Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1H tail number 68-16209
This record was last updated on 01/29/2010
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Date posted on this site:
11/13/2023
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The Army purchased this helicopter 0969
Total flight hours at this point: 00000814
Date: 04/15/1970
Incident number: 70041555.KIA
Unit: A/229 AVN
South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: WT999787 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48PWT999787)
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Also: OPERA (Operations Report. )
Loss to Inventory
Crew Members:
P WO1 POHLMAN JOHN HOWARD KIA
War Story:
This aircraft was the Flare Ship operating around FSB Atkinson. The way I heard the story was that they had a flare hang up on the skid. When the door gunner reached down to free it his mike cord disconnected. Having no voice contact, and thinking they were on fire, the A/C did an autorotation to the berm of the FSB.
When they hit, the A/C advised everyone to exit the left side of the aircraft since there was a slope upward towards the berm. All of the crewmembers exited left side except for the copilot. He was struck in the head by the main rotor blade. NOTE: aircraft may have had collapsed skids as well as upslope condition.
I don’t know if these are the kind of corrections or additions you want. Let me contact a couple of the A/229th guys since I was the CP on the Cobra covering the Nighthawk bird and only got this as a “What the hell just happened?”
From: Lach “Charlie" Brown, Smiling Tiger 33, D/229th 1st Cav, Dau Tieng, Qhon Loi, Bear Cat