Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1H tail number 66-16576
The Army purchased this helicopter 0667
Total flight hours at this point: 00000652
Date: 01/15/1968
Incident number: 68011517.KIA
Unit: 170 AHC
This was a Combat incident.
South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: ZB179105 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48PZB179105)
Casualties = 01 KIA . .
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Also: OPERA, 52 CAB Significant Events 1 Nov 67 - 31 Jan 68 (Operations Report. )
Loss to Inventory
Crew Members:
G PFC WEBER RAYMOND N KIA
Passengers and/or other participants:
MSG HINSON BERT HOWARD, AR, OG, KIA
War Story:
The 52d CAB unit history states that this aircraft crashed and burned. The aircraft landed with toes of skids on an upslope, when the tail rotor disintegrated. Heavy enemy contact was reported in the vicinity of the LZ. The aircraft rolled onto ammunitions stores and exploded. One crew member was KIA, no other injureis were reported.
At ZB186111, a 52nd Aviation aircraft crashed with a load of 81mm mortar ammunition. The rounds exploded killing one and wounding four. One US was MIA and the AC was destroyed. The KIA was Bert Howard Hinson, C,3/8. It is not clear if he was on the helicopter or killled on the ground by the helicopter. Aircraft was UH-1D 66-16576 from 170th AHC. Incident contained in 52ND AVN BN ORLL TT 3030518010b.pdf p26 with UTM ZB185110. Crewman Raymond N. WEBER was not immediately identifiable; shown as DWM in CACCF; listed MIA 17 Jan 68 (DoD 54-68); to dead 29 Jan (DoD 99-68). From: Ken Davis
MSG Bert Howard Hinson, C/3/8 was killed while on the ground guiding the chopper in to the LZ when the tail rotor blade caught the treetops and flipped the chopper over. The main rotor blades killed MSG Hinson instantly and cut him into several pieces. I din't remember a crewman dying in the incident, as well. After the chopper caught fire, it was cooking off rounds of ammunition and mortar rounds, so we had to move the perimeter about 100 meters to prevent additional casualties and return the next morning to pick up the remains of Hinson.
From: Steve Edmunds
This record was last updated on 06/12/2012
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Date posted on this site:
11/13/2023
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