Information on U.S. Army helicopter AH-1G tail number 66-15301
The Army purchased this helicopter 1067
Total flight hours at this point: 00000333
Date: 03/14/1969
Incident number: 69031444.KIA
Unit: B/1/9 CAV
This was a Combat Loss caused by being shot down by Ground Fire less than .50 cal in size with the mission function of Armed Escort
South Vietnam
Search and rescue operations were Not Required
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Survivability/Vulnerability Information Analysis Center AVDAC database. Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Also: OPERA (Operations Report. )
Loss to Inventory and Helicopter was not recovered
Crew Members:
P CW2 PANNELL PHILLIP RANDALL KIA
P WO1 POPP DAVID FRED KIA
War Story:
Some new information has been found. Dick Schonberger has visited both the National Archives in College Park, MD and the Army Casualty Branch in Alexandria, VA. It appears that WOs Popp and Pannell's AH-1G did not crash in Cambodia as reported on the web site we initially checked. The research details are summarized below.
The remains of WOs Popp and Pannell were located at the crash site, coordinates XT 230712, by Troop A, 1/9 Cav, 1st Cav Div, on 15 January 70. Remains were evacuated to Saigon Airport (TSN) to the military mortuary on 16 January 70. The aircraft was not recovered due to hostile action in the area. The crash site is approximately 17 Km N-NW of Nui Ba Den in Tay Ninh Province, and approximately 6 Km NW of what was known as Landing Zone (LZ) St. Barbara, or "the old French fort" on Rte TL 4.
From: Bob Tredway, Bobtredway@aol.com
I have been contacted once again by former troop members concerning the lost David Popp and Phillip Pannell. Your entries list Pannell as the AC, both Pannell and I flew front seat for David Popp. It was a clear day when they were lost, late in the afternoon before dark. John C Burt was flying the OH-6 on the pink team, they were flying at altitude with Cobra in trail. John lives in Reno, NV, he states there was no radio distress call, and after a few minutes of no-com John did a 360 looking for 301.
Most of us who knew Popp and Pannell left country before they were found. The Troop spent 3 days looking for 301 full time, and continued to search for them while conducting our normal operations. I have been in contact with David Popp's wife and daugther for about 15 years.
From: Rick Chesson at chesson@chesson.org December 2005
This record was last updated on 12/06/2005
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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023
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