Bien Hoa Air Base (Vietnamese: Sân bay Biên Hòa) is a Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) military airfield located in South-Central southern Vietnam about from Ho Chi Minh City, across the Dong Nai river in the northern ward of Tân Phong, and within the city of Biên Hòa within Đồng Nai Province. The boomburb city is densely populated and rings the base, despite significant levels of agent orange toxins simply left there for decades. The base is scheduled to begin cleanup by 2019. During the Vietnam War the base was used by the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF). The United States used it as a major base from 1961 through 1973, stationing Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine units there. Origins Bien Hoa is located on flat grounds in a rural area northeast of Saigon. The French Air Force established an air base, the Base aérienne tactique 192, which was very active during the First Indochina War. In February 1953 the French Air Force established a facility at Bien Hoa to overhaul its F8F Bearcats. In April 15 airmen and USAF civilians from the 6410th Materiel Control Group arrived in Saigon to help the French set up their F8F overhaul facility and they were deployed to Bien Hoa. On 1 June 1955, Bien Hoa Air Base became the RVNAF's logistics support base when the French evacuated their main depot at Hanoi. At this time the base had a single by PSP runway. In December 1960, the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group Vietnam (MAAG) requested the U.S. Navy, as the designated contract construction agent for the Department of Defense in Southeast Asia, to plan and construct several jet-capable airfields in South Vietnam, including at Bien Hoa. In December 1961, the American construction company RMK-BRJ was directed by the Navy's Officer in Charge of Construction RVN to begin construction of a new concrete runway, the first of many projects built by RMK-BRJ at the Bien Hoa Air Base over the following ten years. American use during the Vietnam War With the influx of USAF tactical air units in the early 1960s, Bien Hoa became a joint operating base for both the RVNAF and USAF. The USAF forces stationed there were under the command of the Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). Bien Hoa was the location for TACAN station Channel 73 and was referenced by that identifier in voice communications during air missions.