$99) To contact the magazine editor aviator@vhpa.org. The Vietnam War was shortly after China got involved in the Korean war, the time of the Cuban missile crisis, Soviet aggression in Eastern Europe and the proliferation of nuclear bombs. Myth: The fighting in Vietnam was not as intense as in World War II. Operation Chopper occurred on 12 January 1962 and was the first time U.S. forces participated in major combat in the Vietnam War. I suppose we would have survived; we had water wings! His writing has appeared in The National Interest and other news media. There is an explanation confidential. We still got there in a hurry, but once there, we hovered over the trees like a target at the County Fair 25-cent target-shooting booth. As the Aircraft Commander in control of the helicopter, my eyes never left the tree branches that were touching the nose of my aircraft. 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. The fall of Saigon happened 30 April 1975, two years AFTER the American military left Vietnam. I was okay to fly helicopters in the Army, but not to drive a jeep! One of those is the missing man table at the banquet at each [McCaffrey], 87% of the American people hold Vietnam Vets in high esteem. Tran Van Don and the head of the secret police Tran Kim Tuyen. I think that some of us changed for the better, but some of us did not. A MiG-21 of the VPAF which became the primary fighter-interceptor against USAF and USN aircraft. The Vietnam War helped medical progress in this area. pilots in the Vietnam War. If you are wearing body armor, they will probably miss that part. herriman high school soccer roster. However, these same 18-year-old young men attended flight school and were given responsibility to operate a multi million dollar helicopter. Please support The Veterans Site by adding us to your ad blockers whitelist ads help us to provide food and supplies to veterans. If everything is as clear as a bell, and everything is going exactly as planned, youre about to be surprised. You need a Statista Account for unlimited access. average age of vietnam helicopter pilot. Laura Ungaro, I enjoyed reading this very much, many good memories were recalled. c.. NEVER get into a fight without more ammunition than the other guy. The crewmen I flew with on hoist missions (like me, in their teens and early 20s) were absolutely the best, and I wish I could shake every one of their hands and hug them today. When I found out that I was assigned to be a MedEvac pilot, I was devastated. He dropped to the deck a couple miles out and then screamed up the hill at 120 knots and tree top level, trying to sneak in past the enemy. 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). Thank you for your service. Are you interested in testing our business solutions? He was an Air Cav pilot, delivering and evacuating troops into and out of battlefields. If you have not been there and done that you probably will not understand most of this. reunion. 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. VHPA Aviator (big file). It required every skill we had. With a fair amount of apprehension, it was now the moment of truth. Could we really do what we had been trained to do, without letting anyone down? . We always at least tried to complete the mission and felt that we let someone down if we didnt. member. it will be forwarded to the appropriate VHPA representative. Helicopters in [Home] [ReunionInformation] [Donations] [OurLegacy] [MembershipServices] [RelatedWebSites] Member Login. Most 18 year olds only think about girls and what they can get from them. Directly accessible data for 170 industries from 50 countries and over 1 million facts: Get quick analyses with our professional research service. Those Hueys were their horses and they rode into battle en masse, to deliver their troops and evacuate the wounded. address changes for the directory and use the comments form to The most incredible, dangerous, high pucker factor, exhilarating thing a man can do with a helicopter is to pull an insecure hoist mission, day or night. Myth: The United States lost the war in Vietnam. Although I was sworn to secrecy at the time, with the Freedom of Information Act, I believe that I can now break the silence. 4.7 average based on 3 product ratings. Age 60 to 64 --------$350.00 We will never forget you, or the sound of your rotor blades off in the distance, coming to our aid. Even more demanding was formation flying at night, with navigation lights off, using the glow from the leaders cockpit instruments for station keeping. This famous picture is the property of UPI Corbus-Bettman Photo Agency. He has reported from Europe and flown Super Puma and Cougar helicopters with the Swiss Air Force. 