Marble Mountain Air Facility

Marble Mountain Air Facility
Marble Mountains (Vietnam)
MMAF layout in 1969
Type	Military air field
Site information
Controlled by	USMC (1965–71) United States Army (1971–72) South Vietnamese Air Force (1972–75)
Site history
In use	August 1965 – March 1975
Battles/wars	Vietnam War

Marble Mountain Air Facility (MMAF) (also known as Da Nang East Airfield and Marble Mountain Army Airfield) was an aviation facility used primarily by the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. It was a helicopter facility that was constructed in August 1965 and served as home to Marine Aircraft Group 16 (MAG-16), the 5th Special Forces Group and an assortment of other squadrons until May 1971. It was controlled by the United States Army from May 1971 through August 1972 and finally by the Vietnam Air Force from 29 August 1972 through 29 March 1975 when it fell to the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). It was located in Quảng Nam Province 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Da Nang Air Base on a strip of beach between China Beach and the Marble Mountains.

On 28 July 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that the U.S. would increase the number of its forces in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000. The arrival of additional USMC and United States Air Force squadrons at Da Nang AB led to severe overcrowding at the base and the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing (I MAW) began looking for an alternative site for the helicopter squadrons of MAG-16. The Marines ultimately chose a stretch of sandy beach on the South China Sea that was about five miles southeast of Da Nang and just north of a series of red marble mountains for their first helicopter facility. American military construction units were overtasked at the time so the initial construction of the field was done by Raymond, Morrison-Knudson/Brown, Root & Jones (RMK-BRJ). By the end of August 1965, they had completed a 2,000-foot (610 m) runway and on 26 August, MAG 16 officially moved in. A week later Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) would approve the name Marble Mountain Air Facility.