Following the success of the Skoshi Tiger program, substantial numbers of Freedom Fighters were supplied to the Republic of Vietnam Air Force. The first Vietnamese crews left for Williams AFB for training in August of 1966. The first RVNAF unit to operate the F-5 was the 522nd Fighter Squadron of the 23rd Wing, which had previously been flying A-1 Skyraiders. The surviving Skoshi Tiger Freedom Fighters were turned over to this unit, which was activated on April 17, 1966.
The Freedom Fighter was rather disappointing in VNAF service, since it had relatively poor bombing accuracy, and a planned second squadron was not formed.
The ceasefire of 1973 under which American forces withdrew from Vietnam led to an increased amount of military aid supplied to the South Vietnamese government, in the hope that they could go it alone without direct American support. As part of this effort, a total of 126 F-5As were delivered to the South Vietnamese Air Force, most of the planes being supplied from stocks previously owned by South Korea, Iran, and Taiwan.
By 1974, the VNAF was operating four squadrons with F-5As and RF-5As (82 aircraft, with 36 more in storage), plus three squadrons of F-5Es.
During the final North Vietnamese assault on Saigon in 1975, numerous South Vietnamese aircraft escaped with their pilots to Thailand. Among these were four F-5As plus 22 F-5Es. These planes were returned to the USA where they were placed in storage pending sale to other customers.
Eighty-seven F-5A and B Freedom Fighters were left behind in South Vietnam when the country fell to the North in 1975. The planes that were captured by the conquering North Vietnamese were either pressed into service or offered up for sale on the world market. Some flew in support of the Vietnamese invasion of Kampuchea in 1978. It appears that F-5 squadrons were scattered throughout North Vietnam’s air force, with several composite squadrons operating both F-5s and MiG-21s.
The subsequent fate of these planes is largely unknown. A handful were passed along to the USSR for evaluation, and some ended up in Czecholsovakia and Poland. Their lifetime in Vietnamese service must have been quite short in any case, given the general shortage of parts and the lack of spares.
Sources:
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F-5: Warplane for the World, Robbie Shaw, Motorbooks, 1990
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Northrop F-5/F-20, Jerry Scutts, Ian Allan Ltd, 1986.
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Modernizing the THK, Paolo Rollino and Renzo Sacchetti, Air
International, November 1994.
- Northrop F-5, Jon Lake and Robert Hewson, World Airpower Journal, Vol 25, 1996.
