ICCS Air Services History

ICCS Air Services

The Paris Peace Accords were signed on January 28th, 1973 bringing a putative end to the Vietnam War. American troops were withdrawn from the country leaving only a few advisors, members of the Defense Attache Office (DAO) and over 8,000 civilians.¹ The DAO was based at Tan Son Nhut airport near Saigon, also headquarters for Air America, Inc.’s (AAM) Vietnam operations. Additionally, Tan Son Nhut housed the headquarters of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, offices of Continental Air Services, Inc. (CASI), and, just across the tarmac, the representatives of the Peoples’ Army of North Vietnam (PAVN) and the Vietcong (VC) who were members of the various committees required to administer the Paris Peace Accords.

The International Commission for Control and Surveillance (ICCS) was in charge of administering, implementing and reporting violations of the Peace Accords. The ICCS was made up of Canadians, Hungarians, Indonesians and Polish observers. ICCS observers’ duty was to note violations of the Accords. It was decided that member governments would not send their own aircraft, pilots and maintenance crews to transport the Commission members on the surveillance and observation flights. Instead, the ICCS turned to Air America because of its pool of aircraft and unique knowledge of the countryside.

At the suggestion of the Canadian delegation, AAM formed a division, ICCS Air Services. This was a political decision that "saved face" for all parties involved. North Vietnamese, Vietcong and the non-sympathetic Communist observers from Poland and Hungary would not, at least obviously, be flown throughout Southeast Asia on an airline readily identified to the CIA. A contract was signed obligating the four signatories of the Paris Peace Accords to pay for the flights (South Vietnam, North Vietnam, the US and the Provisional Revolutionary Government). To further differentiate the airline from its parent, the AAM markings were removed from aircraft "loaned" to ICCS Air Services, Inc. Vertical yellow stripes were painted across the fuselage and wing surfaces and a large ICCS was painted on the rudder.

In truth, the ICCS was of dubious value to the peace process, probably offering more value to the Communists than to the South Vietnamese. ICCS flights often served the dual function of transportation and reconnaissance for their PAVN and VC passengers. Hungarian and Polish observers were slow to fault the North Vietnamese and Vietcong for violations and the Commission soon became an expensive bureaucracy. The Canadians eventually dropped out of the ICCS after dubbing it "It Can’t Control Shit." They were replaced by an Iranian delegation.

Although intended to observe the peace process, ICCS flights were not without danger. Despite the markings intended to indicate its neutrality, at least one aircraft, an helicopter was shot down killing the crew and passengers.

AAM flight crew flying for ICCS wore their standard AAM uniform of an "issue" light grey shirt and tailor-made grey pants. Their black caps had an "ICCS Air Services" patch done in black and white with a gold wreath. Captains wore the same cap with the addition of distinctive gold oak-leaves sewn onto the brim. Their wings consisted were almost identical to the Southern Air Transport wings of the same period. The difference was in the circular center shield. The SAT wings had the initials S.A.T. indented into the center shield while the ICCS wings had the initials I.C.C.S. indented into an embossed or raised rectangle within the shield. Indications are that the wings for SAT and ICCS were manufactured by the same company.

ICCS Air Services remained flying in Vietnam until the end of the Vietnam War in April of 1975. Besides its various observation flights throughout Vietnam, a weekly run from Saigon to Hanoi was established to deliver the delegations discussing MIA (Missing In Action) issues. ICCS Air Services billed as much as $15,000,000 to the Commission, much of which was paid by the United States Government.²

For information on the insignia of ICCS Air Services and its aircraft markings please see the previous page.

Footnotes:
1.   Frederic Lert, Wings of the CIA, (Paris: Histoire & Collections, 1998).
2.   Christopher Robbins, Air America: The Story of the CIA’s Secret Airlines (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1979).

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