Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “Low-Level Hell: Vietnam War’s Most Legendary Army Aviator?” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/low-level-hell-vietnam-wars-most-legendary-army-aviator/.
Low-Level Hell: Vietnam War’s Most Legendary Army Aviator?
- Thread starter Mike H.
- Start date
KillerFord1977
SAINT
I posted about Hugh Mills in another thread …
www.thearmorylife.com
I always wanted to fly Army Aviation. Most notably the AH-1 Cobra or OH-58 .
I was fascinated with helicopters and wanted Army after High School.
Bad eyes prevented that in the late ‘80s and the DOD wouldnt take me even though at 19 yrs old I was a private pilot/ instrument rated and flying since 14. Pilots license day I turned 16.
Every branch of service said NO to me flying helicopters with my eyesight.
So I went commercial… for a few years.
Still bummed to this day about never being in service to fly helicopters.
A man named Hugh Mills inspired me. A Loach and gunship pilot in Vietnam, I had all the books about him. Shot down, decorated who wss Low and slow looking for trouble in a snake or loach. I wanted to do that sooo bad.
Still have the books from childhood.
This one was printed in 1974. Gone are the days I could join the service even under the 2000’s relaxed rules.
Mills being reacued from a Jolly Green with a CAR-15 was when I had to have a short M16 when “I grew up” .
Still my favorite
Flying the Bell AH-1 Cobra Gunship
Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “Flying the Bell AH-1 Cobra Gunship” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/ah-1-cobra-gunship/.
www.thearmorylife.com
I always wanted to fly Army Aviation. Most notably the AH-1 Cobra or OH-58 .
I was fascinated with helicopters and wanted Army after High School.
Bad eyes prevented that in the late ‘80s and the DOD wouldnt take me even though at 19 yrs old I was a private pilot/ instrument rated and flying since 14. Pilots license day I turned 16.
Every branch of service said NO to me flying helicopters with my eyesight.
So I went commercial… for a few years.
Still bummed to this day about never being in service to fly helicopters.
A man named Hugh Mills inspired me. A Loach and gunship pilot in Vietnam, I had all the books about him. Shot down, decorated who wss Low and slow looking for trouble in a snake or loach. I wanted to do that sooo bad.
Still have the books from childhood.
This one was printed in 1974. Gone are the days I could join the service even under the 2000’s relaxed rules.
Mills being reacued from a Jolly Green with a CAR-15 was when I had to have a short M16 when “I grew up” .
Still my favorite
Was a 1st Cav Pilot in Nam.
After flight school (69-1) I was sent to AMOC (aircraft maintenance officer course). While there we were told by instructors that the OH6 was to be replaced by the 58, even though it is nowhere close to the combat capability of the Loach, and this was because Hughes (maker of the Loach) told the DOD the price of the Loach had to be raised to $95000 per chopper (from $75000 !!!) because of increasing production costs.
So…the Army said that broke the contract, and then contracted with Bell for the 58 - at a price of … $98000 per chopper.
Cost more, did less. Why? Bell was a Texas based company, and LBJ was from Texas. No surprise … LBJ did the same thing with the Air Force contract for the F-111, which came in third in Navy and Air Force trial flights. The 111 was made by General Dynamics, a (you guessed it!) Texas based company.
Maybe LBJ mentored a young JB in bribe taking…..
After flight school (69-1) I was sent to AMOC (aircraft maintenance officer course). While there we were told by instructors that the OH6 was to be replaced by the 58, even though it is nowhere close to the combat capability of the Loach, and this was because Hughes (maker of the Loach) told the DOD the price of the Loach had to be raised to $95000 per chopper (from $75000 !!!) because of increasing production costs.
So…the Army said that broke the contract, and then contracted with Bell for the 58 - at a price of … $98000 per chopper.
