Brian Abraham
11th Feb 2012, 06:31
During our time in Vietnam we lost a gunship and its crew of four in a particular action, best described by the wingman as follows,
On that Saturday, May 31, 1969, we were supporting the 9th ARVN with leap frogging insertions. The slicks had been busy all day, while the guns took turns - two at a time, covering the insertions. CPT ZZZZ crew and mine were at Ben Tre rearming and refueling when we heard that the slicks were taking fire while dropping off troops at the PZ. Several ships took rounds. "The AO was located near the city of Cai Lai about 20 km NW of Dong Tam, the 9th Division's base camp, across the river from Ben Tre island. There had been two eagle flight lifts of ARVN grunts and the fire teams were to provide close air support. "The two gunships on station in the AO at the time came under heavy fire. One of the co-pilots was wounded. The damaged aircraft all headed for Dong Tam to include the two gunships. ZZZZ and I immediately cranked-up and beat feet to the AO. "It was mass confusion by the time we arrived on station. The ARVN had mingled with VC and now they both were shooting at whatever aircraft they could. (Yes, you are reading this correct.) As the slicks dropped off the ARVN in the LZ, they would turn and fire at the aircraft. (Must have been something about being left in a hot LZ that pissed them off. It was easy to blame the Chopper crews.) "There were no Americans on the ground, yet our C&C aircraft advised us that we were to hold our fire and only to provide cover the slicks on their way out. But by the time we got to the area, we figured out our own rules of engagement. Our slicks were being shot up by the ARVN and we were taking fire from VC, who were all over the place. Of course, one of the C&C's back-seaters was the local ARVN colonel. "ZZZZ spotted Charlie first and immediately rolled in. The ground fire was tremendous, so we decided to come in from a different angle on the next run. As we circled to get in position, a large group of VC started running across a semi-open area. ZZZZ broke hard right and dove the ship toward them. By the time ZZZZ was set up on his run, most of the VC were in the tree-line firing up at us. However, there was this one who appeared determined to take on a Charlie Model gunship all by himself. He stopped, turned and began firing directly at ZZZZ. "I cannot say if ZZZZ was hit or not, but the aircraft flew straight into the ground taking out the one lone standing VC. I can say that the aircraft was repeatedly hit by the people in the tree line and very possibly by the lone VC. I did not hear any radio call. The aircraft and door gunners were firing all the way down. No one can ever say for sure, but it would be hard to believe that a gifted and seasoned helicopter pilot such as CPT ZZZZ would fly into the paddy unless mortally wounded. "The aircraft hit extremely hard on the chin bubble and just seemed to crush flat to the ground at that point. No bounce, just sort of crushed like clay. The fire was a terrific ball that immediately engulfed the entire aircraft. "As I orbited the crashed chopper, we watched in disbelief as a figure stood up and walked out through the boiling flames. I rolled around and then giving myself enough space for a 'flying approach,' we were able to land close to ZZZZ's chopper. "By the time we landed, just moments later, the aircraft and whatever was in it, was a burning black heap in a pile. Like I said the burning figure, YYYY, just walked out of it. He didn't bump into anything or even climb over nothing - there was nothing left. I know that the gunner and crew chief were burned in the crash with ZZZZ. The ammo on ZZZZ's aircraft was cooking off and exploding now, not to mention that there were still a lot of bad guys shooting at us from various positions in the tree-line. I was seated in the cockpit on the right as AC and I had landed my ship next to the crash on my side. I sent my door gunner out on the left to lay down a covering fire. He had the M-60 going to town with a 100 round belt draped over his shoulder. While the gunner surpressed, the crew chief ran out to the burned pilot - it was YYYY, the co-pilot. His Nomex was completely burned away. Nothing was left of his uniform or his boots except a small band around his waist where there had once been a belt and part of his flight helmet. There were no ears, eyes, hair, or facial features left. When the crew chief removed YYYY's helmet, he was to find that the foam liner had melted to his head. YYYY appeared to feel no pain. "I would pull the collective up under my armpit and pop the cyclic aft then forward in order to get the slids off the ground for a few moments. My co-pilot and I continued to fire miniguns every chance we found targets to keep Charlie's head down. I'd kick pedals and swing to the new target. I even fired off a few rockets from this modified hover. This modified hover consisted of pulling the aircraft off the ground and firing our weapons until the main rotor RPM would bleed off. "I remember the deafening noise in my helmet even with the radio headsets over my ears. I had all the radios going, the noise of the ammo blowing up, the firing of our weapons and that damned Low RPM warning buzzer continually going off. I had my hands full trying to get the aircraft up at a hover, that I was unable to take the time to reach up and pull the circuit breaker. You must remember, I was only able to get the aircraft to hover for a minute or two, because the gunner and crew chief were not on board. Once they were back on board and with the extra weight of YYYY - hovering was out of the question. I tried bouncing along trying to pick up airspeed. It was no use. I could see that we would not clear the tree-line and set it back down. We had a little bit of an open area behind us, but we could see bad guys all over the place. We did consider throwing stuff out in order to get light but then I heard CPT XXXX come on the air. CPT XXXX heard one of our calls and came to the rescue. He had been flying a spare slick down to the AO when all hell broke loose. CPT XXXX landed and we transferred YYYY to his ship, a empty UH-1H model, then we followed him out putting fire all underneath him until we both cleared the tree line. XXXX made a bee-line for the Dust-Off pad at the 9th Division MASH unit at Dong Tam and I returned to the rearm and refuel point."A look on the internet comes up short on the subject of target fixation, so I'm wondering if any of you mud movers can provide any information as it applies to your role.
