Are President Thieu and Cambodian President Lon Nol carefully hedging their bets and gilding their nests for a comfortable exile? That, at least, would be one plausible explanation for some recent negotiations involving members of the Saigon government and Balair, a charter-airline affiliate of Swissair.
Chartered by the West German Red Cross, a Balair DC-8 in late March flew medical supplies into Saigon on a mercy mission. Shortly before the jet was to return to Europe, TIME has learned, Balair agents got a request from the South Vietnamese: Would the DC-8 fly out "some personal belongings" of the presidential family, as well...