Helicopter CH-46A 152500

Information on U.S. Marine Corps helicopter CH-46A tail number 152500
Date: 07/15/1966
Incident number: 66071515.KIA
Unit: HMM-265
This was a Combat incident. This helicopter was LOSS TO INVENTORY
for Troop Insertation , Hot Area.
While on Landing Zone this helicopter was in Orbit at 1500 feet and 100 knots.
The station for this helicopter was LZ Crow in Vietnam unspecified
UTM grid coordinates: YD038649 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48QYD038649)
Helicopter took 1 hits from:
Small Arms/Automatic Weapons; Gun launched non-explosive ballistic projectiles less than 20 mm in size. (12.7MM)
causing a Fire.
Systems damaged were: PERSONNEL
Casualties = YES . . Number killed in accident = 13 . .
The helicopter made a Forced Landing. Aircraft Destroyed.
Both mission and flight capability were terminated.
Exploded
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Survivability/Vulnerability Information Analysis Center Helicopter database. Also: OPERA, LNOF, 61011, TWIX, NSC, HMM-265 history by MGL (Naval Safety Center. Operations Report. Lindenmuth Old Format Data Base. )
Loss to Inventory

Crew Members:
HC CPT TC MCALLISTER
CP 1LT GG RICHEY
CE SGT TELFER ROBERT RAY KIA
G SGT LUCIUS

Passengers and/or other participants:
CPL CASE ORSON HOWARD, MC, PX, KIA
HM3 CHAMAJ ANDREW PETER, NA, PX, KIA
CPL CHAMBERS PAUL RICHARD, MC, PX, KIA
PFC CHERRICK JAMES WESTON, MC, PX, KIA
2LT CULLERS RONALD KENNETH, MC, PX, KIA
PFC CUNNION MICHAEL ALFRED, MC, PX, KIA
MH3 DENNIS MARK V, NA, PX, KIA
CPL LILLY WILLIAM JOSEPH, MC, PX, KIA on the ground
HN MORRIS JOHN NATHAN, NA, PX, KIA on the ground
CPL REID JAMES MURRY, MC, PX, KIA
PFC SCHLOEMER CARL WAYNE, MC, PX, KIA
SSG SIMMONS HEROLIN THADUS, MC, PX, KIA
PFC STUBSTAD GERALD EDWARD, MC, PX, KIA
PFC GOODEN MICHAEL ANTHONY, MC, PX, KIA

War Story:
The HMM-265 history states: At 1815, EP-171 was hit by heavy enemy 12.7 automatic weapons fire and subsequently crashed. Both pilots and the gunner survived, with minor burns sustained by the pilots and second and third degree burns by the gunner. Both pilots performed in an outstanding manner while manuevering the burning aircraft toward a landing site. SGT Telfer died despite the efforts of the gunner, SGT Lucus, to save him. The official USMC Vietnam History for 1966 contains a photo of this aircraft taken from LZ Crow by a photographer from Wide World Photo. It clearly shows flames coming from the aft and smoke from the cockpit area while the CH-46 is still at least a 100 feet in the air. On page 165 this history quotes COL Vale, the Infantry battalion CO on the ground at the time: The last helicopter, carrying reinforcements from the 2d Bn, 1st Marines, came under ground fire from the ridge on the south side of the valley. The pilot tried to land in the LZ but as he slowed down and hovered the smoke got into the flight compartment and he had to move forward to keep the smoke out. As a result, he overshot the LZ and after moving over the CP tried to set down again. By this time the helo was rolling and barely remaining airborne. The pilot had to move forward again and then crashed on the edge of the area in which our CP and 81 mortars were set up. Thirteen men died and 3 others were injured in this event.

Operation HASTINGS began with a series of combat assaults by 2nd & 3rd Bns, 4th Marines. LZ CROW, about 10 km N-NW of Cam Lo, was barely large enough for 4 CH-46s. The first landings went OK, then one landed long in the trees, one was shot down, and two had a rotor disc collision in the LZ. Oddly, or perhaps fortuitously, there don't seem to have been any deaths from these 4 aircraft.

A reaction force from 1st Plt, E Co, 2nd Bn, 1st Marines was sent in on CH-46A 152500 to protect the aircraft while the 3rd Bn, 4th Marines went about their affairs. The element aboard 152500 included infantrymen, Corpsmen, and engineers from A/1st Eng Bn whose job it was to see about clearing the LZ. The CH-46 was hit and began burning; it then crashed into the 3/4 Mar command post, killing 2 men from H&S Co, 3/4.

Pfc GOODEN was aboard the helo and died of burns received in the crash; he is miscoded in the CACCF as a ground casualty. LILLY and MORRIS are the two men killed on the ground. They too are miscoded in the CACCF, but the other way around - as passengers. In addition to the 15 men killed in the crash (1 aircrew, 12 pax, 2 on the ground), three other Marines died in the ground fighting. From: Ken Davis.

This record was last updated on 11/11/2008

This information is available on CD-ROM.

Additional information is available on KIAs at http://www.coffeltdatabase.org

Please send additions or corrections to: The VHPA Webmaster Gary Roush.

KIA statistics

Return to the KIA name list

Return to the KIA panel date index

Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023