al.. [The Wall Street Journal] The Wall Street Journal, 1 June 1996 page A15. It wasnt easy, and I will now confess that my depth perception almost was not good enough to pass my initial flight physical, but I made it. Phil Marshall, DMZ Dustoff 711, 237th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance) Camp Evans and Quang Tri, Vietnam 1969. If you have not been there and done that you probably will not understand most of this. 1969 Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. solicitation purposes, or any correspondence related thereto. We put him in the back of the cargo compartment with his M-16 and a helmet, hooked him up to the intercom, and we were off. PO Box 8091 Walking is better than running. I used to laugh at the occasional Huey slick driver who flew out to let guys from his unit use the shopping facilities on the ships. Have you ever heard the expression, He was flying the aircraft balls out? That was us. Translation: There are bad guys all around, weve got wounded, get in here NOW before they die or we have more wounded, and you have to come back again. . And what was even stupider, I suppose, was the fact that if the doors were closed when we reached the water, we opened them so we could get out easier if we did go down. Communications with the Executive Council "No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. Values are as of December 31 each year. Read the latest issue of the Friends of the Vietnam Center Newsletter and subscribe to recieve future newsletters. Back home in the real world, my buddies were at the drive-in, drinking beer and looking for a carload of girls to flirt with, just as I had been doing a year or two before. Terry Clark? There were many of the Warrant Officers that were in their 18,19, and 20s. As a result, less than one percent of all Americans wounded who survived the first 24 hours died. At least, I believe that is how I would have felt had it been me. The total of non-pilot crewmembers killed was 2,704, according to records of the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots' Association. Running is better than crawling. applies to subscribers): Age 80 and above ---$75.00 Add to that, it is also the most unforgiving mission flown in a helicopter. Decisions made by someone above you in the chain-of-command will seldom be in your best interest. Prayer may not help . . was typical of the continual commentary from the enlisted crew members. Is that AM or FM? v.. A free fire zone has nothing to do with economics. Those Hueys were their horses and they rode into battle en masse, to deliver their troops and evacuate the wounded. List of Vietnam War flying aces - Wikipedia The second pilot you will meet is retired CWO2 Allan Potter. I found a can of olive drab (OD) spray paint and . [1] "Vietnam helicopter pilots describe the war from the cockpit," YouTube video, posted by "Military Times," April 18th, 2018. In retrospect, I think that is what happened to one of the pilots in our unit a few months after I left. I suppose that is what kept most of us going in the daily risk of flying helicopters in combat in Vietnam. was several blocks from the Pittman Apartments. NEW 2008 HASBRO GI Joe Helicopter Pilot Wild Bill 25th Anniversary FREE or down. . Most were 19 or 20 years old, with a few experienced old men per platoon in their late twenties. Those of us lucky enough to come home learned from the experience and were, without question, changed men, no longer wide-eyed boys. This form number DA- 4733-DSC (Dustoff-Sized Cajones), was used to determine which pilots would obtain MedEvac training at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, upon completion of training at Mother Rucker. Maybe we could have used our survival radio once we were in the water or forced down over the jungle. [Home] [ReunionInformation] [Donations] [OurLegacy] [MembershipServices] [RelatedWebSites] Member Login. x.. Medals are OK, but having your body and all your friends in one piece at the end of the day is better. Myth: The domino theory was proved false. Access to this and all other statistics on 80,000 topics from, Show sources information Jurez y 18 de Marzo Col. Centro, C.P 96360 Nanchital, Ver. In UH-1C gunnies, a pilot had to master taking off with a 1,000lb overload, persuade the aircraft to hover at an altitude of just three feet, and then dip the nose slightly to achieve forward movement basically skidding and bouncing along the runway to develop enough speed and lift to rise higher. Damn Navy talk! The hospital ship would then radio to the helicopter again, Just come in from the left and land to the back of the boat. It always got an immediate Roger!. One of those is the missing man table at the banquet at each Then I did another Young & Stupid thing. U.S. active certificated pilots - average age 1993-2020; . [CACF]. U.S. active certificated pilots - number 1990-2020, Worldwide aircraft fleet age by region 2020-2030, Air traffic - passenger growth rates forecast 2019-2040. After the first of the two injured soldiers was hoisted on board, the din of the covering fire began to register in my head. aj.. The peace settlement was signed in Paris on 27 January 1973. . Please use the membership application form to submit We honor the memory of all those who lost their lives in that service. I will always thank Warrant Officer Study for his late-night, picture-perfect landing on the round end of the boat. 5. Both immigrated