It is unfortunate that many helicopters never had the opportunity to fulfill their one true mission in life, simply because someone forgot this fact. However, these same 18-year-old young men attended flight school and were given responsibility to operate a multi million dollar helicopter. Please support The Veterans Site by adding us to your ad blockers whitelist ads help us to provide food and supplies to veterans. Drinking and how not to get caught. Information contained herein shall not be used for commercial [People]. 5.5% of all helicopter pilots are women, while 94.5% are men. . Decisions made by someone above you in the chain-of-command will seldom be in your best interest. Many times when either our troopers on the ground or another unit was facing enemy fire these brave men would come in with weapons blazing either destroying the enemy or allowing the ground troops to attain and then maintain superior fire power. Your email address will not be published. Here are some facts to clear up that poor job of reporting by the news media. We took no hits on that mission, and as we lifted out of the landing zone, the fact that we cheated death again left me with all the exciting feelings I mentioned at the beginning of this article. In the movie We Were Soldiers and Young the Lift Pilot was portrayed by Snake and To Tall. Please do not hesitate to contact me. [McCaffrey] Speech by Lt. Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, (reproduced in the Pentagram, June 4, 1993) assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to Vietnam veterans and visitors gathered at "The Wall", Memorial Day 1993. [Nixon] Atrocities - every war has atrocities. Both immigrated 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. Operation Chopper occurred on 12 January 1962 and was the first time U.S. forces participated in major combat in the Vietnam War. 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. There, the new guys learned how to apply their recently found skills to combat situations. After the first of the two injured soldiers was hoisted on board, the din of the covering fire began to register in my head. . Thank you for your service. Mailing Address: It is a bad thing to run out of airspeed, altitude, and ideas all at the same time. (Three years for I used to laugh at the occasional Huey slick driver who flew out to let guys from his unit use the shopping facilities on the ships. rotary wing aircrews that flew in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam Era. "Average Age of Active Pilots in The United States from 2002 to 2020, by Category*. I have no idea who he was, but we logged his flight time as PP: Patient Protector.. The further you fly into the mountains, the louder the strange engine noises become. Publi le 12 juin 2022 par . When the Army decided to use helicopters as the Eyes, Protection and Horses of the 1st Cavalry Division, men both young and older were chosen to become pilots. From 1965, around 99 percent of each completed class of students were sent to Vietnam. Although the percent who died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. $36/year subscription. We thank God for these pilots and crews who fearlessly went into our hell on our behalf day in and day out, during the Vietnam War. Book review. Boeing and Read More, I will say this - and I know a lot of other Navy guys that Read More, The Defense Security Cooperation Agency has not specified whether the weapons are intended for Taiwans Read More, Models of the F-19 Stealth Fighter started to appear in the eighties and were available Read More, The USAF plans to begin production in fiscal 2025, with the first E-7A expected to Read More, UH-1 Huey Gunship Vs NVA/VC Forces Vietnam 1962-75, Boeing, US Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopters Achieve 5 Million Flight Hours, Equivalent to Flying nonstop for more than 208,333 Days or 570 Years and Nine Months, Taiwan to get 100 AGM-88B HARM missiles and 200 AIM-120C-8 missiles for its F-16 fleet, USAF awards Boeing E-7A prototype contract: the Wedgetail will replace the E-3 AWACS, US Navy Nuclear Propulsion Plant Operator explains when a submarine reactor can be run at higher than 100% (and why the 105% on the reactor ordered in The Hunt for Red October movie would not be worth any risk to the ship and crew), Former US Navy F/A-18 pilot explains why although during his era the Hornet was the best airplane on the carrier his fun meter was most pegged flying the A-4 Skyhawk, The Stealth Fighter that Never Was: How the Secret Development of the F-117 led to the Birth of the Misleading F-19. We still got there in a hurry, but once there, we hovered over the trees like a target at the County Fair 25-cent target-shooting booth. [Home] [ReunionInformation] [Donations] [OurLegacy] [MembershipServices] [RelatedWebSites] Member Login. Put some fire in that bunker! I yelled to Private Whats-His-Name. 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. Those brief and simple heartfelt words meant more to me that night than anything else ever said to me during my entire tour. Are you interested in testing our business solutions? only 10 to 20 minutes of that time exposed to hostile fire. applies to subscribers): Age 80 and above ---$75.00 . website may contain information that VHPA considers proprietary and ab.. Thousands of Vietnam Veterans earned medals for bravery every day. Dustoff pilots with their unique seating arrangement is where that statement originated. [1] "Vietnam helicopter pilots describe the war from the cockpit," YouTube video, posted by "Military Times," April 18th, 2018. Five Thousand pilots and crews lost their lives and 3,258 Hueys alone were lost during the war. I can throw a rock in there, its so close! was the rest of my thought. One point I want to make is the the Crew Chiefs and Door Gunners were the and are still the best as well. Always make sure someone has a P-38. Others flew fixed wing and some were already in the Army but applied for and were chosen to attend flight school. If you win the battle you are entitled to the spoils. While in themselves those landings were not stupid, the way we got there was! Innocent people get killed. They were the ones who flew the troops into and out of battle. Congress while the North Vietnamese were very well supplied by China and the 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. 