Old Huey

Bill Walker

Hi Andy,

 

Man, it’s great to hear from you! May of 70 was a painful, painful month.

 

On May 6th, we lost an entire crew to a mid-air collision during a smoke mission (Richard Worthington, Bob Kirk, Frank Hernandez and Bill Weiss).

 

Robert L Kirk	6 May 1970	ROBERT L KIRK
Richard C Worthington	6 May 1970	RICHARD C WORTHINGTON JR
Frank S Hernandez	6 May 1970	FRANK S HERNANDEZ
William C Weiss	6 May 1970	WILLIAM C WEISS JR

 

 

Then, scarcely two weeks later that horrible loss that you so eloquently described. It was a lot for us to bear. We were still reeling on this night 54 years ago.

 

I was a pretty new first pilot when Maj. Greene tapped us to be the replacement crew on the Project Delta mission.

I remember thinking “I don’t feel ready for this responsibility.” There was no way we could replace them.

 

My first mission for Project Delta may have been my scariest, because I had no time to mentally prepare or to learn how they were conducted.  It was also the first time I worked with mercenaries (If only someone would have told me that they were in NVA uniforms when we picked them up under fire)

 

Fast forward to 2017 when an employee of an aircraft maintenance school in Philly contacted the Lancers site to tell us that they had acquired an old Huey that they planned to rebuild.

 

While researching the history of it, they found that it had originally been a Lancers aircraft. The director invited any of us who happened to be in the Philadelphia area to come and see it.

 

I was working part time and traveling to the Philly area. So, on my next business trip there, my wife and I made an appointment to visit the school. They were so polite and gracious to us and welcomed us warmly.

 

That old bird was in a really rough shape and was no longer air worthy. But, seeing it made my heart race.  

 

As I was rubbing my hand along the side of the fuselage, the director approached me holding a sheet of paper.  It was the incidence report for this old bird.

When I saw the date of the incident, I realized that this was the bird we took up to Mai Loc and on Project Delta missions, and I remembered the incident clearly.  It was actually elephant grass that damaged the main rotor during a hot extraction.  I had to cut my way out of the elephant grass.

 

When I realized that this was the actual aircraft that I had flown during the first week or two of Project Delta I almost got vertigo.  It was so much to process.

 

That old war horse is still here!

 

They invited me to speak at their graduation ceremony, which I did.  But it was still too emotionally raw for me.   

I hope to go back sometime to see if they have completed the restoration.

 

 

 

 

          

Bill 17

 

 

Andy Archer 18

Hi Bill,

 

My life has taken some twists and turns in the last couple of years stealing time away from my day. I was unable to keep up with life outside of my core needs when I noticed that there were over 2000 unread Lancer emails in my inbox. That overwhelmed me and after some thought, I just deleted them to start anew.

 

When my good friend Dan O’Brien sent me the picture of George on the beach with his Z28 yesterday I sat down at the keyboard, and it all rushed out of me. Hopefully, it was cathartic.

 

I remember you talking about the visit you and Denise had to the school and was glad you could address the Graduates with those warm and round Byhalia tones that are so calming to the ear. I’m sure they moved forward in life with relating and understanding of events long ago and they were now connected to those events by your words. Generational Connection.

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

aa

L18