Helicopter OH-6A 67-16657


Information on U.S. Army helicopter OH-6A tail number 67-16657
The Army purchased this helicopter 0369
Total flight hours at this point: 00000026
Date: 05/15/1969
Incident number: 69051520.KIA
Unit: B/1/9 CAV
This was a Combat incident. This helicopter was LOSS TO INVENTORY
This was a Recon mission for Unarmed Recon
Unknown this helicopter was Unknown at 0020 feet and 060 knots.
South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: XT617808 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48PXT617808)
Count of hits was not possible because the helicopter burned or exploded.
Small Arms/Automatic Weapons; Gun launched non-explosive ballistic projectiles less than 20 mm in size. (7.62MM)
Systems damaged were: PERSONNEL
The flight suits protecting personnel were effective.
Casualties = 03 DOI . .
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, LNOF, 90569, HUGHS, CRAFX, CASRP, Rick Chesson (Operations Report. Lindenmuth Old Format Data Base. Crash Facts Message. Casualty Report. )
Loss to Inventory

Crew Members:
AC CW2 MURRAY ARTHUR JOSEPH JR KIA
P WO1 FRONGILLO JOHN RALPH KIA
CE SP5 MARTIN CARL RAYMOND KIA


War Story:
They were flying a last light mission close to Quan Loi, usually a safe late in the day training flight for the “newby”. Carl Martin came in country a few months before me, I flew with him whenever I was assigned 67-16657 to fly. Art Murray was assigned 657 as his ship with Carl Martin as CE. My assigned aircraft in scouts was 16045 crewed by SP4 Hasen. WO1 Frongillo I did not know as he had only been in the troop for one or two days before going down, and I had been flying the Cobra for a few weeks at that time.

From what I was told then, Art was likely hit by ground fire and the aircraft hit the ground nose first, catching fire on impact, I think Carl and Frongillo died mainly from impact and burn injuries, but they may have also received other wounds.

Hope this helps to tie the three together in the records. During my time in B Troop we averaged about 160/170 troopers onboard, and lost 32 as KIA during the time I was there. Most were aircrew, but some were from Blues rifle platoon, including LT Robert (Bob) Poxon CMH.

From: Rick Chesson

This record was last updated on 10/20/2011


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Date posted on this site: 10/25/2024


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