VH-53D Help (Solved) - Now with added VH-3A and D content!

[andyf117]

On 10/18/2023 at 11:42 PM, Bill K said:

Here is a VH-3A most likely during President Nixon.....The pilot (unknown) is wearing the trip suite, also called the Ralph Crandon, from the TV show the Honeymooners....

The pilot is Capt. Gary Neumann, according to this online media article - https://www.houghtonlakeresorter.com/articles/three-presidents-in-four-years/:

Thanks for the cabin layout diagram - I've a copy of 230HLH-1, which shows the 'Executive Interior' used in former VH-3s - but that's the first time I've seen the corresponding Y-1 page.

[Bill K]

As of last November, Can't find my current alumni roster, Capt Neumann is alive and living in Grayling MI. Was at HMX from 1973-1977. Must have flown with him but can't remember him. Fifty years ago is tough on the brain. Might remember him after a good nights sleep.

The galley listed in the rear held some miniature liquor bottles, soda, mixers etc. There was hot coffee and ice water in containers at the top

. Always had a problem with the extra sodas stored in the bottom. That area was always warm and add the vibrations you would always find completely empty cans of soda from a pin hole leak in the seal. Always a fun mess. I think I have a listing/drawing of what types of liquor etc and where they went in the draws. If interested I will scan it.

 

[Bill K]

The back up or number 2 bird was always full. Most times the number 1 bird was also full. Seats were assigned with seating cards. There was also several aids and secret service onboard. One of the reasons the rear air stair door was moved to the left side was that upon landing the flunkies in the rear would storm out the rear door, run under the tail with the rotor still turning to get to the front so that the president/VIP might see them. Only a matter of time before an accident. On a lift when the forward door was loaded the crew chief would move around the nose to the rear door and close it. Then back to the front, move inside remove your cover then secure the door. Then it's time to turn and burn.

[Bill K]

Here is a picture of 2 sliding door VH-3As at Anacostia during the great flood. A/C are parked beyond the high water mark. The A/C taking off, (Presidential lift) is either Marine 1 or the gold bird which was back up. The 2 sliding door 3As are the white bird on the left which was my bird and the red bird on the right. My A/C in the picture was most likely 147145.  Second picture is Marine 1 or the Gold bird which was the backup taxing out for take off for the lift. You can see the hinge area on the aft air-stair door below the door. The very large tow tractor was not used to tow the helos. It's good that we had that for transportation since the hanger was about 3 feet deep with water. All our cars were flooded out, some floating.

[Bill K]

Here is Anacostia with out the floods. The VH-3Ds are in service. The gold and red bird are in their assigned parking spot. Behind the red bird is Marine 1 spot. Behind that is the hanger. We lived upstairs when on alert duty. When the 3 helos were in the hanger the tow tractor stayed hooked up and the A/C were in a straight line.  I'm taking the pic in the white bird. Each helo has its own fuel truck. The far left truck was the de-fuel truck. Used to remove fuel for lifts. VIP flights were not flown with full tanks. We started flying the D models at Anacostia in April 1976. I had A and D model time in April of 76. I should be flying in 159360 during this picture but could also be 159357 or 159358.

[Loach Driver]

Great pics, Bill and superb insight into the smaller but interesting details of the Presidential Flight operations. I'm stating the obvious, but I'd imagine it was a much sought-after posting, being in HMX-1.

 

LD.

[Bill K]

It was a lot better then my first squadron, H&MS-26 out of New River NC. Back at NAS Memphis where all the basic air wing schools were, when I finished basic helo the Staff NCO of the school asked me if I wanted orders for HMX. I think I finished top in my class. He talked about the Presidential side but spent more time explaining the experimental side of the Squadron. That I liked. From Memphis I went to New River for CH-46 school. School was in the evening after chow. During the day I worked on the flight line with my Squadron. Hams is a good story in its self. I could have stayed there when I finished school, but I wanted to see more of the Corps. HMX was about 2/3 research and development and 1/3 VIP back then. A lot of the senior staff go back to the original USMC Helo's. Tons of knowledge and history. Very old Corps. Was a lot of fun. I mentioned several posts ago about when they were testing a CH-53 for the white house. The guys were still talking about it when I got there. It blew dirt, grass, bugs, bushes and hair that fell out of Lincolns beard all over the south lawn. The guys had you P*ssing your pants it was so funny.

Along with all the testing we also supported the grunts and officer school. We also had a SAR aircraft every evening. Not everyone went over to the white side. The clearance took a long time. It went back 3 family generations. I don't know if you could refuse orders to the white side. One day my boss told me that on such and such day I'm assigned to the cage. That was the first hanger in the row of 4. I enjoyed it but liked the green side better. When my old A/C from the green side, MX-15 148043, went over the the white side and I was again her Crew Chief. The job got a lot more fun. MX-15 was a real helicopter. Smelled, sounded and acted like a real chopper. When the weather was nice I could take out the top of the crew door and watch the world fly by.

