forced the KAF Air Command to temporarily ground the entire mini-gunship fleet. In the final months of the Cambodian Civil War, the KAF employed their AU-24A mini-gunships in night bombing operations against entrenched Khmer Rouge 107mm rocket positions north of Phnom Penh, but after virtually expended their entire ordnance reserves, three Stallions escaped on April 16–17, 1975 from Pochentong Air Base flown by their respective crews to safe haven in neighbouring Thailand. The Khmer Rouge did managed though to salvage intact nine AU-24A mini-gunships for the Air Force of the Kampuchea Liberation Army (AFKLA) of the new Democratic Kampuchea Regime, although poor maintenance and a chronic shortage of spare parts ensured that only one of these machines was still airworthy when the AFKLA was neutralized by the People's Army of Vietnam in February 1979 during the Cambodian–Vietnamese War. This remaining Stallion was subsequently taken after 1979 into service of the air force component of the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Armed Forces (KPRAF; later, CPAF), remaining operational until 1993, when was finally decommissioned. Variants H-550 – prototypes (2 built) AU-24A Stallion (H-550A) – production version (18 built) H-634 Twin Stallion – version with twin Allison 250 turboprops mounted on a beam across the nose of the aircraft (not built) H-1201T Twin Stallion – version with twin engines in underwing nacelles, retractable undercarriage, tiptanks, and underwing cargo pods (not built) Operators Colombian Air Force. A single aircraft seized for drugs and used as liaison. Khmer Air Force United States Air Force Specifications (H-550A) See also References Notes Bibliography Kenneth Conboy, FANK: A History of the Cambodian Armed Forces, 1970-1975, Equinox Publishing (Asia) Pte Ltd, Djakarta 2011. Kenneth Conboy, Kenneth Bowra, and Mike Chappell, The War in Cambodia 1970-75, Men-at-arms series 209, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1989. Larry Davis and Don Greer, Gunships, A Pictorial History of Spooky – Specials series (6032), Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1982. Joe F. Leeker, Khmer Air Force AU-24As, University of Texas at Dallas 2006–2015. – External links Helio AU-24 Stallion at globalsecurity.org Helio AU-24 Stallion at helioaircraft.com Khmer Air Force official site 1960s United States civil utility aircraft Stallion 1960s United States attack aircraft Single-engined turboprop aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Shoulder-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1964