The boomburb city is densely populated and rings the base, despite significant levels of Agent Orange toxins simply left there for decades.

[3]: 69  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.

With the loss of the B-26s CINCPAC and Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) proposed that they be replaced by B-57B Canberra tactical bombers operating under Farm Gate procedures with RVNAF markings and joint USAF/RVNAF crews.

Two officials from North American Aviation, the manufacturers of the T-28, visited Bien Hoa and reviewed these losses and advised that the T-28 wasn't designed for the stresses it was being subjected to as a close air support aircraft.

[4]: 214  Despite this augmentation, accidents and aircraft transfers meant that by late May the 1st Air Commando Squadron had only 8 T-28s left but these were retired on 30 May and replaced by more capable A-1E Skyraiders.

[4]: 220–1 Following the Gulf of Tonkin incident on 4 August 1964, the Joint Chiefs of Staff began a buildup of U.S. airpower in South Vietnam and 36 B-57B Canberras of the 8th and 13th Bombardment Squadrons at Clark Air Base were ordered to Bien Hoa.

[11] The Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended reprisal attacks against the North Vietnamese but President Lyndon Johnson ordered the replacement of the lost aircraft and convened a National Security Council working group to consider available political and military options.

On 9 March 1965 the Joint Chiefs of Staff formally approved the use of USAF aircraft for offensive operations in South Vietnam, ending the advisory era.

[4]: 267 [9]: 17–18 From 3 to 6 May 1965 USAF transport aircraft deployed the 173rd Airborne Brigade from Okinawa to Bien Hoa to secure the airbase and surrounding areas and the port of Vũng Tàu.

[18][19] Australian and New Zealand forces remained under U.S command until June 1966 when they were given their own tactical area of responsibility (TAOR) at Nui Dat in Phước Tuy Province.

[20] The use of the B-57s in combat continued to increase as the VC stepped up their attacks on ARVN outposts throughout South Vietnam and the jets were also used on Operation Barrel Roll missions over Laos.

On the morning of 16 May 1965, four loaded B-57s were awaiting takeoff at the base for a Barrel Roll mission, when a U.S. Navy F-8 Crusader made an emergency landing and was being inspected on the ramp.

The lead B-57 suddenly exploded and burst into flames causing a chain reaction of explosions destroying other aircraft, fuel and pre-armed ordnance.

The explosions destroyed 10 B-57s, two A-1Es and the Navy F-8, killed 28 Americans and six Vietnamese and wounded more than 100 more and damaged 25 RVNAF A-1s in what was described as one of the "worst disasters in Air Force history".

[22] The Bien Hoa Air Base Vietnam May 16, 1965 Conflagration/Fire Accident Investigation Board concluded that the disaster was caused by the accidental explosion of a bomb on a parked B-57 triggering a series of blasts.

The 10 surviving B-57s were transferred to Tan Son Nhut Air Base and continued to fly sorties on a reduced scale until replacement aircraft arrived from Clark AB.

[8][9]: 45 On 23 June the 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron equipped with F-100D Super Sabres moved from Da Nang Air Base to Bien Hoa.

The planes mostly flew close air support missions near Bien Hoa flying 1500 sorties by the end of December and losing one aircraft to ground fire.

[9]: 177–8 On 23 February 1967 the base was the loading port for 845 paratroopers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade when they performed the first combat parachute jump of the war in Operation Junction City.

In late October, some of the planes moved to Pleiku Air Base to perform armed and visual reconnaissance missions and night interdiction flights in the Tiger Hound operational area over southeastern Laos.

The battalion's pilots lived off-base at the Honour-Smith Compound, a villa on Cong Ly Street in the city of Bien Hoa, some 2 kilometers away.

Other attacks were to proceed across open ground to the main Air Force bunkers and to bring mounted machine guns to sweep the base runway.

Due to the battle raging at the east end of the runway F-100 fighter operations were curtailed for most of the day while USAF, RVNAF and U.S. Army forces engaged the VC.

[27] From March 1969 the Combat Skyspot radar site at the base directed B-52 strikes against targets in Cambodia as part of the secret Operation Menu bombings.

On 15 March 1971 the 3rd TFW inactivated at Bien Hoa and was simultaneously activated at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, taking over the defensive mission there.

[10]: 114 In response to the North Vietnamese Easter Offensive, the U.S. military built up its air forces in South Vietnam under Operation Constant Guard.

In addition a detachment of six AC–119K Stinger gunships and 150 men from the 18th Special Operations Squadron deployed from Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Navy Base.

[33]: 456–7  On 25 April the 3rd Armored Regiment which was fighting at the town of Hung Nghia was ordered to withdraw west along Route 1 to defend Bien Hoa.

Brigadier General Trần Quang Khôi, commander of the 3rd Armored was given responsibility for defending Bien Hoa, although PAVN shelling had rendered the base unusable.

[33]: 488–90  The 3rd Armored was moving from Bien Hoa to attack PAVN forces when they heard the surrender broadcast of President Dương Văn Minh and BG Khôi halted his advance and disbanded the unit.