June 17th each year I take time to contemplate yet another year of tromping around God's own green Earth and think back to events on that day in 1970. Each of us has that special day that reminds us of how Fate, Luck, and the laws of probability figure in our lives. Ernie Gann, in his book "Fate is the Hunter", discussed this at length. In order to be an Aviator, one must know Gann!
The events of that day in 1970 were most interesting and proved to be as intense as any before or since. I managed to get shot down twice in one day which for a Chinook pilot was a real trick. We had taken the war into Cambodia in pursuit of the logistical and headquarters bases for the North Vietnamese Army in that area. It was the start of Monsoon season which provided us with lots of bad weather, rain, and low cloud. The usual routine was takeoff just before Dawn, fly up to our operating areas on the border and fly until dark or just after. We were supporting the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Air Cav Division units in an area north of Tay Ninh and south of Bu Prang.
The first bit of fun that day happened while we were engaged in moving an artillery unit to a site just north of Katum. The weather had deteriorated a bit and we were forced to fly lower than we liked but had to continue the move as the choice was to finish the move or return the unit to its original location. We could not stop the movement in midstream as the unit being moved would not be able to defend itself or accomplish its mission if split into two parts.
We were hauling a sling load of 105mm howitzer projectiles and several boxes of fuses for the shells when we flew over an NVA unit of some sort and took hits from a 7.62 mm machine gun. The rounds started hitting us in the nose of the aircraft and worked their way aft with some hitting the sling load of ammo and fuses. Evidently, the fuses exploded which caused a lot of fire, smoke, and fumes to enter the aircraft. The explosion caused the aircraft to nose over and begin diving towards the ground which was not far away due to our reduced altitude. Both the Flight Engineer and I hit the cargo release to jettison the load and the other pilot and I both hauled back on the cyclic to stop the dive and by doing so over controlled slightly. We went from seeing nothing but trees in the windscreen to seeing nothing but gray clouds. I got the aircraft under control, realized we had lost power from one of the engines and had a flight control hydraulic failure. Fortuitously, Katum airstrip at the base of the Special Forces camp was close by and we made an emergency landing there. Alas, as we were landing we got tangled up in the barbed wire perimeter fencing and dragged up several hundred yards of barbed wire, trip flares, and claymore landmines. The infantry guys who had just finished putting that stuff together were not very amused at having to do it all over I guess.
Enjoying my adrenalin high.....read that as having a drug induced fit on stupidity....I walked over to a Cav Gunship team....an OH-6 Loach and two AH-1 Cobra's....and announced I would show them where some bad guys were that had just shot my aircraft up. They agreed that would be good sport and I climbed into the Loach and off we went with the two Cobra's tagging along behind. As we made our second or third orbit at tree top level in the area where the shooting had taken place, my adrenalin induced fit of stupidity faded to the point I comprehended the error of my ways. Luckily, the Cav guys could not spend long doing this ad hoc bit of flying and returned me to my aircraft. One does not have to be insane to be a Loach pilot but brother it sure helps!
We replaced the hydraulic line that had been damaged, topped of the reservoir with fresh fluid, cranked up the good engine and burned off enough fuel that we could do a single engine takeoff and flew the aircraft back to our base at Phu Loi.
While we were there we encountered two other crews who had taken hits and had returned for some needed repairs. One crew had a very narrow escape.....a round had severed one of the two hydraulic input lines on an aft rotor head servo....and creased the other. That was a million to one shot and if it had severed the second line the crew would have died without a doubt.
Lucky days can be shared it seems!
We swapped aircraft and took off for our afternoon mission staging out of a Special Forces camp known as Bu Dop. We flew a couple of flights that were pretty short and then shut down as the weather had gotten really bad....low cloud, rain, and poor visibility. We were waiting around in the hopes the weather would improve before we had to head home.
While we were setting there, a 1st Cav fellow asked me if I could fly three loads for him as his aircraft had departed for home at Phouc Vinh due to the inclement weather. He was in tears and explained he had guys that were almost out of ammo, food, and water. I inspected his three loads and they were as described them....bullets, C-rations, and jerry cans of water. As there was always some rivalry between the Cav and real aviation units like ours I offered to fly for the guy.
