Army Reporter information
for 175 AHC
13 CAB
For date 690127
175 AHC was a US Army unit
13 CAB was a US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Army
South Vietnam
Location, Vi Thanh
Description: The following is an edited version of an article titled "Jet pilot rescued by helicopter crew" dated 27 Jan 1969.
A helicopter crew of the 175th AHC, 13th CAB, recently rescued an Air Force pilot when his jet was shot down by enemy ground fire southwest of Vi Thanh in the Mekong Delta. The helicopter was flying swing ship when the pilot, CWO Donald E. Isenberg picked up the Air Force pilot's distress call over his radio. "Seconds after we heard the distress signal my co-pilot, WO James E. Ellington pointed to his left saying, "There goes a jet with its tail on fire!" Looking past him I could see the Air Force jet a couple hundred feet out and it was losing altitude fast." The Air Force pilot bailed out as the jet crashed into a tree line. "We then went in after the airman. I landed in a garden-sized plot as near as I could get to the crash site," Isenburg explained. "My door gunner, PFC Roosevelt Jones, volunteered to go after the downed pilot, but since the area wasn't secure, I couldn't let anybody leave the helicopter. Shortly, the Air Force Pilot found the chopper and climbed aboard. The aircraft rose to a safe altitude and proceeded to the Vi Thanh air strip.
Comments: CWO Isenberg, Donald E.; pilot; ;
WO Ellington, James E.; pilot; ;
PFC Jones, Roosevelt; gunner; ;
The source for this information was 6901AR.AVN supplied by Les Hines
Additional information is available on CD-ROM.
Please send additions or corrections to: Gary Roush Email address: webmaster@vhpa.org
Return to panel index
Return to Helicopter Pilot KIA index
Return to VHPA Home Page
Copyright © 1998 - 2023 Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association
Date posted on this site:
05/13/2023