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Long Tieng (also spelled Long Chieng, Long Cheng, or Long Chen) is a Laotian military base in Xaisomboun Province. [1] During the Laotian Civil War , it served as a town and airbase operated by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States . [ 2 ]
Pha Khe (west of LS20A Long Tieng) L54 Luang Prabang International Airport: 997 ft Air operations center for Military Region I LS57 Phou So 4,500 ft 19.641184, 102.917037 (Google coordinates) LS61 Muang Phalan TACAN Site: LS69 Ban Xieng Lom 1,900 ft LS85: Phou Pha Thi
Ravens with a T-28D Trojan at Long Tieng, Laos, 1970. The Raven Forward Air Controllers, also known as The Ravens, were fighter pilots (special operations capable) unit used as forward air controllers (FACs) in a clandestine and covert operation in conjunction with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Laos during America's Vietnam War.
Air America C-123 on ramp at Long Tieng, 1970. Set up in June 1961, Long Tieng was the headquarters for Vang Pao, who led irregular forces of the Meo people, a CIA ally in the conflict with Pathet Lao. (Source: CIA, Center for the Study of Intelligence, CIA Air Operations in Laos, 1955-1974. Photo courtesy of D. Williams.)
The next day, the last Hmong irregulars abandoned Sam Thong to the communists, who promptly torched half of it. As the retreating Hmong gathered at Long Tieng, PAVN infantry roved the ridgeline above it five kilometers to the northeast. By now, three-fourths of Long Tieng's populace—the noncombatant portion—was being evacuated via air.
As in Campaign 139, the PAVN pulled up just short of overrunning Long Tieng and ending the Laotian Civil War. The Royalists were battered and in questionable shape to undertake an offensive. With further North Vietnamese offensives in the offing, the American government found itself presented with a double-edged dilemma.
Initially headquartered at Vientiane and later at Long Tieng northwest of the Plain of Jars in the Xiangkhoang Province, the MR 2 covered the North-eastern Laos. Its original military commander in 1955 was Major (later, General) Sang Kittirath, [9] replaced in mid-1962 by Colonel Khamkong Bouddavong. [10]
The Long Tieng valley consisted mostly of a 4,400 feet (1,300 m) runway surrounded by a Hmong settlement of several thousand people. At its peak about 1970, 40 to 50 Laotian and U.S. aircraft were stationed at Long Tieng. Frequent flights from Thailand brought in ammunition and supplies to Vang Pao's 30,000 soldiers. [9]