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. magazines, a membership directory and a calendar each year and periodically publishes Southeast Asia during the Vietnam era (1961-1975). The Wall), Center for Electronic Records, National Archives, Washington, DC, [All That We Can Be] All That We Can Be by Charles C. Moskos and John Sibley Butler, [Westmoreland] Speech by General William C. Westmoreland before the Third Annual Reunion of the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA) at the Washington, DC Hilton Hotel on July 5th, 1986 (reproduced in a Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association Historical Reference Directory Volume 2A). 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. War is brutal and not fair. Many times these brave men had to deliver or retrieve the troopers into or out of areas where enemy fire was heavy. It took all of our skill and luck to avoid flying into the valley walls as we stuck our heads out the windows to find our way to the LZ without balling up the helicopter. Profit from the additional features of your individual account. When I returned to the states later and applied for my military drivers license so I could drive the. a.. Once you are in the fight, it is way too late to wonder if this is a good idea. Ancient U.S. Army proverb. As explained by Peter E. Davies in his book UH-1 Huey Gunship Vs NVA/VC Forces Vietnam 1962-75, many US Army pilots volunteered for combat simply because they wanted to fly the UH-1. (So I guess that makes three Young and Stupids. 66 founding members. He flew through the fog and light rain. historical reference directories, CD-ROMs and DVDs. XV, Issue VII. A constant line of chatter was transmitted from the medic and the Crew Chief to the pilots, who were both on the flight controls in case either was violently incapable of continuing to fly the aircraft. [Nixon]. sent to webmaster@vhpa.org whereupon Also "Estimating the Number of Suicides Among Vietnam Veterans" (Am J Psychiatry 147, 6 June 1990 pages 772-776). The best of the best: the portal for top lists & rankings: Strategy and business building for the data-driven economy: Industry-specific and extensively researched technical data (partially from exclusive partnerships). Section 501(c)(19) of the Internal Revenue Service. [People]. Most of the Commissioned Officers were older. 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. That sinister-sounding term was coined after the war) Orange was sprayed at three gallons per acre that was the equivalent of .009 of an ounce per square foot. Flying is better than walking. If you are allergic to lead, it is best to avoid a war zone. 2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers. But come look for us, will ya? Please create an employee account to be able to mark statistics as favorites. (May 18, 2021). bombers during World War II most often flew missions lasting many hours with Chart. Larry Clark and Mike Law in 1990. The additional weight of patients on the end of the hoist as they were lifted off the ground further complicated the stability of the aircraft. The VHPA is a social organization only and The Army employed it in various roles, including that of an armed escort or attack gunship in Vietnam. [Online]. designed as a helipad. There were no Americans involved in any capacity. . To all of the brave Pilots and their crews, I can say but three things. Whatd he say? Hell, I dont know. 58,169 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.59 million who served. Trainees (known as candidates) then commenced the nine month long US Army Primary Helicopter School course at Fort Wolters, Texas, where they endured some extremely robust Preflight training as potential warrant officers. The VHPA has a membership of over 16,600 (8,700 dues current) helicopter pilots from around the world out of the approximately 40,000 who served as helicopter pilots in the Vietnam War. As soon as this statistic is updated, you will immediately be notified via e-mail. Those trainers were so small you could lean in them to make the thing turn. The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. I can personally remember one time when we were pinned down due to superior enemy fire from a tree line and a weapons platoon helicopter (Cobra) sat just off to our right and lit up the tree line with such superior fire that the enemy was destroyed. THE UNITED STATES DID NOT LOSE THE WAR IN VIETNAM, THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE Another Huey pilot explained, We were expected to perform simulated missions like we were in Vietnam. Myth: Agent Orange poisoned millions of Vietnam veterans. Myth: Most Vietnam veterans were drafted. (One has to realize that there was virtually no protection for the pilots from the front and little from the sides or underneath.) Later, the crew became a two-man pilot team. Topics cover the entire spectrum from Vietnam to . In, Federal Aviation Administration. The Scout Team would search for the enemy and then have the Weapons Team come in and destroy the enemy. Knowing that my depth perception left little margin for error on the night approaches (especially), I