When the Army lost the mission and everything was on us it started to get stressful. Missions and work load doubled with the same manpower. Add to that civilians and politicians were hostile to the military. If I had stayed in, and was going to stay in my orders were for Hawaii on a 3 year tour with my first wife. After that I would have went back to Quantico rested and relaxed. I changed my mind at the last moment, took my honorable discharge and became a paid fire fighter at the Philadelphia Navy Yard for 33 years. 

 

[YF65_CH53E]

Bill,

 

First and foremost Semper Fi brother!!  Having been around CH-53's my whole 34 years, I had my turn as well supporting HMX-1 for various white side lifts as wells as Testing and Evaluation during my time at MAWTS-1 in Yuma as well as PAX River MD.  Your insight to the early years of HMX-1 is great!  Your recolections and details are amazing.  Thank you for sharing these with the modeling community here.  its great to have "the guy who was there" views.  Invaulable really.

 

Best thing in the Marine Corps was being a Sgt/SSgt and having your own bird.  Name on the side and all the work that came with it.  When she flew you flew, when she broke you fixed her.  Grab your PFK and head out for a daily and turn around, wipe her down, open her up and get ready to turn an burn!  Best feeling in the world to me was when my pilots would come out to my plane for preflight and ask me "Is she ready?"  I'd reply "Yes Sir!", next best words ever...."Than close her up, I don't need to go up there".  The trust and respect we had for each other as Pilot and Crewchief was pretty dang cool.  I miss that part of crewing a helicopter the most.  Especially when we were on the boat for MAB/MEU operations.  We would try and have combat crews so you could fly with one set of pilots during the cruise if at all possible.  Made for a tight bond with all four of us in a CH-53E.

 

I was lucky enough to fly as a crewchief in CH-53A/D/E's from L/Cpl to GySgt.  1987 - 2018.  Great times, great stories, great brothers!!

 

OHH RAH!

Gunny Dan

[Bill K]

Semper Fi Marine. I'll add to the post later but here is a cropped shot of some of the CH-53s on the flight line at Quantico. A bonus picture of one of the T-28's. That squadron was SOES. 

[andyf117]

Lovely stuff, Bill - might that shot of the -53s date from 1976? The very small pic of the pair of 'white tops' I posted previously was from July of that year...

[Bill K]

I'm not sure when I took the picture but kinda sure it is either 1974 or 75. Years ago I had slides turned into pictures. I did this for a reunion in the 1980's. This was part of those pictures. The pile of pictures cover 1973 to 1976. I don't think they parked 53's there until after 1974. HMM-263 use to be stationed at Quantico. That would have been 263s area. I think SOES left in 1975. They took care of the T-28's and DC-3's.

These shots are after we put the D models in service. Sometime in 1976. You can see VH-3A's that now belong to the green side on the flight line. The top hanger group, 2 brick with a white metal building, is now the cage. The white side. When I started only the top/first brick hanger was the cage. Second brick hanger was the green side. Third brick hanger was HMM-263. The forth hanger was operations, the tower, transit aircraft and SOES. The large hanger to the rear was also SOES. HMX got 263 hanger when they left. The 2 pictures of SOES are 1973 or 1974. The bridge in the background was the road over the train tracks to the air station. On the air station side was another guard gate. The tracks run the whole east coast. The Tropicana orange juice trains use to run all the time. You would know they were coming before you could see them because the barracks would start to oscillate.

[andyf117]

If my eyes don't deceive me, in that first view there are three UH-1s, three CH-46s, two SH-3s and one VH-3, two CH-53s, and four T-28s...

[Bill K]

 Was a great duty station to see aircraft. I flown in every helicopter in the Marine Corps in service during my time except a Cobra. But tried when I was at H&MS 26 in New River. A cobra squadron was next to us. Very few guys at HMX flew in the SH-3G's. Even less were a crew chief. Even had pilots that didn't want to fly in them.

[Bill K]

Also the hangers are full. In the first picture on the top the brick building was the barracks and mess hall for the air station. The white 'H' shaped building was the BOQ and above it was the officers mess. To the right and below you can the white side fuel trucks and de-fueler. I don't have a picture that I can find of the fuel pits for JP-4. That was below the pictures. Of course there were also Avgas trucks for the T-28s Etc and some of the ground support equipment. At one time where the T-28 is parked next to their hanger SOES had a WW 2 Wildcat fighter plane parked that they were restoring. Was the type with 2 fifty cal in each wing.

