The war in Laos has often been called a “secret war”. This is certainly a fair description in comparison with media coverage of the neighbouring war in Vietnam but in recent years a number of books and a controversial film have helped to throw some light on this war and the role of US airlines in providing communications and logistical air support to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA’s) forces in Laos. None of these books, with one small exception, have defined the fleet lists of these airlines even though, in terms of aircraft numbers, their fleet sizes were comparable with those of the largest airlines in the world at that time.
The objective of this article is to attempt to compile the fleet lists of the principal airlines responsible for providing this logistical air support in Southeast Asia. First, however, it is necessary to describe the geopolitical context of the war in Laos as this explains the roles of these airlines and the covert nature of their operations. As the space available in Digest does not allow an in-depth description, a comprehensive bibliography is included.
Laos is a landlocked country the shape of Italy in the north-central region of mainland Southeast Asia. Six populous neighbours surround it: China to the north, North Vietnam to the northeast, South Vietnam to the southeast, Cambodia to the south, Thailand to the west, and Burma (Myanmar) to the northwest. The total land area of Laos is some 91,400 square miles, or roughly the size of Great Britain. The northern half of the country is covered in dense tropical rain forest, mountains that rise to over 7000 feet and slate-black limestone karsts. In the northeast, the mountains give way to the Plaines des Jarres (PDJ), a diamond-shaped patch of dairy land covered with giant stone burial urns dating back thousands of years.
The southern half of the country runs in a narrow panhandle, which empties onto the Bolovens Plateau. Down the eastern edge of the panhandle are the Annamite Corilleras, a towering mountain range that covers most of the 1323 mile border with Vietnam. On the western edge is the Mekong River, which forms a common border with Thailand, but there are also two Lao provinces on the western side of this big river.
Laos was divided into five Military Regions (MR). MR I was in the northwest, including Luang Prabang and the borders with Burma and China; MR II was in the northeast, including Long Tieng, Sam Neua and Sam Thong; MR III consisted of the central panhandle region, including Savannakhet and much of the Ho Chi Minh trail. MR IV was in the south, including Pakse and the Bolovens Plateau; finally MR V consisted of the neutral zone around Vientiane.
The climate of Laos roughly divides the year in half. Beginning in late May are five months of heavy tropical rains. Five more months, beginning in December, have high temperatures and little rain. A short spring and autumn connect these rainy and dry seasons.
When compared to South Vietnam, Laos was a more dangerous place in which to fly. Apart from enemy ground fire there were other problems to contend with. The maps of Laos during the early days were very inaccurate and pilots had to read the ground, watching for landmarks below them to ensure that they did not get lost. Apart from the monsoon season, Laos also had a man-made season when the villagers set fire to their fields in preparation for the year’s planting. The whole country became enveloped in a blue smog that reduced visibility to half a mile or less.
During the Second Indo-China War, approximately three million people populated Laos. Of these, nearly half were lowland Laotians from the Tai linguistic group that migrated from southern China beginning in the 13th century. The vast majority of these lowlanders are peasant farmers and Buddhists.
Living along the mountain slopes are the diverse Lao Theung, which account for up to 30% of the total population. Descended from the Mon-Khmer ethnic group, the darker Lao Theung have historically been discriminated against by the lowland Laotians. The Lao Theung is fragmented into dozens of tribes that speak mutually unintelligible dialects.
On the mountain tops live the Sino-Tibetan hill tribes, comprising 20% of the population. The most important of these tribes are the Hmong (Meo) and the Mien (Yao). The Hmong, in particular, are renowned as among the fiercest warriors in Southeast Asia.
The geography of Laos is well described in Tragedy in Paradise, which also describes the USAID public health programme from 1963 to 1974.
Towards the end of World War II, US foreign policy was against the idea of the European powers regaining control of their colonial territories in Southeast Asia after the defeat of Japan. With the start of the Cold War and Korean War, however, it was recognised that the vacuum created by this policy was likely to result in communist domination of these territories, so the American government provided material support to the French government in their war in Indo-China, notably against the communist Viet Mihn. Despite this support, which included Civil Air Transport (CAT) crews flying Fairchild C-119C transports on behalf of the French, the French forces were comprehensively defeated in the battle of Dien Bien Phu in May 1954. This war resulted in the resignation of the French government and the calling of a peace conference in Geneva, which resulted in the signing of a Peace Treaty in July 1954. This treaty defined the Kingdom of Laos as a neutral territory and all foreign forces were required to be withdrawn. An International Control Commission (ICC), comprising observers from India, Poland and Canada, was established under the terms of the Geneva Accords.
The political
Lima Site 20A was headquarters of the CIA/US Officers and Command Post of General Vang Pao for the US Secret Army during the Vietnam War.