Experiences of a 68th AHC Pilot
    

Between my first and second tours in Vietnam (1966-67), we were stationed on the north side of Munich at Schleisheim Army Airfield.  The period of 1966-1967 was a time when the big waves of Army troops were withdrawn from Germany and sent to Vietnam .  When we flew to Germany on a Boeing 707 May 1966, I was the senior person on the aircraft with an E-5 Sergeant and 97 PFC’s and privates.  Once we landed in Frankfurt , we were diverted from our original assignment in Augsburg to Munich .  This was done because I had a helicopter instrument card and I was sent to be the pilot for the assistant division commander in Munich .  The other three aviators in Munich did not have an instrument card.

When I arrived in the 2nd of the 9^th Calvary in Munich , I was the third ranking officer in the whole squadron.  Mind you I had been a captain all of a month and could barely spell it.  Our unit was authorized 72 officers and we had 11 (a LTC, two captains, two 1^st Lts, and six 2^nd Lts).  The unit was also severely short of noncommissioned officers (NCOs) and enlisted men.  As a result, the Squadron Commander assigned the captain who outranked me to be the executive officer of the squadron as an additional duty.  He was the air cavalry troop commander and I was assigned as the gunship platoon leader and maintenance officer of the air cavalry troop.  The Squadron Commander also assigned me as Headquarters Troop Commander as an additional duty.  So that meant I had the following jobs—General’s pilot, gunship platoon leader, aircraft maintenance officer, Squadron maintenance officer, and Headquarters Troop Commander.  All these positions were normally fulltime jobs.  To make matters worse, there were no NCOs to help.  The HQ Troop first sergeant was supposed to be an E8—I had an E5 as first sergeant.  The rest of my troops were E-3’s and E-4’s.

Our primary mission was to train to battle the Russians and their allies.  Additionally, we were extensively tasked to be the aggressors during any 24^th Infantry Division training exercises because we had armor, infantry, and helicopters.  As a part of the Russian task, we supported and patrolled the Czechoslovakian border from Grafenwohr , Germany to Passau , Austria .  The 2^nd of the 9^th Cavalry populated two border base camps that were manned by one of our ground troops/companies.  This duty was accomplished on a rotating monthly basis between the three line troops.  As for Headquarters Troop and D Troop, we supported the camps all the time with resupply and aerial border patrols.  Our mission on the border was to give early warning of attacks by the Russians and their allies.  I always said our job was to yell, “Here they come, go get them” to the rest of the Division as we moved toward the rear.

The young troops in Headquarters Troop particularly, the wheeled vehicle mechanics, the truck drivers, and the gasoline truck drivers were consistently putting forth great effort to accomplish our border mission.  They worked late every day and on the weekends to keep the resupply trucks and track vehicles up and running.  We made that 160 mile round trip every day with at least two trucks.  To top it off, the Army recently bought new multi-fuel trucks without enough testing, spare parts, or engines.  Throughout Germany , there were trucks down because of lack of parts.  My maintenance leader, a young E-4 doing an E-7’s work, would call all units throughout Germany almost daily to find spare parts.  He was a lot like Radar O’Reilly on MASH.  I would then fly a helicopter to where the parts were.  We swapped many items wherever we could find parts because the needed spare parts in the Army supply system were mostly enroute to Vietnam .  By swapping and scrounging parts, we kept our trucks barely running.  We swapped flight jackets, cases of steaks, helicopter rides, tank parts, and so on and so forth for the needed truck parts.

As a reward for these young mechanics and truck drivers, I took them flying in an OH-13H.  The OH-13 was the aircraft you saw in the MASH TV shows and movie.  Once the word was out about getting helicopter rides, the troops really got motivated to do a good job.  I selected one person in the troop for recognition as the cavalry trooper of the week.  That meant he got to fly some time within that month.  I would give them a safety briefing on the ground to show them how the OH-13 controls worked and what not to touch and do.  Once I got the helicopter about 50 feet above the ground, I would let them fly the aircraft.  They would get to fly the OH-13 around the airfield a couple of times.  I also took them low level with the skids right in the top of the trees to show them how we flew in Germany .  These young troopers absolutely loved it.  In the summer, we flew with the doors off to keep cool and to give us better vision.  It gave you the impression you were up in the air with absolute freedom with the wind blowing in and with great visibility to see the ground.

In the summer time, part of the trooper recognition ritual was to fly low level over the nudist colony at Dachau .  The colony was a well-known fly over area by aviators in our division.  In fact, the general usually requested that I fly over the area either going or coming from Augsburg .  The nudist colony was located not too far from the Dachau Concentration Camp.  It was located on the Amper River with trees providing a privacy screen on three sides with an open grassy area on the river side.  I usually had the passenger bring a camera to take pictures during his helicopter ride so he could take pictures of the countryside. 

I usually started my run over the nudist colony at tree top level plus 10 feet and about 40 knots of air speed.  My vehicle mechanic trooper of the week was sitting in the right seat so I put the colony on his side.  He had borrowed a German-made 35mm camera from one of his buddies so he could take pictures.  It had all kinds of adjustment knobs on it that led him to believe that he would get great pictures.  For some silly reason, he unbuckled his seat belt, turned sideways, leaned out the door, and tried to adjust the camera as we came over the edge of the trees.

As we crossed the boundary trees right, there in front of us was an absolutely stunning nude German woman laying on a chaise lounge.  She could have been Miss Germany Playboy of the Month without question.  I knew she was German because she had hair under her armpits.  The mechanic and I focused our attention on her and her actions.  As we got closer, she stretched her arms above her head.  Now that was a real attention getter!  Our eyes and thoughts were riveted on to her. 

