Most of the Commissioned Officers were older. The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. Were about five miles out. Five miles out from where? The longer you stare at the gauges the less time it takes them to move from green to red. to Europe and both have since died. He is the Founder and Editor of The Aviation Geek Club one of the worlds most read military aviation blogs. directory for dues current members. is passed from outgoing President to incoming President at each reunion. c.. NEVER get into a fight without more ammunition than the other guy. They were immensely important to the troops on the ground as aerial fire power. "Average Age of Active Pilots in The United States from 2002 to 2020, by Category*. website may contain information that VHPA considers proprietary and The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand stayed free of Communism because of the U.S. commitment to Vietnam. [McCaffrey], 87% of the American people hold Vietnam Vets in high esteem. Caicos Islands, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican . g.. Maybe we could have used our survival radio once we were in the water or forced down over the jungle. We lost a lot of Pilots but we also lost a lot of Crew Chiefs and Door Gunners. (Westmoreland quoting Douglas Pike, a professor at the University of California, Berkley a renowned expert on the Vietnam War) [Westmoreland] This included Tet 68, which was a major military defeat for the VC and NVA. I guess that woke him up, as the next thing I heard was his rifle plugging away at a mound of dirt just outside his door and about 30 feet down. [Houk] Testimony by Dr. Houk, Oversight on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, 14 July 1988 page 17, Hearing before the Committee on Veterans' Affairs United States Senate one hundredth Congress second session. [Parade Magazine] August 18, 1996 page 10. UH-1 Huey Gunship Vs NVA/VC Forces Vietnam 1962-75 is published by Osprey and is available to order here. Crew Members Association http://vhcma.org/. Back home in the real world, my buddies were at the drive-in, drinking beer and looking for a carload of girls to flirt with, just as I had been doing a year or two before. I suppose that is what kept most of us going in the daily risk of flying helicopters in combat in Vietnam. 2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers. Sometimes, being good and lucky still is not enough. . (CACF and Westmoreland), Sociologists Charles C. Moskos and John Sibley Butler, in their recently published book "All That We Can Be," said they analyzed the claim that blacks were used like cannon fodder during Vietnam "and can report definitely that this charge is untrue. Even the AP photographer, Nick Ut, who took the picture was Vietnamese. Small, two seat TH-55 Osages were also used. [Parade Magazine]. Larry Clark and Mike Law in 1990. [The Wall Street Journal]. The Scout Team would search for the enemy and then have the Weapons Team come in and destroy the enemy. The Vietnam Helicopter Flight Crew Network (VHFCN) is a non profit veterans organization dedicated to the fulfillment of the following purposes: To provide a forum for recreational communications amongst a fraternity of aircrew members who served in Vietnam during the period 1961-75. We risked much in a totally dark valley that night, and there was no doubt that someone appreciated us. was several blocks from the Pittman Apartments. It was a small price to pay for the successful completion of our daily rescues. z.. Pucker Factor is the formal name of the equation that states the more hairy the situation is, the more of the seat cushion will be sucked up your ass. The last American troops departed in their entirety 29 March 1973. [People]. ac.. Running out of pedal, fore or aft cyclic, or collective are all bad ideas. You only have access to basic statistics. The terms Protective Armor and Helicopter are mutually exclusive. In fact, after the 5-year post-service period, the rate of suicides is less in the Vietnam veterans' group." . Dustoff pilots with their unique seating arrangement is where that statement originated. Directly accessible data for 170 industries from 50 countries and over 1 million facts: Get quick analyses with our professional research service. About 12,000 U.S. military helicopters spent 7.5 million hours above Vietnam, flying 2 million missions. come right . It has been said many times by Navy and Marine jet pilots that landing on an aircraft carrier is like landing on a postage stamp. We dont have any place for you to land, so just hang your butts out in the open sky for several minutes so any kid with a bow and arrow can shoot you down, and Gee, those red crosses on your helicopter sure make great aiming points, dont