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Aircraft Recovery Number 21
It was mid-summer 1967. The 213th Black Cat operation received a
call, aircraft down. The 213th was an Assault Support Helicopter
Company stationed at PHU-LOI Vietnam. A UH-1 Huey was down by the Cambodian
border. It was late in the day and the sun was setting. The crew of aircraft
021, a CH-47 Chinook was on standby for aircraft recovery. They were given the
mission. After performing a quick
preflight inspection and all the weapons and ammo was loaded and mounted, a
five-man crew was on its way through the unfriendly sky to the PZ (pickup
zone). On the way to the PZ, I knew what was on everyone’s mind, night
recovery. This was not our first one. If you have to do a recovery, you hope it
isn’t at night. A CH-47 Chinook is fifty-one feet long and twelve feet wide.
Designed with six blades that has a span of sixty feet by one hundred feet and
equipped with two engines, it is BIG and LOUD flying across the night skies. We
also knew the Viet Cong would be expecting someone to retrieve the Wounded
Bird!
I
was the flight engineer. I took the right machine gun that night. McSween, our
gunner, took the left M-60 machine gun. Ray, the crew chief, was lying on his
steel vest peering down through the cargo hole, anticipating the hookup. The
pilots were in radio contact with the Huey gun ships that were securing the
pickup zone and rigging the downed helicopter. The call came back Black Cat 021
your package is ready for pick-up. We were coming in high over the PZ. You
could see the ship on the ground lit up by the spotlights from the circling gun
ships. The copper was located in a small clearing in the jungle. As the gun
ships continued circling around us, giving us cover, we made our final approach
over the downed aircraft. I was leaning out the door over the gun looking down
as the pilot turned on the spotlight. Ray directed the pilot over the load for
a quick hookup, it was a GO! We came UP and OUT of the PZ HOT, climbing as fast
as we could. The blades were pounding the night air. I called to the pilot-
turn off the LIGHT! THE LIGHT! Reply I WILL! We looked like a Holiday Inn
floating across the night sky! Again the LIGHT! Reply- WE’RE HIT! WE’VE BEEN
HIT! The light goes out. I’m looking; I can see no tracers coming from the
ground towards my side of the ship. The pilot still screams, WE’VE BEEN HIT! I
felt a sudden RISE in the ship! The pilot YELLED, WE’VE LOST THE LOAD, WE’VE
LOST THE LOAD. I looked down towards the ground hoping to see the UH-1 hit and
burst into flames upon impact. BLOW! BLOW! No such luck. The night stayed
black! If the aircraft would have blown up and burned there would be little
left for (Charlie). We proceeded to climb to around three thousand feet, then
leveled off. Ray and I walked around inside the ship, feeling the walls for
vibrations and looking for hydraulic fluid. Everything seemed to be ok. The
Question was, how many rounds were we hit by and where at? It seemed to be a
long flight back home that night. We had to get this ship on safe ground.
PHU-LOI would never look so good! Upon landing the pilots and crew inspected
the aircraft for damage. We located where one round had pierced the lower aft
section of the aircraft. The crew completed the post-flight inspection. We were
lucky that night!
We
topped off the evening by rehashing the night’s events at the Black Cat Lounge,
till last call.
The
next day, the talk around operations was the sling holding the UH-1 was shot
out from under us. Last night I didn’t notice any rigging on the cargo hook.
Must have been a lucky shot??
Now
when you look at the picture of the side of aircraft 021
you will count
thirty-one recoveries. Well, now you know why there is a red X over aircraft
recovery number 21. By the way for you former hookers- Ray, the crew chief,
DIDN’T pull the pin! LOL! This event was experienced by
Flight Engineer AC/ 021
213th
Assault Helicopter Co.
The BLACK CATS
FROM PHU-LOI