Information on U.S. Navy helicopter UH-34D tail number 150223
Date: 02/26/1970
Incident number: 70022666.KIA
Unit: NAF CRB DET TSN
This helicopter was LOSS TO INVENTORY
This was a Logistics Support mission for Resupply
While in Operations Area at UNK feet and 000 knots.
Vietnam unspecified
Helicopter took 00 hits from:
The helicopter Crashed. Aircraft Destroyed.
Both mission and flight capability were terminated.
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Army Aviation Safety Center database. Also: NSC (Naval Safety Center. )
Summary: An unidentified Vietnamese stated he heard two explosions and observed the UH-34D turn over 2 times then fall into a dry rice field.
Loss to Inventory
Crew Members:
P LT LEFEVRE BERNARD LOUIS KIA
CP LJG HUDSON HENRY JR KIA
CE ADR YOUNG GEORGE ALBERT KIA
Passengers and/or other participants:
EM3 BAY RONALD STEPHEN, NA, PX, KIA
EN2 BYASSEE NORMAN KELLY, NA, PX, KIA
EN3 FALLOWS ROBERT LANE, NA, PX, KIA
RM3 GLENDENNING FRANK BARD, NA, PX, KIA
EN2 HOFFMAN DAVID PAUL, NA, PX, KIA
CS3 WABSCHALL ARCHIE CARL III, NA, PX, KIA
Accident Summary:
This UH-34D departed the Tan Son Nhut Airbase at approximately 0800H for its daily mission of shuttling mail and passengers to and from the shipe and shore installations of the Navy River Forces, to local airstrips where connections are established with C-117 aircraft also belonging to this detachment. The aircraft had completed two trips to the small strip at the hamlet of An Long in order to avoid an excess weight take-off from the USS BENEWAH (APB-35). The aircraft then landed at An Long Airstrip and loaded the six passengers and 1050 lbs of mail. The aircraft departed for the connecting airstring at Long Xuyen and was noted by the radio controlling agency (Chau Duc radio) to have announced commencement of let down very shortly before the accident. Approximately 6 miles north of Long Xuyen, An Giang Province, an unidentified Vietnamese civilian stated that he hear two explosion noises and observed the helicopter turn over two times then fail from the sky, impacting inverted in a dry rice field. The aircraft clock stopped at 1303H. At approximately 1345H at an ARVN outpost, a helicopter was reported to have crashed. An Giang Province TOC alerted an airborne Army observation aircraft which sighted the wreckage and reported its position XS512538. Flight service was alerted and rescue and recovery operations were initiated by the Army 164th Combat Aviation Group. Gunships were directed to the crash scene to secure the area, and within 45 minutes the Detachment Operations Officer, waiting at Long Xuyen, was at the site for the initial investigation of the wreckage and the removal of the bodies. By nightfall, all bodies save the pilot were removed. The next morning the Aircraft Accident Board arrived and a comprehensive on-site investigation was commenced. The remains of the pilot were removed. At approximately 1400H the removal of the wreckage from the crash site commenced utilizing an Army UH-1 and Ch-47 helicopters. The wreckage was transported to Navy Binh Thuy for further shippage to Tan Son Nhut Airbase. All the UH-34D's components were present on the impact site. The main components (engine, transmission, clutch assembly, main rotor head, etc.) were submitted for tear-down analysis. Everything seemed to be normal save for the transmission. The transmission contained bits of newspaper and pieces of white plastic. The newspaper was coated with green and gold colored paint and the pieces of white plastic material were identified as parts of a plastic cover similar to that used on an aerosol paint spray can.
This record was last updated on 10/28/2017
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Date posted on this site:
11/13/2023
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War Story:
I was an Army 1st LT courier and was on this flight. I was asked to get off while they flew to the LST in the Mekong River as there were too many passengers and materiel. They would come back and get me and take me to the LST so I could deliver my top secret stuff. I waited for a couple of hours when an Army Huey landed and a Major asked me what I was doing there by myself. I told him I was waiting for the Jolly Green, and he said he thought it had been shot down, with a lucky round to the rotor. I never contacted any of the relatives of the lost men, thinking it wouldn't matter as they were gone, and the fact that it had been reported as an accident didn't really matter.
From: James (Jim) Hauptman