80th Flying Training Wing: Vietnam Air Force Pilot Training

  • Published
  • By Debi Smith
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Bill Clifton, 80th Flying Training Wing historian, is spearheading a Vietnam Commemoration Project that will kick off a three-project commitment to engage the public and increase awareness of the integral role of the Vietnam era to military aviation's history with an emphasis on Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas.

The first commemoration event comes on the heels of the recent Vietnam Air Force pilots reunion initiated by Lt. Col. Tyler Nelson, 88th Flying Training Squadron commander.  Nelson reached out to a former instructor pilot from the early 1970's, Gary Dehnel, to gauge interest on a reunion at Sheppard.

Interest was so high it took just a few months to coordinate.  Capt. Justin Warner, 88th FTS, attended to every detail using social media and a specific website for the reunion.

More than 230 Vietnamese Air Force pilots, instructor pilots and their families were hosted at the 80th Flying Training Wing the weekend of Sep. 26-27.  Thirty volunteers ensured tours, static displays, lunch, briefings and a banquet in Wichita Falls impressed the visitors whose memory of the area was almost half a century old.

Warner emphasized how important the historical aspect of the event was to current pilots in training.

"This event helped show current students and instructors some of the history of the training here and how some of our early partnerships with other nations were formed," he said. "Though our training is different in many ways now, it still is the same in its focus to provide our allies with the best trained pilots in the world."
Numerous retired distinguished visitors attended, including Lt. Gen. Richard "Tex" Brown, Brig. Gen.  Curtis Emery, and Brig. Gen. Ben Nelson.

Retired Lt. Col. Bob Wasserott, the first VNAF squadron commander and guest speaker for the event, recounted that when he got his orders for the Vietnamese squadron, he said, "what's that?" 

The 3632d PTS activated in April 1971 with the additional mission of Vietnamese Air Force T-37 training. In an organizational change in 1973, the 3632nd became the 88th Flying Training Squadron.

What started out as two desks facing each other and 18 airplanes with 10,000 flight hours on them, Wasserott built into a squadron with 54 aircraft flying 335 combat missions.

"They were great airplanes," he said.  "The Vietnamese Air Force pilot training was the frosting on the cake of my career.  They were great students, great pilots."  Wasserott will be 85 years old in January.

Due to the drawdown of U.S. forces in Vietnam and a regime change, the twenty-five students in the last class, Class 75-08, sere sent back to Vietnam in August without starting training in 1974.

For Lan Tu, of Huntington Beach, California, it was the chance of a lifetime.  He left Sheppard in 1974 and was thrilled to share the base again with his wife, An.  Traveling from California, they decided a week-long Texas tour, which included a trip to Wichita Falls, San Antonio and Austin.

"We wanted to get the chance to see some of our old classmates and instructors, some of whom we haven't seen in forty years," he said. "It was an amazing experience to be a part of and very emotional for many of the Vietnamese, as well as, Americans."

Clifton, serving as the Vietnam Commemoration Project Steering Committee Chairman, received approval to coordinate several base projects.  The first event will be a Cold War Oral History Workshop scheduled for Feb. 27, 2015, in the Sheppard Heritage Center.

"With the huge success of the SAFB Vietnam Air Force Pilots reunion, we anticipate a high interest in the commemoration project," he said. "Plans will include a Cold War Oral History Round-up in the community in April and researching the possibility of the Vietnam Traveling Wall coming to Wichita Falls in 2016."