VIAT (Vietnamese Air Transport)

  Spring 1961 to November 1964

  South Vietnam

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TYPE: Charter airline

IATA/ICAO CODES: Nil

HEADQUARTERS: Saigon

OTHER NAME: Biet Kich So Bac - Nha Ky Thuat

VIAT was formed in the spring of 1961 as a CIA covert company, with the support of Air America and China Airlines. It was born from the need to conduct intelligence operations Vietnam at a time when official US presence was still almost non-existent in the country. Under contract 61-119, Air America provided VIAT with flight, ground, supply and maintenance personnel. VIAT started off with a single former Air America C-47, flown by Vietnamese crews that had been trained by Air America instructors in the low-level insertion of CIA agents into North Vietnam and Laos. However, on it’s fourth mission on 1 July 1961, VIAT's C-47 was shot down in the Ninh Binh Province of North Vietnam.

At some time in 1961, VIAT introduced two Commandos to transport agents and arms into North Vietnam, and on the first C-46 mission, Colonel Ngo The Linh and Major Nguyen Cao Ky flew themselves to North Vietnam to check the situation. These aircraft came from China Airlines and were flown by China Airlines crews. The following year, VIAT also received most of their six Helio Couriers, all of which ended up with Air America a couple of years later, although some of them passed thru the hands of other companies working for the CIA.

After the loss of the C-47, which had always to be refuelled at Danang when inserting agents into North Vietnam, the CIA decided that VIAT’s new aircraft was to be a C-54, whose range eliminated the need for a refuelling stop. In August 1961, Air America delivered the first C-54A to VIAT and Air America’s pilots came to Saigon to train Vietnamese crews in low-level flying and navigation until early 1962. However, once again, on 1 March 1962 during a resupply flight to North Vietnam, that plane was lost when it crashed into a mountain in bad weather. This plane was replaced later that month by another C-54 from the USAF, flown these time by ex-ROCAF pilots of China Airlines that had received training in Taiwan from Air America instructors. These pilots were given Vietnamese names to keep their presence covert.

On 4 January 62, VIAT signed contract 61-119 with Air America, providing for VIAT to use Air America's personnel whenever it needed. In the same contract, Air America also agreed to wet-lease C-46, C-47, DC4, DC6, Helio Courier, Bell 47, Piper Apache, and Beechcraft aircraft to VIAT as may be required from time to time. Dornier Do28 and DHC-4A Caribou types were later added to the list. But VIAT did not need such a large fleet, and these aircraft were only used on a time-to-time basis. 

In June 1963, five C-123B Providers joined the fleet. The C-54 was due to be phased out, but it disappeared on its last mission after dropping a team on 4 July 1963. However the flying needs had increased so much by then, that several additional C-54's were brought in, both from the USAF and ROCAF. However, the C-123B had become VIAT's new workhorse, flown by ROCAF crews trained at Pope AFB, NC. The main purpose of VIAT remained to insert agents into North Vietnam and to resupply them. Its C-54's, C-46's, and C-123's were used to drop supplies, psywar material, leaflets, pre-tuned radios, listening devices, as well as parachuting long-term agents and commandos into North Vietnam. But VIAT’s aircraft were also used on sensitive flights within South Vietnam at the will of the CIA’s Saigon station. VIAT aircraft are also believed to have been used to support CIA-financed programs of the South Vietnamese government, such as “Strategic Hamlets” and “Extended Arms of Brotherhood”.

The most important program VIAT was involved in was probably the support of the CIDG (Civilian Irregular Defense Group) project. Since late 1961, US Army Special Forces teams worked together with a group of hill tribes living in the central highlands of South Vietnam, called “Montagnards”. Unlike the Hmong in Laos, who were mainly supplied by Air America planes, the Montagnards were supplied by the US military, with whom they worked together. Initially, these camps were supplied by USAF C-47's and later by USAF C-123B's. The idea was to give the Montagnards weapons to fight the communists crossing the area. In December 61 or early 1962, the CIDG program came under the control of the Combined Studies Division (CSD), a CIA operational agency reporting to the US Ambassador at Saigon. Air support of the project was mainly provided through VIAT’s C-46's and C-123's, chartered by the South Vietnamese government. As the CIA’s CSD also established border surveillance sites that were responsible for screening and reconnoitring the Laotian and Cambodian border areas, this task was assigned to the CIDGs in late 1963 and it is believed that VIAT’s aircraft also served for that purpose.

VIAT came to its end when the USA decided to no longer hide their presence in South Vietnam. Beginning in mid-1963, the US military slowly pushed VIAT out of business, with its aircraft being returned to Air America, ROCAF, China Airlines and the Vietnamese Studies and Observations Group in late 1963 and 1964. Once stripped of all its aircraft, VIAT was eventually shut down on 30 November 1964.

1961 to 1964

VIAT operated three Commandos leased from China Airlines, to which they were eventually returned. These aircraft were flown by China Airlines crews, and used on various insertion and supply drop missions in Southeast Asia.

• Curtiss C-46D-10-CU Commando: XV-NIG
• Other Commandos: XV-NIF, XV-NII