilot, Captain Tilford Harp, attempted to regain control of the plane and made a 180-degree turn to return to Tan Son Nhut. The aircraft began to wobble, but the crew managed to prevent and maintain a controlled descent at about 250 to 260 knots (460 to 480 km/h). They were able to bring the plane to an altitude of 4,000 ft (1,220 m) and begin approaching runway 25L of Tan Son Nhat airport. While making a final attempt to approach the runway, the aircraft's landing speed suddenly began to increase rapidly. The crew ramped up the engines in an attempt to stop the fall, but despite their efforts, the plane crashed at 4:45 p.m. over a rice field, skidded 400 meters, and ascended again. 800m into the air, then hit a levee on the banks of the Saigon River and broke into pieces. Fuel and debris ignited. The Associated Press television station reported on the accident.
8. 138 people died and most were in the lower compartment when it was torn apart in the collision with the dike. The place of the accident was a muddy field and 1.6 km from the nearest road. Fire trucks could not reach the scene and helicopters had to work instead. Of the 314 people on board, 138 died including 78 children, 35 employees of the Office of the Defense Attaché and 11 US Air Force personnel; there were 176 survivors. All of the surviving orphans were eventually flown to the United States. The deceased orphans were cremated and interred at the cemetery of St. Nikolaus Catholic Church in Pattaya, Thailand. The crash was also the "largest loss of life" in the history of the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) until 9/11.
9. Today, the crash site is marked by an iron rod (probably from the wreckage of the plane), lying on a lawn near Vuon Lai Street in District 12. Every April 4, the survivors of the flight The ill-fated plane returned to this site to pay respects to those who lost their lives. Day after day, flights still land at Tan Son Nhat airport, it seems that very few people pay attention to the land where the most tragic air accident in Vietnam's history occurred.