OPERATION TURNKEY

[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] touchdown and a return to the parking apron at one of the newest air bases in Southeast Asia tui1 located on a 3M stretch of beach along the South China Sea is one of four new air bases constructed in South Vietnam from 1965 to 1967 the need for construction of these new air bases was brought about by the buildup of us Ground Forces beginning in early 1965 and the corresponding requirement for increased air power as fighter wings Logistics aircraft and their support Personnel moved in growing numbers from the United States existing bases in Vietnam were soon saturated aircraft parking aprons were overcrowded dormitories warehouses dining Halls roads ammunition storage and fuel storage facilities were urgently needed the civilian contractor forces in Vietnam in 1965 were limited in material equipment and Manpower capability construction projects for all of the services carried high priority gradually the construction Force capability of military engineers and civilian contract forces increased so that by late 1965 construction of two new airbases could be initiated at caman Bay and fan rank to make them operational at the earliest possible date the Air Force employed a design utilizing aluminum mapping for Airfield Pavements pre-fabricated buildings for housing and bladder systems for storing fuel but with combat support requirements still growing even these new airfields found base loading near saturation to reduce base loading on these existing airfields and to support additional aircraft deployments from the US the air force needed more new bases each capable of supporting at least one fighterwing recognizing the heavy burden on the construction capability of the civilian contractors and Military engineering forces the Air Force requested permission from the Secretary of Defense to serve as the construction Agency for one of two new airfields program for Vietnam in 1966 permission was granted with concurrence of MCV snac and The Joint Chiefs of Staff the project approved 27 May 1966 was called operation turn [Music] key operation TurnKey is a single package concept for the design logistic support and construction of the Airfield headquarters Air Force developed the turnkey concept and the organization plan for the project overall management was coordinated by the air staff in Washington DC a Project Director was established at 7th Air Force Headquarters at tonsen Airbase Vietnam this was the seventh Air Force civil engineer working for the Project Director was the man on the job the site manager staffed with Air Force personnel all serving in a resident engineer capacity and a New York office of Air Force officers collocated with the selected contractor by early June 1966 Air Force personnel were in New York working on design procurement of equipment and materials and shipping the site for the new Airbase was chosen in Central South Vietnam on the coast of the South China Sea about 235 mil north of Saigon near the village of tuwa tuwa home of rice farmers and small merchants and a Barren stretch of seashore that would soon be pressed beneath concrete and aluminum the development Plan called for an initial operational capability by end December 1966 using expeditionary facilities shown here in red a 9,000 foot Runway of am2 aluminum matting a taxiway parking apron prepackaged tent facilities and bladder systems for fuel storage this was to be followed by construction of sustained operational facilities by June 1967 to include a 9500 ft parallel concrete Runway system and maintenance cantonement and operational facilities the Air Force site management team assigned to tuwa was collocated with the contractor and served a resident engineer function in the control and supervision of design and construction procedures and acceptance of completed facilities for the Air Force MCB was tasked on for military security and procurement of required real estate the Air Force was assigned responsibility for all other phases of the project reporting to MCV and adding strength to the total MCV construction capability equipment and material for the initial contractor tent camp were airlifted in by Logistics aircraft which could land on the existing 3000 ft Vietnamese airspring by 19 June 1966 the first US workmen were at Tui a temporary Camp was set up first just south of the beach offloading area starting with a few tents and a dozen men the camp soon grew into facilities for a 700 man Workforce construction of the contractor's Camp began as soon as the contract was signed all of the contractor's Camp facilities were master planned to have residual value to the Air Force dormitories and offices as well as maintenance sheds mess halls and warehouses were cited and erected in their planned permanent locations for Air Force use the big Logistics buildup took place in the United States heavy construction equipment had to be purchased and moved to Ocean ports so did 3.4 million square ft of am2 aluminum mapping the contract ractor had to provide all shipping not only for construction materials and heavy equipment but for all other items needed to support his labor force the Air Force established two Port detachments where warehousing and dock space had been made available at brookley Air Force Base Mobile Alabama and Jacksonville Beach Florida this provided two Central locations on the Eastern Seaboard near Manufacturing centers and Communications lines and avoided competition for dock facilities at crowded West Coast ports The Shipping schedule time phased for logical sequence was established in the New York project office the New York office was in charge of traffic management the control of all ship and aircraft movements all materials equipment and Manpower had to be moved to the ports of embarcation in the right sequence at the the right time and each item had to be operational when it went aboard ship this prefabricated batch plant for instance was set up and tested before being shipped the contract was awarded 31 May and by 7 July just 37 Days Later all construction equipment for the job had been purchased and moved to shipping ports