they? ), Once out to sea, landing on the ships was an interesting experience, especially when the decks were bouncing up and down like a fishing bobber with a carp under it. average age of vietnam helicopter pilot. It is far better that you fear the media, for they will steal your HONOR. By the end of the war half of them had been lost. You were a good friend and much appreciated by my parents. During his two tours in Vietnam, Col. Moore flew 2,752 combat medevac mission and transported 2,952 wounded men back to the medical help they needed. VHPA and encourage all eligible individuals to become members. With the front of my Huey still kissing the tree leaves and my crew keeping me posted as to what was going on, I took a quick, curious look out my left window to see where the friendly fire was impacting. . All rights reserved. Deaths Average Age Enlisted: 50,274, 22.37 years Officers: 6,598, 28.43 years it will be forwarded to the appropriate VHPA representative. (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. There is a reason why these medevac pilots were called our angels in the sky. We who fought the enemy face to face on the ground, whether infantry or recon, knew that if we were wounded, these guys would do anything necessary, face any danger the enemy could present, to get us out of hell and back to the care we needed. Get the details for all upcoming vietnam helicopter unit reunions. bombers during World War II most often flew missions lasting many hours with The VHPA publishes six Background [ edit ] On 11 December 1961, the USS Core (T-AKV-41) docked in Saigon with 32 U.S. Army Piasecki H-21 helicopters and 400 crewmen of the 8th Transportation Company (Light Helicopter) and the 57th . He he he he . By 1967, 600 pilots were being graduated per month. A Huey pilot later with the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion (AHB) at Pleiku, recalled one student who, flush with success after his first solo, decided to see what it was like in the empty instructors seat, but knew he would have to change back to land. The picture of a Huey helicopter evacuating people from the top of what was billed as being the U.S. Embassy in Saigon during the last week of April 1975 during the fall of Saigon helped to establish this myth. Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA) is a non-profit war veterans organization filed under A paid subscription is required for full access. The second pilot you will meet is retired CWO2 Allan Potter. It is a bad thing to run out of airspeed, altitude, and ideas all at the same time. To use individual functions (e.g., mark statistics as favourites, set There is only one rule in war: When you win, you get to make up the r.. We fought to an agreed stalemate. I have got to pass this on to an Aussie friend of mine, Ian. Also passed from President to President is a plaque with past Presidents' names on it. Five minutes or more seemed like hours while we sat in the air over the ground troops, taxing every bit of professionalism we hadand the reader better believe we had the utmost professionalism. The pilots and crews of these helicopters were heroes, one and all. Profit from the additional features of your individual account. I could not have been more proud of myself and my flight school classmates for having come this far. As they entered a one year combat tour, many pilots heard the ominous rumor that the average life expectancy of a US Army Aviator helicopter pilot in combat was only 19 minutes. . Without the helicopter it would have taken three times as many troops to secure the 800 mile border with Cambodia and Laos (the politicians thought the Geneva Conventions of 1954 and the Geneva Accords or 1962 would secure the border) [Westmoreland], Approximately 12,000 helicopters saw action in Vietnam (all services). The average time lapse between wounding to hospitalization was less than one hour. On what turned out to be his final mission, they were to pick up wounded on a mountain top, but got caught in heavy fire while making their approach. . The average age for helicopter pilots in Vietnam was in the area of 22 years as I recall. As the Aircraft Commander in control of the helicopter, my eyes never left the tree branches that were touching the nose of my aircraft. Please note: This As an elevator at the reunion hotel was transporting me and other attendees to the Saturday night banquet, another Dustoff pilot stepped on from his floor. The best of the best: the portal for top lists & rankings: Strategy and business building for the data-driven economy: Industry-specific and extensively researched technical data (partially from exclusive partnerships). In the movie We Were Soldiers and Young the Lift Pilot was portrayed by Snake and To Tall. trina daughter