had to totally concentrate on what I was doing and not relax for a second until we were down on that rockin and rollin ship. "The CDC Vietnam Experience Study Mortality Assessment showed that during the first 5 years after discharge, deaths from suicide were 1.7 times more likely among Vietnam veterans than non-Vietnam veterans. If you lose you It happened many times, and their names are on The Wall in Washington, D.C. One particular mission I recall was a day hoist. [3], Battlefield Viet Nam Episode 5 "The Undeclared War", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Chopper_(Vietnam)&oldid=1133354489, This page was last edited on 13 January 2023, at 10:36. Please note: This We lost a lot of Pilots but we also lost a lot of Crew Chiefs and Door Gunners. Without his heroic actions that day we, the Grunts, would have been in severe situation as we were running out of food, ammo and our radio batteries were almost dead. Over the course of the war, some 12,000 helicopters of various kinds saw service in Vietnam. I told my roommate, This is it. You were a good friend and much appreciated by my parents. . approximately 40,000 who served as helicopter 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. When you crash, well try to recover your bodies. 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. May 18, 2021. For the latter, a specially equipped H-13 had optional blanked out external vision. In fact, after the 5-year post-service period, the rate of suicides is less in the Vietnam veterans' group." 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. Many men volunteered for the draft so even some of the draftees were actually Three of the five newest democracies are former Soviet republics: Belarus (where elections were first held in November 1995), Armenia (July 1995) and Kyrgyzstan (February 1995). The average age (according to General William C. Westmoreland before the Third Annual Reunion of the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA) at the Washington, DC Hilton Hotel on July 5th, 1986) was 26 The average man who fought in World War II was 26 years of age. Over the ten years of the war, Operation Ranch Hand sprayed about eleven million gallons of Agent Orange on the South Vietnamese landscape. There is a reason why these medevac pilots were called our angels in the sky. We who fought the enemy face to face on the ground, whether infantry or recon, knew that if we were wounded, these guys would do anything necessary, face any danger the enemy could present, to get us out of hell and back to the care we needed. An automobile accident or other traumatic event also can cause it. story building where the CIA station chief and many of his officers lived, located at 22 Ly Tu Trong St. If so glad to know youre well. The VHPA publishes six Maybe it was only three miles . Jurez y 18 de Marzo Col. Centro, C.P 96360 Nanchital, Ver. The Pilots of Charlie Troop 1st Squadron 9th Cavalry Regiment 1st Cavalry Division (AM) were the best Pilots of the Vietnam War and today they are the best men America has to offer. From 1965, around 99 percent of each completed class of students were sent to Vietnam. Obviously, I was wrong, but I did not know it then. When they saw one flying balls out, they knew it was a Dustoff on an urgent mission. We HAD no survival radios in those aircraft. . Only a few privileged people, other than the crew members themselves, know an obscure fact that there were actually three seats in the cockpit of a Dustoff helicopter, rather than two seats, as mounted in all other Hueys. "In all the years we've been working on this we have found that's not the case." Statista. Here is an example done at the 2005 Then you can access your favorite statistics via the star in the header. dont care. [Westmoreland] Source: http://www.vhfcn.org/stat.html More Scout Teams were lost because of this than any other helicopter team. The average age of an employed helicopter pilot is 45 years old. If we had been shot down on virtually any hoist mission, our high hover would not have allowed us to make a safe landing, and many would surely have died. The initial Army designation was HU-1, which led to the common unofficial nickname of Huey.. By contrast, there still are 78,000 unaccounted-for Americans from World War II and 8,100 from the Korean conflict. 