Any of You Guys Ever Get Shot Down
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Join Date: May 2007
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Any of You Guys Ever Get Shot Down
Flew around I guess for years then one day bam. Shot out the inverters and guess what that does, two rounds underneath the PIC seat, one round 2" from the T/R gear box and four in the engine compartment. Armour plating saved most. Flew back to the LZ and my CO was waiting. Told him what happened and he asked me "Does your helo whistle in flight". Of course I had to say "Yes Sir".
This was all in a OH-58.
This was all in a OH-58.
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Almost.. One round went dead center through the tailboom and tailrotor driveshaft, 1/4 inch port or starboard and I don't think the driveshaft would've stayed at the required length. I (the heli) was only hit by two rounds, but during this target practice the AK's made a sound like I was flying through a hailstorm, but blue skies and sunshine everywhere. Some might say that's how He spotted me from above?
Now this is no ****.....there I was....at Night....IMC...Inverted...Air Medals hanging in my face...when I said to the Co-Pilot....time for a Kool....
Lots of Women have shot me down....in flames!
Lots of Women have shot me down....in flames!
Shall I bring a broom for the empty brass?
At but not down - gets your attention for sure.
At but not down - gets your attention for sure.
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Threatened plenty of times, learnt quickly about the difference between the sunny side and my side whilst operating in proximity of threat.
Sas's story reminds me of one of our illustrious drivers. In the pub at KU, spots this target and quickly comes to the point. Came the inevitable question from pretty femme, "Why?" -- 'Well cos I fly a helicopter.' -- "Well you can take your helicopter and f-off." Took a while to live it down.
Sas's story reminds me of one of our illustrious drivers. In the pub at KU, spots this target and quickly comes to the point. Came the inevitable question from pretty femme, "Why?" -- 'Well cos I fly a helicopter.' -- "Well you can take your helicopter and f-off." Took a while to live it down.
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Shot up but not down
That's what the company said.
2 rounds, hit the RPM Box, the MCP, and a passenger's a$$. Lots of red lights and lots of excitement.
I still have my flight bag with the hole in it. Great story if I decide to tell it....
Bell 212, tough bird :-)
So the question is, why are you asking?
2 rounds, hit the RPM Box, the MCP, and a passenger's a$$. Lots of red lights and lots of excitement.
I still have my flight bag with the hole in it. Great story if I decide to tell it....
Bell 212, tough bird :-)
So the question is, why are you asking?
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A few years ago, I took my Cobra in for some work at a vintage Ford shop. An old guy with dual hearing aids was doing the work while I waited. We got to talking (don't remember how we got on the subject) and told me about a time he was flying helicopters during the Vietnam war. He had just dropped off a team of Rangers when a SAM came his way shortly after departure. I don't remember him saying where he was hit (long before I traded hotrods for helicopters) but the explosion took out both his hearing and his helicopter.
He made OK (lone survivor), but when he climbed out he wreckage, everything was dead silent. He couldn't use a radio and his situational awareness was zero. When he told me how scared he was - I was there. Fortunately, the Rangers were not far off and they rescued him.
Don't know if his story was true, but if not - he did an awesome job of making it up. Didn't come off like a BSer.
He made OK (lone survivor), but when he climbed out he wreckage, everything was dead silent. He couldn't use a radio and his situational awareness was zero. When he told me how scared he was - I was there. Fortunately, the Rangers were not far off and they rescued him.
Don't know if his story was true, but if not - he did an awesome job of making it up. Didn't come off like a BSer.
I think I may hold an unofficial US Army Record....twice in one day....in Chinooks.
It made for an interesting last flying day on that deployment and provided for a scenic tour of some Army/Air Force facilities on the way home.
The ride home was in an OH-58A,a C-130, a C-141, a UH-1, another C-141, a Bus, and a C-9 with stops in Bien Hoa, Tan Son Nhut, Tokyo, Camp Zama Army Hosptial, Tokyo, Honolulu, Travis AFB, Dover AFB, Pope AFB, and finally Womack Army Hospital at Fort Bragg.
