Helicopter AH-1G 68-15009


Information on U.S. Army helicopter AH-1G tail number 68-15009
The Army purchased this helicopter 0169
Total flight hours at this point: 00001844
Date: 05/11/1972 MIA-POW file reference number: 1855
Incident number: 72051110.KIA
Unit: F/79 ARA 1 CAV
This helicopter was LOST TO INVENTORY
South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: XT755872 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48PXT755872)
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense Intelligence Agency Reference Notes. Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Also: 1855, Mike Sloniker ()
Summary: Shot down by an SA-7 missile at 1233 hours over An Loc.
Loss to Inventory

Crew Members:
P MAJ STROBRIDGE RODNEY LYNN BNR
P MAJ WILLIAMS ROBERT JOHN BNR


REFNO Synopsis:
CPTs Strowbridge and Williams were the crew in an AH-1G helicopter, as in a flight of three providing air operations support to South Vietnamese Army forces heavily engaged by hostile units in the siege of An Loc town, Binh Long Province. Their helicopter was hit in the tail boom and the boom was immediately severed, possibly by a surface to air missile. Their helicopter went into a flat spin and crashed but no one saw the actual crash. Heavy anti-aircraft fire precluded a search of the crash site area. Both airmen were declared missing in action. In September 1974, the Joint Casualty Resolution Center reported a crash site associated with a 1972 aircraft downing. The remains of a pilot were reportedly buried nearby. In 1983 and 1984, JCRC received further reporting about aircraft wreckage associated with remains in the area of their crash. In July 1987, a source reported dog-tag information associated with Robert J. Williams and reported his remains were in Bo Trach District, Quang Binh Province. In May 1991, another source previously incarcerated at the Tong Le Chan reeducation camp provided dog tag information with the name Robert Williams and asserted his remains were in Song Be (new name for Binh Long) Province.


War Story:
Shot down by an SA-7 missile at 1233H over An Loc. Might have been a survivable tail boom loss, several thought they may have gotten out. Aircraft landed upright and did not burn. Aircraft was not there when ARVNs later secured the area. Williams was a high time, multi-tour Cobra pilot with over 2000 hours of rotary wing time. He was assigned to HHC 229th as the Battalion AH-1G Standardization Instructor Pilot (SIP). Previous assignment was with the 5th Aviation Detachment at Vung Tau, where he taught in-country AH-1G transitions.

This record was last updated on 05/25/1998


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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023


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