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1 April 2023
F/A-18 SuperHornets Land in Taiwan
April Fool’s Day?
By Wendell Minnick (Whiskey Mike) 顏文德
TAIPEI - On the 1st of April 2015 the news went out that two U.S. fighter aircraft had landed at Hualien Air Base, home of the 1st Tactical Fighter Wing.
Of course, I thought it was a joke.
U.S. military aircraft fly over Taiwan back-and-forth to Singapore and various transits, but they do not land here. That was verboten according to the U.S. State Department’s insane rules regarding Taiwan being a non-state.
On the anniversary of the landing it felt appropriate to share a commemorative patch made in Taiwan for my readership of what was indeed the truth and not a joke that day.
When two U.S. Marine Corp F/A-18C SuperHornet fighter aircraft on patrol were forced to land when one of the aircraft’s oil pressure instrumentation signaled trouble, Taiwan media reported the incident in awe.
There was no official acknowledgment of a secret agreement between the U.S. and Taiwan to accommodate emergency landings. Though U.S. government aircraft do land in Taiwan carrying U.S. State Department delegations, these are not considered unusual.
The fighters were part of the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323 (VMFA-323) assigned to a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.
The aircraft were heading to Singapore to participated in an air-to-air joint exercise with the Singapore Air Force dubbed Commando Sling.
END