Movement on the airfield to the south was done with light signals from the towers. The support equipment did not have radios. The Marine Corps didn't like to spend money in those days. The other side of the rail road tracks was main side. (The grunt side) Was very heavy with Officers and Staff NCO's. They didn't like the air wing.The buildings across the tracks from the DC-3, (The Corps has a different designation for it but I cant remember. R4 something I think) Those were cooks and bakers school. A friend that I worked in the Fire House went there. He got to Vietnam just before Tet. Was told we have enough cooks, your now in tanks. Did 13 months and was in all the major battles. Agent orange did him in with brain cancer. 

Edited October 28, 2023 by Bill K

[Bill K]

The picture of the USMC DC-3 would be a great model subject of a rare A/C. All the marking can be seen and the washed out grey and white paint shows up well. When you received orders to a new duty station you might get a free trip on the DC-3's or have to go commercial air line. I always went airlines.

Here is another of Quantico's R4D's. (googled the Corps ID)  She is sitting South or the last hanger with the tower and operations. South over her nose is the location of the old air station. (not seen in the picture) Lots of old sea plane hangers etc. There was a large hanger called Larsen Gym where we did overhauls and other maintenance to the Green Side A/C. 1/2 was a gym, 1/2 was a hanger. I just saw a picture of it and will post when I find it. Larsen Gym is where the tail of MX-16 was broken off by the metal shop.

Edited October 28, 2023 by Bill K

[Bill K]

I found a link to Larson's gym, https://jkatermiller.wordpress.com/2018/02/23/larsons-gym-and-the-end-of-an-era/ .  Looks like they closed it. There is a nice high attitude picture of the old air station with the current runways in the picture. Across from the old air station is where the original V-22 Osprey crashed into the Potomac river while it was tested in 1992. The little pier into the river was for the Navy manned crash boat.

Edited October 28, 2023 by Bill K

[Cubs2jets]

This showed up on the contest table at the IPMS Region 12 contest Saturday 11/4.  The builder (whose name I didn't get) said he built it during the first part of COVID.  I do not know if it took an award, but to my eye it was very well built.

 

 

C2j

[Tank]

3 hours ago, Cubs2jets said:

IPMS Region 12 contest Saturday 11/4.

Noice find. I almost attend the show. A few of our club members did. 👍

[Bill K]

Very nice looking 53.

[Dutch]

Nice build. What scale? 1:48?

Edited November 6, 2023 by Dutch

[Cubs2jets]

The entry sheet indicates the Revell 1/48 CH-53 with Flying Leathernecks VH-53 decals.

 

C2j

[Bill K]

I have more information on why the VH-53 program was stopped and about the damage to the White House landscape that I talked about in an earlier post.  One of my CO's at HMX just passed away. I copied and pasted the notification we received from the alumni association. Lt. Col Pirnie was an outstanding pilot and leader.

 

16th Commanding Officer Passes March 3, 2024.

 

Tribute to Lt. Col. David M. Pirnie (01/07/1935 – 03/03/2024)   Capt. Pirnie was assigned to HMX-1 in 1962. During his first tour he served as a Command Pilot for both Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Lt. Col. Pirnie returned to HMX in 1972 as the XO and then CO.  During this tour he was confronted with numerous events that greatly affected HMX-1 both from a political and Marine Corp perspective.    On Oct. 10th 1973 Vice President Agnew resigned. This was followed by the Watergate incident and the eventual resignation of President Nixon.   During this same time frame, a replacement aircraft for the VH-3A had been ongoing at NavAir and Headquarters Marine Corps. The decision had been made to replace the VH-3A with a VH-53. When Lt. Col. Pirnie became involved in the program, the contract for 9 VH-53s had already been signed. He had deep concerns about the reliability of the CH-53 at that specific time and its size fitting the requirements of the White House mission.    Choosing a time frame when the President would not be at the White House, he requested permission to land a CH-53 that had been configured to the weight and C/G of the proposed VH-53 on the White House lawn. That demonstration ended in damage to the President Jefferson’s planted trees on the lawn and resulted in the White House deciding not to accept the VH-53 as a replacement a/c. With the cancellation of the VH-53 program, a VH-3D program was initiated.    The delivery of the new VH-3Ds was completed in 1975. From the beginning of Presidential helicopter transportation during President Eisenhower’s administration, the mission had been shared between the Army and the Marine Corps.  During President Ford’s administration Lt. Col. Pirnie was contacted by the White House concerning taking all responsibility for White House Helicopter transportation.  In 1976 Headquarters Marine Corps agreed to take the entire mission.   During his two tours at HMX, Lt. Col. Pirnie flew Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter.      For more information concerning burial please do an obituary search on Google.

[Loach Driver]

I'm sorry to hear about the passing of your CO. Thanks for posting that information for us here.

 

LD.