average age of vietnam helicopter pilot

Please do not hesitate to contact me. looking good. Most aviators receives about 210 hours of flight time. its on the ground . keep your tail straight . [The Wall Street Journal]. They also acted as the means of supply of ammunitions, equipment and food. (The CACF is the basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, i.e. who is now retired in Arizona. t.. By 1967, 600 pilots were being graduated per month. Many of these brave men went from High School to Flight School. I graduated from Flight Training 2 day short of a year. 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. VHPA and encourage all eligible individuals to become members. The fall of Saigon happened 30 April 1975, two years AFTER the American military left Vietnam. I already knew the difference between port and starboard, and it wasnt that hard to figure out beam and quartering approaches. 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). My opinion is that he was as afraid that he could not complete the mission, as much as he was afraid to die. We especially were concerned about the troops we were there to support. Translation: There are bad guys all around, weve got wounded, get in here NOW before they die or we have more wounded, and you have to come back again. Were about five miles out. Five miles out from where? 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. I did well enough to make the school, along with about 25 of my classmates. There walks a dead man. Categories . Hot garrison chow is better than hot C-rations which, in turn, is better than cold C-rations which, in turn, is better than no food at all. 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. 66 founding members. Although I was sworn to secrecy at the time, with the Freedom of Information Act, I believe that I can now break the silence. Annual car sales worldwide 2010-2022, with a forecast for 2023, Number of cars sold in the U.S. 1951-2021, Battery electric vehicles in use worldwide 2016-2021, Annual gas prices in the United States 1990-2021, Automotive industry worldwide - statistics & facts, Motorcycle industry in the United States - statistics & facts, Profit from additional features with an Employee Account. Restraining the military in Vietnam in hindsight probably prevented a nuclear war with China or Russia. address changes for the directory and use the comments form to It is a bad thing to run out of airspeed, altitude, and ideas all at the same time. . Read the latest issue of the Friends of the Vietnam Center Newsletter and subscribe to recieve future newsletters. [Nixon] No More Vietnams by Richard Nixon. It was a "civilian" (Air America) Huey not Army or Marines. [Nixon], The Vietnam War has been the subject of thousands of newspaper and magazine articles, hundreds of books, and scores of movies and television documentaries. The last American troops departed in their entirety 29 March 1973. .j.. Membership is open to all helicopter pilots who flew in come left . It was NOT the U.S. Embassy. Operation Chopper occurred on 12 January 1962 and was the first time U.S. forces participated in major combat in the Vietnam War. They will always be our heroes, our Angels in the Sky.. Our single-engine UH-1H Hueys did not float in the water very well. The tactical situation is such that the ground troops cannot get the dead or wounded to a secure open area for evacuation. $99) To contact the magazine editor aviator@vhpa.org. I arrived in Vietnam on the 4th of July 1969, barely 21 years old. 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. volunteers. We all volunteered to do something that only a year or two before we could not have even dreamed that we would be doingsomething that only a very few could ever experience; something for which only a very few could even qualify. average age of vietnam helicopter pilot. Profit from the additional features of your individual account. advertising and other information. It has been said many times by Navy and Marine jet pilots that landing on an aircraft carrier is like landing on a postage stamp. reunion. Myth: Most Vietnam veterans were drafted. I have got to pass this on to an Aussie friend of mine, Ian. The longer you stare at the gauges the less time it takes them to move from green to red. As a Premium user you get access to the detailed source references and background information about this statistic. Required fields are marked *. However, these same 18-year-old young men attended flight school and were given responsibility to operate a multi million dollar helicopter. We fought to an agreed stalemate. Correspondence relating to commercial purposes or solicitations shall only be [Houk] Testimony by Dr. Houk, Oversight on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, 14 July 1988 page 17, Hearing before the Committee on Veterans' Affairs United States Senate one hundredth Congress second session. They gave us classes on what altitudes to fly to avoid certain types of enemy fire small arms or 0.51 cal. Thanks for posting the memories. Dustoff pilots with their unique seating arrangement is where that statement originated. * Includes pilots with an airplane and/or a helicopter and/or a glider and/or a gyroplane certificate. Dario Leone is an aviation, defense and military writer. Operation Chopper occurred on 12 January 1962 and was the first time U.S. forces participated in major combat in the Vietnam War. Vietnam Veterans were the best educated forces our nation had ever sent into combat. In addition to an annual reunion held around July 4th, members keep in touch informally Learn more about how Statista can support your business. The platform is the top of the elevator shaft for the building and was not By Phil Marshall, DMZ Dustoff 711, 237th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance) Camp Evans and Quang Tri, Vietnam 1969, published in Association of Naval Aviation, Cape Fear Seahawk Newsletter, July 2012, Vol. sent to webmaster@vhpa.org whereupon [Online]. Army Flight School was about 9 months long, this was the shortest calendar time. It was an average age for most of the other Army helicopter pilots I flew with in the 237th Medical Detachment in northern I Corps near the DMZ. Show publisher information When I read the quickly handwritten sheet for this particular mission, I knew before we left that it was going to be an insecure hoist. Company pick-up truck, I was told I didnt pass the depth perception portion of the eye test and would not be issued the license. I have to take one thing back. . If so glad to know youre well. Thank you. Many men volunteered for the draft so even some of the draftees were actually You will get a sense of what that was like from listening to his stories. History of the founding of the VHPA written by So, were we really Young and Stupid? In fact, we all did well. What is important is what you are doing-NOW-to solve our problem. "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. I think that some of us changed for the better, but some of us did not. For the latter, a specially equipped H-13 had optional blanked out external vision. I wont make it back.. has no political agenda as is our brother organization, The Vietnam Helicopter The incident in the photo took place on the second day of a three day battle between the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) who occupied the village of Trang Bang and the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) who were trying to force the NVA out of the village. Event date is used instead of declared dead date for some of those who were listed as missing in action). The DA-4733-DSC should not be confused with the much more common DA-4734-GSTT (Gunship Sized Tiny Testicles), where other pilots made up for their lack of size with big guns and big wrist watches. The VC were surprised and soundly defeated. Being scared in the sense of risking ones life for others, for sure, but also a sense of being scared that you will not be up to the standards of your fellow pilots. The third seat was for our testicles. [People.com] Vietnam 25 Years Later, by Please note: This b.. 