Helicopter AH-1G 67-15673

Information on U.S. Army helicopter AH-1G tail number 67-15673
The Army purchased this helicopter 0768
Total flight hours at this point: 00000483
Date: 05/22/1969
Incident number: 69052222.KIA
Unit: 334 AHC
This was a Combat Loss caused by being shot down by Ground Fire .50 cal to 20 mm in size with the mission function of Armed Helicopter (having primary weapon subsystems installed and utilized to provide direct fire support)
South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: YT436647 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48PYT436647)
Casualties = YES . .
Search and rescue operations were Not Required
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Survivability/Vulnerability Information Analysis Center AVDAC database. Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Also: OPERA (Operations Report. )
Loss to Inventory and Helicopter was not recovered

Crew Members:
P MAJ ARNOLD ROBERT WILLIAM KIA
P CPT BRYANT JOHNNY LEON KIA

War Story:
I was a WO1 AH-1G pilot with the 334th AHC when MAJ Arnold and CPT Bryant were killed. Arnold was the company commander at the time. I think he'd only been with us a couple of months As I recall, Joe Bryant had just returned from Camp Zama after convalescing from injuries received a couple of months earlier (I think he was shot down, but not wounded, suffered back injury...not entirely sure). Joe was on his second or third extension. He had quite a reputation and was on the way to becoming a living legend given some of his earlier missions. I had heard it said that he should have been sent back home due to his earlier injury, but that he somehow fanaggled a way to get back in country to the 334th. He and Arnold were paired together for a mission in the vic of Xuan Loc, III Corps. Joe was flying backseat. More than likely the AC given his high time and experience. It was during the hours of darkness, I think it was sometime after midnight. The story I got from those who were on the scene was that they were engaging enemy ground fire. It was dark, sky conditions were smoky or hazy or both. The terrain in that area was tree-covered and very hilly. I was told by a CPT Stan Slusarz (sp?) our operations officer who went to the crash site the next morning, he thought they got target fixation low to the ground and crashed. I recall him saying the treetops were clipped off in a manner suggesting the flight path of an aircraft in a medium or shallow rocket firing dive. I never did hear if there were any other conclusions or if they'd actually been shot down. I hope you can use this. I may stand corrected on some of the details. Gary C. Stone LTC, AV (Ret) Dragon 38, 3rd Plt, 334th AHC rollinstone@earthlink.net

This record was last updated on 04/15/2004

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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023