More detail on this person: My name is Gordon
Henson (67-19) and I am responding to your list of
names of folks you are looking for in the VHPA
Newsletter. Barry Robinson was killed when the
helicopter he was flying crashed into Cook inlet
off of Kenai, Alaska in 1968. He was flying back
and forth between the oil rigs in the inlet for
ERA Helicopters. He radioed in that he had some
sort of transmission problem and crashed. He had
a passenger with him and the passengers body was
found, but Barry was never located. I first met
Barry when we were Smokejumpers together in
Missoula, Montana in 1963. I later went to his
house for dinner in Fort Wolters as he was just
back from RVN and I was a WOC candidate. He
was married to a Mineral Wells, TX girl by the
name of May Nan. She is now a lawyer and is
living and practicing in Missoula, MT. Her name
is now May Nan Ellingson. This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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Date posted on this site:
03/10/2024
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I went to college with a John Todd who eventually
went to WOC training in 1967. I ran into him in
RVN and then talked to him on the phone about 5
or 6 years ago. He was working for Airfast
Indonesia. I am not sure if it is the John R.
Todd you are looking for or not.
From: Gordon Henson, Sidekick 15, 92nd AHC
67-68
I remember well when Barry went down in Cook
Inlet. The passenger with Barry turned out to be a
distant cousin of mine that I didn't know. But I
did know Barry, I was 14 yrs old at the time and
was working for Anchorage Helicopter Service at
Rigtenders Heliport in North Kenai as a part time
janitor. Barry and other pilots with both ERA and
Anchorage Helicopters would let me "fly" right
seat out to the offshore platforms. It was the
greatest childhood experience of my life. I was
saddened as a young man when I heard that the
rotor head servo on the 205 he was flying froze up
and caused the crash. I hitched a ride out with
the tug boat that was searching for the wreckage
when they found it. Barry wasn't there when they
brought it back to the surface. I still think
often about how lucky I was to have known him and
all of the other Vietnam Era pilots that I had the
privilege to fly with.
Gary Fisher
Helicopter crash in AK around end of 1967.