These new battalions eventually formed a sort of modern-day cavalry for the Army. I promised myself that it would never happen again, and it didnt. Thank you for your service. We were unarmed, and experience had taught us that, usually, we were better off to quickly fly to the landing zone, get in and get out as fast as possible while avoiding the bad guys, and fly straight back to the hospital. One pilot lost a testicle to a .50-caliber round and was able to father only 44 children (at last count) after returning from overseas. Loud, sudden noises in a helicopter WILL get your undivided attention. On the ground, the troops would look up at Hueys flying over. I already knew the difference between port and starboard, and it wasnt that hard to figure out beam and quartering approaches. There was a down side to the over-sized appendages, however. (One has to realize that there was virtually no protection for the pilots from the front and little from the sides or underneath.) "We (Americans) had nothing to do with controlling VNAF," according to Lieutenant General (Ret) James F. Hollingsworth, the Commanding General of TRAC at that time. Hello, I enjoyed Reading the blog. is passed from outgoing President to incoming President at each reunion. By 1967, 600 pilots were being graduated per month. No Pilot that I know of ever went into a combat situation without both. Over the course of the war, some 12,000 helicopters of various kinds saw service in Vietnam. [All That We Can Be]. You will come away from this video with a real sense of the quality of heroism that every one of our Vietnam War helicopter pilots displayed on a daily basis. From 1965, around 99 percent of each completed class of students were sent to Vietnam. As mentioned earlier, there was little protection from weapon fire for the pilots, and with body parts exposed on a third seat, we were especially vulnerable. I have posted your reply to Steve on here so he will be able to read it. If we didnt do it, the next guy would, and we would have been found to be personally lacking what it took to complete the mission. For more information see From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 South Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. We always at least tried to complete the mission and felt that we let someone down if we didnt. Drinking and how not to get caught. They were immensely important to the troops on the ground as aerial fire power. Correspondence relating to commercial purposes or solicitations shall only be m.. No matter what you do, the bullet with your name on it will get you. If so glad to know youre well. A few were even awarded. The first time I tried to land on the ship at night, I terminated at a 30-foot hover over the deck instead of on the deck, and the Aircraft Commander had to take over and hover us down to the ship. Most aviators receives about 210 hours of flight time. It is a fact that helicopter tail rotors are instinctively drawn toward trees, stumps, rocks, etc. aa..Thus the term SHIT! can also be used to denote a situation where high Pucker Factor is being encountered. All rights reserved. Vietnam War Facts, Stats and Myths - US Wings There are over 4,945 helicopter pilots currently employed in the United States. Publi le 12 juin 2022 par . The Scout Pilot. Thanks Tom H. AKA,Cavalier 16, 68/69, Brought a tear to my eye. Although the percent who died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. At the same time, I made flight adjustments according to the guys in the back. One guy was 19, while the oldest (not counting our Commanding Officer) was the 28-year-old XO, Army slang for the second in command, Executive Officer. For the latter, a specially equipped H-13 had optional blanked out external vision. u.. Everybodys a hero on the ground in the club after the fourth drink. The further you fly into the mountains, the louder the strange engine noises become. Here are some facts to clear up that poor job of reporting by the news media. Heroes in Hueys: The Pilots and Crews of the Vietnam War I just tapped him gently on the shoulder and whispered, Hey, Buddy, Im as far back in the elevator as I can get now. I knew what he was really saying. The Vietnam Helicopters Memorial Tree was dedicated in 2015 and honors the helicopter pilots and crew members who died while serving in Southeast Asia from 1961 to 1975. The ideal entry-level account for individual users. It was NOT the U.S. Embassy. That was us giving you covering fire! he replied. November 14th, 2013 at 5:45 pm Dave Shannon (crewmember, 92nd AHC) Says: I always liked the subdued look of combat zone attire, as opposed to anything shiny or glittery. "Average Age of Active Pilots in The United States from 2002 to 2020, by Category*. [McCaffrey], MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions. Not only were we not found to be lacking as youthful aviators, as a whole we far exceeded the expectations. [VHPA databases], Army UH-1's totaled more than 10,693,902 flight hours in Vietnam between October 1966 and the end of The building is the Pittman Apartments, a 10 [Westmoreland], 97% were discharged under honorable conditions; the same percentage of honorable discharges as ten years prior to Vietnam [Westmoreland], 85% of Vietnam Veterans made a successful transition to civilian life. Average Vietnam Of Helicopter Age Pilot [ROCFI4] o.. plaque made from the mold for the AH-1G prototype collective grip. Scared