America and Taiwan Had a Secret Transport Squadron in Vietnam

Covert unit dropped agents into the communist north

by JOSEPH TREVITHICK

Six specially-modified U.S. Air Force C-123 transport planes with Taiwanese aircrews flew some of the most secret missions of the Vietnam War. The C-123s arrived at Nha Trang, South Vietnam, in the summer of 1964.

The Air Force established the First Flight Detachment primarily to parachute agents behind enemy lines as part of OPLAN 34A-64. This over-arching operation was a top-secret American and South Vietnamese effort to infiltrate the North and harass the communists.

The operatives were supposed to gather intel, spread rumors and sabotage key infrastructure. The entire effort fell under the euphemistically-titled Studies and Observation Group—a.k.a., SOG—closely cooperating with the Central Intelligence Agency.

The planes also dropped supplies to teams already on the ground. First Flight eventually took on other missions, such as dropping propaganda leaflets.

The Republic of China Air Force crews gave the missions—nicknamed Heavy Hook—some plausible deniability. Washington had started its covert operations before the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution provided any legal framework for the intervention in Vietnam.