Don Mueang Airport Bangkok celebrates its 100th anniversary !
Few people know, we did not know it until yesterday anyway, but the Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok is the oldest airport still in service in Asia. It blew yesterday its 100 candles. So happy birthday!
Don Mueang airfield was the second established in Thailand, after Sa Pathum airfield, which is now Sa Pathum horse racing course, known as the Royal Bangkok Sports Club. The first flights to Don Muang were made on 8 March 1914 and involved the transfer of aircraft of the Royal Thai Air Force. Three years earlier, Thailand had sent three army officers to France to train as pilots. On completion of their training in 1911, the pilots were authorized to purchase eight aircraft, four Breguets and four Nieuports, which formed the basis of the Royal Thai Air Force. Sa Pathum airfield was established in February, 1911 by an arrival of Orville Wright, 7 years after the invention of the first airplane, by Wright brothers On December 17, 1903.
In 1933, the airfield was the scene of heavy fighting between royalists and government forces during the Boworadet Rebellion. The airfield was used by the occupying Japanese during World War II, and was bombed and strafed by Allied aircraft on several occasions. During the Vietnam War, Don Mueang was a major command and logistics hub of the United States Air Force.
Today, Don Muang is known as Bangkok low cost airline hub. It hosts Nok Air and Air Asia which offer the best prices to travel by plane in Thailand and have a important price war with a lot of promotions on flights from Bangkok or to the Thai capital city.
