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97-547: Da Nang Air Base ( Vietnamese : Căn cứ không quân Đà Nẵng ) (1930s–1975) (also known as Da Nang Airfield , Tourane Airfield or Tourane Air Base ) was a French Air Force and later Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) facility located in the city of Da Nang , Vietnam . During the Vietnam War (1959–1975), it was a major base with United States Army , United States Air Force (USAF), and United States Marine Corps (USMC) units stationed there. Air Vietnam also used

194-636: A minor syllable occurred). These fricatives were not present in Proto-Viet–Muong, as indicated by their absence in Mường , but were evidently present in the later Proto-Vietnamese stage. Subsequent loss of the minor-syllable prefixes phonemicized the fricatives. Ferlus 1992 proposes that originally there were both voiced and voiceless fricatives, corresponding to original voiced or voiceless stops, but Ferlus 2009 appears to have abandoned that hypothesis, suggesting that stops were softened and voiced at approximately

291-541: A lighter airframe. To meet this goal, the Bearcat's fuselage was about 5 ft (1.5 m) shorter than the Hellcat, and was cut down vertically behind the cockpit. This allowed the use of a bubble canopy , the first to be fitted to a US Navy fighter. The vertical stabilizer was the same height as the Hellcat's, but had an increased aspect ratio, giving it a thinner look. The wingspan was 7 ft (2.1 m) less than

388-447: A main vowel component followed by a shorter semivowel offglide /j/ or /w/ . There are restrictions on the high offglides: /j/ cannot occur after a front vowel (i, ê, e) nucleus and /w/ cannot occur after a back vowel (u, ô, o) nucleus. The correspondence between the orthography and pronunciation is complicated. For example, the offglide /j/ is usually written as i ; however, it may also be represented with y . In addition, in

485-448: A paper published in 1856. Later, in 1920, French-Polish linguist Jean Przyluski found that Mường is more closely related to Vietnamese than other Mon–Khmer languages, and a Viet–Muong subgrouping was established, also including Thavung , Chut , Cuoi , etc. The term "Vietic" was proposed by Hayes (1992), who proposed to redefine Viet–Muong as referring to a subbranch of Vietic containing only Vietnamese and Mường . The term " Vietic "

582-546: A process of tonogenesis , in which distinctions formerly expressed by final consonants became phonemic tonal distinctions when those consonants disappeared. These characteristics have become part of many of the genetically unrelated languages of Southeast Asia; for example, Tsat (a member of the Malayo-Polynesian group within Austronesian ), and Vietnamese each developed tones as a phonemic feature. After

679-642: A representative on the Government Council for Nationalities, an advisory body of the Czech Government for matters of policy towards national minorities and their members. It also grants the community the right to use Vietnamese with public authorities and in courts anywhere in the country. Vietnamese is taught in schools and institutions outside of Vietnam, a large part contributed by its diaspora . In countries with Vietnamese-speaking communities Vietnamese language education largely serves as

776-540: A role to link descendants of Vietnamese immigrants to their ancestral culture. In neighboring countries and vicinities near Vietnam such as Southern China, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, Vietnamese as a foreign language is largely due to trade, as well as recovery and growth of the Vietnamese economy. Since the 1980s, Vietnamese language schools ( trường Việt ngữ/ trường ngôn ngữ Tiếng Việt ) have been established for youth in many Vietnamese-speaking communities around

873-519: A stage commonly termed Middle Vietnamese ( tiếng Việt trung đại ). The pronunciation of the "rime" of the syllable, i.e. all parts other than the initial consonant (optional /w/ glide, vowel nucleus, tone and final consonant), appears nearly identical between Middle Vietnamese and modern Hanoi pronunciation. On the other hand, the Middle Vietnamese pronunciation of the initial consonant differs greatly from all modern dialects, and in fact

970-552: A third of the Vietnamese lexicon in all realms, and may account for as much as 60% of the vocabulary used in formal texts. Vietic languages were confined to the northern third of modern Vietnam until the "southward advance" ( Nam tiến ) from the late 15th century. The conquest of the ancient nation of Champa and the conquest of the Mekong Delta led to an expansion of the Vietnamese people and language, with distinctive local variations emerging. After France invaded Vietnam in

1067-527: Is also spoken by the Jing people traditionally residing on three islands (now joined to the mainland) off Dongxing in southern Guangxi Province , China . A large number of Vietnamese speakers also reside in neighboring countries of Cambodia and Laos . In the United States, Vietnamese is the sixth most spoken language , with over 1.5 million speakers, who are concentrated in a handful of states. It

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1164-557: Is an American single-engined, carrier-based fighter aircraft introduced in late World War II . It served during the mid-20th century in the United States Navy , the United States Marine Corps , and the air forces of other nations. It was Grumman Aircraft's last piston-engined fighter aircraft. Adapted versions of the Bearcat have broken speed records for piston-engined aircraft. Today, the Bearcat