efficient Logistics management also assured that chips at the site could be unloaded without waiting to this end the ship which carried the first am2 aluminum matting also took aboard the heavy equipment required for the offloading operations on the beach at Tui anticipating the first shipment the Air Force site manager and the contractor were busy at Tui Beach unloading facilities roads and storage sites were needed and were completed ahead of schedule with no Port facilities at tuwa most early supplies had to come in over the beach five Landing plants chartered by the contractor arrived in time to offload the First Supply ships the contractor was responsible not only for chartering landing craft and ships but for providing stors who would accomplish the offloading the first shipment of cement was scheduled for concrete foundations and for soil cement which was used as a base course for roads and Airfield papers the am2 aluminum matting in 12x 2T sections was in one of the first ships to arrive am2 matting is being used throughout South Vietnam as Airfield pavement it is light easily transported and has a fast laying rate it was stockpiled at the site to be immediately available for placement as soon as each increment of necessary Earth workor was accomplished when the Tui W project first started vro Harbor 22 Mi to the South was under vet Kong control it was therefore required that a sheltered un loading facility be built as a refuge for offloading when the monsoon season and Heavy Seas rendered over the beach operations impossible in late August 1966 a powerful American-owned cutter head Bridge arrived from toiti to start dredging operations by 15 October 66 this facility was being used by the contractor to unload barges and landing craft over 160,000 tons of construction material and supplies were offloaded in the sheltered Waters of the Basin and over the beach at tuwa several months after the tuwa project started the Viet Kong were cleared from the vro area work was then curtailed on the tuwa unloading facility now bangro serves the Tui area as its major Logistics Port the contract C's Workforce consisted of us civilians augmented as necessary by Third Country Nationals and local Vietnamese American civilians were hired with the condition that 95% of their salaries would be banked in the United States the other 5% to be paid in script good only on the project side most of the Americans were skilled Carpenters electricians and heavy equipment operators the majority being men with multiple skills the Air Force design was developed around pre-engineered prefabricated relocatable buildings to meet BD requirements and design criteria pre-fabricated products of us manufacture were procured wherever possible [Applause] the Air Force site management team worked with the contractor in surveying the site establishing center lines and elevations for runways taxiways and Airbase roads resident Engineers monitored on-site Logistics and contractor performance under Air Force Direction the contractor prepared a critical path method construction schedule this CPM network was in turn used by Air Force Headquarters in the development of PMC that is planning and management control for the tuua project this PMC system utilizes the contractor networks to establish critical action events and tracks all major job elements to determine progress toward predicted objectives at any point progress and Status were updated every 7 days and maintained by the contractor the Project Director and the air staff in Washington DC PMC as a management system showed that heavy equipment to speed up off offloading of ships was in place as predicted and that offloading of material was accomplished in time to meet project requirements that the construction progress of sewers roads and storage facilities proceeded ahead of schedule that designs were complete and basic surveying accomplished in the proper time frame TMC also showed that that necessary phases of construction on the base camp for Air Force and contractor Personnel were completed on [Applause] schedule by mid-september 1966 the total contractor Workforce and all equipment were fully mobilized in place and working two 10hour shifts per [Applause] [Music] day the major part of the construction effort was first directed toward completion of the aluminum mat Runway taxi way and parking apron in order to achieve operational status at the earliest possible date the contract specifications were designed to provide an incentive fee for completion of the expeditionary Runway and other operational facilities ahead of schedule early completion would provide an important increase of combat flexibility in Central South Vietnam and would also permit relaxation of overcrowded conditions at other air bases with grading and leveling completed and drainage provided the subbase of compacted natural soil was then covered with a soil cement treatment for the base course [Applause] [Applause] as soon as the 8-in soil cement base course was complete and graded it was covered with an asphalt seal coat this was followed by placement of a thin sand blanket as a cushion for the am2 aluminum mat by the first week of October 1966 the soil cement base course was complete to the point where the first sections of aluminum matting could be placed in position mat him placement thereafter proceeded at a rate of 600 to 800 ft of Runway per day simultaneously construction was expedited on all other basic facilities required for interim operation of the base project scheduling envisioned completion of this interim phase by the end of December 66 to be followed by construction of sustained operational facilities by June 1967 these would include aircraft maintenance hangers steel P tanks and other features of a modern operational complex as construction of the airbase continued at an accelerated Pace Air Force personnel were busily engaged in necessary support activities erection of the expeditionary tent camp interim water supply tent kitchens and other operational facilities at mlen Air Force Base California the Air Force Logistics command prepared a prepackaged kit called bitter wine that contained