C-5 BABYLIFT AIR CRASH

After the army of the Republic of Vietnam suffered many consecutive defeats against the forces of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, confirming the inevitable collapse of the Saigon government, the administration of US President Gerald Ford decided to implement a plan to evacuate their people from South Vietnam. In an effort to make a good impression on the international media, the children of those in the Vietnamese army were also evacuated to the US and allied countries in planes. It was called "Operation Babylift", carried out in early April 1975.

On the afternoon of April 4, 1975, the first flight in Operation Babylift, numbered 68-0218, took off from Tan Son Nhut airbase (present-day TSN International Airport) with the destination being Clark Airport, Philippines. The flight carried 285 children along with 29 crew members. When the plan was successful, the children would be taken to San Diego on another flight, they would eventually become US citizens. But the flight had ended up in a disaster.

Tan Son Nhut airbase in 1968

At 4:15 p.m., the plane flew out into the sea, 24km from Vung Tau when the trouble began. C-5 planes, as well as many other aircrafts used in the US military, have a rear door at their backs and on this flight, the keychains of the door came off and it opened, and the whole back cabin was filled up by flying debris. The trouble caused the stabilizer (called aileron) and the wings that were supposed to lift the plane to stop working.

The pilot, Captain Dennis "Bud" Traynor, and copilot, Captain Tilford Harp, attempted to regain control of the airplane and performed a 180-degree turn in order to return to Tan Son Nhut. The aircraft began to exhibit phugoid oscillations, but the crew countered them and maintained a controlled descent at about 250 to 260 knots (460 to 480 km/h). They were able to bring the plane to 4,000 ft (1,220 m) and begin the approach to Tan Son Nhut's runway 25L. While turning on the final approach, the plane's descent rate suddenly began to increase rapidly. The crew increased power to the engines in an attempt to arrest the descent, but despite their efforts, the plane touched down at 4:45 p.m. in a rice paddy, and skidded for a quarter of a mile (400 m), became airborne again for another half-mile (800 m), crossing the Saigon River, then hit a dike and broke up into four pieces. The fuel caught fire and some of the wreckage was set ablaze. Associated Press had reported about the crash.

Aerial view of the crash site

138 people died and most of them were in the lower compartment when it was ripped apart in the collision with the dike. The site of the accident was a muddy field and was 1,6km away from the nearest road. Fire trucks could not approach the scene and helicopters had to take over. Out of 314 people on board, the death toll included 78 children, 35 Defence Attaché Office employees, and 11 U.S. Air Force personnel; there were 176 survivors. All of the surviving orphans were eventually flown to the United States. The dead orphans were cremated and were interred at the cemetery of the St. Nikolaus Catholic Church in Pattaya, Thailand. The accident would also "stand as the single largest loss of life" in the Defense Intelligence Agency's history until the September 11 attacks.

Present-day crash site

Today's crash scene is marked by a metal bar (possibly from the wreckage), located on a lawn in District 12. Every April 4th, many survivors of the ill-fated flight return to the site to pay their respects to those who died. I and my family also went to this place a few days ago, and looking at the flights still landing at Tan Son Nhat airport, it seems that very few people pay attention to the field where the most tragic air accident in the history of Vietnam took place.