North Vietnamese Air Support?

Are there instances of North Vietnamese aircraft making ground attacks in South Vietnam? I am reading "Night of the Silvers Stars" about the attack on the Lang Vei Special Forces Camp and there is brief mention of a biplane coming over two nights to drop 82mm mortar rounds which did not explode "WWI style."

I am curious if Migs, etc. ever made ground attacks against US or ARVN forces?

Only right at the end of the 1975 offensive:

"During the 1975 Spring Offensive, the bombing of Tan Son Nhut Air Base, the only airstrike conducted by the VPAF, occurred on 28 April 1975, just two days before the Fall of Saigon. The operation was carried out by the VPAF's Quyet Thang Squadron, using captured A-37 aircraft flown by VPAF pilots and RVNAF defectors led by Nguyen Thanh Trung who had bombed the Presidential Palace in Saigon, less than one month earlier before defecting to the north." - Wikipedia

The reason for this was probably a prohibition placed by the Soviet Union on the use of the aircraft it supplied over South Vietnam.

I have not read the book you mentioned, but LS 85 in Laos was attacked by two old Russian biplanes. An Air America Huey was handy and the flight mechanic or crew chief shot one down with an AK-47 (poetic justice if I ever saw any).

I think the reason there was no use in Vietnam of North Vietnamese aircraft while the American s were there was that thy didn't want to lose them. As OBT said, that may have been on instructions from Russia.

Tom

A bit slow to think about this, but aI think the reason the North Vietnamese made little use of armor, just PT 76s, while the American armor was there was their fear of losing them.

The they risked them in 72 against the RVN and found that the South Vietnamese tankers were usually better than they were too. By 75 the NVA had learned a bit more about being tankers.

Tom

Thanks guys! This makes good sense. Fear of losing aircraft and losing ability to defend North Vietnam would make sense.