Unit
Histories From the Archives
158th/101st
Vietnam from the NATIONAL ARCHIVES:
[transcribed by John Donaldson (Lancer14) from documents obtained from the
National Archives]
DEPARTMENT
OF THE ARMY
Company B, 158th Aviation Battalion (AH) (AMBL)
101st Airborne Division (AMBL)
APO San Francisco 96383
SUBJECT: Combat Operation After Action Report
Commanding Officer
158th Aviation Battalion (AH) (AMBL)
101st Airborne Division (AMBL)
APO San Francisco 96383
Aircraft Incidents/Accidents- 23 October 1969 at 1605 hours Aircraft 68-16274
was in the LZ vicinity XD 935564 for the third time in an insertion for the
2/506. The aircraft had come in with five troops on board and was
hovering in the LZ when the troops started to exit the aircraft. The
helicopter rocked from the unstable C.G. and caught on a stump which unbalanced
the aircraft causing it to spin and crash on the left side of the ship. The
four crew members suffered slight to minor injuries and six ground troopers
were killed from the flying debris of the wreckage. The aircraft was
attempted to be slung out but upon lifting of the bird the transmission
separated from the fuselage approximately 100 meters west of the LZ from an
altitude of 100 feet. The accident is under investigation at this time.
JOHN E WATTS
MAJ, Inf
Commanding
[comments
from Bob Duesenberry on the accident incidents report]
I
was in the third helicopter when this one went down. Doc tried to land our
chopper but couldn't because he kept hitting tree stumps. They used a Cobra gun
ship to clear the LZ with rockets. That's why the first ship went
down.
After
we saw we couldn't land at that LZ, Doc took the ship a few hundred feet down
from the crash and tried to land in some elephant grass. The rotors were
pulling up debris from the grass and the crew chief and I were trying to keep
the five soldiers on board calm, because they had just seen their buddies in
the other chopper crash. While we were trying to keep them calm, one of the
guys jumped out of our chopper and broke his back. Doc found a safe place to
land to allow the other guys to get out.
We
took the crew of the first downed helicopter out of the LZ. Then went back to
pick up the injured soldier who had jumped out of our chopper. We took him to a
hospital ship on the China Sea. It was a challenge to land because of the
swells. While we tried to land, the ship would come up to meet us. Finally, we
landed, and we got the soldier off the chopper. Then we were
called to go back to pick up the five bodies and take them to the area where
they received the body bags. If there is anyone who
remembers this event and knows who the right seater was (a Lt.) and the crew
chief was (all I know is that he was from
Texas), please send me their names and any info on them.
[follow
up from Ken Webb]
I'm
confused. did the crash happen because of the tree stumps in the LZ or because
of the Cobra's rockets? Please clarify this.
Also, The hospital ship was the "USS SANCTUARY". I went out
there on an OH-6 when I was with the Redskins. We had five or six on
board....me and another guy were hanging out the back doors. As we
approached the ship I saw a landing officer (?) come out on deck with those
little paddles. He was giving signals, but the pilot was ignoring
them. On short final the guy
waved us off but the pilot continued the approach. At the last minute the
paddle guy took a flying jump off the side into a net (I guess he was sure we
would crash.... I wasn't so sure myself). When we landed the guy
re-appeared near the pad...he was giving a bunch of those "finger
signals" and threw the paddles so they bounced off the deck.... he was
pissed! Then, an officer came out and reamed the pilots behind.... hadn’t
seen anything like that since flight school.... then another officer started
screaming at us about sidearms (no weapons allowed on a hospital ship) ....
geez. The trip was a success though.... we invited the ships staff and a
flock of nurses (female of course) to the Redskin Lounge for a big (formal)
dinner party (our CO was a ring knocker from West point...still is). They
did have a large party on some future date. All I can recall about it was
it was raining heavy ( a toad strangler) and I had
just returned from a very long and tiring combat mission....I was beat.
After a post/pre-flight I entered our club.... there were actually table
clothes, candles.... all the Navy folks were in....get this.... dress whites!!!
Remember any of this Steve?
[Bob's reply]
The
tree stumps caused the crash, but it was a sorry way to clear the LZ with
rockets from a cobra gun ship. Thanks for the info on the hospital ship. I
didn't know the name of the ship. I was too busy watching the pilot trying to
land the chopper as the ship was coming up to us. He was a hell of a good pilot
to land that chopper on that
ship.
WEEKLY
AFTER-ACTION REPORT 30 Nov - 5 Dec 69
D Co, 158th Avn Bn logged missions in the support of the 3rd Bde and 1/5th Mech
for the week of Nov 30 to Dec 5.
