Helicopter CH-46D 152579


Information on U.S. Marine Corps helicopter CH-46D tail number 152579
Date: 02/05/1970
Incident number: 70020505.KIA
Unit: HMM-161
This was a Combat incident. This helicopter was LOSS TO INVENTORY
This was an Unknown mission
While on Landing Zone this helicopter was on the Ground at 0000 feet and 000 knots.
South Vietnam
Helicopter took 25 hits from:
Small Arms/Automatic Weapons; Gun launched non-explosive ballistic projectiles less than 20 mm in size. (7.62MM)
The helicopter was hit in the Cockpit causing a Fire.
Systems damaged were: INSTRUMENTS, STRUCTURE, ELECTRICAL SYS, FUEL SYS, HYDRAULIC SYS, ENGINE, PERSONNEL, MAIN R
Casualties = 02 WIA . .
Aircraft was capable of one time flight.
Both mission and flight capability were terminated.
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Survivability/Vulnerability Information Analysis Center Helicopter database. Also: NSC, CASRP, CRAFX, CH46 (Naval Safety Center. Crash Facts Message. Casualty Report. )
Loss to Inventory

Crew Members:
AC CPT DUNIEC BRIAN J
P 1LT BENSON MARTIN JOSEPH KIA


War Story:
BENSON was wounded during a recon insertion somewhere in Quang Duc Province. That's stated in both his DD1300 and in the HMM-161 CmdChron. Date WIA 05 Feb 1970 per DD1300 and HMM-161 CmdChron. MAG-16 Cmd Chron says 06 Feb but that clearly is wrong. HMM-161 Cmd Chron says BENSON was severely wounded, while A/C Captain DUNIEC had minor abrasions. Aircraft was CH-46D BuNo 152579 from the Marine Corps Historical Center's aircraft incident database. 152579 * Belonged to Reporting Custodian "E50" HMM-161; * Was hit by ground fire while in an LZ on 05 Feb 70; and * Had one major injury, one minor injury, and 18 uninjured. The CH-46D pilot on the mission, Brian Duniec, said it occurred in Quang Nam Province - in the "Tennis Courts" area SW of Danang. It was not a recon insert, but a unit insert, under unexpected hostile fire while in the zone. Both H-46's and H-53's were involved so it was apparently suppose to be a milk run (H-53's had significant flight restrictions). HMM-161 had relocated from Hue Phu Bai to MMAF 3 days earlier so was unfamiliar with the area.

This record was last updated on 07/28/2010


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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023


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