Information on U.S. Marine Corps helicopter CH-46D tail number 153986
Date: 02/05/1968
Incident number: 68020555.KIA
Unit: HMM-364
This was a Combat incident. This helicopter was LOSS TO INVENTORY
This was a Rescue and Recovery mission for Medical Evacuation
Unknown this helicopter was Unknown at UNK feet and UNK knots.
South Vietnam
Count of hits was not possible because the helicopter burned or exploded.
Systems damaged were: PERSONNEL
Casualties = 05 DOI, 01 INJ . .
The helicopter Crashed. Aircraft Destroyed.
Both mission and flight capability were terminated.
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, NSC, CASRP (Naval Safety Center. Operations Report.
Casualty Report. )
Summary: Received battled damage during low level, high speed run on a medevac mission. Lost flight controls & crashed while returning to Phu Bai
Loss to Inventory
Crew Members:
P MAJ DEMKO LEONARD RICHARD KIA
P CPT BURKE JOHN JOSEPH KIA
CE CPL CONNER GERALD WILLIAM KIA
C SGT SHELTON JAMES DALLAS KIA
C CPL COPELAND NORMAN OTTIS KIA
War Story:
Aircraft was hit by eneny fire not long after picking up wounded near Hue. Since the mission was rather close to the HMM-364 base at Phu Bai, operations could monitor the radio traffic. MAJ Demko radioed that they had been hit and that the hydraulic and control systems were effected. They were still at a low altitude when the aircraft pitched up, rolled inverted and crashed. The second helicopter landed and some of that crew helped rescue the injured from the crashed CH-46D. A Sqdn maintenance team retrieved the wreckage with another CH-46D. It was a shocking chain of pieces held together with pipes and cables that bore no resemblance to a helicopter.
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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