Operation Shufly

Operation Shufly
Part of Vietnam War

HMM-362 H-34s in 1962
Date15 April 1962 to 8 March 1965
Location
South Vietnam
Belligerents
 United States Viet Cong
Units involved
HMM-362
HMM-163
HMM-162
HMM-261
HMM-361
HMM-365
Casualties and losses
19 killed
14 H-34s destroyed

Operation Shufly was a United States Marine Corps operation to improve the mobility of Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces in the early phases of the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1965. Beginning on 15 April 1962, Marine helicopter squadrons, associated maintenance units and air traffic control detachments deployed to Sóc Trăng Airfield in the Mekong Delta and later to Da Nang Air Base rotating every four months in order to provide assault support and CASEVAC assistance during combat operations. By early 1965 half of the Marine Corps' medium helicopter squadrons had rotated through a "Shufly" deployment.[1] The operation ended on 8 March 1965, when the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade came ashore in Vietnam as the vanguard of the United States' commitment of large numbers of regular combat units into South Vietnam.[2]

  1. ^ Simmons, Edwin H. (2003). The United States Marines: A History, Fourth Edition. Naval Institute Press. p. 221. ISBN 1-59114-790-5.
  2. ^ Mersky, Peter (1983). U.S. Marine Corps Aviation 1912 to the Present. Nautical & Aviation Publishing Company of America. p. 209. ISBN 978-1591145165.