Information on U.S. Army helicopter OH-58A tail number 68-16888
The Army purchased this helicopter 0370
Total flight hours at this point: 00000747
Date: 05/27/1971 MIA-POW file reference number: 1749
Incident number: 71052755.KIA
Unit: A/3/17 CAV
This was a Combat incident. This helicopter was LOSS TO INVENTORY
This was a Recon mission for Armed Recon
While in Operations Area this helicopter was Unknown at 0050 feet and 070 knots.
Cambodia
UTM grid coordinates: XU661289 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48PXU661289)
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. (12.7MM)
causing a Fire.
Systems damaged were: PERSONNEL
Casualties = 02 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 Reference Notes. Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database.
Survivability/Vulnerability Information Analysis Center Helicopter database. Also: 1749, LNNF,
FM386, CASRP (Lindenmuth New Format Data Base. Casualty Report. )
Loss to Inventory
Crew Members:
OB SGT TAYLOR PHILIP CHARLES RR
P 1LT KNUCKEY THOMAS WILLIAM RR
REFNO Synopsis:
SYNOPSIS: On May 27, 1971, 1Lt. Thomas W. Knuckey was the pilot and Sgt.
Phillip C. Taylor the observer on board an OH58A helicopter which was part of a
force conducting battle damage assessment (BDA) in Kracheh Province, Cambodia,
where air strikes had been made in attempts to destroy an enemy machine gun
position. The location of the gun emplacement was near the border of Cambodia
and South Vietnam, about 8 miles southeast of the city of Snuol.
During Knuckey's final pass over the gun emplacement, his aircraft was hit by
enemy groundfire, and exploded while still in flight. The helicopter then
crashed and exploded a second time and burned. Witnesses reported that the crew
could not have survived. Because of heavy enemy activity in the area, a ground
search was not possible.
Knuckey and Taylor were listed as killed, bodies not recovered.
The crash site was excavated in the early 1990s and on 26 Feb 1993
recovered human remains were repatriated. The Defense Department
announced on 02 August 1993 that the remains of both men had been
positively identified. They were buried together in Arlington Cemetery.
This record was last updated on 11/21/2008
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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023
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