Air Force Revolutionary Army Kampuchea

The Polpotov Air Force was part of the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea (RAC), which in turn was formed in 1968 as the armed wing of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. Initially, the RAC waged an armed struggle against the royal government of Norodom Sihanouk (1967-1970), then against the pro-American regime of Lon Nol (1970-1975). In both cases, the Khmer Rouge could only use guerrilla warfare tactics, until 1975 they had no aviation at their disposal. However, this did not prevent them from winning a decisive victory in a long civil war.

After the capture of Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, about 100 aircraft previously owned by the Lonnolovo Air Force were at the disposal of the Khmer Rouge. Some of them, including two T-28 Troyan training aircraft, were intentionally destroyed by the Khmer Rouge, while others remained rusted right in the open. The fact is that the ideology of the Khmer Rouge was based on the ideas of agrarian socialism, the rejection of everything Western and modern. As a result of the organization of a full-fledged air force, insufficient attention was paid.

The captured equipment captured by the Khmer Rouge when the Navy attacked Ream airbase on May 15, 1975, destroying five of the twelve remaining “Trojans” ^[1] . In mid-1975, the Khmer Rouge began to receive the first military equipment from China. Beijing military advisers were sent to Cambodia (Kampuchea), among them there were 320 specialists of the Chinese Air Force . One of the first tasks was to train the personnel of the future Air Force. Initial flight training was conducted at the Pochentong airfield. For training American helicopters Bell UH-1 Iroquois were involved. An unusual incident occurred on April 30, 1976 when, during one flight, a Khmer-born pilot named Pech Lim Kuon was able to escape to Thailand without hindrance on one of these helicopters. He was one of ten pilots (five Cambodians and five Chinese) who were on a training flight.

Almost nothing is known about the command structure of the Polpot air forces. The commander in chief of the Kampuchean Air Force was Su Met (aka Ta Met ). Presumably the basis was C-47 aircraft and UH-1 helicopters. In addition to flying activities, these aircraft were used as vehicles and as a propaganda weapon. It is noteworthy that four T-28s were featured in a PRC propaganda film shot in Pochentong in 1977 ^[2] .

In 1977, the Kampuchean Air Force received new aircraft from China: Shenyang F-6C fighters and Harbin H-5 bombers. In addition, military experts from the PRC built a new airfield in Kampongchnang . During the reign of the Khmer Rouge, the Polpot army repeatedly attacked the border areas with Thailand and Vietnam. In response, on December 25, 1978, Vietnamese forces launched an intervention in Kampuchea. At the time of the invasion, as was calculated, the armament of the Kampuchean Air Force consisted of:

On January 7, 1979, Vietnamese troops came close to Phnom Penh, forcing the Khmer Rouge leadership to evacuate. According to various sources, Pol Pot and his assistants used two or five UH-1H helicopters to escape from the capital.