Helicopter pilots in Vietnam were statistically twice as likely to be killed in combat in comparison to fellow foot soldiers. In this episode we listen as veterans reminisce on training days, old fallen comrades, and some of the scariest moments they encountered during their noble military tenures.
VIDEO HERE (50:09 minutes)
Good video and a great war story, but the part I really got a kick out of was watching those wannabe pilots at Ft Wolters in the first 10 minutes of the video trying to hover a helicopter.
I have never tried to fly an actual helicopter in combat.
ReplyDeleteI have however tried to fly model R/C helicopters in my backyard.
@#$#@$@#% helicopters. Seriously. Tools of the devil.
"Chickenhawk" by Robert Mason, a Huey pilot who flew over 700 combat missions in Vietnam, is a fantastic book, and one that I have read several times.
ReplyDeleteTim in AK
if I remember correctly, Bob flew slicks
DeleteGreat story was him looking at his buddy's .45, assumed unloaded (mag dumped but not cleared), pointed at his Lt head, last second point at a gauge and dry fired...
Deleteexcept it went boom.
It was slicks he flew.
chillhill
Brown Flight 83-3 Mother Rucker
ReplyDeletebtays
5th WOC, Brown hats, "Wolters." regards, Alemaster
DeleteIt's all done with witchcraft. And you really do have to sell your soul to to the Devil to get those things to hover....
ReplyDeleteThose pilots did not get the recognition they deserved. DFCs should have been DSCs. Tom Baca died last August. Watching another TV documentary on an air cav unit in the 1070s, pictures of the pilots were shown, and I thought, "Good grief! The Army had kids flying helicopters!" At an 11th Cav reunion a few years ago, talking with a pilot, I mentioned that program. He got an embarrassed look. I said, "How old were you?" He replied, "Nineteen." Thomas Evans, the youngest pilot who went over with Air Cav Troop, was 20 when arriving in Vietnam. He was killed in February 1967, eight months before his 21st birthday.
ReplyDeleteThat same thought went through my head as I watched this. Immediately followed by the thought that I wouldn't trust a one of the current crop of below-25 year olds to do such.
ReplyDelete