1261-415: Is notated i or y (with the difference between the two often indicating differences in the quality or length of the preceding vowel), and after /ð/ and /β/ , where it is notated ĕ . This ĕ , and the /j/ it notated, have disappeared from the modern language. Note that b [ɓ] and p [p] never contrast in any position, suggesting that they are allophones. The language also has three clusters at

1358-534: Is often mistaken for a tilde in modern reproductions of early Vietnamese writing. As a result of emigration , Vietnamese speakers are also found in other parts of Southeast Asia , East Asia , North America , Europe , and Australia . Vietnamese has also been officially recognized as a minority language in the Czech Republic . As the national language, Vietnamese is the lingua franca in Vietnam. It

1455-640: Is often mistakenly thought as being an monosyllabic language, Vietnamese words typically consist of from one to many as eight individual morphemes or syllables; the majority of Vietnamese vocabulary are disyllabic and trisyllabic words. Vietnamese is written using the Vietnamese alphabet ( chữ Quốc ngữ ). The alphabet is based on the Latin script and was officially adopted in the early 20th century during French rule of Vietnam . It uses digraphs and diacritics to mark tones and some phonemes . Vietnamese

1552-421: Is popular among warbird owners and air racers . The Bearcat concept began during a meeting between Battle of Midway veteran F4F Wildcat pilots and Grumman vice president Jake Swirbul at Pearl Harbor on 23 June 1942. At the meeting, Lieutenant Commander Jimmie Thach emphasized one of the most important requirements in a good fighter plane was " climb rate ". Climb performance is strongly related to

1649-461: Is pronounced with one of six inherent tones , centered on the main vowel or group of vowels. Tones differ in: Tone is indicated by diacritics written above or below the vowel (most of the tone diacritics appear above the vowel; except the nặng tone dot diacritic goes below the vowel). The six tones in the northern varieties (including Hanoi), with their self-referential Vietnamese names, are: Grumman F8F Bearcat The Grumman F8F Bearcat

1746-410: Is significantly closer to the modern Saigon dialect than the modern Hanoi dialect. The following diagram shows the orthography and pronunciation of Middle Vietnamese: ^1 [p] occurs only at the end of a syllable. ^2 This letter, ⟨ ꞗ ⟩ , is no longer used. ^3 [j] does not occur at the beginning of a syllable, but can occur at the end of a syllable, where it

1843-408: Is the first language of the majority of the Vietnamese population, as well as a first or second language for the country's ethnic minority groups . In the Czech Republic , Vietnamese has been recognized as one of 14 minority languages, on the basis of communities that have resided in the country either traditionally or on a long-term basis. This status grants the Vietnamese community in the country

1940-653: Is the third-most spoken language in Texas and Washington; fourth-most in Georgia, Louisiana, and Virginia; and fifth-most in Arkansas and California. Vietnamese is the third most spoken language in Australia other than English, after Mandarin and Arabic. In France, it is the most spoken Asian language and the eighth most spoken immigrant language at home. Vietnamese is the sole official and national language of Vietnam. It

2037-413: Is used, among others, by Gérard Diffloth , with a slightly different proposal on subclassification, within which the term "Viet–Muong" refers to a lower subgrouping (within an eastern Vietic branch) consisting of Vietnamese dialects, Mường dialects, and Nguồn (of Quảng Bình Province ). Austroasiatic is believed to have dispersed around 2000 BC. The arrival of the agricultural Phùng Nguyên culture in

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2134-446: Is written with two Chinese characters or in a composite character made of two different characters. This conveys the transformation of the Vietnamese lexicon from sesquisyllabic to fully monosyllabic under the pressure of Chinese linguistic influence, characterized by linguistic phenomena such as the reduction of minor syllables; loss of affixal morphology drifting towards analytical grammar; simplification of major syllable segments, and

2231-467: The 1964th Communications Group , Air Force Communications Service. On 1 January 1966, the 4503rd Tactical Fighter Squadron equipped with the F-5A Skoshi Tiger moved to the base for trial operations over North Vietnam and Laos. The F-5s returned to Bien Hoa in early February and returned to Da Nang AB from 20 February to 10 March when they returned again to Bien Hoa and were redesignated as

2328-641: The 311th Troop Carrier Squadron . In early 1964, the U.S. Navy Officer in Charge of Construction RVN (OICC) directed the American construction contractor RMK-BRJ to rebuild and extend the existing runway to 10,000 ft (3,000 m), with new asphalt paving. This was completed in July 1964. On 5 August 1964, following the Gulf of Tonkin incident , 6 F-102s from the 509th Fighter Squadron and 8 F-100s from

2425-587: The 315th Air Division stationed at Tourane while they were on an unauthorized beach outing. They were held at a small camp about 60 miles (97 km) south of Tourane that was ringed by mines and pits with bamboo stakes. The airmen remained in captivity until 31 August when they were released to the French as part of a prisoner exchange. On 19 July 1954 the USAF 6424th Air Depot Wing detachment that had supported French B–26 operations at Tourane completed its closeout and