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. ai.. survive the 365 days in Southeast Asia was to be a gunship pilot, blazing my way back to the states, defending myself with mini-guns, rockets, and grenade launchers. The second pilot you will meet is retired CWO2 Allan Potter. (the herbicide was called "orange" in Vietnam, not Agent Orange. Reunion dates and locations have been announced for the following units: The latest quarterly issue has the agenda and registration details for Vietnam War conference scheduled for March 2-4, 2023 that will focus on the year 1973: The Paris Peace Accords and the Allied Withdrawal from South Vietnam Also included are updates on the Oral History Project and volunteer opportunities.Stay in touch and help us preserve your legacy. Walking is better than running. . The average time lapse between wounding to hospitalization was less than one hour. When called upon, a Pilot did not wait for approval from his crew, becuse he knew his crew would never say No. . We will never forget you, or the sound of your rotor blades off in the distance, coming to our aid. Even then, there could be no guarantee that the slicks would be able to land and then depart without being targeted by enemy fire. If we didnt do it, the next guy would, and we would have been found to be personally lacking what it took to complete the mission. From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 South Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. of what you can do online at https://www.vhpa.org/memhelp.htm#ODA, To preserve the legacy of all Vietnam Helicopter Pilots, an endowment Myth: Kim Phuc, the little nine year old Vietnamese girl running naked from the napalm strike near Trang Bang on 8 June 1972, was burned by Americans bombing Trang Bang. applies to subscribers): Age 80 and above ---$75.00 If everyone does not come home, none of the rest of us can ever fully come home either. When they saw one flying balls out, they knew it was a Dustoff on an urgent mission. THE UNITED STATES DID NOT LOSE THE WAR IN VIETNAM, THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE Would love to chat with Bruce Huffman. The average age of the 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. 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. Don S. the last (in-country) Masher33, 1971, It is not easy to read this stuff. No this is Pat Bieneman I am the owner of this site. I would NOT fly unarmed helicopters! Tran Van Don and the head of the secret police Tran Kim Tuyen. The others on board simply assumed he was also headed for dinner, but I knew the true meaning of his statement. As they entered a one year combat tour, many pilots heard the ominous rumor that the average life expectancy of a US Army Aviator helicopter pilot in combat was only 19 minutes. On one particularly difficult night MedEvac in the mountains, all our windows fogged up as we dropped from 7,000 feet through a hole in the clouds to pick up a Soldier with a head wound. The Scout Pilot. The pilots and crews of these helicopters were heroes, one and all. He fell right through the rotor blades. The most common ethnicity of helicopter pilots is White (82.0%), followed by Hispanic or Latino (6.8%), Unknown (5.5%) and Asian (2.7%). (One has to realize that there was virtually no protection for the pilots from the front and little from the sides or underneath.) When we, as students, first began training in Hueys at Ft. Rucker, Alabama, our Instructor Pilots (IPs) were required to fill out a Department of the Army (DA) form if our testicles were too big to fit comfortably in the standard front seat of a Huey. No matter what the enemy threw at them, they never backed down. Warrant Officer Candidates (WOCs) then progressed to Fort Rucker, Alabama, or, from 1967, Hunter Army Airfield at Fort Stewart, Georgia, for advanced flight training and instrument flight instruction. More realities about war: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - it was not invented or unique to Vietnam Veterans. Parameters for authorizing operating a US Navy submarine reactor plant above practicable design limits is Read More, Additionally, 1.3 million of those five million flight hours were accomplished during combat. submit other directory changes and updates. [Westmoreland], 97% were discharged under honorable conditions; the same percentage of honorable discharges as ten years prior to Vietnam [Westmoreland], 85% of Vietnam Veterans made a successful transition to civilian life. to Europe and both have since died. Their stories are extremely compelling. [Nixon]. come right . Both immigrated There is only one rule in war: When you win, you get to make up the Nighttime was even worse. [McCaffrey], Vietnam veterans have a lower unemployment rate than our non-vet age group. After training, they entered transport or gunship platoons referred to simply as slicks or guns. Most would complete at least two combat tours. come forward just a little . . was typical of the continual commentary from the enlisted crew members. I made a pedal turn (U-turn) about 200 feet in the air, probably over some bad guys, and hovered back in over the trees. You will get a clear sense of what they were up against and how they conducted themselves. bombers and were always exposed to hostile fire even in their base camps. website may contain information that VHPA considers proprietary and November 14th, 2013 at 5:45 pm Dave Shannon (crewmember, 92nd AHC) Says: I always liked the subdued look of combat zone attire, as opposed to anything shiny or glittery. In other words, it took a man with a huge pair of Brass Balls but with the ability to know when to use them but with the brains to know when to hold them. It was a well known (and very true) fact that during an emergency exit from an aircraft, if you dont have it strapped to your body, you wont take it with you. Myth: The United States lost the war in Vietnam. 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. years. We lost a lot of Pilots but we also lost a lot of Crew Chiefs and Door Gunners.

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