The picture of a Huey helicopter evacuating people from the top of what was billed as being the U.S. Embassy in Saigon during the last week of April 1975 during the fall of Saigon helped to establish this myth. Maturity, self-confident, bravery, willing to take chances, courageous, and yes fun-loving are the attributes that make a great pilot. no, seven! . You need at least a Starter Account to use this feature. It was the Pilots mission to fly as low and as slow as he could allowing the observer and the Door Gunner to watch for signs of the enemy or to allow the enemy to fire at them. I could not have been more proud of myself and my flight school classmates for having come this far. 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. He was an assault helicopter pilot, in other words a gunship pilot. Dario Leone is an aviation, defense and military writer. If you are wearing body armor, they will probably miss that part. Age 75 to 79 --------$100.00 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. Then I did another Young & Stupid thing. aa..Thus the term SHIT! can also be used to denote a situation where high Pucker Factor is being encountered. Click here to view the US Army educational video, "A Day in the Life of a Helicopter Pilot," circa 1967. . (So I guess that makes three Young and Stupids. It turned out to be the best thing that happened to me, even though I was wounded before the year was out and sent home before my tour was over. address changes for the directory and use the comments form to Running is better than crawling. The claimed flying aces of the Vietnam War, pilots who shot down five or more enemy aircraft, include 19 North Vietnamese pilots (six MiG-17 and 13 MiG-21 pilots), [1] : 228 and five Americans. That was the unforgiving part. 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. . University. I will always thank Warrant Officer Study for his late-night, picture-perfect landing on the round end of the boat. Chart. Online membership Any combination of these can be deadly. There were no Americans involved in any capacity. U.S. active certificated pilots - average age 1993-2020; . [McCaffrey], Vietnam veterans' personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent. He is the Founder and Editor of The Aviation Geek Club one of the worlds most read military aviation blogs. The great majority of these efforts have erroneously portrayed many myths about the Vietnam War as being facts. to Europe and both have since died. 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. Section 501(c)(19) of the Internal Revenue Service. sent to webmaster@vhpa.org whereupon only 10 to 20 minutes of that time exposed to hostile fire. time than any other aircraft in the history of warfare assuming you count actual q.. Having all your body parts intact and functioning at the end of the day beats the alternative. . Others flew fixed wing and some were already in the Army but applied for and were chosen to attend flight school. There, the new guys learned how to apply their recently found skills to combat situations. [Westmoreland] Source: http://www.vhfcn.org/stat.html Myth: The United States lost the war in Vietnam. It was a fact that Dustoff crews had three times the casualty rate of other helicopter crews. American-owned airlines never knowingly transported opium in or out of Laos, nor did their American pilots ever profit from its transport. We sacrificed our youth and innocence; we achieved above and beyond the call of duty on a daily basis. In addition to an annual reunion held around July 4th, members keep in touch informally [Houk]. We must now hover over the trees or rocky terrain, while we let out up to 150 feet of quarter-inch cable with a jungle penetrator or a Stokes litter attached to it. 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. The VHPA is a social organization only and Correspondence relating to commercial purposes or solicitations shall only be Your email address will not be published. Mortality studies show that 9,000 is a better estimate. c.. NEVER get into a fight without more ammunition than the other guy. It was finally time to find out if we had the gonads to be combat helicopter pilots. Your email address will not be published. ad.. A third tradition is a bottle I have no idea who he was, but we logged his flight time as PP: Patient Protector.. The BSR (Bang Stare Red) Theory states that the louder the sudden bang in the helicopter, the quicker your eyes will be drawn to the gauges. The night I was wounded, my new co-pilot Don Study put us right on the deck, but all the while I had visions of my first 30-foot hover when I was a Funny New Guyan FNG. Federal Aviation Administration. They were utterly selfless and courageous warriors on our behalf. He has reported from Europe and flown Super Puma and Cougar helicopters with the Swiss Air Force. 