2522-562: The 480th Fighter Squadron deployed to the base. In July Detachment 3, 405th Fighter Wing equipped with F-102s deployed to the base. In April/May 1966, following civil unrest in Da Nang, all USAF personnel were moved from off-base housing into barracks on the base. In May 1966, the base supported Operation Carolina Moon an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the Thanh Hóa Bridge with mines dropped from C-130s. By September 1966,

2619-618: The 611th Transportation Company (Aircraft Direct Support) . In 1965, as a result of an Army study on future mortuary support, the Commander in Chief, Pacific directed that the mortuary mission be transferred to United States Army Vietnam effective 1 July 1966. On 20 June 1967 a stand-by mortuary at the base was placed in operation. In January 1962, the USAF 5th Tactical Control Group was deployed to Da Nang AB to provide air support operations in I Corps . By 2 March C-123s were stationed at

2716-489: The 613th Tactical Fighter Squadron deployed to the base. In February 1965, 12 F-100s from the 3rd Tactical Fighter Wing deployed to the base to support the Operation Flaming Dart airstrikes. On 2 March 1965, F-100s, F-105s and VNAF A-1s from the base participated in the first attacks of Operation Rolling Thunder, striking the naval base at Quảng Khê, losing 2 F-100s in the attack. By March 1965, with

2813-633: The 615th Tactical Fighter Squadron (615th TFS) deployed to Da Nang AB from Clark Air Base in the Philippines. The F-100s were proposed to be used for a strike against the Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) Phúc Yên Air Base as part of the US response to the incident, however approval for the strike was denied. Commencing in December 1964, Da Nang AB was used to support Operation Barrel Roll ,

2910-690: The Korean War and pressed into operational combat service. The F9F Panther and McDonnell F2H Banshee largely replaced the Bearcat as their performance and other advantages eclipsed piston-engined fighters. The first combat for the F8F Bearcat was during the French Indochina War (1946–1954), when nearly 200 Bearcats were delivered to the French forces in 1951. When the war ended in 1954 and French forces withdrew, 28 surviving Bearcats were donated to South Vietnam , and served with

3007-988: The Mon–Khmer branch of the Austroasiatic language family (which also includes the Khmer language spoken in Cambodia , as well as various smaller and/or regional languages , such as the Munda and Khasi languages spoken in eastern India, and others in Laos , southern China and parts of Thailand). In 1850, British lawyer James Richardson Logan detected striking similarities between the Korku language in Central India and Vietnamese. He suggested that Korku , Mon , and Vietnamese were part of what he termed "Mon–Annam languages" in

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3104-730: The Mutual Defense Assistance Act and Program, the US delivered B-26 Invaders to the French and these were used to form the Bombardment Group I/19 Gascogne based at Tourane. In 1953, the US Eighteenth Air Force C-119s were deployed to Tourane to support French military operations. A number of these aircraft crewed by civilians later flew in support of French forces in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu . In 1953/54

3201-708: The Pacific Theater of Operations for a year and a half, Grumman began development of the G-58 Bearcat in late 1943. In 1943, Grumman was introducing the F6F Hellcat , powered by the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine, which provided 2,000 horsepower (1,500 kW). The R-2800 was the most powerful American engine, so it would be retained for the G-58. This meant that improved performance would have to come from

3298-605: The Red River Delta at that time may correspond to the Vietic branch. This ancestral Vietic was typologically very different from later Vietnamese. It was polysyllabic, or rather sesquisyllabic , with roots consisting of a reduced syllable followed by a full syllable, and featured many consonant clusters. Both of these features are found elsewhere in Austroasiatic and in modern conservative Vietic languages south of

3395-465: The Republic of Vietnam Air Force from 1956. The Vietnamese Bearcats were retired from 1960 onwards, replaced with Douglas A-1 Skyraiders and North American T-28 Trojans as the Vietnam War (1957–1975) continued. F8Fs were also supplied to Thailand during the late 1940s. Bearcats have long been popular in air racing . A stock Bearcat flown by Mira Slovak and sponsored by Bill Stead won

3492-597: The Vietnamese orthography with the phonetic pronunciation to the right. Some consonant sounds are written with only one letter (like "p"), other consonant sounds are written with a digraph (like "ph"), and others are written with more than one letter or digraph (the velar stop is written variously as "c", "k", or "q"). In some cases, they are based on their Middle Vietnamese pronunciation; since that period, ph and kh (but not th ) have evolved from aspirated stops into fricatives (like Greek phi and chi ), while d and gi have collapsed and converged together (into /z/ in

3589-485: The Vought F4U Corsair , the Bearcat was marginally slower, but more maneuverable and climbed more quickly. Testing demonstrated a number of problems, notably a lack of horizontal stability, an underpowered trim system, landing gear that could be extended only at slow speeds, an unreliable airspeed indicator, and a cramped cockpit. The test pilots also requested that six guns be installed. The stability problem