You can PM me at babraham AT netspace.net.au
Many thanks.
On that Saturday, May 31, 1969, we were supporting the 9th ARVN with leap frogging insertions. The slicks had been busy all day, while the guns took turns - two at a time, covering the insertions. CPT ZZZZ crew and mine were at Ben Tre rearming and refueling when we heard that the slicks were taking fire while dropping off troops at the PZ. Several ships took rounds. "The AO was located near the city of Cai Lai about 20 km NW of Dong Tam, the 9th Division's base camp, across the river from Ben Tre island. There had been two eagle flight lifts of ARVN grunts and the fire teams were to provide close air support. "The two gunships on station in the AO at the time came under heavy fire. One of the co-pilots was wounded. The damaged aircraft all headed for Dong Tam to include the two gunships. ZZZZ and I immediately cranked-up and beat feet to the AO. "It was mass confusion by the time we arrived on station. The ARVN had mingled with VC and now they both were shooting at whatever aircraft they could. (Yes, you are reading this correct.) As the slicks dropped off the ARVN in the LZ, they would turn and fire at the aircraft. (Must have been something about being left in a hot LZ that pissed them off. It was easy to blame the Chopper crews.) "There were no Americans on the ground, yet our C&C aircraft advised us that we were to hold our fire and only to provide cover the slicks on their way out. But by the time we got to the area, we figured out our own rules of engagement. Our slicks were being shot up by the ARVN and we were taking fire from VC, who were all over the place. Of course, one of the C&C's back-seaters was the local ARVN colonel. "ZZZZ spotted Charlie first and immediately rolled in. The ground fire was tremendous, so we decided to come in from a different angle on the next run. As we circled to get in position, a large group of VC started running across a semi-open area. ZZZZ broke hard right and dove the ship toward them. By the time ZZZZ was set up on his run, most of the VC were in the tree-line firing up at us. However, there was this one who appeared determined to take on a Charlie Model gunship all by himself. He stopped, turned and began firing directly at ZZZZ. "I cannot say if ZZZZ was hit or not, but the aircraft flew straight into the ground taking out the one lone standing VC. I can say that the aircraft was repeatedly hit by the people in the tree line and very possibly by the lone VC. I did not hear any radio call. The aircraft and door gunners were firing all the way down. No one can ever say for sure, but it would be hard to believe that a gifted and seasoned helicopter pilot such as CPT ZZZZ would fly into the paddy unless mortally wounded. "The aircraft hit extremely hard on the chin bubble and just seemed to crush flat to the ground at that point. No bounce, just sort of crushed like clay. The fire was a terrific ball that immediately engulfed the entire aircraft. "As I orbited the crashed chopper, we watched in disbelief as a figure stood up and walked out through the boiling flames. I rolled around and then giving myself enough space for a 'flying approach,' we were able to land close to ZZZZ's chopper. "By the time we landed, just moments later, the aircraft and whatever was in it, was a burning black heap in a pile. Like I said the burning figure, YYYY, just walked out of it. He didn't bump into anything or even climb over nothing - there was nothing left. I know that the gunner and crew chief were burned in the crash with ZZZZ. The ammo on ZZZZ's aircraft was cooking off and exploding now, not to mention that there were still a lot of bad guys shooting at us from various positions in the tree-line. I was seated in the cockpit on the right as AC and I had landed my ship next to the crash on my side. I sent my door gunner out on the left to lay down a covering fire. He had the M-60 going to town with a 100 round belt draped over his shoulder. While the gunner surpressed, the crew chief ran out to the burned pilot - it was YYYY, the co-pilot. His Nomex was completely burned away. Nothing was left of his uniform or his boots except a small band around his waist where there had once been a belt and part of his flight helmet. There were no ears, eyes, hair, or facial features left. When the crew chief removed YYYY's helmet, he was to find that the foam liner had melted to his head. YYYY appeared to feel no pain. "I would pull the collective up under my armpit and pop the cyclic aft then forward in order to get the slids off the ground for a few moments. My co-pilot and I continued to fire miniguns every chance we found targets to keep Charlie's head down. I'd kick pedals and swing to the new target. I even fired off a few rockets from this modified hover. This modified hover consisted of pulling the aircraft off the ground and firing our weapons until the main rotor RPM would bleed off. "I remember the deafening noise in my helmet even with the radio headsets over my ears. I had all the radios going, the noise of the ammo blowing up, the firing of our weapons and that damned Low RPM warning buzzer continually going off. I had my hands full trying to get the aircraft up at a hover, that I was unable to take the time to reach up and pull the circuit breaker. You must remember, I was only able to get the aircraft to hover for a minute or two, because the gunner and crew chief were not on board. Once they were back on board and with the extra weight of YYYY - hovering was out of the question. I tried bouncing along trying to pick up airspeed. It was no use. I could see that we would not clear the tree-line and set it back down. We had a little bit of an open area behind us, but we could see bad guys all over the place. We did consider throwing stuff out in order to get light but then I heard CPT XXXX come on the air. CPT XXXX heard one of our calls and came to the rescue. He had been flying a spare slick down to the AO when all hell broke loose. CPT XXXX landed and we transferred YYYY to his ship, a empty UH-1H model, then we followed him out putting fire all underneath him until we both cleared the tree line. XXXX made a bee-line for the Dust-Off pad at the 9th Division MASH unit at Dong Tam and I returned to the rearm and refuel point."A look on the internet comes up short on the subject of target fixation, so I'm wondering if any of you mud movers can provide any information as it applies to your role.
You can PM me at babraham AT netspace.net.au
Many thanks.