instagram 97887 65581; music city drum corps staff saiservicecentre2020@gmail.com [People.com] Vietnam 25 Years Later, by We sacrificed our youth and innocence; we achieved above and beyond the call of duty on a daily basis. He was a Dustoff pilot. Many of these brave men went from High School to Flight School. Thank you for your Service and Insight! This is a true testament for any theater! All of these, however, are preferable to cold rice balls, even if they do have the little pieces of fish in them. Copyright 1995 - 2018 Gary B. Roush, 242 ASHC Muleskinners, May 1968 - May Show publisher information Nighttime was even worse. Correspondence relating to commercial purposes or solicitations shall only be Communications with the Executive Council Your email address will not be published. [Houk]. We especially were concerned about the troops we were there to support. Thank you for your service. In all, a very scary time for our country. Register in seconds and access exclusive features. PO Box 8091 I made a pedal turn (U-turn) about 200 feet in the air, probably over some bad guys, and hovered back in over the trees. "Average age of active pilots in the United States from 2002 to 2020, by category*." ao.. You need a Statista Account for unlimited access. Myth: Kim Phuc, the little nine year old Vietnamese girl running naked from the napalm strike near Trang Bang on 8 June 1972, was burned by Americans bombing Trang Bang. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. Section 501(c)(19) of the Internal Revenue Service. I think that some of us changed for the better, but some of us did not. From 1965, around 99 percent of each completed class of students were sent to Vietnam. 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. Normally, one has to push a button to talk over the intercom in a military aircraft, but on a hoist mission, we turned it to hot mikes, because we all needed our hands for other things. However, these same 18-year-old young men attended flight school and were given responsibility to operate a multi million dollar helicopter. This famous picture is the property of UPI Corbus-Bettman Photo Agency. 5 Stars . Tran Van Don and the head of the secret police Tran Kim Tuyen. average age of vietnam helicopter pilot If you are an admin, please authenticate by logging in again. Even more demanding was formation flying at night, with navigation lights off, using the glow from the leaders cockpit instruments for station keeping. If everyone does not come home, none of the rest of us can ever fully come home either. I and many more just like me can only say Thank You for all that you did. Another tradition started in 1988 is a "Cobra" solicitation purposes, or any correspondence related thereto. The third seat was for our testicles. Mine were draped over the back of my seat, along with my M-16 rifle. . Your email address will not be published. If everything is as clear as a bell, and everything is going exactly as planned, youre about to be surprised. [VHPA databases], Army UH-1's totaled more than 10,693,902 flight hours in Vietnam between October 1966 and the end of How to get a day off of work or which college offers the best ability to party. Candidates later tackled the difficult arts of landing in small areas, night, and instrument flying crucial skills for their operational work in Southeast Asia. Myth: The fighting in Vietnam was not as intense as in World War II. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. They could rotate around a battle site from above, unleashing punishing weapon support from above. The Vietnam War was the turning point for Communism. A constant line of chatter was transmitted from the medic and the Crew Chief to the pilots, who were both on the flight controls in case either was violently incapable of continuing to fly the aircraft. The average age of an employed helicopter pilot is 44 years old. It was an average age for most of the other Army helicopter pilots I flew with in the 237th Medical Detachment in northern I Corps near the DMZ. Categories . I graduated from Flight Training 2 day short of a year. You will meet and hear the stories of three U.S. Army helicopter pilots who flew missions in Vietnam in this video. Have you ever heard the expression, He was flying the aircraft balls out? That was us. Read more about the planned U.S. Air Force helicopter Vietnam War history sections. . Business Solutions including all features. Yes, most definitely young, but stupid? I have no idea who he was, but we logged his flight time as PP: Patient Protector.. on 29 April 1975 from UPI's offices on the top floor of the Saigon Hotel which Steve DaCosta, Cavalier15, June67-June68. Many men volunteered for the draft so even some of the draftees were actually