3686-600: The power-to-weight ratio , and is maximized by wrapping the smallest and lightest possible airframe around the most powerful engine. Another goal was that the G-58 (Grumman's design designation for the aircraft) should be able to operate from escort carriers , which were then limited to the obsolescent F4F Wildcat, as the Grumman F6F Hellcat was too large and heavy. A small, lightweight aircraft would make this possible. After intensively analyzing carrier warfare in

3783-479: The 10th Fighter Squadron. On 8 January 1966, the 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (37th ARRS) was activated at Da Nang AB operating 5 HU-16s on loan from the 31st ARRS and the 33rd ARRS , the squadron was responsible for aircrew recovery over North Vietnam, Laos and the Gulf of Tonkin. In May 1967, Detachment 1 38th ARRS operating HH-3s at the base was reassigned to the 37th ARRS. In February 1966,

3880-533: The 20th TASS had replaced most of its O-1s with the O-2A with many of these forward deployed to smaller bases close to the DMZ . In October, the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing deployed to the base from Phan Rang replacing the 35th TFW which moved down to Phan Rang. By December 1966 7 F-4 squadrons were operating from the base. In March 1967, elements of the 9th Air Commando Squadron equipped with O-2Bs began operating from

3977-461: The 2nd Helicopter Squadron was redesignated the 213th Helicopter Squadron, the 1st Liaison Squadron was redesignated the 110th Liaison Squadron and the 3rd Liaison Squadron was redesignated the 114th Liaison Squadron. In February 1964, the 516th Fighter Squadron equipped with 15 A-1 Skyraiders moved to Da Nang AB from Nha Trang AB. On 15 March 1964 the RVNAF established a Tactical Wing Headquarters at

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4074-512: The French colonial era. The following diagram shows the phonology of Proto–Viet–Muong (the nearest ancestor of Vietnamese and the closely related Mường language ), along with the outcomes in the modern language: ^1 According to Ferlus, * /tʃ/ and * /ʄ/ are not accepted by all researchers. Ferlus 1992 also had additional phonemes * /dʒ/ and * /ɕ/ . ^2 The fricatives indicated above in parentheses developed as allophones of stop consonants occurring between vowels (i.e. when

4171-505: The French laid a NATO-standard 7,800-foot (2,400 m) asphalt runway at Tourane. In January 1954, the USAF delivered a further 16 B-26s and 3 RB-26s to Tourane, and in February assigned USAF maintenance and supply personnel to Tourane on temporary duty to support B-26 operations. On 19 March the USAF deployed the 1808th Airways and Air Communications Service Squadron to Indochina with 60 enlisted men and one civilian at Tourane. On 6 April

4268-440: The French to the United States. In November 1955, the RVNAF 1st Liaison Squadron moved to Da Nang AB from Huế . In October 1961, the 2nd Helicopter Squadron was activated at Da Nang AB. In December 1961 the 3rd Liaison Squadron was activated at Da Nang AB. In mid-1962, the RVNAF 2nd Fighter Squadron equipped with T-28s became operational at Nha Trang Air Base and began detaching 6 aircraft to Da Nang AB. In January 1963,

4365-501: The French. Under the Mutual Defence Assistance Program, the US delivered 28 F8Fs , 35 C-47s and 60 L-19s to the RVNAF to equip the planned expansion. On 19 September 1955 the French turned over Tourane Airfield to the RVNAF, at the time the base had a 7,850 feet (2,390 m) runway, with potential extension of at least 1,000 feet (300 m). On 1 June 1957 all RVNAF training responsibility passed from

4462-455: The Hellcat's. Structurally, the fuselage used flush riveting and spot welding, with a heavy-gauge 302W aluminum alloy skin suitable for carrier landings. Armor protection was provided for the pilot, engine, and oil cooler. The Hellcat used a 13 ft 1 in (3.99 m), three-bladed Hamilton Standard propeller. A slight reduction in size was made by moving to a 12 ft 7 in (3.84 m) Aeroproducts four-bladed propeller. Keeping

4559-408: The Hellcat, the Bearcat was 20% lighter, had a 30% better rate of climb, and was 50 mph (80 km/h) faster. Another weight-saving concept the designers found was detachable wingtips. The wings were designed to fold at a point about 2 ⁄ 3 out along the span, reducing the space taken up on the carrier. Normally, the hinge system would have to be built very strong to transmit loads from

4656-706: The Japanese occupied Cam Ranh Bay , Bien Hoa Air Base and Tourane Airfield. In late 1944, the Fourteenth Air Force based in southern China began raiding Japanese bases throughout Indochina and on 12 January 1945, the United States Third Fleet launched attacks on Japanese coastal bases including Da Nang. Tourane Airfield was used by the French Air Force during the French Indochina War . In December 1950, pursuant to

