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Cam Rahn Bay Ghost Town
Aerial view of Cam Rahn Bay Airbase, Vietnam – late 1972. As can be seen in photo the base is abandoned with only a lone C-130 on the parallel taxiway below. Cam Rahn was a major airfield constructed by the US in 1966 and was host to USAF F4 fighter wings, C141 and C5 strategic airlift, and C-130 and C-7 tactical airlift wings. It was a primary point of entry/exit to Vietnam to/from the USA. By May, 1972 all the US wings at Cam Rahn had been deactivated or relocated as part of the Vietnamization of the war. The abandoned base was then totally looted including tin roofs, doors, and windows leaving a only a skeleton of a ghost town. In 1975 the base was captured by the North Vietnamese. After that it served as a Soviet Airbase from 1979 to 2002.
I was on the first C-130 to land at Cam Ranh, then spent many days there TDY from Naha and later from Clark on my second tour. We heard that the US had a 99-year lease on the place. It was hard to believe they left it even before we had completely pulled out.
ReplyDeleteSO STRANGE TO SEE CRB LIKE THIS....I LEFT CRB APR-MAY 72 TO NEW STATION NHA TRANG TIL 01JUL72 WHEN I DEROS'D ETS HOME 03JUL.. I'M WITH YOU BROTHER,,,MY FIRST NIKON ALSO AND I HAVE FEW HUNDRED SLIDE AND B/W NEGS TO GO THROUGH.....
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