Helicopter UH-1H 67-17551

Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1H tail number 67-17551
The Army purchased this helicopter 0568
Total flight hours at this point: 00002215
Date: 07/22/1970
Incident number: 700722131ACD Accident case number: 700722131 Total loss or fatality Accident
Unit: B/229 AVN
The station for this helicopter was Quan Loi in South Vietnam
Number killed in accident = 3 . . Injured = 2 . . Passengers = 2
costing 395145
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: OPERA (Operations Report. )
Loss to Inventory

Crew Members:
AC WO1 TURCOTTE DANIEL JOSEPH KIA
P W1 HF MEHRINGER
CE E4 JL MURRIETA
G SP4 JOHNSON LARRY DU WAYNE KIA

Passengers and/or other participants:
O2 CJ HARKRADER, PAX, D
SFC OLESEN RONALD ANDREW, AR, PX, KIA

Accident Summary:

AIRCRAFT ^67-17551^ HAD JUST DEPARTED FSB GRANITE TO THE SOUTH. WHILE CLIMBING, AT ABOUT 700 FEET, THE ENGINE QUIT. THE AIRCRAFT COMMANDER MADE A MAY DAY CALL AND ENTERED AUTOROTATION AND LANDED IN THE RIVER. UPON STRIKING THE RIVER THE AIRCRAFT ROLLED TO THE RIGHT AND SUBMERGED QUICKLY COMING TO REST ON ITS RIGHT SIDE. THE AIRCRAFT COMMANDER DOOR GUNNER AND ONE PASSENGER WERE KILLED AS A RESULT OF THE CRASH. ONE PASSENGER SUFFERED BACK INJURIES FROM AN UNDETERMINED CAUSE.\\

War Story:
I was an Army diver in Vietnam and I believe this is the helicopter we dove on and helped recover. We attached slings so it could be lifted by a Skycrane. Later the pilot/or copilot's body was recovered. One minor detail; the Huey was on its port side on the bottom and perpendicular to the current with the rotor facing upstream. There was a big gash in the tail on the starboard side. After the bird was lifted the tail broke off. We could not gain access to the nose panel underwater to remove a box they wanted so the Skycrane skipped it up river and placed it on a shallow spot in the river so we could remove the box. I remember the pilot of a Loach (the numbers 980 appear on the tail) put us right over the spot where the Huey went down. I have pics of him flying around the area. I removed a picture from the instrument panel and returned it to some of the pilot's buddies. Picture of a blonde gal leaning on a car, I think it was. Chris Chulamanis, CCSPEVAM@aol.com

This record was last updated on 01/22/2005

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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023