Phan Rang Air Base, Vietnam
315th Special Operations Wing

           

History note: The city of Phan Rang's original name, in the Cham language, is: 'Paduranga'.
The "twin city" of Phan Rang is: 'Thap Cham'.

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Mike Vogel---315th Special Operations Wing
315 CAMS, Phan Rang, RVN (68-69)
(PACAF)    c 1997

               
BEFORE EARLY AUGUST 1968<<<>>>AFTER EARLY AUGUST 1968     

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315 Wing History

Note: Red Text designates when Wing was assigned to PRAB.

Established as:
315 Troop Carrier Wing, Medium on 23 May 1952.
Activated on 10 Jun 1952.
Inactivated on 18 Jan 1955.
Redesignated:
315 Air Commando Wing, Troop Carrier,
and activated, on 21 Feb 1966.
Organized on 8 Mar 1966.

Redesignated:
315 Military Airlift Wing (Associate) on 29 Jan 1973.
Activated in the Reserve on 1 Jul 1973.
Redesignated:
315 Airlift Wing (Associate) on 1 Feb 1992;
315 Airlift Wing on 1 Oct 1994.

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For the last sixteen years I've been trying to locate
the two vets pictured above (Tom Farrell [left] and
Richard Porreca [right]). I'm also trying to locate a
SSgt Bob Cannon and a A1C Brown who lived in our Q9
barracks. If anyone knows the where abouts of any of the vets
named above please have them contact me or give me any
information you might have on them. Thanks---Mike

Glad to say that I was finally able to get
back in contact with Dick Porreca [2/14/05]

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USS New Jersey, last battleship of the US Navy to see action,
fires her huge 16" (406 mm) guns. I remember witnessing her
rounds flying over head, at PRAB, and hitting her target, but
just don't recall the date when this was....sometime in 1969.
Do any of you vets recall the day she fired her guns over PRAB?

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Flight line at Phan Rang AB (photo taken shortly after take off on C-123).

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Zoomed-in shot of above showing my squadron area.

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The four aerial shots of PRAB, shown below, were provided by
Jim Alvis who was with the 71st SOS (AC-119G) at PRAB 2/69-6/69.

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A Phan Rang C123 (54-603) shown at a local aircraft museum (Anoka, MN).

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A few panorama shots of the inside of a C123.

This web site is not only a tribute to the great officers and
enlisted men who served with our proud 315 ACW/SOW (C-123K)
but also to all the troops who served at Phan Rang Air Force Base.
Without their scans and comments, shown below, this site would not
exist. Thanks all for your service and sharing your memories of
our old stomping grounds at Phan Rang AFB. Regards--Mike Vogel

"PRAB Memories"
At this site are a series of pages provided by vets
from PRAB giving their description and sharing
their scans and memories of their tour there.

Here are scans of early PRAB construction
and of the initial 1st Tour personnel on base.
Scans were provide by
1LT Donald Taylor
Base Munitions Accountable Officer
435 MMS (65-66)

Here is an interesting site on the initial
fighter squadron at PRAB in 1966.
Scans and comments provided by
Alan Goodin
who was with the 389th TFS
(Tactical Fighter Squadron).

Here are some interesting scans and comments
with a US civilian's point of view from
John Hosking who lived and worked out at
Phan Rang's beach during the war with the
'Alaska Barge & Transport'company (2/67-9/68)

Here are scans of some shields/emblems/patches
from the C-123 aircrew squadrons at PRAB.

A few photo scans from Phanrang'ers from PRAB.

A series of photos taken by Sgt. John Mack who
was a Loadmaster with the 311th ACS (68-69)

Here are a few scans of PRAB's
315 CAMS, AGE personnel (68-69)
Scans were provide by
A1C Jim (Mouse) Hogan
PRAB, 315 CAMS
AGE shop (68-69)

Here are a few scans of PRAB's
315 CAMS AGE personnel (68-69)
Scans were provide by
A1C James Johnson
PRAB, 315 CAMS
AGE shop (68-69)

A series of photos taken by Rich Keniston
PRAB, 315 CAMS
prop shop (68-69)

A series of photos taken by Richard (Rick) Markel
PRAB, 315 CAMS
COMM shop (69-70)

A series of photos taken by Henry (Hank) Fields
PRAB, 315 CAMS
Fuel Cell shop (69-70)

UPDATED (4/14/09)

Here is a web page from one of my longer PRAB contacts
I've been in contact with for the past 15 years.
Lt. Col. Phil Garey was a Commander of the
35th Headquarters Squadron at PRAB (8/1/69-5/1/70).
Phil has had a very full military career from his
enlisted days during WWII to his officer days serving
until shortly before the end of the Vietnam War.

A series of photos taken by Steve Curry
PRAB - 35th Aerospace Medicine Sqn
12/69-12/70

A series of photos taken by Richard (Rick) Reinke
PRAB, 315 CAMS
hydraulic shop (70-70)

A series of photos taken by Lt/Col Chuck Bailey
PRAB, 35th AMS Commander (9/70-2/71)
35th TFW Chief of Maintenance (2/71-7/71)
315 CAMS Chief of Maintenance (7/71-9/71)

Here is a list of aircraft and locations at PRAB

Three comparison pan scans of PRAB
were provided courtesy of John Elliott,
Dave Gilliam, and myself.

PRESS YOUR 'BACK' KEY IN YOUR BROWSER TO RETURN TO THIS PAGE.

Press to open 3-PRAB

Here are scans of the recent Phan Rang area provided
by Dave Landis (35th CSG, 2/71-2/72) who has recently
returned to the Phan Rang area for the second time
(August 31, 2001). Here are a series of scans of
photos he took including some interesting views
of 'Ninh Chu Beach' and 'Po Klong Garai temple'.

A few images of our Minnesota
Vietnam Veterans Memorial (MVVM)

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Press to open MVVM images

A few images of our newly constructed
Minnesota Korean Memorial (MKM)

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Press to open MKM images

View My Guestbook
Sign My Guestbook

Below are a few of my
favorite PRAB web sites.

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I had the privilege to get to know David Foote
during the time he and I were first designing
our web sites. David was stationed at PRAB with
the 2 Sqd of the Royal Australian Air Force
[RAAF] (69-70). David has since passed away
on 4/24/98 but you can get to his web site
because his wife has been kind enough to keep
it up and running. Jan's tribute page to David is at:
http://members.fortunecity.com/dfoote/jansintro.html
From there you can go to his web site by clicking
the 'Vietnam' icon. Rest in peace buddy.

Don Taylor is another friend I got in touch with through
David Foote's guest book site. Don was stationed at PRAB
during the early 'Gray Eagle period' days (65-66). Don has
a few pages showing scans and comments of his tour here at
my site but he also has a great web site telling more about
the early PRAB days with lots of narration, scans, and
comments, I think you will enjoy seeing at:
http://www.members.tripod.com/donstaylor1/index.htm

Jim Alvis was with the 71st SOS (AC-119G) at
PRAB 2/69-6/69. Jim allowed me to use his
four, excellent, aerial, scans, you see of
PRAB above. Thanks Jim! The 71st flew and
maintained the AC-119G "Shadow". Most of
us recall viewing her strong light and
tracers scanning beyond the base perimeter
nightly, which gave us quite a protective
feeling. Jim's informative 71st site is at:
http://www.71stsos.com/

The Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Wall Page

I'm proud to say I'm currently volunteering at our local
VA Hospital here in Minneapolis. If you get the chance, and
have the time, try volunteering at your VA Hospital or ?????

God Bless America!!

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