Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base
Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base
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| Part of Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) | |
| Coordinates | 17°23′11″N 102°47′18″E / 17.38639°N 102.78833°E |
| Type | Air Force Base |
| Site information | |
| Condition | Military Air Force Base |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1955 |
| In use | 1955–Present |
| Battles/wars |
 Vietnam War |
| Airfield information | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 579 ft / 136 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 17°23′11″N 102°47′18″E / 17.38639°N 102.78833°ECoordinates: 17°23′11″N 102°47′18″E / 17.38639°N 102.78833°E | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
 VTUD
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| Runways | |||||||||||
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Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base (Udorn RTAFB) is a Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) base, the home of 2nd Air Division/23rd Wing Air Combat Command. It is near the city of Udon Thani in northern Thailand and is now the main airport serving the city and province.
The RTAF 231 Squadron "Hunter" is assigned to Udorn, equipped with the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet-A.
Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base was established in the 1950s as a RTAF base.
Communist forces engaging in a civil war inside Laos and fears of the civil war spreading into Thailand led the Thai government to allow the US to use covertly five Thai bases beginning in 1961 for the air defense of Thailand and to fly reconnaissance flights over Laos. Udorn was one of those bases.
Under Thailand's "gentleman's agreement" with the US, Royal Thai Air Force Bases used by the US Air Force (USAF) were considered RTAF bases and were commanded by Thai officers. Thai air police controlled access to the bases, along with USAF Security Police, who assisted them in base defense using sentry dogs, observation towers, and machine gun emplacements. Numbers of other USAF personnel were assigned as security police "augmentees" and placed on perimeter guard duty as alerts of possible enemy intrusions developed. USAF personnel, other than security police, augmentees, and combat aircrew members, were normally unarmed. Also, under the US-Thailand operations agreement, USAF military serving guard duty at Udorn were prohibited from "chambering a round" in their weapons until fired upon by an enemy. All USAF personnel were fully armed after 1967. Prior to that time weapons were stored in secured shipping containers and not carried by US personnel. For first threat defense, US personnel depended on Thai guards who were armed with US-issued M1 Carbines.
The USAF forces at Udorn were under the command of the United States Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) Thirteenth Air Force (13th AF). Udorn was the site of TACAN station Channel 31 and was referenced by that identifier in voice communications during air missions
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Wikipedia