Experiences of a 68th AHC Pilot_by Ron Sheffield

Experiences of a 68th AHC Pilot

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Chapter 06 by LTC. Ron Sheffield Hi Ho Across the Country We Go

	The OH-13

After graduation from flight school in 1963, I was assigned to the 2^nd Aviation Battalion, 2^nd Infantry Division at Fort Benning , Georgia . I was the first second lieutenant that had ever arrived in the battalion that was CH-34 qualified. As a result, I was assigned to A Company, which had the CH-34s. The battalion was organized with the lift company, A Company, with CH-34s and B Company, the general support company, with OH-13s, O-1 Bird Dogs, and U-20s Beavers.

Our missions were many and varied. We were the nuclear reaction team for the southeastern portion of the US , the racial integration alert unit for the Southern US , the aviation support of the 2^nd division, and the aviation support for the Pathfinder School and the Ranger Schools . Because of these missions, I gained a variety of experiences and significant flight time in very short order. Of course, as the second lieutenant, Lt Fuzz, I got all the night missions, weekend missions, temporary duty missions, and every mission no one else wanted. However, I loved flying and the flight time. Because I wanted to keep current in the UH1, I even went and flew with the 11^th Air Assault because they were short of pilots. This was during the days when the 11^thAir Assault was experimenting with all kinds of formation flights and airmobile tactics. I flew in 40 ship formations, flew night without navigation lights and many low-level formation flights. That is another story.

Since B Company was short OH-13 pilots, I was qualified in it within 3 months after arriving in the battalion. I would fly the OH-13 during the day missions, whenever I needed proficiency, or just wanted to fly. I did numerous flights where I really learned to fly—chased foxes, hawks, buzzards, coyotes, and deer. Think about that—it takes lots of coordination to chase a fox or coyote that is dodging and darting. I chased one poor fox until she just stopped and rolled over on her back. I also did training where I would put my skid on a 5-gallon can or good-sized rock and do 360-degree turns around it. The goal was to stay at a three-foot hover and over the can/rock while turning. In addition, I would put the tail over the can/rock and do turns around it with the tail staying stationary and the rest of the aircraft moving around the can/rock in a circle. I learned cyclic, collective, pedal and throttle control from all these flights. I felt that this was training that many pilots who went to Vietnam right out of flight school had to learn in combat. This time was one of learning for me and taught me about flying.

In May 1964, the battalion was told that we were getting an OH-13E model from the California National Guard. Since they needed someone to fly out and get it, guess which second lieutenant was to go get it! The operations officer gave me my instructions on flying requirements when ferrying aircraft, a government credit card for gas and housing, an airline ticket, and told me to go get it. . I had to use my own money for meals. They figured that at 300-350 miles a day, I would be gone about 10-15 days. I was told that I had to call in every night to the battalion duty officer and give them my status. It sounded like fun and I had never been to California .

They flew a technical inspector (TI) and me to the Atlanta airport in a CH-34, where we got on a 707 that flew us directly to San Francisco . It took us about 4 hours. Remember that time because it took me 22 days to get home. Since the TI was going to fly back on commercial air, he rented the car so he could get back to San Francisco . We drove to Merced , CA and checked in with the National Guard unit. The TI looked at the historical records and then we inspected the aircraft. A few minor things needed fixing, so they elected to do that. The repairs took the rest of the day. The TI and I drove into town where we stayed at a motel. After we had verified the repairs and rechecked the books the next morning, the TI showed me how to check and sign off the daily inspection and where to lubricate. At noon , he left for San Francisco to fly home. So now, Lieutenant Sheffield was in charge and by himself.

So began my epic journey from West Coast to East Coast. First, let me let you about that OH-13 (called H-13 back then). It was a 1949 “E” model that had wooden blades on it. The leading edges were metal but the rest was wooden. It had a floating magnetic compass, air speed indicator, engine and rotor tachometers, oil pressure gauge, transmission oil pressure gauge, a voltage meter, and a fuel gauge so unreliable that it was disconnected. My fuel gauge was a wooden stick calibrated in gallons from 1 to 14 gallons. You would stick it in the fuel tank and it would wet the stick to the level of fuel. Of note, the airspeed indicator was in miles per hour and was redlined at a whooping 85 miles an hour. There were numerous times when I was bucking a 15-20 mph cross or head wind and cars would pass me on the highway that I was following. The cruise speed that was most comfortable was between 60-70 mph. For my crew chief friends, I did the nightly lubrication, post and pre flight checks, refueling, and securing of the aircraft every night.