all equipment vehicles and other material required for base activation this was shipped to tuwa offloaded over the beach and made ready for use by the 4,000 Air Force personnel soon to arrive by 12 November 1966 laying of the aluminum matting for the runway was finished the original 7mon Target construction period for this event had been bettered by a full month and a half on that same day 12 November the tuwa runway received its first Logistics aircraft these were an Air Force C130 and a c124 of the military airlift command these aircraft brought a GCA mobile unit and other navigational AIDS required for the soon to arrive F100 Tac fighter squadrons of the 31st Fighter Wing within 2 days the GCA equipment was in place and operational early on the morning of 15 November a flag raising ceremony marked the achievement of combat Readiness and the official opening of tuwa [Music] Airbase later that morning two t39 aircraft landed at [Music] tuwa on board were the commanders Pacific Air Forces 7eventh Air Force and other officials to participate in the opening day ceremonies earlier on the same morning 15 November the f100s of the 3008 Tac Fighter Squadron took off from benois Airbase for the the deployment to tuwa this deployment was combined with an un route combat Mission Against Viet Kong Targets in the central Highlands of South Vietnam [Music] [Music] with the strike Mission completed the f-100's then recovered at [Music] 31 [Music] the the timing of the F-100 arrivals permitted the pilots to participate in the opening day [Music] ceremonies the turnkey Project Director was also on hand to brief on the accomplishments today and to outline tasks remaining to be accomplished in construction of facilities for sustained [Music] operations with the ceremonies concluded Air Force support Personnel moved immediately to prepare the f-100's for combat missions to be flown the next day that next day 16 November 1966 inaugurated the Roar of jet engines as a routine accompaniment to the continuing sounds of construction much remained to be accomplished by the Air Force sight management team and the contractor heavy construction would now concentrate on the parallel 9500 ft concrete Runway following grading drainage and completion of a soil cement base course construction Crews moved in to place forms for the 25 ft Wide Paving Lanes to obtain crushed rock for concrete it was necessary to open a quarry 5 miles north of the airbase across this bridge on Highway 1 with three large crushes production of 2,000 tons per day was achieved in order to transport the aggregate from the FI to the base a distance of some 5 miles an old Narrow Gauge French rail line was rebuilt and put in operation Revival of this line was a substantial and welcome addition to the limited transport facilities available to the people of tuwa at the airbase the crush Stone was unloaded and stockpiled coincident with the Quarry and Railway operation the concrete batch plant brought from Florida was erected and put into full operation from the batch plant concrete mix was moved by transit truck to the paving operation on 12 December 1966 two squadrons of f100s deployed from Homestead Air Force Base arrived at tuwa the 31st Tac Fighter Wing was now fully operational [Music] e as f-100's took off on their daily combat missions pading operations on the parallel Runway [Music] continue [Music] Working Day and Night the paving Crews were able to complete the runway by April 1967 a full month ahead of schedule [Music] a other construction Crews worked around the clock to complete on schedule all of the sustained operational [Music] facilities a control tower replaced the mobile van this elevated water storage tank and ground storage tank replaced the interim from use of Lister bags and Water trailers dining Halls replaced the field tent [Music] [Music] kitchens ammunition storage facilities were completed as were warehouses maintenance shops and aircraft hangers the expeditionary P bladder system used to support the first aircraft deployments soon gave way to a modern P tank farm hydrant manifold Pump Station and fuel truck loading point over 260 prefab buildings shipped from the US were used at tui1 these dormatory buildings taking only four hours to erect replace the tents erected earlier for the expeditionary phase by Air Force personnel by June 1967 the contractor had completed the provisions of his contract the project philosophy and concept established by the air force of early in and early out had been fulfilled under the terms of the contract the contractor had bought all of the equipment for the job for the government now that the project was finished the Air Force took over everything from Rock Crushers to ball Pine hammers [Music] this equipment went to Air Force construction forces throughout southeast Asia for use in their continuing mission of providing facilities to support the air power combat mission the job was finished for the US workers it was time to go home the offices and quarters occupied by the contractor now belong to the Air Force as us construction men Departed Air Force personnel moved [Music] in these welders heavy equipment operators Carpenters cooks and Bakers but well stand on the apron and feel the satisfaction of a job well done contractor was now gone he took with him only his hat and his suitcase Tui this Air Base stands today as one of the most complete operational complexes in all of Southeast Asia in review it first became operational on an expeditionary basis only 5 months from approval in Washington DC of the turnkey concept and contract award the total project was completed in less than 12 months in that short time frame the contractor working under Air Force supervision had mobilized men and equipment in the United States transported this Force to Vietnam and changed the sand dunes of a Barren stretch of beach to a fully operational Air Base the basic concept was essentially one of moving in fast hitting the job hard and demobilizing on the same tempo operation TurnKey had made Tui a reality this Air Base had taken its place as a vital part of the total US Air Force mission in Southeast [Music] Asia w