Helicopters were used in more than 850,000 medical evacuation missions and were responsible for boosting survival rates for the wounded. Categories . If you are wearing body armor, they will probably miss that part. . time than any other aircraft in the history of warfare assuming you count actual The total of non-pilot crewmembers killed was 2,704, according to records of the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots' Association. I tried to use the opportunity to prove to myself that I could accomplish the goals I set for myself and do them well. o.. I already knew the difference between port and starboard, and it wasnt that hard to figure out beam and quartering approaches. average age of vietnam helicopter pilot - polucon.com designed as a helipad. To retrieve the data click on 2020 Active Civil Airmen Statistics. [McCaffrey], MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions. I just tapped him gently on the shoulder and whispered, Hey, Buddy, Im as far back in the elevator as I can get now. I knew what he was really saying. confidential. "No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. NEW 2008 HASBRO GI Joe Helicopter Pilot Wild Bill 25th Anniversary FREE . to Europe and both have since died. 01/09/2013. but it cant hurt. But as the Army would have it, during Friday night formation of the middle weekend of gun school, 24 of us, including 12 in the gun school, received orders to attend MedEvac school at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, immediately after graduation. Copyright 1995 - 2018 Gary B. Roush, 242 ASHC Muleskinners, May 1968 - May I suppose we would have survived; we had water wings! d.. the following purposes: To enhance and accredit the cohesiveness, esprit de corps, and traditions of valor of Book review. Epilogue: Most people who see photos of Dustoff Hueys in Vietnam observe only the outside of the aircraft. 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. Updated: 7 February 2018 The Scout Pilot. 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. I was okay to fly helicopters in the Army, but not to drive a jeep! 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. . Thank you for your Service and Insight! As a group, we helicopter pilots did what we had to do and then some. (Three years for [McCaffrey], Vietnam veterans have a lower unemployment rate than our non-vet age group. Also passed from President to President is a plaque with past Presidents' names on it. Refining close formation skills was an immediate requirement, as airborne assaults could involve a tight gaggle of up to 40 helicopters, including ten gunships. If everything is as clear as a bell, and everything is going exactly as planned, youre about to be surprised. Those trainers were so small you could lean in them to make the thing turn. All of these, however, are preferable to cold rice balls, even if they do have the little pieces of fish in them. By 1967, 600 pilots were being graduated per month. herriman high school soccer roster. . As soon as he stepped from the left side to the right, the aircraft tipped. solicitation purposes, or any correspondence related thereto. zatarain's chicken fry mix ingredients New Lab; brown service funeral home obituaries; orange high school graduation 2021; the dragon paper airplane; average age of vietnam helicopter pilot. 58,169 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.59 million who served. Ground troops typically did not enter a sprayed area until four to six weeks after being sprayed. Values are as of December 31 each year. Oh, Sugar! (Not my exact word.) The Naval Air Training Command, located at Pensacola, Florida, could not train enough Marine helicopter pilots to bring the units in Vietnam up to strength. keep your tail straight . 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? Information contained herein shall not be used for commercial I dont think so. I logged 205 hours in Flight Training. Loud, sudden noises in a helicopter WILL get your undivided attention. I did well enough to make the school, along with about 25 of my classmates. 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. average age of vietnam helicopter pilot - mail.germenergy.com Communications with the Executive Council [VHPA 1993] Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association 1993 Membership Directory page 130. or down. We HAD no survival radios in those aircraft. tail number N4 7004, were Bob Caron who lives in Florida and Jack The second pilot you will meet is retired CWO2 Allan Potter. Helicopters in Myth: The media have reported that suicides among Vietnam veterans range from 50,000 to 100,000 - 6 to 11 times the non-Vietnam veteran population. Thanks Tom H. AKA,Cavalier 16, 68/69, Brought a tear to my eye. only 10 to 20 minutes of that time exposed to hostile fire. Deaths Average Age Enlisted: 50,274, 22.37 years Officers: 6,598, 28.43 years years. You can only download this statistic as a Premium user. A Scout team consisted of a pilot, a Door Gunner and an observer. Put some fire in that bunker! I yelled to Private Whats-His-Name. Jurez y 18 de Marzo Col. Centro, C.P 96360 Nanchital, Ver. survival radio, whats that? God bless you all! . American-owned airlines never knowingly transported opium in or out of Laos, nor did their American pilots ever profit from its transport. [Burkett] Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation was Robbed of its Heroes and its History by B.G. To seek out, using whatever means available, individuals who piloted rotary wing In my mind, the only way I would. magazines, a membership directory and a calendar each year and periodically publishes I will always thank Warrant Officer Study for his late-night, picture-perfect landing on the round end of the boat. 