Skyraiders in Asia today

[RNDMTRS4EVR]

You can see some old iron by the large group of revetments, can't tell what they are but there is something sitting there rotting away.

Scott....

[Brad]

I just left Hanoi yesterday morning..nothing at the airport except about 6 or 8 Mig 21s.

[Ken]

This may be too large of a request, but does anyone have the magazine names and issue dates where the articles and photos exist of these abandoned A-1s?

Either looking to buy the back issue or arrange for a scan ...

[Robbie Roberts]

[quote="bdk"]What is with this boat?

http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&hl=en&i ... 04678&z=18

Looking at the pic, apparently that boat- and the other landlocked one to the left of it- were brought in before they changed the course of the river(quite a bit- look at the section where all that is left is the channel and a smaller stream now) and the airport extended across it. If the scale on Google is correct, that ship measures between 450 & 500 feet long! Which means it could be something WWII vintage, as it looks like those river mods are old...

Robbie

[viking73]

This may be too large of a request, but does anyone have the magazine names and issue dates where the articles and photos exist of these abandoned A-1s?

Either looking to buy the back issue or arrange for a scan ...

Ken - I don't know of any magazines, but Wayne Mutza's excellent book - "The A-1 Skyraider in Vietnam: The Spad's Last War" has some great shots of A-1 sitting abandoned in reventments from the 1990s. I'm at work right now so I don't remember how many photos but I'm thinking there are about half a dozen or so good ones. I'd post scans for you but I'm thinking that's probably against the rules here...?

[Mark_Pilkington]

What is with this boat?

http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&hl=en&i ... 04678&z=18

Looking at the pic, apparently that boat- and the other landlocked one to the left of it- were brought in before they changed the course of the river(quite a bit- look at the section where all that is left is the channel and a smaller stream now) and the airport extended across it. If the scale on Google is correct, that ship measures between 450 & 500 feet long! Which means it could be something WWII vintage, as it looks like those river mods are old...

Robbie

Despite the broad deck and apparant size of that "WW2 vintage warship" it is actually a Buddhist Temple built of ceramics.

"Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand. Wat Ban Na Muang is 5 kilometers from town. The temple has a very beautiful ordination hall built of ceramics in the shape of the Suphannahong Royal Barge."



http://www.innerbichler.org/view/28

The landlocked "ship" is also part of the same temple

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/357394


Regards

Mark Pilkington

[george]

I used wikimapia, in the search block typed in Bien Hoa. You can zoom in almost all the way, then magnify (I have XP). Besides all the Skyraiders, they are planes all around. They appear pretty derelict, though. That is some graveyard, no doubt.

[ZRX61]

Go due south from those A-1's to the cloud in the photo, zoom in to the *southern* end of the cloud.. WTF is that?
10°57'42.74"N 106°49'40.47"E

& look here:
10°57'53.76"N 106°48'58.88"E

[shoki]

There is an article in the may 1999 flypast I have it here. The article states over 20A-1's left back it 1999 aldo at least one maybe two beavers.

[n5151ts]

[Kudzu]

I spotted this interesting parking lot panning around the area. It looks like several C-130s a C-47 and a C-119 at Tan Son Nhut International. If anyone can get Paul Allen to back a road trip, I work cheap! (Maybe he could get a bulk discount!)

Lat 10'48'33.00" N
Long 106'39'32.00" E


http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&g ... 3&t=k&z=18

[Ken]

Given the recent talk on this topic, I thought I'd give this a bump.

[Ken]

Satellite images of Bien Hoa near Ho Chi Minh City showed several A-1 fuselages in a compound south of the main runway up until a few years ago. A look this morning (no idea how current the image is) shows the compound is empty as is another area just east that looked like an outdoor museum consisting of several different types.

Looking at the quonset-style open hangars by the flightline, 3 or 4 A-1 fuselages are now visible sitting in the alley between the revetments.

Ken

[Mike Banks]

My mistake, should have said the Skyraiders were supposed to be at Bien Hoa. I've seen pictures of at least one Skyraider out in a revetment and one in a hangar. The hangar has multiple shrapnel holes in the walls with sunlight streaming through. Supposed to 3350s still sealed in cans, too.

I've heard via second hand info, that all of the sealed 3350's in cans are about worthless now, as the cans had leaks in them. Moisture got in the engines and have corroded them to the point of not being worth recovering.

Just what I heard.

The rumor of 3350's sealed in cans are true. Ray Anderson has a large chunk of those engines at his shop, he must have 20 or 30 of them. He refers to the building they are stored in as Vietnam. And thankfully, they are in excellent shape!

[Ken]

Great to know some of them made it back (assuming they're the same ones). The status of those planes and engines was fairly well documented in a 1999 issue of Fly Past magazine.