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. We grabbed some unsuspecting Schmuck and told him to get his weapon and some ammo and run with us to the aircraft. average age of vietnam helicopter pilot 02.12.2021 hartford basketball roster 2021 jack flaherty contract bulls statement jersey 2020 is required reading in many colleges, High Schools and military units. 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. Those Hueys were their horses and they rode into battle en masse, to deliver their troops and evacuate the wounded. You need a Statista Account for unlimited access. Federal Aviation Administration. [VHPA databases]. I have posted your reply to Steve on here so he will be able to read it. The average age of an employed helicopter pilot is 44 years old. average age of vietnam helicopter pilot. I wonder how many grunts would have gotten on the hoist had they known that. How could we lose a war we had already stopped fighting? As one of those troopers on the ground, I can honestly say how proud I am to have served with Brave men. Oh, Sugar! (Not my exact word.) of fuel, ammunition and other supplies because of a lack of support from . Joe Treen, People.com, 21 April 2000. In June of 1967, Marine officers destined to become fixed-wing pilots began reporting to Air Force bases for flight training. [CACF]. Age 59 and below --$450.00. The peace settlement was signed in Paris on 27 January 1973. He flew through the fog and light rain. "Pogo" Hunter who died in 1995. VHPA Aviator (big file). Maturity, self-confident, bravery, willing to take chances, courageous, and yes fun-loving are the attributes that make a great pilot. We sacrificed our youth and innocence; we achieved above and beyond the call of duty on a daily basis. . was typical of the continual commentary from the enlisted crew members. average age of vietnam helicopter pilot A MiG-21 of the VPAF which became the primary fighter-interceptor against USAF and USN aircraft. ak.. You will get a clear sense of what they were up against and how they conducted themselves. 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. Life member rates based on age are as follows (also Even the AP photographer, Nick Ut, who took the picture was Vietnamese. .j.. aircraft in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam era and inform them of the existence of the In all, a very scary time for our country. 66 founding members. VHPA and encourage all eligible individuals to become members. We always at least tried to complete the mission and felt that we let someone down if we didnt. Although I was sworn to secrecy at the time, with the Freedom of Information Act, I believe that I can now break the silence. advertising and other information. The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy. On what turned out to be his final mission, they were to pick up wounded on a mountain top, but got caught in heavy fire while making their approach. He was an Air Cav pilot, delivering and evacuating troops into and out of battlefields. Always smiling and never hurt anyone, I would guess. reunion. The pilots who were flying this helicopter, If I had gone down over land, I probably would not have taken my weapon with me. All of these, however, are preferable to cold rice balls, even if they do have the little pieces of fish in them. dont care. They were heavily armed with mini-guns, machine guns, and various kinds of rockets. One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. a.. Once you are in the fight, it is way too late to wonder if this is a good idea. 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. 20002023 The Veterans Site and GreaterGood. They also acted as medical evacuation helicopter pilots when needed. 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. 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 longer you stare at the gauges the less time it takes them to move from green to red. 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. I graduated from Flight Training 2 day short of a year. statistic alerts) please log in with your personal account. 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. 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. average age of vietnam helicopter pilot - saiservicecentre.in Failure to heed this commandment can affect the morale of the crew. The American military was not defeated in Vietnam. Over 900,000 patients were airlifted (nearly half were American). How old was the average helicopter pilot in Vietnam? - Quora average age of vietnam helicopter pilot - mail.germenergy.com The terms Protective Armor and Helicopter are mutually exclusive. Scientific research has shown that dioxin degrades in sunlight after 48 to 72 hours; therefore, troops exposure to dioxin was infinitesimal. b.. Myth: A disproportionate number of blacks were killed in the Vietnam War. Without that commitment, Communism would have swept all the way to the Malacca Straits that is south of Singapore and of great strategic importance to the free world. For more information see 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. American-owned airlines never knowingly transported opium in or out of Laos, nor did their American pilots ever profit from its transport. Uh, thats a can opener for those of you who arent military. Without the helicopter it would have taken three times as many troops to secure the 800 mile border with Cambodia and Laos (the politicians thought the Geneva Conventions of 1954 and the Geneva Accords or 1962 would secure the border) [Westmoreland], Approximately 12,000 helicopters saw action in Vietnam (all services). average age of vietnam helicopter pilot - madinahmining.com From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. It is a fact that helicopter tail rotors are instinctively drawn toward trees, stumps, rocks, etc. 