More detail on this person: Larry Apt was a
scout pilot with B Co, 4th Avn Bn 4th Inf Div
1969/70. He was involved in a recovery mission of
a downed OH6 in the tri-border area, II Corp RVN
where all involved received valor awards from MG
Walker, Commanding General of 4th Inf. Div at the
conclusion of the day long mission. I am not sure
what WO Apt received but Joseph Peraza received
the Silver Star. I believe Larry got the Bronze
Star with "V". We had AH-1G's but the gunships
that Larry flew were UH-1B's converted to Guns.
They had the 540 Rotor Heads and Blades but no
upgrade on the engine or hydraulics. The B Model
was equipped with an accumulator that would give
you maybe 4 strokes on the collective and then you
were done. This was in lieu of having a redundant
hydraulic system. To say the aircraft was
underpowered is an understatement. Operating in
the Mountains at high density altitude and a load
of rockets and minigun ammo, you could not hover
it...only able to get it light on the skids and
bounce it down the runway for take-off. Sometimes
the crew had to run along side it and jump on as
you picked up forward speed. As you might
imagine, this took a lot of pilot technique and
Larry was extremely good at it. This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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Date posted on this site:
03/10/2024
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From: Roy Harris Olive
Helicopter crash in the United States while acting
as a co-pilot.