I put this into my hard drive to add to a compilation of destroyed helicopters, done by a 190th AHC brother. While it looks pretty serious, God's Own Lunatics (VN helicopter pilots) can always find some humor somehow.
Rick Scheffing and I were the last ones to fly this one (Smokey). We had been hit by a pair of 17 pound (war head) rockets from one of our own Cobras while we were making a smoke run. We managed to get it back home despite having no hydraulics and one minor wound. We landed it in front of the maintenance hangar where it sat for two days. The local VC/NVA decided to interject their will on the situation by landing a mortar next to it, catching it on fire and igniting all the fuel, ammo and grenades still on board. Here's the funny part! We had South Vietnamese fire fighters at the camp who came out with their foam truck. As we watched, they would charge the burning helicopter (three or four of them on a hose) until something cooked off and exploded. They would scurry back to their truck until things settled down then charge the fire again. Inevitably more bullets and grenades would cook off with red tracer rounds tumbling through the air and they scurried away. That went on until the ship ended up the way it looks here. As all that happened all I could think about was an old Keystone Cops movie, so I named the fire crew the Keystone Fire Department. I was laughing at the time and it still makes me laugh today, just like watching one of those old movies.
Black and white photo from my personal collection. Color photo from Gerry Kunishige, another smoke ship pilot. Same ship, different cameras.
Rick Scheffing and I were the last ones to fly this one (Smokey). We had been hit by a pair of 17 pound (war head) rockets from one of our own Cobras while we were making a smoke run. We managed to get it back home despite having no hydraulics and one minor wound. We landed it in front of the maintenance hangar where it sat for two days. The local VC/NVA decided to interject their will on the situation by landing a mortar next to it, catching it on fire and igniting all the fuel, ammo and grenades still on board. Here's the funny part! We had South Vietnamese fire fighters at the camp who came out with their foam truck. As we watched, they would charge the burning helicopter (three or four of them on a hose) until something cooked off and exploded. They would scurry back to their truck until things settled down then charge the fire again. Inevitably more bullets and grenades would cook off with red tracer rounds tumbling through the air and they scurried away. That went on until the ship ended up the way it looks here. As all that happened all I could think about was an old Keystone Cops movie, so I named the fire crew the Keystone Fire Department. I was laughing at the time and it still makes me laugh today, just like watching one of those old movies.
Black and white photo from my personal collection. Color photo from Gerry Kunishige, another smoke ship pilot. Same ship, different cameras.
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