Talk:Royal Lao Air Force

Sappers blew up T-28s at Luang Prabang
Nota bene–

As an eyewitness, WP does not consider me a reliable source. However, I was stationed at Luang Prabang in March 1970 when the NVA sappers blew up seven T-28s. The official sources say 17, and that is what I wrote into the article rather than ignore a rather important incident. However, between September 1969 and March 1971, which was when I was there, LP never based more than 12 T-28s, and often there were no more than seven or eight.

On the night in question, there were nine T-28s on hand. The sappers caught the Lao guards sleeping on the runway's edge, lined up in a neat huddle, and blew off all four of their heads with one long blast of AK47 fire. They then chucked satchel charges into the cockpits of two T-28s, placed charges under five more, and placed a charge against the fuel dump. The latter charge blew a bunch of empty 55 gallon drums about. The two unbombed T-28s were damaged, but flyable. They were flown south to Udorn for repair. The seven destroyed ones were scraped up using a bomb loader and a small bulldozer and deposited in the drainage ditch on the far side of the runway. Replacement planes arrived the following day, and we were back in business.

When the blasts woke us up, we (the Air Commando Team) scrambled to the second floor of our villa in town and remained on armed alert until dawn. When our Lao cook arrived, it was obvious the emergency was over, and we stood down.

Just remember. None of the above is reliable. It is only true.

Georgejdorner (talk) 03:56, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

Nota bene take two:

After tracing down the text that was the original source for the website giving the above info, it seems that 17 T-28s were lost in two sapper raids prior to the one I witnessed. Corrections have been made.

Georgejdorner (talk) 23:11, 15 May 2012 (UTC)