Helicopter UH-1H 67-17499


Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1H tail number 67-17499
The Army purchased this helicopter 0568
Total flight hours at this point: 00000639
Date: 02/06/1969 MIA-POW file reference number: 1372
Incident number: 690206171ACD Accident case number: 690206171 Total loss or fatality Accident
Unit: 282 AHC
The station for this helicopter was Da Nang in South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: YD161294 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48QYD161294)
Number killed in accident = 1 . . Injured = 0 . . Passengers = 5
costing 286745
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense Intelligence Agency Reference Notes. Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Army Aviation Safety Center database. Also: 1372 ()
Loss to Inventory

Crew Members:
P MAJ PADGETT DAVID EUGENE BNR
P CW3 STANLEY CHARLES IRVIN BNR
CE E5 O HARA ROBERT CHARLES KIA
G SFC CHRISTIANSEN EUGENE F BNR
CE SFC OHARA ROBERT CHARLES BNR

Passengers and/or other participants:
X1 P VUVAN, PAX, X
UNK UNK, PAX, X
UNK UNK, PAX, X
CPT BRIGGS RONALD DANIEL, AR, PX, BNR
LTC PARSONS DONALD EUGENE, AR, PX, BNR


REFNO Synopsis:
SYNOPSIS: On February 6, 1969, CW2 Charles I. Stanley, pilot; 1Lt. David E. Padgett, aircraft commander; SP5 Robert C. O'Hara, crew chief; PFC Eugene F. Christiansen, door gunner; LtCol. Donald E. Parsons, 1Lt. Ronald D. Briggs, and Maj. Vu Vanh Phao, ARVN, all passengers, were aboard a UH1H (serial #67-17499) on a resupply mission in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. While in route from Landing Zone Vandergrift to LZ Tornado, 1Lt. Padget contacted the LZ Tornado radio operator at about 1100 hours and stated that due to poor weather conditions and poor visibility, the flight was returning to LZ Vandergrift. At that time, the radio operator at LZ Tornado could hear the helicopter northeast of his location, which sounded as if it were heading in a northerly direction. When the aircraft failed to return to LZ Vandergrift, a coordinated search and rescue operation was initiated and continued for seven consecutive days, finding nothing. However, on the morning of February 7, Crown, an airborne control aircraft, reported receiving radio beeper signals several times from the general vicinity of where Lt. Padgett's aircraft was last reported. The beeper signals were estimated to emanate from that general direction. The source of the signals was never determined. In December 1979, an alleged "gun-runner", Sean O'Toolis reported that he had the fingerprints of Robert O'Hara, and that O'Hara was at that time being held south of Hanoi near Bong Song. O'Toolis' information was summarily dismissed by the U.S. Government and he was thoroughly discredited, thus it is not clear how much credence can be given to his information.


Accident Summary:

 IN FLT ACFT LAST POSITION REPORTED AT ^YD 182212.^ THIS WAS AT 1045 HRS ENROUTE TO LZ ^VANDERGRIF.^.\\

This record was last updated on 09/20/1998


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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023


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