War is brutal and not fair. To retrieve the data click on 2020 Active Civil Airmen Statistics. I think I can make it back! was his last message as the aircraft caught fire, rolled inverted and crashed in flames, killing all on board. We know that it was a .50-cal that got him and not an AK47 bullet because an AK round is not big enough to shoot off the balls of a Dustoff pilot. The VC knew the points in an assault where the helicopter was most vulnerable, so thorough prepping by gunships and strike aircraft was essential. confidential. If the rear echelon troops are really happy, the front line troops probably do not have what they need. They explained the trajectory of the weapons fired from an aircraft, especially when firing in a turn., Fort Rucker trained 120 aviators on its gunship aerial weapons course for the UH-1B in 1965. As one of those troopers on the ground, I can honestly say how proud I am to have served with Brave men. Those brief and simple heartfelt words meant more to me that night than anything else ever said to me during my entire tour. See also The History of the Ranch Hand Epidemiologic Investigation. By Phil Marshall, DMZ Dustoff 711, 237th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance) Camp Evans and Quang Tri, Vietnam 1969, published in Association of Naval Aviation, Cape Fear Seahawk Newsletter, July 2012, Vol. looking good. come left . The first one you will meet is retired Army Col. Douglas Moore, a medevac pilot in Vietnam. Please use the membership application form to submit of what you can do online at https://www.vhpa.org/memhelp.htm#ODA, To preserve the legacy of all Vietnam Helicopter Pilots, an endowment I never forgot the reverence with which that statement was made, as I began to form a survival plan of action in my mind. . So, too, can the ones addressed To Whom It May Concern. The VC were surprised and soundly defeated. We HAD no survival radios in those aircraft. Use Ask Statista Research Service. Read the latest issue of the Friends of the Vietnam Center Newsletter and subscribe to recieve future newsletters. Without his heroic actions that day we, the Grunts, would have been in severe situation as we were running out of food, ammo and our radio batteries were almost dead. Phil Marshall, DMZ Dustoff 711, 237th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance) Camp Evans and Quang Tri, Vietnam 1969. Vietnamese where among those taken that day to Tan Son Nhut airport, General The ideal entry-level account for individual users. Put some fire in that bunker! I yelled to Private Whats-His-Name. Thanks for the memories. about halfway down . The U.S. Embassy and its helipad were much larger. Please create an employee account to be able to mark statistics as favorites. w.. Over the ten years of the war, Operation Ranch Hand sprayed about eleven million gallons of Agent Orange on the South Vietnamese landscape. My opinion is that he was as afraid that he could not complete the mission, as much as he was afraid to die. THE UNITED STATES DID NOT LOSE THE WAR IN VIETNAM, THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE aa..Thus the term SHIT! can also be used to denote a situation where high Pucker Factor is being encountered. What is important is what you are doing-NOW-to solve our problem. Online membership As soon as this statistic is updated, you will immediately be notified via e-mail. I arrived in Vietnam on the 4th of July 1969, barely 21 years old. If you win the battle you are entitled to the spoils. As a Premium user you get access to background information and details about the release of this statistic. 2160250. buzz lightyear of star command complete series "We (Americans) had nothing to do with controlling VNAF," according to Lieutenant General (Ret) James F. Hollingsworth, the Commanding General of TRAC at that time. The Weapons Team. In fact, we all did well. (Personally, I have fathered 73 children with two good Dustoff-sized testicles.) VHPA Aviator (big file). Based on the data, more than 30% of the current for-hire pilots fall within the age range of 50 to 64. No this is Pat Bieneman I am the owner of this site. Joe Treen, People.com, 21 April 2000. . A hoist mission was just the opposite. The DA-4733-DSC should not be confused with the much more common DA-4734-GSTT (Gunship Sized Tiny Testicles), where other pilots made up for their lack of size with big guns and big wrist watches. [1996 Information Please Almanac], The 140,000 evacuees in April 1975 during the fall of Saigon consisted almost entirely of civilians and Vietnamese military, NOT American military running for their lives. . I used to laugh at the occasional Huey slick driver who flew out to let guys from his unit use the shopping facilities on the ships. . VHPA Aviator