that maybe, just maybe, youll fail your mission where someone else just like you would have succeeded. The great majority of these efforts have erroneously portrayed many myths about the Vietnam War as being facts. about halfway down . Yet undoubtedly every plane in Laos carried opium at some time, unknown to the pilot and his superiors. "Average age of active pilots in the United States from 2002 to 2020, by category*." Owned and operated by CharityUSA.com, LLC. Most 18 year olds only think about girls and what they can get from them. Tactics such as pinnacle landing on top of steep hills, slopes, and karst outcrops amid destabilizing downdraughts to deliver heavy supplies to US Army firebases and outposts while under enemy fire were also tackled. Operation Chopper occurred on 12 January 1962 and was the first time U.S. forces participated in major combat in the Vietnam War. Occasionally, the gunner and crew chief had to exit temporarily to reduce the weight sufficiently for take off. average age of vietnam helicopter pilot - mail.germenergy.com Show publisher information Since I first heard the phrase that is the title of this article, it struck me that those words were exactly what we did as kids flying helicopters in Vietnam. We took no hits on that mission, and as we lifted out of the landing zone, the fact that we cheated death again left me with all the exciting feelings I mentioned at the beginning of this article. The average age for helicopter pilots in Vietnam was in the area of 22 years as I recall. We thank God for these pilots and crews who fearlessly went into our hell on our behalf day in and day out, during the Vietnam War. The American military did not lose a battle of any consequence. The U.S. Embassy and its helipad were much larger. ), Once out to sea, landing on the ships was an interesting experience, especially when the decks were bouncing up and down like a fishing bobber with a carp under it. This famous picture is the property of UPI Corbus-Bettman Photo Agency. [VHPA databases]. magazines, a membership directory and a calendar each year and periodically publishes His writing has appeared in The National Interest and other news media. zatarain's chicken fry mix ingredients New Lab; brown service funeral home obituaries; orange high school graduation 2021; the dragon paper airplane; average age of vietnam helicopter pilot. average age of vietnam helicopter pilot - cbeconsulting.net Book review. I could not have been more proud of myself and my flight school classmates for having come this far. Experienced pilots with proven records of successful, aggressive combat could be invited to join a platoon in a fire team of one or two gunships operating with a scout helicopter and escorting slick assaults. Small, two seat TH-55 Osages were also used. Get the details for all upcoming vietnam helicopter unit reunions. members without the express consent of the member. I had no idea of the satisfaction, pride, sense of accomplishment, and even elation that I would feel in the next six months. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for NEW 2008 HASBRO GI Joe Helicopter Pilot Wild Bill 25th Anniversary FREE SHIPPING at the best online prices at eBay! The longer you stare at the gauges the less time it takes them to move from green to red. As they entered a one year combat tour, many pilots heard the ominous rumor that the average life expectancy of a US Army Aviator helicopter pilot in combat was only 19 minutes. On one particularly difficult night MedEvac in the mountains, all our windows fogged up as we dropped from 7,000 feet through a hole in the clouds to pick up a Soldier with a head wound. I made a pedal turn (U-turn) about 200 feet in the air, probably over some bad guys, and hovered back in over the trees. (So I guess that makes three Young and Stupids. How long was helicopter pilot training during the Vietnam War? Were about five miles out. Five miles out from where? designed as a helipad. reunion. Myth: A disproportionate number of blacks were killed in the Vietnam War. There walks a dead man. The pilots who were flying this helicopter, Boeing and Read More, I will say this - and I know a lot of other Navy guys that Read More, The Defense Security Cooperation Agency has not specified whether the weapons are intended for Taiwans Read More, Models of the F-19 Stealth Fighter started to appear in the eighties and were available Read More, The USAF plans to begin production in fiscal 2025, with the first E-7A expected to Read More, UH-1 Huey Gunship Vs NVA/VC Forces Vietnam 1962-75, Boeing, US Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopters Achieve 5 Million Flight Hours, Equivalent to Flying nonstop for more than 208,333 Days or 570 Years and Nine Months, Taiwan to get 100 AGM-88B HARM missiles and 200 AIM-120C-8 missiles for its F-16 fleet, USAF awards Boeing E-7A prototype contract: the Wedgetail will replace the E-3 AWACS, US Navy Nuclear Propulsion Plant Operator explains when a submarine reactor can be run at higher than 100% (and why the 105% on the reactor ordered in The Hunt for Red October movie would not be worth any risk to the ship and crew), Former US Navy F/A-18 pilot explains why although during his era the Hornet was the best airplane on the carrier his fun meter was most pegged flying the A-4 Skyhawk, The Stealth Fighter that Never Was: How the Secret Development of the F-117 led to the Birth of the Misleading F-19.