Michael M Cox

When Cox became my permanent door gunner I was very pleased to have him. He was bright eyed and bushy tailed

make those M 60's sing, I don't think those guns ever jammed

Cox also wanted to help doing maintenance on the huey instead

of cleaning the guns, which was done every day. If we had not used them I let him help, even if it meant that he cleaned those guns late. ( I do remember a late night helping him with cleaning of the 60's. Heck , I just about had to fake it, about how to clean them. But, we had a lot of fun.)

I remember him making a model huey from a kit and painting it

exactly like our bird. He was so happy and proud to be a crew-

I can't remember how long we flew together. When I got orders to

transfer to B 2/17 cav Cox asked me to make him a crewchief.

He was ready alright , but of course we strung him out for a bit,

and kept checking him. At this time, he was really hovering over

all tech material he could get his hands on, to prove to himself

Sutton and myself kept an eye on him to make him show , show.

One thing he said, when he became chief was; " Dirt " now I have to break in a new door gunner ????

Cox was a California kid, full of life and kind of cocky, just great.

Mike was my hootch mate with Sgt Fritz, Terry Willman, Swede, Mark Lenick, maybe Griffith etc. He was a fun-loving guy with brown curly hair and a little moustache. He was from Detroit and proud of it judging by the way he talked. Mike was very funny and he and his gunner Marvin Screen (Sweet Fat) were quite a pair, full of fun and laughter. Funny how you could be laughing it up right up until the mission was on, then right back to it over the smell of JP-4 and oil while cleaning guns or post-flighting a huey. Mike loved flying with the Lancers and along with Mr Sutton and Sweetfat, they were a great crew. I was on R&R to Sydney for a week and when I returned, I got the word that there was a vacancy in the Hootch. Cox, Screen, Mr Sutton and Mr Hughes had gone down for some unexplained reason and crashed into a stream. I wouldn't be laughing with them anymore. It was a war and we moved forward with the mission but there was a big hole in the hootch after Cox was gone...a big hole.