My traveling gear was a parachute bag for my clothes, an Army issue 5-gallon gas can, a chamois, several Phillips 66 road maps, tools for the nightly maintenance, and a Jeppeson case of aeronautical maps. That and my slim trim 155 pounds made the aircraft right at maximum gross weight. When full of gas, the OH-13 would barely hover. To make it even dicier, it was hot weather all the way across the US , which did not help it to hover at sea level much less at altitude. Crossing the Sierras and Rockies was touch and go all the way.

As you read this, you will note that I did not fly straight-line point A to point B because there were no airports or facilities when I did that. In 1964, there were very few four-lane highways. Most were two lane roads. The lack of facilities and the desire to save money caused me to attempt to stay at military facilities whenever possible. Therefore, I made zigs and zags all across the US .

I flew from Merced to Fort Ord where I refueled. From there it was down to the Point Magu Naval air station on the coast south of Santa Barbara . The flying was good and surprisingly there were lots of empty spaces and a few mountains. So far so good. The next day I flew up against the hills to avoid the LA airports and airspace. I flew to and spent the night at March AFB in Riverside , CA . My first problem arose the next morning. As I was climbing out of the LA basin from March AFB, I found the road was climbing faster than I could. I had to do a 180-degree turn to go back out over the valley and do climbing turns until I could clear the pass. It was then I realized that I was not flying a powerful CH-34. I had to do this several times to get over mountain passes in the Rockies and high desert.

After leaving the Los Angeles basin, I skimmed over the hills and made a venture north to Las Vegas and Nellis AFB for the night. For some reason I have yet to figure out, that darn old OH-13 broke down in Vegas for two nights. On the third morning, it suddenly got well. A little desert air and sunshine cures many medical problems. The Air Force TIs had no idea what was wrong with a helicopter, much less what it was. They took my word for it that it was sick. When I said it was well, they agreed.

Since the major East-West highway at that time was Route 66, from Vegas I flew down to Route 66 and headed east. In 1964, there were not a lot of airports or cities once you left LA until you got into the middle of Oklahoma . Those that did exist were mostly dirt strips. This was absolutely the most fun part of the trip. I could fly at 15-20 feet above the ground and no one would say anything. I could fly all day at that altitude and have to climb over a power line maybe once. To keep from getting bored, I did all kinds of fun things—I chased coyotes, rabbits, deer, and antelopes. I even tried to goose an antelope with the skids on the aircraft. He was too fast and shifty for me to accomplish that but I did try. I landed at farm ponds and water tanks all across the West and Southwest where in addition to cooling off, I threw rocks at frogs, turtles, snakes, and ducks. After about two hours of flight time with a one to one lateral vibration, my posterior needed something to get the blood flowing again. For your information, the OH-13 had a two-inch foam cushion that sat on an aluminum seat. TB came early and often.

One of the neat things I did was to land at ranch houses that were in the middle of nowhere. The first one I landed near was in Nevada and my purpose was to rest and throw rocks in a pond. Suddenly this rancher came out of this ranch house about a mile away and drove up to where I was. Except for driving a pickup, he looked just like the early cowboys. He had a sweat soaked white hat, Levis , a long sleeved shirt, well-worn boots, and a red bandana around his neck. His face was suntanned with lots of wrinkles. He asked if I needed help and I told him that I was ferrying this helicopter across the country. He insisted that I come to his house to meet his wife and to have some lemonade. They wanted me to stay for supper and the night but I told them if I didn’t show up at my overnight stay they would have search and rescue out looking for me. They were a really a neat old couple. She gave me some home made cookies to take with me. He even asked if I needed some gas. I wasn’t too sure how that aircraft would fly on tractor gas so I declined. To repay their kindness, I gave them the OH-13 tour and let them sit inside the aircraft. After about an hour, they sent me on my way with waves, cookies, and good byes.

