Information on U.S. Army helicopter OH-6A tail number 68-17337
The Army purchased this helicopter 1169
Total flight hours at this point: 00001089
Date: 01/22/1971
Incident number: 71012211.KIA
Unit: D/3/4 CAV
This was a Combat incident. This helicopter was LOSS TO INVENTORY
This was a Recon mission for Unarmed Recon
Unknown this helicopter was in Orbit at 0015 feet and 060 knots.
South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: YS259964 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48PYS259964)
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
Casualties = 02 KIA, 01 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, LNNF, CASRP, FM385 (Operations Report. Lindenmuth
New Format Data Base. Casualty Report. )
Loss to Inventory
Crew Members:
P CW2 JOHNSON ROG KIA
CE SP4 VIGIL FREDERICK ANTHONY KIA
OB SGT PETTY MICHAEL HARRIS KIA
War Story:
CW2 Rog Johnson was flying an OH-6A when he was shot down near Bear Cat in III Corps. His crew members were SGT Mike Petty and SP4 Fred Vigil. They were assigned to D Trp 3/4 Cav, 25 Inf at the time. He was part of a Hunter-Killer team that day. I was aircraft commander of the Cobra in that team. He had spotted an active base camp through a high canopy. In the process of turning around over the camp for another look, he was shot down. Our Blues platoon later determined both he and SGT Petty survived the crash through the canopy. After exiting the burning helicopter, they were shot at close range by Viet Cong. SP4 Vigil died in the crash. from Hugh "Sandy" McLeod, Centaur 46, D/3/4 CAV 25 INF, Oct 1998.
This record was last updated on 02/28/1999
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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023
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