VN Helicopter Pilots Relaxing After a Fun Day of Flying

[Retired W4]

Me, my hooch mate, Hal Birk (Spartans), Tommy Smith (Playboys) and the guy in front who's name I can't remember (also of the Playboys). That thing in Hal's mouth is a piece of hydraulic line from my ship that was hit on a night extraction. The 51 cal. round went through a fuel cell, ricocheted off the transmission and clipped the line. The landing was made with no hydraulics and no radios. The 1st hit from another 51 took out the radios. A fun time was had by all.

 

[CQB27]

Did you fly UH-1s? UH-1Ds maybe?

 

[s&wchad]

The guy on the right sure looks like Val Kilmer.
You flew with Iceman???

 

[moosedog]

You guys have brass balls. America's best.

 

[cherrypointmarine]

My father in law , a career AF man , was offered a chance to transfer to the Army , become a WO , and fly helo's . There were 10 of them that were made the offer . He was considering it when a buddy told him " You know what the life expectancy of a helo pilot in Nam is ?" Needless to say he stayed in the AF and retired after 35 years . Odd thing is , he ended up going anyways , he was a boom operator on KC-135's . He ended up rotating over there 6 times , they didn't do 12 month tours .

 

[CQB27]

The guy on the right sure looks like Val Kilmer.
You flew with Iceman???

Wow, he really does look like Iceman, lol.

 

[Retired W4]

Wow, he really does look like Iceman, lol.

Hal was a character. He had a snake with a sombrero and a tequila bottle tattoo on his arm. I always told him it looked like a worm, which made more sense to me. He swore it was a snake. What do you expect from Tejuana?

UH-1D and H over there.

 

[Golphin]

One of the best books I ever read was "Lest We Forget" written by William C Meachum. I met Bill at my father in laws house about 20 years ago . Sat down to read the book and could not put it down. It is worth a couple bucks to order one from Amazon.

 

[Retired W4]

One of the best books I ever read was "Lest We Forget" written by William C Meachum. I met Bill at my father in laws house about 20 years ago or more. Sat down to read the book and could not put it down. It is worth a couple bucks to order one from Amazon.

The Kingsmen, part of the 101st Avn Group, went into Laos as part of Lam Son 719 in '71. Bad stuff. i was just getting off AD the first time when that went down. At one time, in the 90's my unit was part of the 158th Avn BN of the 101. The Kingsmen, like most Assault Helicopter Company's, had some kind of reputation.

 

[Sgt911]

Most VN era nose art Ive seen.
COPYRIGHT 1995 SQUADRON/SIGNAL PUBLICATIONS, INC | Aviation - airports, aircraft, helicopters ...

 

[cherrypointmarine]

RetiredW4 , who are the playboys ? Reason I asked , the squadron I was in had/has a playboy bunnies head on the stab . They actually went to playboy and got permission to use it on the aircraft . If you ever saw one you wouldn't forget it , VMAQ-2 . I understand there's a VMAQ-3 now , flying something other than the EA-6B . My hats off to you and your brothers , you were some bad dudes .

 

[Wrangler Rich]

Most VN era nose art Ive seen.
COPYRIGHT 1995 SQUADRON/SIGNAL PUBLICATIONS, INC | Aviation - airports, aircraft, helicopters ...

Sgt., I went to this sight thinking I may just see an example of some of my Unit's examples. Sure enough. They had an AH1G Cobra attributed to A Troop 7/1 Air Cav ( which was assigned to 1st Aviation Brigade) however, it should be attributed to C Troop the Comanche's. A Troop didn't have the "Shark's teeth" and our cowling had a rendition of Geronimo, an Apache.

WR

A Troop 7/1 Air Cav.
1970 / 1971

 

[Retired W4]

RetiredW4 , who are the playboys ? Reason I asked , the squadron I was in had/has a playboy bunnies head on the stab . They actually went to playboy and got permission to use it on the aircraft . If you ever saw one you wouldn't forget it , VMAQ-2 . I understand there's a VMAQ-3 now , flying something other than the EA-6B . My hats off to you and your brothers , you were some bad dudes .

The Playboys were the 117th AHC Warloars. The Playboys were an unofficial platoon call sign, like the Mungs of the 187th Crusaders.

 

[Retired W4]

Most VN era nose art Ive seen.
COPYRIGHT 1995 SQUADRON/SIGNAL PUBLICATIONS, INC | Aviation - airports, aircraft, helicopters ...

John Brennan's book Vietnam War Helicopter Art, Part 1 & 2 is well worth it.

 

[Sgt911]

The Playboys were the 117th AHC Warloars. The Playboys were an unofficial platoon call sign, like the Mungs of the 187th Crusaders.

I saw The Playboys in here, pretty far down. Lots of helicopter nose art. Helicopter Units and losses in the Vietnam War – CherriesWriter – Vietnam War website

 

[Retired W4]

Sgt., I went to this sight thinking I may just see an example of some of my Unit's examples. Sure enough. They had an AH1G Cobra attributed to A Troop 7/1 Air Cav ( which was assigned to 1st Aviation Brigade) however, it should be attributed to C Troop the Comanche's. A Troop didn't have the "Shark's teeth" and our cowling had a rendition of Geronimo, an Apache.

WR

A Troop 7/1 Air Cav.
1970 / 1971

John's book has three Cobra pics from C 7/1. Page 12 (Mary Lee), page 13 (Pig Pen with sharks teeth) and Spooker Pooker/teeth.

Then there's Blue Max ARA.

Oh, and then there's the more modern version of sharks teeth. The Tiger Sharks of the 75th Fighter Sq.

 

[Tradewind36]

With my 12 years flying Hueys, I know you had your hands full!

 

[CQB27]

Hal was a character. He had a snake with a sombrero and a tequila bottle tattoo on his arm. I always told him it looked like a worm, which made more sense to me. He swore it was a snake. What do you expect from Tejuana?

UH-1D and H over there.

My first assignment as a brand new UH-1 pilot was the 131st CSAC, 4th Avn Bde, 4th ID, The Nighthawks. The newest H model we had was a 74 vintage, the oldest was a 62 (nose mounted pitot tube). Most of the AC in fleet were Vietnam War veterans, 18 of the 22 if I remember correctly. They all had skin patches covering bullet/shrapnel holes. It was an honor to fly those war horses. Who knows one of them might have been yours. I have great respect for you and your brothers who fought in the first airmobile war!

 

[CQB27]

One of the best books I ever read was "Lest We Forget" written by William C Meachum. I met Bill at my father in laws house about 20 years ago . Sat down to read the book and could not put it down. It is worth a couple bucks to order one from Amazon.

I will be ordering that book tonight! Chickenhawk by Robert Mason is also a good read.

 

[sabashimon]

Back in the early '70's I was cutting cedar bolts in the forests of the Oregon coast to sell to the mills for shakes, and my partner and I would buy up sales that nobody else wanted because they were deep in the woods, way down in ravines. Long story short we used some old VN pilots to ferry our bolts out, and also to ferry us and our gear in, us sitting on the hooks flying across the treetops until they could put us down. These guys were absolutely fearless, coming ever so close to trees and rock cliffs. Hey....I was young and stupid.