JELLIE ALAN DOUGLAS

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Name: 2LT Alan Douglas Jellie
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 12/03/1969 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Age at death: 22.1
Date of Birth: 10/25/1947
Home City: Australia
Service: .
Unit: 161 (INDEP) RECN FLT
Service: .
Short Summary: Was a Sioux pilot flying as second pilot in an almost new Pilatus Porter that was shot up, then crashed and burned near Luscombe field.
Aircraft: Porter tail number A14-680
Call sign: POSSUM
Service number: 39510
Country: South Vietnam
Primary cause: Hostile Fire
Started Tour: 03/10/1969
Location: Phuoc Tuy Province III Corps.

Additional information about this casualty:
161 Flight was just begining to replace their old Cessnas 180s with the Swiss built Pilatus Porter. Only six days after the first of the new aircraft, A14-680, arrived; it was shot down while on the first Porter night training flight in Vietnam. The aircraft, crewed by Capt Donald, who was on his second tour of duty, and 2LT A. Jellie, a Sioux (a Bell 47G helicopter that carried the OH-13 US Army designation) pilot. They were approaching Luscombe field in preparation for landing when it was hit repeatedly by ground fire. Capt Donald tried to keep his crippled machine airborne long enough to land but clipped trees and crashed in a rubber plantation near Binh Ba, three kilometres north of Nui Dat. The Porter exploded on impact killing the crew instantly. South Vietnamese soldiers who witnessed the incident reported that A14-680 was on fire before it hit the ground. When the Porter did not land and radio contact could not be made a Sioux took off to search for the missing aircraft. Guided by the flames, the Porter, by this time a twisted, molten mass of metal, was quickly found by the dismayed helicopter pilot. Next morning the bodies of the two Australians were recovered for burial and the remains of their aircraft blown up with demolition charges. Unit posted to in Vietnam: 161 (Independent) Reconnaissance Flight, based at Nui Dat. Alan had been in Vietnam since the 10th March 1969. He had recorded 800 plus hours flying Bell 47 G3B-1 Sioux helicopters before his death. Cause of Death: Alan died from injuries he received when the aircraft he was flying in, Pilatus Porter A14-686, was shot down. The pilot of the aircraft, Capt Barry Donald was also killed. Our Pilatus Porter aircraft had only been in country a few days prior to this aircraft being shot down. The aircraft was being flown on the first night flying familiarisation flight in country and was returning to base. As it passed over the Binh Ba Rubber Plantation, at approx 2200hr, it took ground fire. The aircraft clipped the last row of rubber trees on the edge of the plantation and crashed into a clear area. The aircraft caught fire and was destroyed. Alan's final resting place is at the "Trendak Military Cemetery" in Singapore. Alan commenced his pilot training in August 1966 and qualified as a rotary wing pilot in May 1968. from len avery

This record was last updated on 07/15/1999


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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023


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