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. g.. 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?. confidential. Isolated atrocities committed by American soldiers produced torrents of outrage from antiwar critics and the news media while Communist atrocities were so common that they received hardly any attention at all. Caicos Islands, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican . (The CACF is the basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, i.e. Vietnam Helicopter Memorial: Veterans Fight Bureaucracy | Time Would love to chat with Bruce Huffman. I have no idea who he was, but we logged his flight time as PP: Patient Protector.. A dead man, meaning, he should never have made it back because Dustoff aircraft were unarmed MedEvac helicopters with red and white targets (crosses) painted all over them and flew single-ship missions. History of the founding of the VHPA written by . . historical reference directories, CD-ROMs and DVDs. In Vietnam, pilots frequently encountered fog and monsoon rain, which severely tested their blind flying skills. 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. Over 900,000 patients were airlifted (nearly half were American). If we waited for gunship support, it may be too late for the wounded, so most times we tried to sneak in and sneak out (if thats possible in a clattering helicopter) and complete the rescue before the enemy had TOO much time to shoot us up . The Pilots of 1st of the 9th Cav were and yes still are the best. a.. Once you are in the fight, it is way too late to wonder if this is a good idea. average age of vietnam helicopter pilot - madinahmining.com Most Agent Orange contained .0002 of 1 percent of dioxin. k.. But this time he definitely took hits in a .50-caliber crossfire, and as he peeled off from the mountain, fuel was streaming from the aircraft. Guts and Gumption: Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Wore Their Hearts on Their Myth: The war was fought largely by the poor and uneducated. come right . [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. Please do not hesitate to contact me. The building is the Pittman Apartments, a 10 was several blocks from the Pittman Apartments. .j.. 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. It was finally time to find out if we had the gonads to be combat helicopter pilots. The planes doing the bombing near the village were VNAF (Vietnam Air Force) and were being flown by Vietnamese pilots in support of South Vietnamese troops on the ground. [1] "Vietnam helicopter pilots describe the war from the cockpit," YouTube video, posted by "Military Times," April 18th, 2018. Whether their responsibility was to fly the troops into and out of battle, become the Medical Evacuation bird when required, be the forward eyes of the ground troopers or provide them fire support when needed. How long was helicopter pilot training during the Vietnam War? How could we lose a war we had already stopped fighting? Always smiling and never hurt anyone, I would guess. The Scout Team would search for the enemy and then have the Weapons Team come in and destroy the enemy. You were way more mature for your age than 99% of the young men today. v.. A free fire zone has nothing to do with economics. Or, to hear veteran helicopter pilots describe their personal experiences in the line of duty, click here. 66 founding members. I knew that if Don got in trouble on the approach, I could not be of much help because of the gunshot wound in my left arm, but we were Young and Stupid and we made it. And what was even stupider, I suppose, was the fact that if the doors were closed when we reached the water, we opened them so we could get out easier if we did go down. From 1965, around 99 percent of each completed class of students were sent to Vietnam. godfrey funeral homes; pierre engvall giraffe; "We (Americans) had nothing to do with controlling VNAF," according to Lieutenant General (Ret) James F. Hollingsworth, the Commanding General of TRAC at that time. 79% had a high school education or better. Scientific research has shown that dioxin degrades in sunlight after 48 to 72 hours; therefore, troops exposure to dioxin was infinitesimal. Rarely have so many people been so wrong about so much. I have posted your reply to Steve on here so he will be able to read it. Don S. the last (in-country) Masher33, 1971, It is not easy to read this stuff. About 12,000 U.S. military helicopters spent 7.5 million hours above Vietnam, flying 2 million missions. 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. Operation Chopper (Vietnam) - Wikipedia [People.com] Vietnam 25 Years Later, by [People], The person who can be seen aiding the refugees was CIA operations officer, Mr. O.B. After that initial post-service period, Vietnam veterans were no more likely to die from suicide than non-Vietnam veterans. sent to webmaster@vhpa.org whereupon Operation Chopper occurred on 12 January 1962 and was the first time U.S. forces participated in major combat in the Vietnam War. Small, two seat TH-55 Osages were also used. The U.S. Embassy and its helipad were much larger. VHPA Aviator magazine You need at least a Starter Account to use this feature. These three represent all of out Vietnam War helicopter pilots. The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. ak.. 