4753-727: The Red River Delta and into the adjacent uplands, possibly to escape Chinese encroachment. The oldest layer of loans from Chinese into northern Vietic (which would become the Viet–Muong subbranch) date from this period. The northern Vietic varieties thus became part of the Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area , in which languages from genetically unrelated families converged toward characteristics such as isolating morphology and similar syllable structure. Many languages in this area, including Viet–Muong, underwent

4850-527: The Red River area. The language was non-tonal, but featured glottal stop and voiceless fricative codas. Borrowed vocabulary indicates early contact with speakers of Tai languages in the last millennium BC, which is consistent with genetic evidence from Dong Son culture sites. Extensive contact with Chinese began from the Han dynasty (2nd century BC). At this time, Vietic groups began to expand south from

4947-541: The US Army's 18th Fixed Wing Aviation Company equipped with U-1 Otters . In early 1962, the base runway was asphalt covered and 7,900-foot (2,400 m) long while the taxiways and parking areas were covered in Pierced steel planking (PSP). In April 1963, the 777th Troop Carrier Squadron equipped with 16 C-123s was transferred to the base and later that year the base's existing Mule Train operations were redesignated as

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5044-423: The US version of the widely used Hispano-Suiza HS.404 . Fifteen of these were later modified as F8F-1N night fighters with an APS-19 radar mounted under the starboard wing. An unmodified production F8F-1 set a 1946 time-to-climb record (after a run of 115 ft [35 m]) of 10,000 feet (3,048 m) in 94 seconds (6,383 ft/min [32.43 m/s]). The Bearcat held this record for 10 years until it

5141-720: The USAF delivered 11 B-26s to Tourane for loan to the French. The USAF delivered 18 C-47s to Tourane on 9 April to replace aircraft losses. Later in April VMA-324 delivered 25 F4U/G Corsairs to the French Air Force at Tourane. Following the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu and in anticipation of the Indochina peace treaty , on 23 May the USAF C-119 detachment at Cat Bi Air Base moved to Tourane. On 14 June 1954 Viet Minh troops captured five USAF airmen of

5238-655: The Vietnam War. It was used by the United States Marine Corps (USMC) as well as the US Air force (USAF). From January 1962 until September the 93rd Transportation Company (Light Helicopter) with Piasecki CH-21C Shawnee's was based here. During February the company was joined by the 339th Transportation Company (Direct Support) . In September 1962, the CH-21's left and were replaced by HMM-362 with

5335-671: The airport, taking off part of the C-54's wing, the C-54 crashed into a plowed field, killing 74 of the 75 people on board and two people working in the field. Vietnamese language Like many languages in Southeast Asia and East Asia , Vietnamese is highly analytic and is tonal . It has head-initial directionality, with subject–verb–object order and modifiers following the words they modify. It also uses noun classifiers . Its vocabulary has had significant influence from Middle Chinese and loanwords from French . Although it

5432-522: The base from Bien Hoa, these would be rotated with other B-57s from the 13th Bombardment Squadron until September 1966 when they would be moved to Phan Rang Air Base . On the early morning of 1 July 1965, the PAVN and Vietcong launched a mortar and sapper attack on the base, destroying one F-102 and two C-130s and damaging a further two F-102s and one C-130. The PAVN/VC had killed a guard undetected and then used his unsecured telephone to divert US troops to

5529-460: The base overcrowded by the arrival of new squadrons, a major expansion was approved. In August 1965, the OICC directed RMK-BRJ to construct a second 10,000-foot (3,000 m) parallel runway and paved taxiways and parking areas. The second runway opened in July 1966. In March 1965, the 35th Tactical Fighter Wing (35th TFW) deployed to the base.In April the 615th Tactical Fighter Squadron deployed to

5626-521: The base under Project Mule Train . On 20 May 1962 the 6222nd Air Base Squadron was formed at the base to support VNAF operations and the growing USAF presence through Farm Gate operations. On 15 June 1962, 12 C-123s from the 777th Troop Carrier Squadron deployed to the base forming the Tactical Air Force Transport Squadron Provisional-2 to supplement the existing Mule Train operations and those of

5723-488: The base were nominally transferred to the RVNAF becoming their first jet aircraft. In 1970, the RVNAF units at Da Nang AB were reorganized as the First Air Division with responsibility for Military Region I . Also during that year the RVNAF began building family housing at the base for its personnel. Da Nang Air Base was used as a primary entry point for American service members flying into Vietnam fighting in

5820-530: The base. During the Tet Offensive attacks in northern I Corps, many of the detached 20th TASS units returned from their forward bases to the security of Da Nang AB, resulting in longer transit and reduced on-station times for their forward air control missions. On 20 September 1969 a USAF F-4 returning from a strike mission collided with an Air Vietnam Douglas C-54D-10-DC Skymaster (registration XV-NUG) 3 km (1.6 nmi; 1.9 mi) northwest of

