On the morning of April 8, 1975, an underground member of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Lieutenant Nguyen Thanh Trung, who had infiltrated the Republic of Vietnam Air Force, received orders to fly an F5E fighter jet carrying four MK82 bombs (277 kilograms each) from Bien Hoa Air Base to provide air support for a military operation in Phan Thiet.
He deceived the control tower and flew back to Saigon, where he dropped two bombs on the Independence Palace. The aircraft then landed on a makeshift airstrip in the liberated zone of Ba Ra, Phuoc Long Province. The bombing damaged the helicopter landing pad and the central staircase, but they were promptly repaired and restored to their original state.
This event shook the Nguyen Van Thieu government.
