Helicopter UH-1H 67-17205


Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1H tail number 67-17205
The Army purchased this helicopter 0168
Total flight hours at this point: 00002360
Date: 05/30/1970
Incident number: 70053030.KIA
Unit: 170 AHC
This was a Combat incident. This helicopter was LOSS TO INVENTORY
for Air/land Assault , Hot Area.
While on Landing Zone this helicopter was at Hover at 0003 feet and 000 knots.
Classified
Count of hits was not possible because the helicopter burned or exploded.
Explosive Weapon; Non-Artillery launched or static weapons containing explosive charges. (B-40 RKT)
Systems damaged were: PERSONNEL, FLT CONTROLS, FUEL SYS
Casualties = 02 WIA, 01 KIA, 01 I . .
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, CASRP, FM385, JSIDR, Unknown Warriors (Operations Report. Lindenmuth New Format Data Base. Joint Services Incident Damage Report. Casualty Report. )
Summary: Shot down by large-calibre weapons while attempting to extract a SOG RT.
Loss to Inventory

Crew Members:
AC CW2 DEVANEY BRIAN JOHN KIA
P CW2 M TAYLOR


War Story:
LT Robert Talmadge, the 1st Lift Platoon leader, provides a lengthy account of the 'life and times in the 170th,' a description of B.J.'s flying skills, and details about his death in 'Unknown Warriors: Canadians in Vietnam' by Fred Gafffen. B.J. was born a Canadian and retained his Canadian citizenship. What follows is an extract of that account: B.J. had completed one year in gunships and was most of the way through his six-month extension. He was a well respected slick AC. He had been shot down twice during his time with the 170th. He wasn't scheduled to fly on the 30th because he was due to go home. However, the night before he signed up for one more mission. On the 30th he was Flight Lead on an SOB extraction mission out of Dak To. Talmadge was flying CP in the reserve ship which launched when the call came that 'Lead's down.' The recon team and downed crew were in a bomb crater surrounded by jagged tree stumps in an area of Laos called 'The Bra.' CW2 Rich Glover was the AC of Talmadge’s aircraft. The RT was receiving heavy machine-gun fire and didn’t want any more helicopters to come into their area. Disregarding this, Rich made a high overhead approach and hovered near the edge of the crater. As soon as the downed crew and wounded RT members were on board, Rich started backing away from the crater. He inadvertently hit a tree stump with the tail rotor but managed to maintain control of the aircraft. As they headed for Ben Het, Talmadge got out of his seat and when back to help CW2 Mike Taylor, who was flying with B.J., and the other wounded. He yelled to Rich that they needed to get to the Evac Hospital in Pleiku. Rich yelled back that he didn’t think the tail rotor would hold up that long but it did. Later inspection revealed almost three inches were missing from the tips of the tail rotor and one blade still had a four-inch piece of wood stuck in it. About 10 minutes after B.J. was taken into the Evac Hospital a nurse returned to say that B.J. didn’t make it. A doctor later told them that a remnant from a large-calibre round had come through the side of B.J.’s chicken plate, bounced back into his body and entered his heart.

This record was last updated on 07/05/1998


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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023


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