Another time I landed at a beautiful rock two story house in the middle of Arizona about 10 miles south of Route 66. It was beautiful from the air, so I decided to land and see if anyone was home. I walked over to the house and noticed the front door was open. It was dusty inside and even had a couple of tumbleweeds in the living room. It appeared a cow had also been in the house. What a great house with a big rock fireplace, western paintings on the walls, and area rugs on the floor. I could tell no one had been there in a while because of the lack of footprints and food. It looked like they had just walked away from it. It was fun just to look at all the old neat things there.

At every farmhouse I stopped at, people would come out to meet me and to offer me something to drink. Of course, I let them sit in the helicopter, gave them a description of how it flew, and told them what I was doing. Surprisingly, even at the air bases and naval air stations people came over and wanted to look at the OH-13. Helicopters were rare once you were 100 miles away from an Army base. In fact, most airport towers would tell me to land on the ramp and keep clear of the runway. Heliports were unheard of at most of the bases and airports.

I also drew crowds of people even time I landed beside Route 66 or the other highways I flew. Because the airports were sometimes beyond range of the OH-13, I would fly for forty-five minutes to an hour, land, and check the fuel. If it was low, I would fly to the next service station, usually a Phillips 66 or Texaco. I would land at the closest open lot or field and shut down the OH-13. I would take the 5-gallon gas can to the service station and fill it up ethyl gas poured through the chamois to make sure there was no debris in it. I would pay the service station operator with the government credit card and then would lug the gas can back to the aircraft. Even though most of the service stations were in the middle of “no where”, the landing always drew a crowd. People would pull off both sides of the highway and come over to the aircraft. I would take time to brief them and to let them sit in the aircraft. Because of the crowds, these fuel stops were a minimum of 45 minutes to an hour. After I had the people stand back, I would pour the gas through the chamois into the tank. I would crank up and fly away to the waves and cheers of the crowd. Move over Lindberg, Sheffield is here. There must be many pictures of me on this trip taken by the people at the service stations. I didn’t even think to bring a camera along.

Most of my overnight stops were uneventful. However, I did have a weather day in Abilene , Texas . I got caught in a gully-washer where the rain came down in buckets. Even though weather had said a line of thunderstorms was still in the area, I had taken off in the morning but only got about 30 miles away when I decided that flying that day was not a good idea. So I sat in my BOQ room and listened to rain and thunder for the entire day. The next morning it was clear so I did my routine pre-flight check and started up the aircraft. I had a horrible vibration that almost shook me out of the aircraft. I shut down and started looking at what had suddenly changed. After looking at the blades, transmission mounts and everything, I suddenly realized what had happened. The blades were wooden while the leading edge and blade root were metal. What this gives you is an “L” shaped metal shape “bucket” on the forward blade. This also means that the rain that entered the forward blade had no way to drain out because the metal kept it from draining out. The reverse of that was true in that the aft blade allowed the rainwater to drain out. I now had one water heavy blade and a normal blade that made up a significant out of balance condition. I rotated the heavy blade to the aft position and waited 30 minutes for it to drain. You could actually see the water come out of it. Being impatient to carry on, I started the aircraft again and only had a moderate one to one vibration that got better as I flew. It took me about 30-40 minutes to get all the water out so the aircraft flew normally.

I continued on my way with two nights in my home town of Lawton . I also was able to have OH-13 qualified TIs from Fort Sill look at my aircraft and to do some minor repairs. It was a good time to spend with my folks. My Mom feed me like a king and I also got cookies to take with me. They also got the OH-13 dog and pony show before I went on my way.

From Lawton , I flew to Dallas , spent the night, and saw a couple of college friends. It was a good haul from Dallas to New Orleans . I had been in New Orleans before but that darn OH-13 broke down again. I spent one night at the Naval Air Station across from the river from New Orleans . After a stop in Mississippi for a night, I flew into Fort Benning , GA. It had taken me about 4+ hours to get to the West Coast and 22 days to get back. It would have been quicker and cheaper to have put the OH-13 on a lowboy trailer and driven it across the country. However, the experience I gained on this trip could not have been duplicated in two or three years of nominal flying. Would I do it again? You bet in a heartbeat! However, it would take longer this time. J.

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

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