Helicopter OH-6A 67-16612

Information on U.S. Army helicopter OH-6A tail number 67-16612
The Army purchased this helicopter 0269
Total flight hours at this point: 00000413
Date: 08/08/1969
Incident number: 69080888.KIA
Unit: B/7/17 CAV
This was a Combat incident. This helicopter was LOSS TO INVENTORY
This was a Recon mission for Unarmed Recon
While Enroute this helicopter was at Level Flight at 1500 feet and UNK knots.
South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: BR572672 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 49PBR572672)
Count of hits was not possible because the helicopter burned or exploded.
Small Arms/Automatic Weapons; Gun launched non-explosive ballistic projectiles less than 20 mm in size. (7.62MM)
Systems damaged were: PERSONNEL
Casualties = 02 DOI . .
The helicopter Crashed. Aircraft Destroyed.
Both mission and flight capability were terminated.
Burned
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, LNNF, JSIDR, CRAFX, CASRP (Operations Report. Lindenmuth New Format Data Base. Joint Services Incident Damage Report. Crash Facts Message. Casualty Report. )
Loss to Inventory

Crew Members:
AC WO1 MATHIS SAMUEL JUDSON KIA
P 1LT DANCE ROBERT LYNN KIA

War Story:
Return-Path: My name is Eric Lee Holsinger, E-Mail is scop619@aol.com. I was a captain, platoon commander of scout platoon, Bravo troop, 7th squadron, 17th Cavalry Air. Sam came to us while we were in Phan Thiet at the morgue That was the name of troop area because we were next to the grave yard for Phan Thiet. He was an instructor pilot, a pilot who gives check rides to other pilots in OH-6A Cause helicopter, Called the LOACH . We flew in RED teams and Black teams, the pink teams belong to another cav unit. The red team was a lead loach and a wing man, you covered each other scouting. The black team was two AH-1G cobras that flew at about 5,000 feet elevation above the red team, and provided fire support on targets, that the loachs found. The team looked for foot prints, trails and bunker areas and troops. When something was found the observer, left seat man tossed smoke or White Phosphorus hand grenade to mark the target. The guns would roll hot and try to put out the smoke. Our guns very seldom missed a target marker. The running joke with all scout pilots, because all of us had been shot down at least once, was that the AO{Area of Operation} is marked by the burning loach, a touch of black humor. We were young and knew that we would live for ever. There were 635 loachs in Vietnam and to the best of my knowledge all were hit or shot down at one time or other. Scout Pilots were all volunteers with time before shoot down 75 hours of flight time. We had a high rate of losses, but we always had men who wanted the job, because you did not have to ask any body where the action was, because you were the action. You were doing your job, finding the enemy and bringing fire and troops in on them. We scouted for other units including 101st airborne, 82nd airborne, 173th airborne, 9th Infantry div and the Special Forces. The 5th Special Forces loved us because they knew we would give them an even chance to survive at their outposts. We never ran from a fight and we did not leave anybody behind. We also flew Medavac because we were so small and fast we could pick up a wounded troop or three and get him out to medical help quickly. NOW, I told you all of that so you know what a crazy bunch of flying fools we all were and tell to the best of my knowledge of Sam and Bob Dance's last flight. They were flying lead aircraft for the 5th Special Forces camps out of Kontum and Dak TO area, near the boarder up in the mountains. Ben Het was a Special Forces camp in the same area out in the middle of nowhere, but it was the route the North Vietnamese wanted to use to hit the South. Sam and Bob were flying lead at ZERO miles per hour, hovering following a trail and commo line Telephone line when they were hit. The tail rotor was lost so the loach had no directional control and corkscrewed into the ground. The guns rolled in hot and the blues Infantry platoon was brought in. Both were dead possibly hit by automatic weapons fire and dead before the loach crashed. Both were recovered and later an ARC-LIGHT was put into the area by B-52s which took out a square kilometer. At this time there was over a division of NVA in that area. I hope you can use some of this and if you look at b717 site under scouts you will see a picture of some men eating in a tent Bob is the one with the plate in his hand Sam is to his right rear and the grinning fool on this side of the ref is me cooking a Chile pot from LERPS rations that we FOUND, we used my popcorn popper because we were a poor lot.. Eric Lee Holsinger scop619@aol.com

This record was last updated on 07/13/2004

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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023