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Old 2nd Aug 2021, 13:51
  #21 (permalink)  
SASless
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Downeast
Age: 75
Posts: 18,290
Received 516 Likes on 215 Posts
Not to be thought playing in a I can beat that game....but I can with the caveat that my story relates to combat action.

We frequently flew over a small valley between a pair of smallish sized ridges....not very high or long.....that had a nice flat pretty perfect makings of a perfect place to land a flight of helicopters.....too perfect as it turned out.

It was called "34 Valley".

The reason....seven derelict USMC H-34 helicopters were still there in staggered trail formation....where they had been shot to pieces during a Combat Assault earlier in the war and been abandoned due to their condition.

The opposition understood what made for the perfect landing zone in their Area of Operations and once realizing the possibility prepared a warm welcome for our arrivals.

Bear in mind...that was one day, one sortie of helicopters to a single location by one Squadron....no doubt there were other aircraft losses in the rest of the two Vietnams and Laos.

Frequently we over flew the wrecks of helicopters and airplanes that had. been lost and left where they were found....far too many just disappeared along with their crews.

Those were not the good old days at all.
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