The unit was last active at Cam Ranh Bay Air Base Viet Nam, where it was inactivated on 15 October 1971.

RTUs were oversized units which trained aircrews prior to their deployment to combat theaters and assignment to an operational group.

[3][5] However, the Army Air Forces found that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were proving less well adapted to the training mission.

[7] This resulted in the squadron being disbanded in the spring of 1944[2] and being replaced by the 135th AAF Base Unit (Fighter), which assumed its mission, personnel, and equipment.

This forced a reevaluation of dispersal arrangements and the squadron's planes were withdrawn from Can Tho, although maintenance personnel remained behind.

Resupply of the camp was so urgent that all drop-qualified crews of the 483rd Tactical Airlift Wing were ordered to Pleiku to support the operation and eleven sorties were flown that day with cover from Douglas A-1 Skyraiders.

Loss of the third Caribou in five days, including one from the 457th, prompted a move to resupply the camp with night drops, with cover and illumination provided by Fairchild AC-119 Stinger gunships.