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At 3:00am on January 31, 1964, Lieutenant Fred Abrams was abruptly awakened by the deafening sound of mortar shells bursting all around him. Bien Hoa Air Base, the largest US and South Vietnam airfield in the country, was being attacked in a massive surprise attack, and thousands of Viet Cong troops were descending into the base from the rubber plantations that surrounded it in total darkness. The offensive was part of a large-scale attack across Vietnam in which more than 100 cities and posts were assaulted by Viet Cong and North Vietnam troops to cripple the south. The onslaught would come to be known as the Tet Offensive. Officer Fred Abrams had rehearsed for this extreme scenario, and in just a few minutes, he was on his way to the bunker carrying his flight suit, boots, and gun belt. While US and South Vietnam troops tried frantically to organize and repel the invaders, the Viet Cong continued to advance. Abrams would recall: (QUOTE) “The attackers got to within 100 yds of our squadron before being pushed back by the security police with M-16s and large machine guns.” The stakes were extremely high; if the Viet Cong could take control of the airbase and destroy the over 500 aircraft stationed there, US troops across Vietnam would be left without air support against the coordinated attack. Thus, Abrams and other F-100 pilots and their crews desperately tried to clean the runways from the rubble and debris caused by the initial mortar strikes, as they needed to get in the air as soon as possible if the less than 500 soldiers hoped to stop the thousands of Viet Cong forces surrounding the base. --- Join Dark Skies as we explore the world of aviation with cinematic short documentaries featuring the biggest and fastest airplanes ever built, top-secret military projects, and classified missions with hidden untold true stories. Including US, German, and Soviet warplanes, along with aircraft developments that took place during World War I, World War 2, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and special operations mission in between. As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Skies sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect and soundtracks for emotional impact. We do our best to keep it as visually accurate as possible. All content on Dark Skies is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas.
