skidded on the rain-soaked runway colliding with each other and blocking the runway forcing the rest of the flight to divert to Tan Son Nhut Air Base. One of the B-57Bs was hit by ground fire and dived into the ground during approach at Tan Son Nhut and was destroyed, killing both crew members. Ground rescue parties were unable to reach the planes due to strong Viet Cong fire. The deployment of the B-57s would be the first deployment of jet combat aircraft to Vietnam, however as this was a violation of the Geneva Protocols which forbade the introduction of jet combat aircraft to Vietnam, the squadrons were assigned to the 405th Fighter Wing at Clark Air Base and carried out rotational deployments to South Vietnam on a temporary basis. During the next few weeks, more B-57Bs were moved from Clark to Bien Hoa to make good the losses of 5 August and to reinforce the original deployment. The B-57s shared an open-air, three-sided hangar with the RVNAF resulting in overcrowding that forced 18 of the B-57s to be sent back to Clark in October. In late August Detachment 1, Pacific Air Rescue Service was established at the base equipped with HH-43Bs. In October Detachment 4 was established at the base equipped with 3 improved HH-43Fs and in November Detachment 1 was sent to Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base. The HH-43s were responsible for search and rescue, local base rescue and firefighting. With the activation of the 38th Air Rescue Squadron on 30 June 1965 the detachment at Bien Hoa was renamed Detachment 6. In October 1964 the 602nd Fighter Squadron (Commando) was organised at the base equipped with A-1Es. 1964 Mortar attack On the night of 1 November 1964 a VC mortar team penetrated the base perimeter and launched a 30-minute barrage on the base destroying 5 B-57s, 3 A-1Hs and 1 HH-43 and damaging 13 B-57s, 3 A-1Hs, 3 HH-43s and 2 C-47s and killing 4 U.S. and 2 Vietnamese. The VC claimed to have destroyed 59 aircraft and killed hundreds of U.S. personnel. The Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended reprisal attacks against the North Vietnamese but President Lyndon Johnson ordered the replacement of the lost aircraft and convened a National Security Council working group to consider available political and military options. On 6 November the RVNAF led by Air Vice Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ launched a