Helicopter UH-1D 65-09854


Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1D tail number 65-09854
Date: 02/15/1967
Incident number: 67021501.KIA
This was a Combat incident. This helicopter was LOSS TO INVENTORY
for Air/land Assault , Hot Area.
Unknown this helicopter was Landing at 0003 feet and 000 knots.
South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: WR456722 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48PWR456722)
Helicopter took 3 hits from:
Small Arms/Automatic Weapons; Gun launched non-explosive ballistic projectiles less than 20 mm in size. (7.62MM)
The helicopter was hit in the Main Rotor Blade System
Systems damaged were: FLT CONTROLS, MAIN ROTOR SYS, PERSONNEL
Casualties = YES . .
The helicopter Crashed. Aircraft Destroyed.
Both mission and flight capability were terminated.
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, UH1P2, 72205 (Operations Report. )
Summary: Shot down from a hover in LZ.
Loss to Inventory

Crew Members:
P CPT STEWART ROBERT COLE KIA
AC MAJ HAMNER RALPH H RES


War Story:
Valentines Day 1967: I'll try to condense this version of a long story but 50 years ago today I was flying as pilot on my 1st CA mission with the 336th AHC (Warriors) out of Soc Trang, Jack Grimmer, was my AC. Capt. Robert Stewart was Pilot of the lead Huey, a Major Ralph Hamner was the AC. On the initial insertion Stewart was killed and another crew member was wounded as their ship lost power and rolled on its' right side. We also lost power and settled down to earth upright. We 7 remaining crew members made our way forward to a dike line which offered the only available protection and attempted a rather feeble but apparently effective counter attack on the enemy. We really had no idea of what we were up against. A description of the event appeared February 18th in the 'Stars and Stripes'. The headlines read "331 Reds Killed in Delta, VC DOWN 10 COPTERS". The leadership and experience of WO Grimmer kept the rest of us alive while his brilliance of calling in airstrikes accounted for the deaths of many VC. Grimmer had obtained a hand held radio from a ARVN who was in retreat or already dead. I'm not clear on that. It was February15th there but still Valentine's Day stateside and I found out, hours later when I removed my flight helmet, that some "Charlie" had put a heart shaped hole in it. Isn't that romantic.

From: Jim Creagan 14 February 2017

Editor's NOTE: The helicopter (UH-1D 65-09854) for this incident was selected based on the date and unit it was in so needs to be confirmed.

This record was last updated on 08/31/2020


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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023


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