5917-574: The base. In May the 217th Helicopter Squadron was established at the base. On 8 February 1965, RVNAF commander Nguyễn Cao Kỳ led VNAF A-1s from the base on a retaliatory raid against North Vietnamese targets . On 2 March 1965, 20 A-1s from the base participated in the first attacks of Operation Rolling Thunder , striking the Vietnam People's Navy base at Quảng Khê . On 14 March the VNAF led by General Kỳ participated in attacks on barracks on Hòn Gió island. In August 1965, 4 USAF B-57Bs operating from

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6014-441: The base. The 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron deployed to the base before moving to Bien Hoa AB in mid-May. Also in April the 476th Tactical Fighter Squadron (476th TFS) equipped with F-104Cs was deployed to the base. In May the 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron (20th TASS) equipped with O-1s deployed to the base. In June the 615th TFS returned to the US. In mid-June the 8th Bombardment Squadron equipped with B-57Bs moved to

6111-423: The beginning of syllables, which have since disappeared: Most of the unusual correspondences between spelling and modern pronunciation are explained by Middle Vietnamese. Note in particular: De Rhodes's orthography also made use of an apex diacritic, as in o᷄ and u᷄ , to indicate a final labial-velar nasal /ŋ͡m/ , an allophone of /ŋ/ that is peculiar to the Hanoi dialect to the present day. This diacritic

6208-427: The best-handling piston-engined fighters ever built, its performance was sufficient to outperform some early jets. Its capability for aerobatic performance is illustrated by its selection as the second demonstration aircraft for the Navy's elite Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron in 1946, replacing the Grumman F6F Hellcat. The Blue Angels flew the Bearcat until the team was temporarily disbanded in 1950 during

6305-439: The carrier. This saved 230 lb (100 kg). The design was completed in November 1943 and an order for two prototypes was placed on 27 November 1943 under the BuAir designation XF8F-1. The first prototype flew on 21 August 1944, only nine months after the design effort started. The initial flight test demonstrated a 4,800 ft/min (1,500 m/min) climb rate and a top speed of 424 mph (682 km/h). Compared to

6402-423: The change of suprasegment instruments. For example, the modern Vietnamese word "trời" (heaven) was read as *plời in Old/Ancient Vietnamese and as blời in Middle Vietnamese. The writing system used for Vietnamese is based closely on the system developed by Alexandre de Rhodes for his 1651 Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum . It reflects the pronunciation of the Vietnamese of Hanoi at that time,

6499-448: The covert air war in neighbouring Laos. On 14 December F-105s from the 80th Tactical Fighter Squadron based at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base , Thailand staged through Da Nang for the initial strikes supported by the base's F-100s. Later that month F-105s from the 44th Tactical Fighter Squadron deployed to the base for further strikes near Tchepone , these aircraft would form Detachment 2 18th Tactical Fighter Wing . Also in December

6596-466: The daughter languages from distinctions in the initial and final consonants. Vietnamese tones developed as follows: Glottal-ending syllables ended with a glottal stop /ʔ/ , while fricative-ending syllables ended with /s/ or /h/ . Both types of syllables could co-occur with a resonant (e.g. /m/ or /n/ ). At some point, a tone split occurred, as in many other mainland Southeast Asian languages . Essentially, an allophonic distinction developed in

6693-401: The designation F3M-1. These differed primarily in having the R-2800-34W engine and a small increase in fuel capacity. Deliveries from Grumman began on 21 May 1945. The end of the war led to the Grumman order being reduced to 770 examples, with the GM contract being cancelled outright. An additional order was placed for 126 F8F-1Bs replacing the .50 cal machine guns with the 20 mm M2 cannon,

6790-442: The diphthongs [āj] and [āːj] the letters y and i also indicate the pronunciation of the main vowel: ay = ă + /j/ , ai = a + /j/ . Thus, tay "hand" is [tāj] while tai "ear" is [tāːj] . Similarly, u and o indicate different pronunciations of the main vowel: au = ă + /w/ , ao = a + /w/ . Thus, thau "brass" is [tʰāw] while thao "raw silk" is [tʰāːw] . The consonants that occur in Vietnamese are listed below in

6887-418: The facility from 1951 to 1975 for civilian domestic and international flights within Southeast Asia. On 22 September 1940, the Vichy Government signed an agreement with Japan allowing the Japanese to station troops in Tonkin and use three airfields there. On 14 July 1941, the Japanese sent the French an ultimatum demanding the use of bases in Annam and Cochinchina , the French acquiesced and by late July,

6984-402: The far side of the base. In July, the 436th Tactical Fighter Squadron (436th TFS) replaced the 476th TFS. In October the 435th Tactical Fighter Squadron replaced the 436th TFS. In November the 390th Tactical Fighter Squadron (390th TFS) equipped with F-4s deployed to the base. The 1972d Communications Squadron was designated and organized at Da Nang Airport on 20 August 1965, as part of