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. They could rotate around a battle site from above, unleashing punishing weapon support from above. member. Scott McBride CW4 152HH AH-64D Apache Flight Instructor, Charlie Troop 1st Squadron 9th Cavalry Regiment, The Troopers of Charlie Troop 1st Squadron 9th Cavalry 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). Helicopter Pilot Demographics and Statistics In The US - Zippia 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 I have to take one thing back. Have you ever heard the expression, He was flying the aircraft balls out? That was us. Flying is better than walking. The second pilot you will meet is retired CWO2 Allan Potter. looking good. http://www.air-america.org. "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. 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%). I can tell you what in my opinion made the best pilots. VHPA Aviator magazine History of the founding of the VHPA written by Don S. the last (in-country) Masher33, 1971, It is not easy to read this stuff. 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. Helicopters needed far more hands on piloting than fixed wing types. The Vietnam Helicopter Flight Crew Network (VHFCN) is a non profit veterans organization dedicated to the fulfillment of the following purposes: To provide a forum for recreational communications amongst a fraternity of aircrew members who served in Vietnam during the period 1961-75 At the conclusive battle of the war (the Fall of Saigon), the . Ancient U.S. Army proverb. How long was helicopter pilot training during the Vietnam War? More Scout Teams were lost because of this than any other helicopter team. I could not have been more proud of myself and my flight school classmates for having come this far. San Antonio, Texas 78208-0091, Copyright 2023 DUSTOFF Association | Powered by Barefoot Pixel, USAAAD conducts life-saving rescue of two civilians near Mount Adams. To use individual functions (e.g., mark statistics as favourites, set Tran Van Don and the head of the secret police Tran Kim Tuyen. Thank you for your Service and Insight! [McCaffrey], Vietnam veterans have a lower unemployment rate than our non-vet age group. information contained in this publication shall not be distributed to non-VHPA Our single-engine UH-1H Hueys did not float in the water very well. Later, the crew became a two-man pilot team. It happened many times, and their names are on The Wall in Washington, D.C. One particular mission I recall was a day hoist. The 1990 unsuccessful movie "Air America" helped to establish the myth of a connection between Air America, the CIA, and the Laotian drug trade. U.S. active certificated pilots - average age 1993-2020; . x.. Medals are OK, but having your body and all your friends in one piece at the end of the day is better. We risked much in a totally dark valley that night, and there was no doubt that someone appreciated us. "The problem is that those who think the Vietnamese haven't cooperated sufficiently think there is some central repository with answers to all the lingering questions," notes Gen. John Vessey, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Reagan and Bush administration's designated representative in MIA negotiations. 01/09/2013. The Indonesians threw the Soviets out in 1966 because of America's commitment in Vietnam. w.. They were Kim's cousins not her brothers. If the rear echelon troops are really happy, the front line troops probably do not have what they need. The first one you will meet is retired Army Col. Douglas Moore, a medevac pilot in Vietnam. time than any other aircraft in the history of warfare assuming you count actual In retrospect, I think that is what happened to one of the pilots in our unit a few months after I left. As he entered the crowded car, he said, Ballroom, please.. We are now Older and Wiser, and for that I am very thankful. Prayer may not help . The initial Army designation was HU-1, which led to the common unofficial nickname of Huey.. 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. [People], The evacuees were Vietnamese not American military. I cannot talk about how tough flight school was, nor can I state what the washout rate was because I did not go myself. . Vietnam Helicopter Memorial: Veterans Fight Bureaucracy | Time A constant line of chatter was transmitted from the medic and the Crew Chief to the pilots, who were both on the flight controls in case either was violently incapable of continuing to fly the aircraft. Age 65 to 69 --------$250.00 story building where the CIA station chief and many of his officers lived, located at 22 Ly Tu Trong St. We will never forget you, or the sound of your rotor blades off in the distance, coming to our aid. In addition to an annual reunion held around July 4th, members keep in touch informally Experienced pilots with proven records of successful, aggressive combat could be invited to join a platoon in a fire team of one or two gunships operating with a scout helicopter and escorting slick assaults. When they saw one flying balls out, they knew it was a Dustoff on an urgent mission. 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. The claimed flying aces of the Vietnam War, pilots who shot down five or more enemy aircraft, include 19 North Vietnamese pilots (six MiG-17 and 13 MiG-21 pilots), [1] : 228 and five Americans. They gave us classes on what altitudes to fly to avoid certain types of enemy fire small arms or 0.51 cal. [1996 Information Please Almanac] 1995 Information Please Almanac Atlas & Yearbook 49th edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston & New York 1996, pages 117, 161 and 292. Helicopters were used in more than 850,000 medical evacuation missions and were responsible for boosting survival rates for the wounded. Would love to chat with Bruce Huffman. contained this quote about Vietnam, there has been "the most extensive accounting in the history of human warfare" of those missing in action.