We flew a total of 20.2 hrs. for A Co. Three missions and 18 sorties were flown
in support of Umpire 90. The light fire team provided negative
suppressive fire. There was another 12 missions and 16 sorties in LZ
preps and extractions. Ammo expended was 26, 2.75" rockets, 5400 rds. of
7.62 mm, and 350 rds. of 40mm.
D Co flew 32.9 hrs., 31 mission, and 64 sorties for B Co. There was 86,
2.75" rockets, 7500 rounds of minigun, and 615 rounds of 40mm expended in
6 LZ preps.
For C Co, Delta Co flew 9 missions and 18 sorties. There was 10.1 hours
logged in one LZ prep and 2 extractions.
D Co, 158th Avn Bn flew 41 hours this past week for 15th Mech, with 46 missions
and 102 sorties. Cpt Schrader's light fire team extracted one Killer team
and inserted two 6-man teams, all with negative enemy contact. Two LZ's
also were prepped. WO1 Lamiell's team killed 5 NVA in heavy contact near
the DMZ. CW2 Ishamael's team also had heavy
contact supporting the 1/5th Mec, killing 5 NVA, 1 bunker destroyed, and 1 APC
and 4 bunkers damaged. Total ammo expended was 153, 2.75" rockets, 14,900
rds. of 7.62, and 350 rds. of 40mm in support of 1/5th Mech.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PostScript from Donaldson.
[Here are the numbers from the D Co report added for this one week
of Gunship duty.
hours sorties missions 2.75" 7.62mm
40mm
Support of A Co
20.2
16
3
26 5400
350
Support of B Co
32.9
64
31 86 7500
615
Support of C Co
10.1
18
9
?
? ?
Support of 1/5 Mech 41
102 46
153 14,900 350
TOTAL
104.2 200
89 265 27,800
1,315
Preface
by Donaldson: This report had no date year. Research shows it was most very
likely 1969.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
Company B, 158th Aviation Battalion (AH) (AMBL)
101st Airborne Division (AMBL)
APO San Francisco 96383
SUBJECT: Combat Operation After Action Report
Commanding Officer
158th Aviation Battalion (AH) (AMBL)
101st Airborne Division (AMBL)
APO San Francisco 96383
Aircraft Incident/Accident- 13 October at 1245 hours Aircraft 66-16869 made an
approach into a LZ vicinity XD 9661. The LZ was secured, and other ships
had been in prior to this aircraft. A normal approach was made with a touch
down to the ground. A piece of log and other debris in the LZ was thrown
into the air from the down wash of the helicopters rotor system. One of
the pieces of FOD hit the tail rotor causing the aircraft to spin. The
tail boom was severed from the main fuselage due to the tail boom hitting
several trees. The main fuselage continued to roll down the embankment
away from the LZ throwing out all the combat troops as well as the crew chief
and gunner. The wreckage came to rest about 100 meters from the LZ with
the aircraft commander and pilot still inside. Within minutes the A/C and
pilot were pulled from the aircraft, which had caught fire and was totally
destroyed to include the KY 28 #8773 on board. The accident is under
investigation.
JOHN E WATTS
MAJ, Inf
COMMANDING
DEPARTMENT
OF THE ARMY
Company B, 158th Aviation Battalion (AH) (AMBL)
101st Airborne Division (AMBL)
APO San Francisco 96383
SUBJECT:
Combat Operation After Action Report
Commanding
Officer
158th Aviation Battalion (AH) (AMBL)
101st Airborne Division (AMBL)
APO San Francisco 96383
Aircraft
Incidents/Accidents- 17 October 1969 at 1150 hours Aircraft 68-15628 was making
an approach to an LZ. The LZ was unprepared which required hovering out of
ground effect at an altitude of 50 feet approximately. On final approach with a
speed of 20-25 knots, the RPM bled off to 5800 RPM rapidly and then slowly
decreased further. The aircraft commander turned to the left and saw an
opening on the ridge line about 100 meters from the LZ. The aircraft
settled into the trees causing extensive main rotor damage, sudden stoppage
damage and hard landing. All four crew members and six combat troops had
no injuries. The aircraft is suspected of having a low side governor
failure. As of this writing it has been discovered that the 42-degree box
did take a round through it and is being analyzed for the possible cause of the
mishap. The helicopter was slung out of the LZ and returned to B/5 Tam
for investigation and repair.
JOHN
E WATTS
MAJ, Inf
Commanding