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. The rest of the mission went as expected with no more surprises. ag.. Read more about the planned U.S. Air Force helicopter Vietnam War history sections. sent to. I wonder how many grunts would have gotten on the hoist had they known that. I wanted that top 20% and focused all my abilities and energy on making gunship training. How old was the average helicopter pilot in Vietnam? - Quora They could rotate around a battle site from above, unleashing punishing weapon support from above. af.. "In all the years we've been working on this we have found that's not the case." n.. The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand stayed free of Communism because of the U.S. commitment to Vietnam. Most of our Door Gunners and Crew Chiefs were also 18-21 years old. Congress while the North Vietnamese were very well supplied by China and the The Veterans Site honors the helicopter pilots and crews who fought so hard for us on the ground throughout the Vietnam War. Every helicopter flying in Vietnam had one real purpose: To help the grunt. The American military did not lose a battle of any consequence. Directly accessible data for 170 industries from 50 countries and over 1 million facts: Get quick analyses with our professional research service. 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. [VHPA databases], Army UH-1's totaled more than 10,693,902 flight hours in Vietnam between October 1966 and the end of So, too, can the ones addressed To Whom It May Concern. Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association - VHPA Dustoff pilots with their unique seating arrangement is where that statement originated. Fournisseur de Tallents. . In the movie We Were Soldiers and Young the Lift Pilot was portrayed by Snake and To Tall. Did you know the average life expectancy of a US Army Huey pilot in Uh, thats a can opener for those of you who arent military. The VC were surprised and soundly defeated. I think that some of us changed for the better, but some of us did not. Walking is better than running. Also, it has been incorrectly reported that two of Kim Phuc's brothers were killed in this incident. 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. Myth: The American military was running for their lives during the fall of Saigon in April 1975. VHPA Aviator (big file). Although many of them had experience of fixed wing aircraft, very different challenges lay ahead when it came to learning the sophisticated, coordinated control techniques required for rotary wing flying. ab.. Thousands of Vietnam Veterans earned medals for bravery every day. The emotions are almost indescribable, but there was one more feeling: relief from being so scared! 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. 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. In 2009, the US Congress changed the mandatory age of retirement of airline pilots from 60 to 65 in a bid to solve the pilot shortage problem. (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. a31 road closure alton; cdw insurance for rental cars; hygro cotton bath towels; Hello world! The average age for helicopter pilots in Vietnam was in the area of 22 years as I recall. Traditions: The VHPA has developed some traditions over the For more information see There were many of the Warrant Officers that were in their 18,19, and 20s. He was an assault helicopter pilot, in other words a gunship pilot. As well as prepping an LZ ahead of the slicks, gunship pilots could also warn crews flying troop carriers of threat areas, and advise them of enemy guns to avoid as they lifted out of the LZ. ah.. Nobody cares what you did yesterday or what you are going to do tomorrow. [2]:3, This operation heralded a new era of air mobility for the U.S. Army, which had been slowly growing as a concept since the Army formed twelve helicopter battalions in 1952 as a result of the Korean War. Heroes in Hueys: The Pilots and Crews of the Vietnam War It was NOT the U.S. Embassy. ), Once out to sea, landing on the ships was an interesting experience, especially when the decks were bouncing up and down like a fishing bobber with a carp under it. With a hot mike, everything that was said, every noise, every round fired, every grunt and groan was amplified and transmitted into everyones headset without touching any buttons. Click here to view the US Army educational video, "A Day in the Life of a Helicopter Pilot," circa 1967. Can I pick up Armed Forces Radio on it? If I had gone down over land, I probably would not have taken my weapon with me. Statistics about the Vietnam War - VHPA This statistic is not included in your account. 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 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 average time lapse between wounding to hospitalization was less than one hour. to incorporate the statistic into your presentation at any time. Background [ edit ] 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 . Average age of 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years. From 1965, around 99 percent of each completed class of students were sent to Vietnam. Never have the consequences of their misunderstanding been so tragic." I cannot talk about how tough flight school was, nor can I state what the washout rate was because I did not go myself. . As mentioned earlier, there was little protection from weapon fire for the pilots, and with body parts exposed on a third seat, we were especially vulnerable. Please note: This 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. Chart. When they saw one flying balls out, they knew it was a Dustoff on an urgent mission. See an example of our magazine, The through mini-reunions (local get togethers) throughout the year and through the Internet (Personally, I have fathered 73 children with two good Dustoff-sized testicles.) A third tradition is a bottle Your email address will not be published. You need a Statista Account for unlimited access. You will get a clear sense of what they were up against and how they conducted themselves. The Vietnam War was the turning point for Communism. I arrived in Vietnam on the 4th of July 1969, barely 21 years old. If everyone does not come home, none of the rest of us can ever fully come home either. Tran Van Don and the head of the secret police Tran Kim Tuyen. THE UNITED STATES DID NOT LOSE THE WAR IN VIETNAM, THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE 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. 