Gia Lam Airbase

Gia Lam Airport Sân bay Gia Lâm
Gia Lam Airfield in 1967.
IATA: none ICAO: VVGL
Summary
Airport type	Military/Public
Location	Hanoi
Elevation AMSL	50 ft / 15.24 m
Coordinates	21°02′27.51″N 105°53′09.64″E / 21.0409750°N 105.8860111°E / 21.0409750; 105.8860111
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 02/20 6,565 2,001 Asphalt

Gia Lam Airport (ICAO: VVGL) (Vietnamese: Sân bay Gia Lâm) is an airport in Hanoi, Vietnam, located in Long Biên District, on the eastern bank of the Red River. It is primarily a military field, used by the Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF), with MiG-21 fighters and Kamov Ka-28 helicopters stored in revetments. The airfield was inaugurated in 1936, before the Japanese occupation of French Indochina. The airport is currently used for military training activities, as well as for chartered helicopter taxi flights for tourists visiting nearby attractions such as Ha Long Bay. There are plans to convert Gia Lam to a civilian airport, serving short flights to and from locations in Northern Vietnam.

Gia Lam Airfield (French: Aérogare de Gia Lam) was built in 1936, according to an urban plan laid out by French architect Ernest Hébrard over a decade earlier. Hébrard was hired by the city of Hanoi's Urban Planning and Architecture Services department in 1923 to supervise a number of urban renewal projects, including a new industrial area in Gia Lâm District, on the eastern bank of the Red River. Hébrard's plan for Gia Lam included a renovated railway station, along with space for factories, industrial establishments, and the new airfield. Upon its completion, it was one of two major airfields in the Hanoi area, the other being the (now-disused) Bach Mai Airfield. The airfield itself was constructed according to a design by French architect Félix Godard.