Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1H tail number 67-17697
The Army purchased this helicopter 0868
Total flight hours at this point: 00000139
Date: 04/23/1969
Incident number: 69042317.KIA
Unit: C/2/17 CAV
South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: YD332069 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48QYD332069)
Casualties = 02 DOI, 02 WIA . .
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Also: OPERA, Lucio Vazquez (Operations Report. )
Summary: Shot down while repelling a LRRP and Engineering team in to cut a new LZ.
Loss to Inventory
Crew Members:
CE SP4 BARNHART OTTO PHILIP KIA
G SGT CARDWELL HENRY WATERS KIA
War Story:
This was my mission but SP4 Barnhart talked me out of flying that day and crewed in my place. The mission was to repel a LRRP and an Engineering team through some very tall trees so they could cut a new LZ in the A Shau Valley. This was the first of four Hueys over this site which happened to be on a well-fortified NVA camp. I estimate the trees were well over 100 feet tall and that the team had a 150 foot repel. The NVA shoot the hovering Huey either with tracers into the fuel cell or with an RPG because the aircraft suddenly exploded without any call or signs of trouble. The front part of the ship with both pilots strapped in their seats separated from the rest of the Huey in the explosion and was blown well over 40 feet from the rest of the wreck. I believe one of the pilots was a CW3 and the other was a CPT. Both survived the explosion and the fall; but I seem to recall that the CPT died a few days later. The CW3’s seat landed so that he was facing up toward the sky. He was paralyzed from the neck down. CONDOR BLUE aborted the mission but returned with another helicopter unit and more troops. This force was inserted at a few locations a hundred yards or so from the site of the exploded Huey. It took them 6 to 8 hours to recover the pilots and what remained of the others on the ship. I don’t recall if the LRRPs or the Engineers had any casualties, but I’d be surprised if they didn’t.
Submitted by Lucio Vazquez at the VHCMA 1998 Reunion.
This record was last updated on 08/14/1999
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 panel date index
Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023
Copyright © 1998 - 2023 Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association