We hooked up the first load and headed north into Cambodia to the LZ where the Cav troops were. Due to the weather and the destination being a mountain ridge, we climbed into the murk and contacted the Ground Controlled Radar (GCA) controller at Bu Dop and got navigation vectors to the LZ. We were in almost solid cloud and at times could see straight down through small holes and see the jungle.
About halfway there we got hit by a .51 caliber AA Machine gun. The round made one heck of a "Bang" when it hit....especially being so close to me. The round came into the aircraft on my right side, angling up from the rear edge of the chin bubble, striking the pedal under my left foot removing the pedal, and exited out the left side of the chin bubble. My first impression was of thinking "What the Hell happened?" My left leg was jammed back under the seat, the aircraft had taken a huge jump, and almost instantly I was sitting in a fire. The round evidently severed some hydraulic lines when it removed the pedal.
At this point....things got a bit intense. We were in cloud, on fire in the cockpit, and somewhere over Cambodia in a mountainous area occupied by thousands of bad guys. We had a quick Chinese Parliament over the intercom and determined we were still flying, had flight controls, no longer had the slingload, and decided to find a place to put the aircraft down. We could not do so and finally elected to climb back up and try to return to Bu Dop.
The fire finally burned itself out, we got picked up on Radar by the kind folks of Bu Dop GCA, did a radar controlled approach to the runway and landed safely.
The events of that day in 1970 were most interesting and proved to be as intense as any before or since. I managed to get shot down twice in one day which for a Chinook pilot was a real trick. We had taken the war into Cambodia in pursuit of the logistical and headquarters bases for the North Vietnamese Army in that area. It was the start of Monsoon season which provided us with lots of bad weather, rain, and low cloud. The usual routine was takeoff just before Dawn, fly up to our operating areas on the border and fly until dark or just after. We were supporting the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Air Cav Division units in an area north of Tay Ninh and south of Bu Prang.
The first bit of fun that day happened while we were engaged in moving an artillery unit to a site just north of Katum. The weather had deteriorated a bit and we were forced to fly lower than we liked but had to continue the move as the choice was to finish the move or return the unit to its original location. We could not stop the movement in midstream as the unit being moved would not be able to defend itself or accomplish its mission if split into two parts.
We were hauling a sling load of 105mm howitzer projectiles and several boxes of fuses for the shells when we flew over an NVA unit of some sort and took hits from a 7.62 mm machine gun. The rounds started hitting us in the nose of the aircraft and worked their way aft with some hitting the sling load of ammo and fuses. Evidently, the fuses exploded which caused a lot of fire, smoke, and fumes to enter the aircraft. The explosion caused the aircraft to nose over and begin diving towards the ground which was not far away due to our reduced altitude. Both the Flight Engineer and I hit the cargo release to jettison the load and the other pilot and I both hauled back on the cyclic to stop the dive and by doing so over controlled slightly. We went from seeing nothing but trees in the windscreen to seeing nothing but gray clouds. I got the aircraft under control, realized we had lost power from one of the engines and had a flight control hydraulic failure. Fortuitously, Katum airstrip at the base of the Special Forces camp was close by and we made an emergency landing there. Alas, as we were landing we got tangled up in the barbed wire perimeter fencing and dragged up several hundred yards of barbed wire, trip flares, and claymore landmines. The infantry guys who had just finished putting that stuff together were not very amused at having to do it all over I guess.
Enjoying my adrenalin high.....read that as having a drug induced fit on stupidity....I walked over to a Cav Gunship team....an OH-6 Loach and two AH-1 Cobra's....and announced I would show them where some bad guys were that had just shot my aircraft up. They agreed that would be good sport and I climbed into the Loach and off we went with the two Cobra's tagging along behind. As we made our second or third orbit at tree top level in the area where the shooting had taken place, my adrenalin induced fit of stupidity faded to the point I comprehended the error of my ways. Luckily, the Cav guys could not spend long doing this ad hoc bit of flying and returned me to my aircraft. One does not have to be insane to be a Loach pilot but brother it sure helps!
We replaced the hydraulic line that had been damaged, topped of the reservoir with fresh fluid, cranked up the good engine and burned off enough fuel that we could do a single engine takeoff and flew the aircraft back to our base at Phu Loi.
While we were there we encountered two other crews who had taken hits and had returned for some needed repairs. One crew had a very narrow escape.....a round had severed one of the two hydraulic input lines on an aft rotor head servo....and creased the other. That was a million to one shot and if it had severed the second line the crew would have died without a doubt.