AIRCRAFT WAS NUMBER EIGHT IN A FLIGHT OF FOURTEEN. THE FLIGHT WAS ASSIGNED THE MISSION OF EXECUTING EIGHT COMBAT ASSAULTS IN SUPPORT OF THE 2ND BRIGADE. THE FIRST MISSION INVOLVED THE EXTRACTION OF ONE RIFLE COMPANY. THE FIRST SEVEN AIRCRAFT LANDED IN THE PICK UP ZONE AND DEPARTED WITHOUT INCIDENT. A LARGE TREE APPROXIMATELY 60 FEET TALL WAS DIRECTLY NORTH OF THE TOUCH DOWN POINT. EACH AIRCRAFT COMMANDER TURNED HIS AIRCRAFT APPROXIMATELY 20 DEGREES TO THE LEFT, WHICH ALLOWED SUFFICIENT CLEARANCE BETWEEN THE ROTOR DISC AND THE LARGE TREE, ALLOWING A SAFE DEPARTURE ON A NORTH NORTHWESTERLY HEADING. AIRCRAFT NUMBER 8, UPON APPROACH THE PICKUP ZONE, WAS INSTRUCTED TO UTILIZE A RIGHT DOWN WIND AND RIGHT BASE TRAFFIC PATTERN, DUE TO ARTILLERY FIRE IMPACTING SOUTHWEST OF THE PICKUP ZONE. BECAUSE OF INADEQUATE SPACING, RESULTING FROM THE CHANGE OF THE APPROACH PATTERN, THE AIRCRAFT COMMANDER EXECUTED A GO AROUND AND 360 DEGREE TURN TO THE WEST. THE SECOND APPROACH WAS SUCCESSFUL, AND THE LOADING OF FIVE PASSENGERS WAS ACCOMPLISHED. THE AIRCRAFT, UPON DEPARTURE FROM THE PICKUP ZONE, DID NOT EXECUTE A 20 DEGREE TURN TO THE LEFT, AND SUBSEQUENTLY FOLLOWED A FLIGHT PATH MORE NORTHERLY IN DIRECTION THAN THE PRECEEDING AIRCRAFT IN THE FLIGHT. AS THE AIRCRAFT EXECUTED A MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE TAKEOFF, THE MAIN ROTOR BLADES MADE CONTACT WITH A TREE, 60 FEET TALL, TEN INCHES IN DIAMETER, AND LOCATED 40 METERS FORWARD OF THE TAKEOFF POINT. IT IS SURMISED THAT THE AFOREMENTIONED BLADE STRIKE RESULTED IN AN INSTANTANEOUS DECAY OF ROTOR RPM TO A LEVEL UNACCEPTABLE FOR CONTINUED CLIMBOUT. THE AIRCRAFT THEN TURNED LEFT APPROXIMATELY 10 DEGREES, WITH A SLIGHT LOSS OF ALTITUDE, WHEREUPON THE UNDERSIDE OF THE AIRCRAFT AND THE TAIL BOOM PASSED THROUGH THE TOP OF A BUSHY DEAD TREE APPROXIMATELY 40 METERS ALONG THE FLIGHT PATH FROM THE POINT, THE LEFT SYCHRONIZED ELEVATOR WAS TORN FROM THE TAIL BOOM, AND REMAINED SUSPENDED IN THE UPPER LIMBS OF THE TREE. THE AIRCRAFT CONTINUED APPROXIMATELY 70 METERS ALONG ITS' FLIGHT PATH IN A NOSE LOW ATTITUDE, MAKING CONTACT WITH THE TOP OF THE JUNGLE CANOPY, DOWN THE SIDE OF A RAVINE, WITH THE FINAL POINT OF IMPACT BEING IN A STREAM 10 METERS WIDE, THE DEPTH OF THE WATER BEING APPROXIMATELY 4 FEET. FINAL IMPACT WAS IN A NOSE LOW ATTITUDE, WITH AN ESTIMATED 20 KTS FORWARD MOTION. UPON IMPACT, THE TRANSMISSION AND MAIN ROTOR SYSTEM WERE THROWN FORWARD, COLLAPSING THE CABIN ROOF, WITH THE ROTOR HEAD COMING TO REST IN THE PILOTS COMPARTMENT OF THE AIRCRAFT. THE CABIN PORTION WAS IMMEDIATELY ENGULFED IN FLAMES, AND AS A RESULT, ALL NINE PERSONNEL ABOARD PERISHED IN THE CRASH AND RESULTING FIRE.

Hour
0657     Received call from Col. Sinclair: B Co. aircraft went down
in PZ and was burning.

0705    D Co. advised that Redskin 36 reported the aircraft to have
had a blade strike and exploded on impact. No knowledge of survivors
at this time.

0730    Received call from Lancer 3, Cpt. Rhodes: D/O on station,
security force in area, aircraft burning and ammo cooking off.

0745    From B Co. operations: Aircraft 537# AC Sutton; Pilot WO-1
Hughes; Crew Chief SP4 Cox; Gunner SP4 Screen.

0755    From B Co.: CO and RTO, D/1/501 were on board aircraft 537#

0804    From Lancer 3: All personnel on board aircraft 537# KIA
confirmed by Brandy 63.

0822    Call from Col. Sinclair: Leaving accident area at this time
and would like a report when all personnel have been extracted from
crash site.

0949    Col Kastner called to inform Maj Cone permission was given to
blow aircraft 537# in place. Prior to destruction of aircraft all
bodies must be recovered and friendlies removed from area and
commander must give final clearance. (Col. Demming 1st Strike)

[end log entries concerning this incident]

It should be noted that the prior day the area was under a Phase I
Typhoon warning and all aircraft were grounded. There was damage to
buildings such as hangers but no aircraft were reported damaged.
Weather and winds were a factor the day of the crash and it is not
specifically known if wind gust played any part in the crash. Weather
was a serious factor for several weeks prior to and following the
crash.