I recommend Tourist Class on China Airlines and American Airlines over the other method although being on a stretcher and pumped full of Demerol does make the trip a lot more comfortable.....but far more forgettable!
It made for an interesting last flying day on that deployment and provided for a scenic tour of some Army/Air Force facilities on the way home.
The ride home was in an OH-58A,a C-130, a C-141, a UH-1, another C-141, a Bus, and a C-9 with stops in Bien Hoa, Tan Son Nhut, Tokyo, Camp Zama Army Hosptial, Tokyo, Honolulu, Travis AFB, Dover AFB, Pope AFB, and finally Womack Army Hospital at Fort Bragg.
I recommend Tourist Class on China Airlines and American Airlines over the other method although being on a stretcher and pumped full of Demerol does make the trip a lot more comfortable.....but far more forgettable!
"Just a pilot"
At but not down.
Scariest hostile fire in my past was a result of getting lost, out of radar contact, and ignorantly flying through artillery. Stuff on the ground blowing up, didn't know where the gunline was, so went nap of the earth. Noticed several fit young men with AK47 as I flashed through them, me in a flare-ship Slick with the usual hard mount M60s and doors closed, dragging my skids through the paddies trying to get away from the incoming artillery. The mental light came on- Bad Guys, awake and very interested in stopping the artie! SO, I started jinking and praying, the tracers following, but no hits that I was aware of. Later, I found the single strike, 1 hole bottom of the main rotor near the tip, along and behind, and parallel the spar, out the top about 6 from the entrance. A little lower and that would have been straight up the engine hot end.
Funniest fire was at night, cross country, at altitude, when we took unanticipated light machine gun fire through the floor and alongside, with a Vietnamese ranger sitting on the ammo tray for the door mounted mini-gun. One of the hits came up between his feet as he sat on thousands of rounds of 7.62, which agitated him. His US counterpart thought that that was hilarious, and was laughing so hard that he couldn't immediately tell me what all the Vietnamese hollering was about. When he recovered his breath and could speak, he couldn't communicate because his microphone cord had been shot off the back of his helmet. He didn't think that funny, but everybody else did.
Funniest fire was at night, cross country, at altitude, when we took unanticipated light machine gun fire through the floor and alongside, with a Vietnamese ranger sitting on the ammo tray for the door mounted mini-gun. One of the hits came up between his feet as he sat on thousands of rounds of 7.62, which agitated him. His US counterpart thought that that was hilarious, and was laughing so hard that he couldn't immediately tell me what all the Vietnamese hollering was about. When he recovered his breath and could speak, he couldn't communicate because his microphone cord had been shot off the back of his helmet. He didn't think that funny, but everybody else did.
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To open you guys up. You know you really can't talk to your family and really can't talk to civy buddies. They don't get it. You can only talk to your helo buddies that went through the same chit no matter what branch or country where we did the same.
Wrenches my heart to this day having a 3 year old boy clinging to your leg and looking you in the eyes and saying "My dad fly helicopters". Poor kid didn't know his dad was shot down the day before. I was on leave at the time. CO asked me to go by.
Nothing like waking up and eating chow with 4 of your buddies and 45 min later there all dead. That was the first time. If I hear taps one more time.
I shoot pistol competition withuspsa and I met a News pilot that also flew off shore after flying 2 tours in Nam and he asked me how many hours I had and looked at me and said “Your no Pilot”. Damn I’ve been fling since 1976. I was pissed. Then I realized this guy has 20000 hrs.
You guys know what bugs me the most is not once did I ever was able to airlift a soldier to save a life.
Just reminiscing the past guys.
FT Hood early 90's
Wrenches my heart to this day having a 3 year old boy clinging to your leg and looking you in the eyes and saying "My dad fly helicopters". Poor kid didn't know his dad was shot down the day before. I was on leave at the time. CO asked me to go by.
Nothing like waking up and eating chow with 4 of your buddies and 45 min later there all dead. That was the first time. If I hear taps one more time.
