of Bearcats (for a total of sixty-nine, of which twenty-one were only used for spare parts). President Diem had also requested the French advisory team to create a B 26 squadron for his air force, but since both the French and the US advisors thought that the VNAF lacked the personnel and resources to equip and maintain a bomber unit, this request was refused.
By the late 1950s the Bearcats were becoming increasingly obsolete and worn out, and finding a suitable replacement became a priority issue. Since the Geneva Accords in effect prohibited the introduction of jet aircraft into Vietnam, the replacement would also have to be a piston-engined aircraft. After once more considering the B 26 as a possible candidate, the United States finally decided on the Skyraider, and the first of these began to replace the Bearcats from late 1960. In mid 1961, the VNAF could only muster a single combat squadron of twenty-five aircraft in the war against the Viet Cong. A second unit, the 2nd Fighter Squadron, was due to be formed with T 28s later in the year, but there was little prospect of any immediate expansion of the VNAF beyond that, although several additional Skyraider squadrons were to be formed a few years later.
This was the background to the initial deployment of US strike aircraft to South Vietnam. The USAF unit chosen for use in Vietnam was the 4400th Combat Crew Training Squadron of Tactical Air Command, also known as Project Jungle Jim. The squadron had been formed on the initiative of General Curtis E. LeMay in response to a presidential request for an increased US counter insurgency (COIN) capability - which was prompted by a Soviet pledge in January 1961 to support 'wars of liberation' - and was tasked with the development of tactics for a COIN rôle. The official date of formation was 14 April 1961, which happened to be the day on which Brigada 2506 sailed from Nicaragua for the Bay of Pigs, with the support of another classified American B 26 unit.
It was intended that the 4400th CCTS should be able to deploy anywhere in the world at short notice. In some ways, the squadron could be seen as a permanent version of the Mill Pond unit created in Thailand a few weeks earlier. It was likely to operate from primitive airfields with limited logistical support, and of necessity had to use fairly unsophisticated aircraft. A total of twenty-seven Invaders were taken out of storage at Davis Monthan AFB between March and September 1961, and reconditioned at Hill AFB for use by Jungle Jim. Once reconditioned, many went back into temporary storage, however, and by the end of 1961 the 4400th CCTS only had some fifteen B 26Bs on strength. The unit also used T 28s and SC 47s, again with additional aircraft held in temporary storage.
Jungle Jim had its main base at Hurlburt Field, also known as Auxiliary Field 9 of Eglin AFB, Florida. Hurlburt had seen extensive use during the Second World War, including training for Doolittle's Tokyo raid. Since 1945 it had mainly been used as a test facility, but on occasion it had also served as a base for medium bomber units. Under the command of Colonel Benjamin H. King, the all volunteer 4400th spent the next several months in training, with the first crews becoming ready for operations in September.
President Kennedy officially sanctioned the sending of US forces to Vietnam on 22 November 1961, but by this time the first aircraft of Jungle Jim had already arrived in the country. The President had authorized their deployment on 11 October. On 5 November about half the squadron - some 150 men, together with four SC 47s and eight T 28s - left Florida for Southeast Asia. This was Detachment 2A of the 4400th CCTS, which had received the project name Farm Gate for its service in Vietnam. It became operationally ready in Vietnam with some of its T 28s on 16 November. At the request of the US Ambassador to Vietnam, all Farm Gate aircraft carried Vietnamese national insignia, in order to keep a low profile.
From the outset, the main base of Farm Gate was Bien Hoa Air Base, some fifteen miles north of Sa