Lucky days can be shared it seems!
We swapped aircraft and took off for our afternoon mission staging out of a Special Forces camp known as Bu Dop. We flew a couple of flights that were pretty short and then shut down as the weather had gotten really bad....low cloud, rain, and poor visibility. We were waiting around in the hopes the weather would improve before we had to head home.
While we were setting there, a 1st Cav fellow asked me if I could fly three loads for him as his aircraft had departed for home at Phouc Vinh due to the inclement weather. He was in tears and explained he had guys that were almost out of ammo, food, and water. I inspected his three loads and they were as described them....bullets, C-rations, and jerry cans of water. As there was always some rivalry between the Cav and real aviation units like ours I offered to fly for the guy.
We hooked up the first load and headed north into Cambodia to the LZ where the Cav troops were. Due to the weather and the destination being a mountain ridge, we climbed into the murk and contacted the Ground Controlled Radar (GCA) controller at Bu Dop and got navigation vectors to the LZ. We were in almost solid cloud and at times could see straight down through small holes and see the jungle.
About halfway there we got hit by a .51 caliber AA Machine gun. The round made one heck of a "Bang" when it hit....especially being so close to me. The round came into the aircraft on my right side, angling up from the rear edge of the chin bubble, striking the pedal under my left foot removing the pedal, and exited out the left side of the chin bubble. My first impression was of thinking "What the Hell happened?" My left leg was jammed back under the seat, the aircraft had taken a huge jump, and almost instantly I was sitting in a fire. The round evidently severed some hydraulic lines when it removed the pedal.
At this point....things got a bit intense. We were in cloud, on fire in the cockpit, and somewhere over Cambodia in a mountainous area occupied by thousands of bad guys. We had a quick Chinese Parliament over the intercom and determined we were still flying, had flight controls, no longer had the slingload, and decided to find a place to put the aircraft down. We could not do so and finally elected to climb back up and try to return to Bu Dop.
The fire finally burned itself out, we got picked up on Radar by the kind folks of Bu Dop GCA, did a radar controlled approach to the runway and landed safely.
I was treated for burns and a shrapnel wound to my leg and was evacc'ed to Bien Hoa Field Hospital. Later I was transferred to Camp Zama Army hospital in Japan and finally to Fort Bragg.
That is why I consider June 17th, my Glad To Be Alive Day along with the luckiest day of my life!
This June 17th was another lucky day....Shannon called and wanted to meet for lunch in New Bern. I threw on my go to town duds.....grabbed some canvas items that needed some attention by Cedric the Canvas Man....and hot footed it south. We had a good meal at Ratty's....walked the docks at the Sheraton....hit a couple of flea market shops....introduced her to Cedric as being my wife (but later admitted otherwise) and had a good time talking. John Townsley called and commented about this post.....he and I flew together when he was a door gunner and crew chief in my unit and is the guy that organizes tours to Vietnam where I met Shannon a couple of years ago.
Anytime you hear from old comrades in arms.....and get some hugs from a very pretty young lady is a darn good day! Poking fun at Cedric who is a very gentlemanly English fellow is good sport as well.
Heck....even Frady came running when I pulled in at the boat in Edenton....but then he was looking for his dinner....matter of fact I bought Shannon's lunch....hmmm....maybe there is a correlation there?
That is why I consider June 17th, my Glad To Be Alive Day along with the luckiest day of my life!
This June 17th was another lucky day....Shannon called and wanted to meet for lunch in New Bern. I threw on my go to town duds.....grabbed some canvas items that needed some attention by Cedric the Canvas Man....and hot footed it south. We had a good meal at Ratty's....walked the docks at the Sheraton....hit a couple of flea market shops....introduced her to Cedric as being my wife (but later admitted otherwise) and had a good time talking. John Townsley called and commented about this post.....he and I flew together when he was a door gunner and crew chief in my unit and is the guy that organizes tours to Vietnam where I met Shannon a couple of years ago.
Anytime you hear from old comrades in arms.....and get some hugs from a very pretty young lady is a darn good day! Poking fun at Cedric who is a very gentlemanly English fellow is good sport as well.
Heck....even Frady came running when I pulled in at the boat in Edenton....but then he was looking for his dinner....matter of fact I bought Shannon's lunch....hmmm....maybe there is a correlation there?
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