magazine U.S. active certificated pilots - average age 1993-2020; . [Burkett]. ah.. Nobody cares what you did yesterday or what you are going to do tomorrow. At least, I believe that is how I would have felt had it been me. Oh, were we Young and Stupid on hoist missions, too; the second Y & S thing we did! Here is an example done at the 2005 af.. The third seat was installed in our combat aircraft to accommodate the well above average size of our family jewels, which were required to complete most of the missions we flew in Vietnam. After training, they entered transport or gunship platoons referred to simply as slicks or guns. Most would complete at least two combat tours. In 2009, the US Congress changed the mandatory age of retirement of airline pilots from 60 to 65 in a bid to solve the pilot shortage problem. . If we had been shot down on virtually any hoist mission, our high hover would not have allowed us to make a safe landing, and many would surely have died. The emotions are almost indescribable, but there was one more feeling: relief from being so scared! I wanted that top 20% and focused all my abilities and energy on making gunship training. Since I first heard the phrase that is the title of this article, it struck me that those words were exactly what we did as kids flying helicopters in Vietnam. Many times these brave men had to deliver or retrieve the troopers into or out of areas where enemy fire was heavy. Flight training was preceded by grueling infantry instruction at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and Fort Polk, Louisiana, where recruits, predominantly volunteers, learned through Basic Combat Training that they were primarily soldiers, with a secondary role as helicopter crew members. That was probably the lowest point of my Vietnam flying experience, and I never forgot it. come forward just a little . [2]:3, This operation heralded a new era of air mobility for the U.S. Army, which had been slowly growing as a concept since the Army formed twelve helicopter battalions in 1952 as a result of the Korean War. Here are some facts to clear up that poor job of reporting by the news media. website may contain information that VHPA considers proprietary and The engine RPM and the rotor RPM must BOTH be kept in the GREEN. You can only download this statistic as a Premium user. As I look back on my own experiences, two things stand out in my mind that I consider young and stupid.. Maybe it was only three miles . But as the Army would have it, during Friday night formation of the middle weekend of gun school, 24 of us, including 12 in the gun school, received orders to attend MedEvac school at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, immediately after graduation. It wasnt easy, and I will now confess that my depth perception almost was not good enough to pass my initial flight physical, but I made it. If you are wearing body armor, they will probably miss that part. All of these, however, are better than extraction by Medavac, even if it is technically, a form of flying. We will never forget you, or the sound of your rotor blades off in the distance, coming to our aid. Southeast Asia during the Vietnam era (1961-1975). Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/919100/aviation-industry-average-age-of-active-pilots-in-the-united-states-by-category/, Average age of active pilots in the United States from 2002 to 2020, by category*, Available to download in PNG, PDF, XLS format, Number of pilots active in the airline industry 2019-2029, Share of female pilots by major airline 2021, Global opinion on how long the aviation industry will take to recover 2021, U.S. student certificated pilots - number 1990-2020, Number of pilot licenses in China 2018-2020, by type, Employment by registered airlines in the United Kingdom (UK) 2015-2020, by position, Employment profile of pilots worldwide 2020-2021, Job seeking status of pilots worldwide 2020, U.S. active certificated pilots - average age 1993-2020, U.S. aviation industry - average age of active pilots by category 2002-2020, Methods used to increase the potential supply of female pilots 2020, Global civil aviation training market size 2017-2021, Dependence of pilots on flight deck automation worldwide 2019, Downward pressure of automation on the role of pilots worldwide 2019, Methods used to reduce flight operations costs 2020, Pilots' plans to change jobs globally 2021, Difficulty to ensure stable supply of qualified pilots over the next decade 2020, Air traffic - passenger volume forecast by region 2037, Forecast of new pilots in the global aviation industry by region 2021-2040, Demand for new pilots in the commercial aviation industry by region 2021-2040, Projected pilot shortage globally by region 2029, U.S. aviation