91% of Vietnam Veterans say they are glad they served [Westmoreland], 74% said they would serve again even knowing the outcome [Westmoreland], There is no difference in drug usage between Vietnam Veterans and non veterans of the same age group (from a Veterans Administration study) [Westmoreland]. More realities about war: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - it was not invented or unique to Vietnam Veterans. It was a small price to pay for the successful completion of our daily rescues. a.. Once you are in the fight, it is way too late to wonder if this is a good idea. While it may be possible to ward off this natural event some of the time, it cannot, despite the best efforts of the crew, always be prevented. Two high ranking They could often see what we could not and helped keep the enemy off of us and to even the odds for us, so to speak. If you have not been there and done that you probably will not understand most of this. Average age of 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years. I cannot talk about how tough flight school was, nor can I state what the washout rate was because I did not go myself. Publi le 12 juin 2022 par . The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. Although I was sworn to secrecy at the time, with the Freedom of Information Act, I believe that I can now break the silence. on VHFCN (http://www.vhfcn.org) , Heli-Vets and FaceBook also another FaceBook site. These new battalions eventually formed a sort of modern-day cavalry for the Army. al.. All through flight school, we were taught by gun pilots, slick drivers, scout pilots (although not as many of the scout pilots, they had a high loss ratio), and oh, yes, ONE Dustoff pilot. $99) To contact the magazine editor aviator@vhpa.org. Most 18 year olds only think about girls and what they can get from them. Information contained herein shall not be used for commercial THE UNITED STATES DID NOT LOSE THE WAR IN VIETNAM, THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE The Vietnam Helicopter Flight Crew Network (VHFCN) is a non profit veterans organization dedicated to the fulfillment of the following purposes: To provide a forum for recreational communications amongst a fraternity of aircrew members who served in Vietnam during the period 1961-75 At the conclusive battle of the war (the Fall of Saigon), the . I have posted your reply to Steve on here so he will be able to read it. ah.. Nobody cares what you did yesterday or what you are going to do tomorrow. Please create an employee account to be able to mark statistics as favorites. Myth: The media have reported that suicides among Vietnam veterans range from 50,000 to 100,000 - 6 to 11 times the non-Vietnam veteran population. [1996 Information Please Almanac], The 140,000 evacuees in April 1975 during the fall of Saigon consisted almost entirely of civilians and Vietnamese military, NOT American military running for their lives. Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. . 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. Age 59 and below --$450.00. That knocked the rotor blades off and the TH-55 went in., Successful candidates then progressed to the Contact Phase at Knox Army Heliport, Fort Rucker, for specific training on the UH-1B, C, and D, followed by the Tactics Phase at nearby Lowe Army Helioport, which prepared them for realistic combat conditions. af.. I would never dispute that, but I would argue that putting a helicopter on the tiny pad of the hospital ship is like landing on a corner of that postage stamp. There is only one rule in war: When you win, you get to make up the Many times when either our troopers on the ground or another unit was facing enemy fire these brave men would come in with weapons blazing either destroying the enemy or allowing the ground troops to attain and then maintain superior fire power. Mine were draped over the back of my seat, along with my M-16 rifle. When the Army decided to use helicopters as the Eyes, Protection and Horses of the 1st Cavalry Division, men both young and older were chosen to become pilots. The Weapons Team. If everyone does not come home, none of the rest of us can ever fully come home either. .j.. It happened many times, and their names are on The Wall in Washington, D.C. One particular mission I recall was a day hoist. He was an instructor pilot at Downing Army Airfield at Ft. Wolters, Texas, in May of 1968. Drinking and how not to get caught. Although the percent who died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. They will always be our heroes, our Angels in the