312

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

1975-Continued

29 April In a period of three hours, Operation

Frequent Wind was carried out by U.S. Navy and

Marine Corps helicopters from the Seventh Fleet.

Frequent Wind involved the evacuation of American

citizens from the capital of South Vietnam under heavy

attack from the invading forces of North Vietnam. The

military situation around Saigon and its Tan Son Nhut

airport made evacuation by helicopter the only way

out. President Ford ordered the evacuation when Viet

Cong shelling forced the suspension of normal trans-

port aircraft use at Tan Son Nhut. With fighter cover

provided by carrier aircraft, the helicopters landed on

Saigon rooftops and at Tan Son Nhut to evacuate the

Americans. The airport became the main helicopter

landing zone; it was defended by Marines from the 9th

Amphibious Brigade flown in for that purpose. All but

a handful of the 900 Americans in Saigon were evacu-

ated. The last helicopter lifted off the roof of the

United States Embassy at 7:52 p.m. carrying Marine

security guards.

Flight from Saigon as

Communists take over

in 1975.

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Escaping South

Vietnamese pilot

and family land

aboard Midway,

plane is now at

Naval Aviation

Museum,

Pensacola, Fla.

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