Douglas B-26B Invader 44-35703. This “Ranch Hand” aircraft was shot down over South Vietnam on November 24, 1963.

American military aid to Laos included Douglas C-47 transport aircraft.

By 1960 South Vietnam had received enough C-47s under the military assistance programme to equip two squadrons.

Viet Minh infantry running across Dien Bien Phu airfield on the last day of the battle, May 7, 1954. Note the wreckage of a C-47 in the background

Withdrawn from service in 1960 because of structural deficiencies, the Vietnamese F8F Bearcats were replaced by Douglas A-1 Skyraiders

Grumman F8F Bearcats of the French Air Force preparing for a mission from Dien Bien Phu airfield on January 10, 1954.

A North American T-28D Trojan of the South Vietnamese Air Force at Bien Hoa air base. The aircraft is armed with bombs and two 0-5in gun pods.

Piasecki CH-21C Shawnees in flight south-west of Saigon. They were operated by the 57th Transportation Company (Light Helicopter) which arrived in December 1961.

The two-seater Douglas A-1E Skyraiders of the South Vietnamese Air Force were usually flown by joint USAF-Vietnamese pilots.

Not all South Vietnamese Skyraiders were camouflaged. Note the napalm canisters in the foreground.

South Vietnam from the cockpit of a Douglas A-1E Skyraider.

A South Vietnamese Air Force Douglas A-1H Skyraider armed with 250 lb bombs.

The French-registered Boeing 307 Stratoliner at right was used by the International Control Commission, established by the 1954 Geneva Accords to monitor the “ceasefire".