7081-491: The first Reno Air Race in 1964. Rare Bear , a highly modified F8F owned by Lyle Shelton , went on to dominate the event for decades, often competing with Daryl Greenamyer , another famous racer with victories in his own Bearcat ( Conquest I , now at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum ) and holder of a piston-engined aircraft world speed record in it. Rare Bear also set many performance records, including

7178-525: The first units began to convert off the type that year. The last Bearcats were withdrawn in 1952. The F8F prototypes were ordered in November 1943 and first flew on 21 August 1944, a mere nine months later. The first production aircraft was delivered in February 1945 and the first squadron, Fighter Squadron 19 ( VF-19 ), was operational by 21 May 1945, but World War II was over before the aircraft saw combat service. One problem that became evident in service

7275-437: The internal fuel capacity to 160 US gallons (610 L) and limiting the fixed armament to four .50 cal Browning M2/AN machine guns, two in each wing. (later 183 US gallons [690 L]) The limited range due to the reduced fuel load meant it would be useful in the interception role , but the Hellcat would still be needed for longer range patrols. A later role was defending the fleet against kamikaze attacks. Compared to

7372-446: The late 19th century, French gradually replaced Literary Chinese as the official language in education and government. Vietnamese adopted many French terms, such as đầm ('dame', from madame ), ga ('train station', from gare ), sơ mi ('shirt', from chemise ), and búp bê ('doll', from poupée ), resulting in a language that was Austroasiatic but with major Sino-influences and some minor French influences from

7469-427: The main syllable). When a minor syllable occurred, the main syllable's initial consonant was intervocalic and as a result suffered lenition , becoming a voiced fricative. The minor syllables were eventually lost, but not until the tone split had occurred. As a result, words in modern Vietnamese with voiced fricatives occur in all six tones, and the tonal register reflects the voicing of the minor-syllable prefix and not

7566-497: The north and /j/ in the south). Not all dialects of Vietnamese have the same consonant in a given word (although all dialects use the same spelling in the written language). See the language variation section for further elaboration. Syllable-final orthographic ch and nh in Vietnamese has had different analyses. One analysis has final ch , nh as being phonemes /c/, /ɲ/ contrasting with syllable-final t , c /t/, /k/ and n , ng /n/, /ŋ/ and identifies final ch with

7663-449: The outer portions of the wing to the main spar in the inner section, which adds considerable weight. Instead of building the entire wing to be able to withstand high-g loads, only the inner portion of the wing was able to do this. The outer portions were more lightly constructed, and designed to snap off at the hinge line if the force exceeded 7.5 g. In this case, the aircraft would still be flyable and could be repaired after returning to

7760-405: The plain-voiced stops became voiceless and the allotones became new phonemic tones. The implosive stops were unaffected, and in fact developed tonally as if they were unvoiced. (This behavior is common to all East Asian languages with implosive stops.) As noted above, Proto-Viet–Muong had sesquisyllabic words with an initial minor syllable (in addition to, and independent of, initial clusters in

7857-406: The prop clear of the deck required long landing gear, which, combined with the shortened fuselage, gave the Bearcat a significant "nose-up" profile on land. The hydraulically operated undercarriage used an articulated trunnion that extended the length of the oleo legs when lowered; as the undercarriage retracted, the legs were shortened, enabling them to fit into a wheel well, which was entirely in

7954-546: The same except that ơ [əː] is of normal length while â [ə] is short – the same applies to the vowels long a [aː] and short ă [a] . The centering diphthongs are formed with only the three high vowels (i, ư, u). They are generally spelled as ia, ưa, ua when they end a word and are spelled iê, ươ, uô, respectively, when they are followed by a consonant. In addition to single vowels (or monophthongs ) and centering diphthongs, Vietnamese has closing diphthongs and triphthongs . The closing diphthongs and triphthongs consist of

8051-473: The same time, according to the following pattern: ^3 In Middle Vietnamese , the outcome of these sounds was written with a hooked b (ꞗ), representing a /β/ that was still distinct from v (then pronounced /w/ ). See below. ^4 It is unclear what this sound was. According to Ferlus 1992, in the Archaic Vietnamese period (c. 10th century AD, when Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary

8148-542: The split from Muong around the end of the first millennium AD, the following stages of Vietnamese are commonly identified: After expelling the Chinese at the beginning of the 10th century, the Ngô dynasty adopted Classical Chinese as the formal medium of government, scholarship and literature. With the dominance of Chinese came wholesale importation of Chinese vocabulary. The resulting Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary makes up about

8245-505: The syllable-initial ch /c/ . The other analysis has final ch and nh as predictable allophonic variants of the velar phonemes /k/ and /ŋ/ that occur after the upper front vowels i /i/ and ê /e/ ; although they also occur after a , but in such cases are believed to have resulted from an earlier e /ɛ/ which diphthongized to ai (cf. ach from aic , anh from aing ). (See Vietnamese phonology: Analysis of final ch , nh for further details.) Each Vietnamese syllable

