In April 1975, with the collapse of the South Vietnamese government looming, the United States prepared for withdrawal. President Gerald Ford announced that the United States would lead an operation to evacuate orphans from Saigon. In what became known as Operation Babylift, infants and young children were brought to new adoptive families in the United States.
And during this mission, a few evacuees rode aboard a plane owned by Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.
Despite the number of children successfully evacuated from Operation Babylift, the mission started with tragedy. On April 4, 1975, the first plane in Operation Babylift, a C-5A Galaxy, crashed near Tan Son Nhut Air Base, resulting in the deaths of 78 children and almost 50 adults. This bad start did not sway the Ford administration from continuing, and the rest of April saw more than 2,500 young orphans flown to the United States. President Ford himself was there for the first plane’s arrival at the Presidio military base in San Francisco.