I shoot pistol competition withuspsa and I met a News pilot that also flew off shore after flying 2 tours in Nam and he asked me how many hours I had and looked at me and said “Your no Pilot”. Damn I’ve been fling since 1976. I was pissed. Then I realized this guy has 20000 hrs.
You guys know what bugs me the most is not once did I ever was able to airlift a soldier to save a life.
Just reminiscing the past guys.
FT Hood early 90's
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Excitement in Eritrea!
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago…………….. (when I had hair LOL); I didn’t get shot down, but my pilot did. We were doing survey work in Northern Ethiopia, out of Asmara and this particular trip was down to Massawa on the coast and back again. The machine in question was an A/Bell 47J2, stripped of all the engine cowlings, with ‘elephant ears’ added to improve cooling for the engine 
(the significance of this will become apparent in a minute, be patient). The aircraft was painted in glistening white with a HUGE red cross on the belly to simulate an airborne ambulance, since we didn’t want the ‘dizzies’ (dissident tribesmen in Eritrea both then and now) shooting at us. WRONG! - the significance of the Red Cross was lost on them and provided a useful target. 
About half-way there all was uneventful and going just fine, albeit noisily as 47J2s normally are. My pilot reported two ‘cracks’ followed rapidly by an expletive from the Scandinavian surveyor (Nils) behind him, as he looked with astonishment at the torn map he had been holding up to orientate himself to the destination. That’s one bullet through the open cabin windows (in through one, out through the other).
The second bullet was considerably more serious. In through the port window (again) at an angle. Passed through the cabin rear bulkhead, forward s’steel fireshield for the LH fuel tank, through the tank skin, out through the inboard skin, then through the inboard s’steel firewall. And then what was left of its energy (not very much), bounced into the rotating scissors of the swashplate.
The upshot of this was Avgas pouring down over the open-ported exhaust
, but because of the ‘elephant ears’ absorbing airflow from the rear of the engine compartment, the mixture was too rich to ignite.
!
An immediate autorotation to the bush. The crew then found some form of transportation to a sleazy hotel bar in the middle of nowhere. The bar was adequately equipped with a plentiful supply of White Horse whisky. I received a drunken phone call later from my pilot who was pissed-off big time - two tours of Nam, strikes and damage but always got home. Then off he goes to do some African survey work, and gets shot down for his troubles…………….. 
Fly safe ~ VFR
(the significance of this will become apparent in a minute, be patient). The aircraft was painted in glistening white with a HUGE red cross on the belly to simulate an airborne ambulance, since we didn’t want the ‘dizzies’ (dissident tribesmen in Eritrea both then and now) shooting at us. WRONG! - the significance of the Red Cross was lost on them and provided a useful target. About half-way there all was uneventful and going just fine, albeit noisily as 47J2s normally are. My pilot reported two ‘cracks’ followed rapidly by an expletive from the Scandinavian surveyor (Nils) behind him, as he looked with astonishment at the torn map he had been holding up to orientate himself to the destination. That’s one bullet through the open cabin windows (in through one, out through the other).
The second bullet was considerably more serious. In through the port window (again) at an angle. Passed through the cabin rear bulkhead, forward s’steel fireshield for the LH fuel tank, through the tank skin, out through the inboard skin, then through the inboard s’steel firewall. And then what was left of its energy (not very much), bounced into the rotating scissors of the swashplate.
The upshot of this was Avgas pouring down over the open-ported exhaust
, but because of the ‘elephant ears’ absorbing airflow from the rear of the engine compartment, the mixture was too rich to ignite. ! An immediate autorotation to the bush. The crew then found some form of transportation to a sleazy hotel bar in the middle of nowhere. The bar was adequately equipped with a plentiful supply of White Horse whisky.
I received a drunken phone call later from my pilot who was pissed-off big time - two tours of Nam, strikes and damage but always got home. Then off he goes to do some African survey work, and gets shot down for his troubles…………….. Fly safe ~ VFR
Last edited by vfr440; 23rd Feb 2014 at 07:34. Reason: Paragraph-isation added!