8342-579: The tones, whereby the tones in syllables with voiced initials were pronounced differently from those with voiceless initials. (Approximately speaking, the voiced allotones were pronounced with additional breathy voice or creaky voice and with lowered pitch. The quality difference predominates in today's northern varieties, e.g. in Hanoi , while in the southern varieties the pitch difference predominates, as in Ho Chi Minh City .) Subsequent to this,

8439-422: The voicing of the main-syllable stop in Proto-Viet–Muong that produced the fricative. For similar reasons, words beginning with /l/ and /ŋ/ occur in both registers. (Thompson 1976 reconstructed voiceless resonants to account for outcomes where resonants occur with a first-register tone, but this is no longer considered necessary, at least by Ferlus.) Old Vietnamese/Ancient Vietnamese was a Vietic language which

8536-552: The wing. An additional benefit of the inward-retracting units was a wide track, which helped counter propeller torque on takeoff and gave the F8F good ground and carrier deck handling. The design team had set the goal that the G-58 should weigh 8,750 lb (3,970 kg) fully loaded. As development continued, this was found to be impossible to achieve, as the structure of the new fighter had to be made strong enough for aircraft carrier landings. Weight-saving measures included restricting

8633-452: The world such as in the United States , Germany and France . Vietnamese has a large number of vowels . Below is a vowel diagram of Vietnamese from Hanoi (including centering diphthongs ): Front and central vowels (i, ê, e, ư, â, ơ, ă, a) are unrounded , whereas the back vowels (u, ô, o) are rounded. The vowels â [ə] and ă [a] are pronounced very short, much shorter than the other vowels. Thus, ơ and â are basically pronounced

8730-415: Was addressed on the second prototype by adding a triangular fillet to the front of the vertical stabilizer. The extra guns could not be incorporated due to weight and balance considerations. The Navy placed a production contract for 2,023 aircraft based on the second prototype on 6 October 1944. On 5 February 1945, they awarded another contract for 1,876 slightly modified aircraft from General Motors , given

8827-494: Was borrowed) it was * r̝ , distinct at that time from * r . The following initial clusters occurred, with outcomes indicated: A large number of words were borrowed from Middle Chinese , forming part of the Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary . These caused the original introduction of the retroflex sounds /ʂ/ and /ʈ/ (modern s , tr ) into the language. Proto-Viet–Muong did not have tones. Tones developed later in some of

8924-526: Was broken by a jet fighter (which still could not match the Bearcat's short takeoff distance). In 1948, Grumman introduced a number of improvements to produce the F8F-2. Among the changes were a modified cowling design, taller vertical fin, and the slightly more powerful R-2800-30W engine producing 2,240 hp (1,670 kW). In total, 293 F8F-2s were produced, along with 12 F8F-2N night fighters and 60 F8F-2P reconnaissance versions. Production ended in 1949, and

9021-484: Was historically written using chữ Nôm , a logographic script using Chinese characters ( chữ Hán ) to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, together with many locally invented characters representing other words. Early linguistic work in the late 19th and early 20th centuries ( Logan 1852, Forbes 1881, Müller 1888, Kuhn 1889, Schmidt 1905, Przyluski 1924, and Benedict 1942) classified Vietnamese as belonging to

9118-589: Was inactivated. On 6 September the last of the B-26s and C-119s on loan to the French departed from Tourane. By the end of the Indochina War, the French had established a small Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) consisting of 2 squadrons of Morane-Saulnier MS.500 and one of Morane-Saulnier MS.315 . In January 1955, MAAG Vietnam decided that the RVNAF would comprise one fighter, two liaison and two transport squadrons and that training would be undertaken by

9215-540: Was replaced with an explosives system to blow the wingtips off together, which also worked well, but this ended when a ground technician died due to an accidental triggering. In the end, the wings were reinforced, and the aircraft was limited to 7.5 g. Postwar, the F8F became a major U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps fighter, equipping 24 fighter squadrons in the Navy and a smaller number in the Marines. Often mentioned as one of

9312-837: Was separated from Viet–Muong around the 9th century, and evolved into Middle Vietnamese by 16th century. The sources for the reconstruction of Old Vietnamese are Nom texts, such as the 12th-century/1486 Buddhist scripture Phật thuyết Đại báo phụ mẫu ân trọng kinh ("Sūtra explained by the Buddha on the Great Repayment of the Heavy Debt to Parents"), old inscriptions, and a late 13th-century (possibly 1293) Annan Jishi glossary by Chinese diplomat Chen Fu (c. 1259 – 1309). Old Vietnamese used Chinese characters phonetically where each word, monosyllabic in Modern Vietnamese,

9409-404: Was the snap-off wingtips not working as expected. While they worked well under carefully controlled conditions in flight and on the ground, in the field, where aircraft were repetitively stressed by landing on carriers and since the wings were slightly less carefully made in the factories, a possibility arose that only one wingtip would break away with the possibility of the aircraft crashing. This

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