More detail on this person: A med-evac
helicopter went down in the Potomac Monday night,
killing the pilot and a flight paramedic. The
pilot was Joseph E. Schaeffer III, of Sterling,
VA. He did two tours in Nam and had been flying
ever since, apparently. You may already know of
this, given the number of veteran pilots in this
area, but I wanted to pass it along in the even
that you did not, and that he may have been a
member of VHPA. Burial information: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA
This information was last updated 05/18/2016
Please send additions or corrections to: HQ@vhpa.org VHPA Headquarters
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Date posted on this site:
03/10/2024
Copyright © 1998 - 2024 Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association
From: "Carol W. Scott, Esq."
I thought I should let you guys know that Joe
Schaefer III, who was a warrant officer helicopter
pilot in C/229th from August, '69 through June,
'70, was killed while piloting an EMS Twin-Dauphin
helicopter near Washington DC last week. He was
56.
Joe worked for Life Evac, an air medical company
in Virginia, and had just dropped a patient at a
hospital somewhere near DC -- at about 11 pm on
Jan 10th. They were returning via a low-level VFR
route along the Potomac River when they crashed
into the river near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
The low-level route is designed to avoid the
traffic at Ronald Reagan Airport (formerly
Washington National). Initial reports were that
the helicopter struck one of a number of
construction cranes working on widening the
bridge, but that has apparently not been supported
by an examination of the cranes. NTSB is still
investigating.
Joe arrived in C/229th in August, 1969 -- the same
day as Roger Baker. He shared a hooch with Dave
Thomas, Les Tatarski and Murray McMillan. When
Les
Tatarski got killed in June, '70, R.C. Baker
assigned Joe to escort the remains home from
Vietnam. Since he had so little time left, Joe
didn't have to come back to RVN to finish his
tour.
From: Dan Tyler
Survivors: Mary Cele Schafer, Sterling, VA - DOD -
14 Feb 2007; Michael Schaefer, Sterling, VA;
James Schaefer, Sterling, VA; Andrew Schaefer,
Sterling, VA.
Joe, "Shaftmaster", died while being a medical
helicopter pilot. His helicopter crashed in the
Potomac River in Washington,D.C. while returning
from dropping off a heart attack patient. He is
buried at Arlington National Cementary with his
wife who died from cancer.
From: Denise Schaefer Button