their ordnance in front of their own squadron for impact on the desired targets. This meant that crew chiefs and armorers actually got to see their aircraft in action. At the conclusion of the airstrike the F-100s landed to the east. The after action correspondence from the strike controller credited the airstrike with essentially ending the battle. This is perhaps the only time in USAF history that pilots have conducted a controlled airstrike on their own airbase. USAF losses were 4 killed in action with another dying of a heart attack, while 26 were wounded. VC/PAVN losses were 137 killed and 25 captured. One A-37 and 1 F-100 were destroyed while a further 17 aircraft were damaged. The bodies of the VC/PAVN killed in the attack were buried in an unmarked mass grave on the edge of the base that was only uncovered in 2017. The Tet Offensive attacks and previous losses due to mortar and rocket attacks on air bases across South Vietnam led the Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Nitze on 6 March 1968 to approve the construction of 165 "Wonderarch" roofed aircraft shelters at the major air bases. In addition airborne "rocket watch" patrols were established in the Saigon-Bien Hoa area to reduce attacks by fire. On 7 April 1968, following nighttime mortar attacks on the base, 14 C-130s each dropped 4 pallets of 16 55 gallon drums of Napalm over the forested area north of the base which ignited by rockets causing a massive fire across the area. After midnight on 5 May during the May Offensive the PAVN/VC shelled the base twice for 3 hours and then shelled it again at dawn wounding 11 USAF personnel and damaging 13 aircraft, 5 trucks and 3 50,000-gallon rubber fuel bladders. A further artillery attack on 7 May caused minimal damage. On 26 February 1969 as part of the Tet 1969 attacks, elements of the PAVN 275th Regiment prepared to attack the base but were engaged about 3 km south of the base around the village of Thai Hiep. From March 1969 the Combat Skyspot radar site at the base directed B-52 strikes against targets in Cambodia as part of the secret Operation Menu bombings. On 1 September 1969 with the inactivation of the 3rd Special Operations Squadron, the 4th Special Operations Squadron took over its gunship role at Bien Hoa basing 3 AC-47s there until it too