Exiled General Thao Ma returned from the Kingdom of Thailand on 20 August 1973 to take over Wattay International Airport outside the capital of Vientiane.

General Thao Ma, commander of the Royal Lao Air Force was one of those officers; he also went into exile in the neighboring Thailand, after his unsuccessful 1966 coup failed to take over the kingdom.

Thao Ma was greeted enthusiastically by RLAF personnel at Wattay Airport, and began handing out blue and white scarves of allegiance to his followers.

While Bounleut Saycocie took an armored car into town to secure the radio station, other rebels captured the bank and Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma's vacant house.

While contemporary news accounts state Thao Ma flew at least three times, historians note only that he was accompanied by six loyal pilots.

As Royalist troops began to rally against the coup, American colonel Al Degroote drove to the home of the commanding general of the Air Force.

General Sourith Don Sasorith refused to come out of hiding, and lurked in his house with a blue and white scarf handy.