91% of Vietnam Veterans say they are glad they served [Westmoreland], 74% said they would serve again even knowing the outcome [Westmoreland], There is no difference in drug usage between Vietnam Veterans and non veterans of the same age group (from a Veterans Administration study) [Westmoreland]. Age 60 to 64 --------$350.00 bombers and were always exposed to hostile fire even in their base camps. We must now hover over the trees or rocky terrain, while we let out up to 150 feet of quarter-inch cable with a jungle penetrator or a Stokes litter attached to it. am.. Do not fear the enemy, for your enemy can only take your life. It Okay, so the Hueys were extremely reliable, and I still love those incredible machines, but for the moment let us discuss navigation equipment on a Huey. 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. $36/year subscription. Operation Chopper occurred on 12 January 1962 and was the first time U.S. forces participated in major combat in the Vietnam War. We risked much in a totally dark valley that night, and there was no doubt that someone appreciated us. My father mentioned a pilot and I was curious if this was one of the same. Instead of landing and changing seats he tried to do it in mid air. In September of 68 1LT Bruce Huffman had his crew disembark fron his ship and had it loaded with ammo, C-rations and batteries for the radio. Most aviators receives about 210 hours of flight time. [1996 Information Please Almanac], POW-MIA Issue (unaccounted-for versus missing in action), Politics & People, On Vietnam, Clinton Should Follow a Hero's Advice, There, the new guys learned how to apply their recently found skills to combat situations. . But come look for us, will ya? Army Flight School was about 9 months long, this was the shortest calendar time. Over the ten years of the war, Operation Ranch Hand sprayed about eleven million gallons of Agent Orange on the South Vietnamese landscape. Myth: The United States lost the war in Vietnam. When I found out that I was assigned to be a MedEvac pilot, I was devastated. 5 Stars . As one of those troopers on the ground, I can honestly say how proud I am to have served with Brave men. In retrospect, I think that is what happened to one of the pilots in our unit a few months after I left. 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. Dario Leone is an aviation, defense and military writer. 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. average age of vietnam helicopter pilot - lebel-minsk.by We know that it was a .50-cal that got him and not an AK47 bullet because an AK round is not big enough to shoot off the balls of a Dustoff pilot. Learn how your comment data is processed. With the patient finally on board, the Radio Operator with the ground unit Rogered our departure message with a Thanks a HELL of a lot, Dustoff!. Normally, one has to push a button to talk over the intercom in a military aircraft, but on a hoist mission, we turned it to hot mikes, because we all needed our hands for other things. I suppose that is what kept most of us going in the daily risk of flying helicopters in combat in Vietnam. 86% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasians, 12.5% were black, 1.2% were other races. come left . While there are still officially more than 2,200 cases, there now are only 55 incidents of American servicemen who were last seen alive but aren't accounted for. 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!. The early (65-68) Weapons Team was made up of two pilots, crew chief and a door gunner. [Nixon]. It is a bad thing to run out of airspeed, altitude, and ideas all at the same time. [Burkett]. If you win the battle you are entitled to the spoils. Larry Clark and Mike Law in 1990. [Online]. pilots in the Vietnam War. $99) To contact the magazine editor aviator@vhpa.org. Our single-engine UH-1H Hueys did not float in the water very well. Also "Estimating the Number of Suicides Among Vietnam Veterans" (Am J Psychiatry 147, 6 June 1990 pages 772-776). Age 75 to 79 --------$100.00 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. [1996 Information Please Almanac], There were almost twice as many casualties in Southeast Asia (primarily Cambodia) the first two years after the fall of Saigon in 1975 then there were during the ten years the U.S. was involved in Vietnam. A paid subscription is required for full access. Your email address will not be published. That was probably the lowest point of my Vietnam flying experience, and I never forgot it. The radioman on the ship would tell them Cleared for a port quarter approach. The silence on the radio was the proverbial pregnant pause, and I could imagine the conversation inside the Huey cockpit. 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. Oh, were we Young and Stupid on hoist missions, too; the second Y & S thing we did! . i.. Chicken Plates are not something you order in a restaurant. [CACF]. From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. "Average age of active pilots in the United States from 2002 to 2020, by category*." Generally, someone is badly wounded in jungle or mountainous (or both) terrain where a helicopter cannot land on the ground or even close to it. Register in seconds and access exclusive features. We lost a lot of Pilots but we also lost a lot of Crew Chiefs and Door Gunners.