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CH-47A Operations in Vietnam


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On 5/20/2017 at 6:07 PM, snake36bravo said:

Here are a few images of 'Easy Money' I took on Redstone when I was working the CH-47J project with PEO Aviation. I have a full walk-around. Last photograph of the ACH-47A is an official 1st CAV 8x10 taken at Ah Khe, RVN. All the images are mine and from my collection.

 

34783805755_21265aceb9_b.jpg

 

 

 

Curious to the meaning behind all the patches? Some don't appear to belong, so why the addition?

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34045313274_9025b51e5b_b.jpg

They painted the Crest on the nose. On my assigned aircraft's  (UH-1H) nose I had the 97th ARCM patch (blue/white trident). On the tail same thing.On the pilots mid bulkhead we had a placard frame to hold distinguished rank placards ie: 0-5 and above. Our designated missions were as a Taxi service for Army Brass.

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6 minutes ago, snake36bravo said:

 

They are all from the units they directly supported when they were called for gunship fire support

 

easy_fly.jpg

Of note: 300 aircrew purple hearts and 500+ VC

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still the original question was did they fly Chinooks into hot areas. Of course they did. Bean counters and CIA creeps had no serious idea what was happening out there in the land of the tiger. Why? Because there wasn't any warm beads and mattresses out there. Crews went where they were told to go, and really that's the end of the question. The old H34 was popular with folks going deep into tigerland because it would get there and back with a half million holes in it, and it had the range to get you there . Slicks can deliver people and some light weight stuff, but they can't deliver the good stuff that was so dearly needed by the hour. The big old bird could get there without too much trouble. It had the range. I've been in slots that a slick had to refuel along the way, and have been aboard when they had to refuel on the way out. I should hope they fixed that issue with the Blackhawk. My big complaint was that they were big targets with two prime target spots instead of one. Yet could we have lived with them? NOPE! You really couldn't set the thing down, and expect to be there very long. Charlie would get an extra  bowl of rice and another fish head if he hit it.

 

I remember once watch a Caribou land on a gravel airstrip at A102. Stupid! They started pushing the crates out the back of the ramp. All the while I could hear the chunk, chunk of the mortar tubes 1500 yards out. They actually flew out of the place with explosions right behind them! Next time they did the normal low level pallet drop. Chinooks rolled thru with a huge load of ammo slung under their bellies. They just dropped them in the back of a five ton. They got outta dodge in one piece because they were there about a minute. Next guy rolls in about three minutes out, and is there about a minute max. You just don't land anything out there. Army sent the press corp out to see us in a brand new slick once (note: I said once). They sat down on the pad, and came out like they were strutting roosters in the clean clothes and cameras hung around their necks. Told them to get that chopper off the pad. Three or four minutes later the slick was a burning hulk. They were not welcome anyway. But the Doughnut Dollies were, But they never came! Some NVA mortar crew ate well that night.

gary

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49 minutes ago, Tank said:

Curious to the meaning behind all the patches? Some don't appear to belong, so why the addition?

actually a who's who in I-Corps.  How the Big Red One and the Australians fit in I'm not sure, unless they started out down south and moved north. Looking at the crests It looks like a post Tet thing in I-Corps.

gary

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54 minutes ago, ChesshireCat said:

actually a who's who in I-Corps.  How the Big Red One and the Australians fit in I'm not sure, unless they started out down south and moved north. Looking at the crests It looks like a post Tet thing in I-Corps.

gary

 Not everyday you see a EGA on a non Marine bird.

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