Sky.. The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. Restraining the military in Vietnam in hindsight probably prevented a nuclear war with China or Russia. . In fact, after the 5-year post-service period, the rate of suicides is less in the Vietnam veterans' group." Membership is open to all helicopter pilots who flew in It would instantly cut the cable should any part of the lift apparatus get snagged in the trees or in any other emergency situation. [McCaffrey] http://www.air-america.org. There was an adrenaline high, too, and a tremendous sense of accomplishment that I have yet to experience since flying my last mission in Vietnam. f.. War is brutal and not fair. Don S. the last (in-country) Masher33, 1971, It is not easy to read this stuff. survival radio, whats that? In fact, we all did well. On 11 December 1961, the USS Core (T-AKV-41) docked in Saigon with 32 U.S. Army Piasecki H-21 helicopters and 400 crewmen of the 8th Transportation Company (Light Helicopter) and the 57th Transportation Company (Light Helicopter). 5. (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. I and many more just like me can only say Thank You for all that you did. come left . Without that commitment, Communism would have swept all the way to the Malacca Straits that is south of Singapore and of great strategic importance to the free world. In Vietnam, pilots frequently encountered fog and monsoon rain, which severely tested their blind flying skills. Background [ edit ] On 11 December 1961, the USS Core (T-AKV-41) docked in Saigon with 32 U.S. Army Piasecki H-21 helicopters and 400 crewmen of the 8th Transportation Company (Light Helicopter) and the 57th . Laura Ungaro, I enjoyed reading this very much, many good memories were recalled. Flying is better than walking. magazines, a membership directory and a calendar each year and periodically publishes Even the AP photographer, Nick Ut, who took the picture was Vietnamese. First, one has to understand what a hoist mission is and why we did them. Fast Contour flying as close to the ground as possible to avoid ground fire was also mastered. Values are as of December 31 each year. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled. a colleague is looking for a helicopter pilot nicknamed chicken man, who spent some time around Solid Anchor in about 1971. Flag, John A. Jelich, Wisconsin, Cecelia Jelich Frost, Killed in Action, Rosary, KIA, Gold Star Family, Gold Star Wife. Terry Clark? [2]:4, On 15 April 1962 the United States Marine Corps began Operation Shufly, the rotating deployment of Marine helicopter squadrons, associated maintenance units and air traffic control detachments to South Vietnam to improve the mobility of ARVN forces. is passed from outgoing President to incoming President at each reunion. statistic alerts) please log in with your personal account. Donations can be made here https://www.vhpa.org/donate.htm, The VHPA has a membership of over 16,600 (8,700 dues current) helicopter pilots from around the world out of the Member The average age of an employed helicopter pilot is 45 years old. We grabbed some unsuspecting Schmuck and told him to get his weapon and some ammo and run with us to the aircraft. When we were on short final approach over the landing zone, I heard small arms fire and my brand-new Crew Chief yelled Were taking fire!, I pulled power into the rotor system to get out of there as quickly as I could, when the radio operator on the ground called out Dustoff, where are you going?. Published by on October 31, 2021. Age 70 to 74 --------$150.00 Many men volunteered for the draft so even some of the draftees were actually [Nixon]. Later, the crew became a two-man pilot team. As he entered the crowded car, he said, Ballroom, please.. [McCaffrey], Vietnam veterans have a lower unemployment rate than our non-vet age group. The Pilots of 1st of the 9th Cav were and yes still are the best. With the patient finally on board, the Radio Operator with the ground unit Rogered our departure message with a Thanks a HELL of a lot, Dustoff!. plaque made from the mold for the AH-1G prototype collective grip. In other words, it took a man with a huge pair of Brass Balls but with the ability to know when to use them but with the brains to know when to hold them. and flew his bird to the top of Monkey Mountian. Hot garrison chow is better than hot C-rations which, in turn, is better than cold C-rations which, in turn, is better than no food at all. [1] "Vietnam helicopter pilots describe the war from the cockpit," YouTube video, posted by "Military Times," April 18th, 2018. Also, it has been incorrectly reported that two of Kim Phuc's brothers were killed in this incident. Instead of landing and changing seats he tried to do it in mid air.