industry - number of active pilot certificates by age and category 2020, U.S. aviation - industry number of active pilot certificates by age 2020, United Airlines - pilot expenditure 2012-2021, JetBlue Airways - pilot expenditure 2012-2021, Delta Air Lines - pilot expenditure 2012-2021, Number of pilots active in the airline industry: by region 2017, American Airlines - pilot expenditure 2012-2021, Pilot deficit in U.S. commercial aviation 2016-2026, Southwest Airlines - pilot expenditure 2012-2021, Airline pilots worldwide - average age 2016, Number of pilots in the airline industry: per aircraft type 2016, Number of drone pilot licenses in China 2014-2019, Number of new pilots in Finland 2017, by type, Number of helicopter pilot licenses in China 2014-2019, Global share of pilots whose mental health was affected by the pandemic 2020, National and international commercial air traffic in Morocco 2016-2019, Number of bird strikes caused by military aviation Australia 2006-2015, Find your information in our database containing over 20,000 reports. Shoot, I had NO idea! That knocked the rotor blades off and the TH-55 went in., Successful candidates then progressed to the Contact Phase at Knox Army Heliport, Fort Rucker, for specific training on the UH-1B, C, and D, followed by the Tactics Phase at nearby Lowe Army Helioport, which prepared them for realistic combat conditions. View complete answer on zippia.com [People], The evacuees were Vietnamese not American military. Being scared in the sense of risking ones life for others, for sure, but also a sense of being scared that you will not be up to the standards of your fellow pilots. Updated: 7 February 2018 Helicopters were used in more than 850,000 medical evacuation missions and were responsible for boosting survival rates for the wounded. Always make sure someone has a P-38. U.S. active certificated pilots - number 1990-2020, Worldwide aircraft fleet age by region 2020-2030, Air traffic - passenger growth rates forecast 2019-2040. Member So, were we really Young and Stupid? Helicopters in ak.. The building is the Pittman Apartments, a 10 By the end of the war half of them had been lost. 1969 Two high ranking From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. The Vietnam War helped medical progress in this area. Scientific research has shown that dioxin degrades in sunlight after 48 to 72 hours; therefore, troops exposure to dioxin was infinitesimal. theyre on the penetrator . If so glad to know youre well. (May 18, 2021). The South Vietnamese ran out The others on board simply assumed he was also headed for dinner, but I knew the true meaning of his statement. no, seven! On 11 December 1961, the USS Core (T-AKV-41) docked in Saigon with 32 U.S. Army Piasecki H-21 helicopters and 400 crewmen of the 8th Transportation Company (Light Helicopter) and the 57th Transportation Company (Light Helicopter). I did well enough to make the school, along with about 25 of my classmates. The Wall), Center for Electronic Records, National Archives, Washington, DC, [All That We Can Be] All That We Can Be by Charles C. Moskos and John Sibley Butler, [Westmoreland] Speech by General William C. Westmoreland before the Third Annual Reunion of the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA) at the Washington, DC Hilton Hotel on July 5th, 1986 (reproduced in a Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association Historical Reference Directory Volume 2A). keep your tail straight . They also acted as medical evacuation helicopter pilots when needed. If I had gone down over water, I would not have grabbed the wings either, because not only had I never tried to inflate them, I had never even tried to put them on. has no political agenda as is our brother organization, The Vietnam Helicopter Can I pick up Armed Forces Radio on it? Read the latest issue of the Friends of the Vietnam Center Newsletter and subscribe to recieve future newsletters. DID after the U.S. Congress cut off funding. [VHPA databases], Army AH-1G's totaled more than 1,166,344 flight hours in Vietnam. survive the 365 days in Southeast Asia was to be a gunship pilot, blazing my way back to the states, defending myself with mini-guns, rockets, and grenade launchers. It happened many times, and their names are on The Wall in Washington, D.C. One particular mission I recall was a day hoist. The Vietnam Helicopter Flight Crew Network (VHFCN) is a non profit veterans organization dedicated to the fulfillment of the following purposes: To provide a forum for recreational communications amongst a fraternity of aircrew members who served in Vietnam during the period 1961-75 At the conclusive battle of the war (the Fall of Saigon), the .

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