Paying attention to anything other than flying when you are flying a helicopter is a very, very dangerous thing.  Suddenly a sixth sense said—Ron, watch out.  When I looked up the sky was no longer blue but green.  While I had been distracted by “Miss Germany ”, I had subconsciously been getting lower to the ground and flying slower.  I had forgotten about the huge elm tree right in front of us.  The situation was definitely not a good one.  I couldn’t climb over it.  I couldn’t go around either side of it.  And I couldn’t go under it.  I had no choice but to attempt to fly through it.  I pulled all the pitch I could get with the collective to make it climb.  I used what little airspeed I had to also climb.  But it was all to no avail as I was still just below the top of the tree.  With no other choice, I went through the tree.  Mind you, it was the top of the tree but it was through the tree.  If I had been two feet lower, I could not have made it through the tree.  I heard and saw leaves and small branches going everywhere as the blades were giving the tree a haircut.  Because the tail rotor was the weakest part of the drive system, I pushed the helicopter’s nose down when I was in the tree to keep the tail rotor as high as possible.  We dove out of the tree, staggered under a set of power lines, and were suddenly in the middle of the Amper River .  When a helicopter starts losing blade speed (being a tree trimmer does that), it will start to spin because the tail rotor loses control.  As we were spinning, I was very calmly thinking how I was going to explain this accident.  I mean it was as if everything was moving in slow motion.  I knew we were going to crash which doesn’t make for a very good day.

But you know the good Lord takes care of children, fools, and Army Aviators.  Army Aviators might easily be included in both of the first two categories.  Suddenly as I spun around, God put a sand bar right smack in the middle of the river almost directly under me.  Then He allowed me to make a controlled crash landing.  Once on the sand bar, I got the blade speed back up by lowering the collective and adding throttle.  With the blade speed back up, I pulled in some collective so that the aircraft would not sink into the mud.  I kept it light on the skids while I evaluated the aircraft.  I did a magneto check and the engine ran OK.  I looked at the bubble and it had several branches sticking in it.  By the way, that made for great camouflage!  There were all kinds of leaves in the floor of the helicopter and the blades whistled a little bit.  I picked it up to a hover and it hovered OK.  The blades were a little out of balance but it would fly.  Do you understand, it would still fly!!!  Now I knew I could fly back safely to my home airfield approximately 6 miles away.  This was a prime example where sometimes luck makes up for stupidity. 

For the first time I looked over at my young mechanic.   His eyes were as wide as headlights and he was very pale.  He had that faraway look in his eyes.  He looked a mess.  His left side was scratched from top to bottom from leaning out the door trying to take that picture.  I mean it looked like a Bengal tiger had gotten a hold of him.  The camera was whipped around behind him.  His helmet was turned 90 degrees and he is looking at the earpiece of his helmet with his left eye.  Lastly, he has a death grip with both hands on the side of the aircraft. 

To take off and return to the airfield, I told him to buckle his seat belt.  He emphatically shook his head no.  He would not let go of the side of the aircraft.  I suggested he let go with one hand but no, that death grip had saved his life once and he was not about to let it go now.  I talked very softly to him, telling him to buckle up so we could get off this sand bar.  After several minutes, he finally agreed to release one hand at a time.  I put my knee under the collective to keep us out of the mud and reached over to get one side of the seat belt ready to hook him up.  I told him to change hands, which he did, and I finally got both sides of the seat belt hooked together. 

I picked the aircraft up to a hover and successfully flew the aircraft to the airfield.  It was a bumpy ride but it got us there.  I landed in front of the hanger and started my shut down procedures.  The Specialist 5 maintenance sergeant came running over to me and asked what happened.  I told him not to worry about it—just fix it.  By the time we shut down the aircraft, the young mechanic had gotten his color and nerve back.  He was nonstop telling everyone about what happened.  Tattle tail!  Thankfully, after a while, his story only focused on how beautiful this woman was and he quit telling about what I had done.

To make this story short, we only changed out the blades and bubble.  They both had branches sticking in them.  (As I said, we are trained to camouflage our equipment in the Army.)  Everything else checked out OK.  By creatively swapping parts around, this little sightseeing tour was not listed as an accident.  The good thing is that we did not have to paint that aircraft OD.  It was tree green from one end to the other.  I believe that leaves flew off that aircraft for about two weeks after we fixed it.  In fact, there were even leaves in the exhaust and inside my shirt and trousers that day.

You know I flew that aircraft lots of times after that and it flew like a dream.  I guess I had to get its attention.  BUT I must tell you; I flew over the nudist colony a bit higher on future sightseeing trips. 

The heart breaker of this whole story was that the young mechanic did not get one picture.  However, as proof, there is a tree in the middle of the nudist colony that has a U-shape in the top half of the tree about the width of an OH-13 and it has a perfect GI flat top hair cut.

Author information goes here.
Copyright © 2004  68thahc.com. All rights reserved.
Revised: June 29, 2012 .
 

| Main Page | | Top Tiger Photos | Mustang Photos |

| 391st Maint Det. | Top Tiger Tail | 282nd Signal Det. | 430th Medical Det. | 

| List of Unit Members | Members Biographies | In Memory "Our Fallen Heroes" | Members Individual Awards |
| Reunions | Unit Citations & Awards | Unit (History) Reports | The Base | Bien Hoa | The Countryside | Maps |   
| Stories about the 68th | Unit Helicopters | Unit Patches | Souvenirs & Trophies | MOS Codes | FAQ's |
| Tiger Fund | Photo of the Month | USO Shows | The Music of the Times |  Message Board | Poetry  from Vietnam |