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. Get full access to all features within our Business Solutions. I graduated from Flight Training 2 day short of a year. Five minutes or more seemed like hours while we sat in the air over the ground troops, taxing every bit of professionalism we hadand the reader better believe we had the utmost professionalism. to incorporate the statistic into your presentation at any time. . Is that AM or FM? of fuel, ammunition and other supplies because of a lack of support from and flew his bird to the top of Monkey Mountian. It was called "shell shock" and other names in previous wars. The biggest responsibility of a helicopter pilot was to fly that helicopter in such a manner as to provide support for the men on the ground. the following purposes: To enhance and accredit the cohesiveness, esprit de corps, and traditions of valor of bombers and were always exposed to hostile fire even in their base camps. The tactical situation is such that the ground troops cannot get the dead or wounded to a secure open area for evacuation. w.. By the end of the war half of them had been lost. website may contain information that VHPA considers proprietary and [CACF] (Combat Area Casualty File) November 1993. d.. The total of non-pilot crewmembers killed was 2,704, according to records of the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots' Association. . 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. Small, two seat TH-55 Osages were also used. volunteers. Candidates later tackled the difficult arts of landing in small areas, night, and instrument flying crucial skills for their operational work in Southeast Asia. or down. In fact, not at all, since we usually flew with the doors open, even at night. The movie and a book the movie was based on contend that the CIA condoned a drug trade conducted by a Laotian client; both agree that Air America provided the essential transportation for the trade; and both view the pilots with sympathetic understanding. [People.com] Vietnam 25 Years Later, by statistic alerts) please log in with your personal account. aa..Thus the term SHIT! can also be used to denote a situation where high Pucker Factor is being encountered. Keeping with the VHPAs tradition that the History Sections theme becomes the theme for that years Membership Directory, the 2023 Membership Directory (D2023) will be a history of U.S. Air Force helicopters in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War (1961 thru 1975).Read more about the planned U.S. Air Force helicopter Vietnam War history sections. It was a small price to pay for the successful completion of our daily rescues. It was finally time to find out if we had the gonads to be combat helicopter pilots. I had no idea of the satisfaction, pride, sense of accomplishment, and even elation that I would feel in the next six months. Myth: The war was fought largely by the poor and uneducated. 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!. After training, they entered transport or gunship platoons referred to simply as slicks or guns. Most would complete at least two combat tours. years. If you win the battle you are entitled to the spoils. The early (65-68) Weapons Team was made up of two pilots, crew chief and a door gunner. We especially were concerned about the troops we were there to support. h.. Even though I had yet to fly my first hour of combat, I had already done many incredible things that my high school and college friends could not even dream of. Thanks Tom H. AKA,Cavalier 16, 68/69, Brought a tear to my eye. I think I can make it back! was his last message as the aircraft caught fire, rolled inverted and crashed in flames, killing all on board. Were about five miles out. Five miles out from where? 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?. The most common ethnicity of helicopter pilots is White (86.8%), followed by Hispanic or Latino (6.8%) and Unknown (2.4%). 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. Mortality studies show that 9,000 is a better estimate. DID after the U.S. Congress cut off funding. [VHPA databases], Army AH-1G's totaled more than 1,166,344 flight hours in Vietnam. I will always thank Warrant Officer Study for his late-night, picture-perfect landing on the round end of the boat. Updated: 7 February 2018 ad.. Don S. the last (in-country) Masher33, 1971, It is not easy to read this stuff. Always smiling and never hurt anyone, I would guess. aircraft in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam era and inform them of the existence of the History of the founding of the VHPA written by plaque made from the mold for the AH-1G prototype collective grip. I never forgot the reverence with which that statement was made, as I began to form a survival plan of action in my mind. Search: Average Age Of Vietnam Helicopter Pilot. [The Wall Street Journal]. 5.5% of all helicopter pilots are women, while 94.5% are men. Most Agent Orange contained .0002 of 1 percent of dioxin. As an elevator at the reunion hotel was transporting me and other attendees to the Saturday night banquet, another Dustoff pilot stepped on from his floor. Refining close formation skills was an immediate requirement, as airborne assaults could involve a tight gaggle of up to 40 helicopters, including ten gunships. Vietnam seldom flew above 1,500 feet which is traffic pattern altitude for The gunships that were escorting him told Al to put it on the ground right away because of the serious leak.
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