Cost more, did less. Why? Bell was a Texas based company, and LBJ was from Texas. No surprise … LBJ did the same thing with the Air Force contract for the F-111, which came in third in Navy and Air Force trial flights. The 111 was made by General Dynamics, a (you guessed it!) Texas based company.
Maybe LBJ mentored a young JB in bribe taking…..
Snake45
Professional
Hughes lost money on every Loach ever built, because Howard Hughes so wanted a government contract that he underbid by thousands of dollars and ate the cost himself. I think I read this in Empire, the Howard Hughes biography by Barlett & Steele, but it's been a LONG time since I read that book (published in 1979).
I worked with a guy, Floyd Clawson, in the early 1980s that was a Crew Chief on a Loach. The story he told me was that he was the guy who's ONLY job was to be the grunt who cleaned the weapons after the ship was parked. Loved the job.
Right up until the soon to be 'former' crew chief was to be rotated out. The pilot looked around and pointed at Floyd and Floyd told them 'no, not interested' and walked away. He said they wound up dragging him out of his tent, strapped him into the ship and he said 'he never looked back.'
He loved cleaning those weapons, but he loved flying even more.
His favorite missions were taking up a box of grenades and dropping them into VC holes, in addition to shooting up the VC. I guess the grenade thing was a much earlier version of the Ukrainian drone grenade drop.
Anyway, I'm not sure how long he got to do it for, but they were involved in a furball when his pilot yelled out 'I'm hit!' When he was telling me the story, you could see the look of panic in his face while he relived it. Sure, the pilot had shown him, rudimentarily, how to fly the ship, but that didn't translate into any skill at landing it.
The pilot pulls himself together and realizes the bullet went through his pants leg and merely grazed him, so they lined up for another run and that's when Floyd felt somebody kick him in the back.
Took an AK round. He was seriously messed up. When he woke up, he was in Guam. I asked him if he was mad and went back and he said 'No. I was a short timer, by the time I was fully recuperated, so I didn't get to fly any more.' He was visibly sad.
'What DID **** me off was my buddy got the clap in Africa and got a 50% VA disability. Me? For getting my guts blown up? I've got a 10% disability.'
Great guy. Great sense of humor. I haven't thought about that story in 40 years. Thanks for a great write up. The loach is a great ship.
Right up until the soon to be 'former' crew chief was to be rotated out. The pilot looked around and pointed at Floyd and Floyd told them 'no, not interested' and walked away. He said they wound up dragging him out of his tent, strapped him into the ship and he said 'he never looked back.'
He loved cleaning those weapons, but he loved flying even more.
His favorite missions were taking up a box of grenades and dropping them into VC holes, in addition to shooting up the VC. I guess the grenade thing was a much earlier version of the Ukrainian drone grenade drop.
Anyway, I'm not sure how long he got to do it for, but they were involved in a furball when his pilot yelled out 'I'm hit!' When he was telling me the story, you could see the look of panic in his face while he relived it. Sure, the pilot had shown him, rudimentarily, how to fly the ship, but that didn't translate into any skill at landing it.
The pilot pulls himself together and realizes the bullet went through his pants leg and merely grazed him, so they lined up for another run and that's when Floyd felt somebody kick him in the back.
Took an AK round. He was seriously messed up. When he woke up, he was in Guam. I asked him if he was mad and went back and he said 'No. I was a short timer, by the time I was fully recuperated, so I didn't get to fly any more.' He was visibly sad.
'What DID **** me off was my buddy got the clap in Africa and got a 50% VA disability. Me? For getting my guts blown up? I've got a 10% disability.'
Great guy. Great sense of humor. I haven't thought about that story in 40 years. Thanks for a great write up. The loach is a great ship.
I have pictures on my hard drive of Delta Force operators sitting on the skids of the MH-6, the modern version listed in the article, tearing ass up MSR Tampa south of Baghdad on their way to kill some unfortunate hajis. Can’t remember which mission we were on, but I thought those dudes looked so badass with their suppressed M4A1’s just enjoying the ride, made me proud to be an American.
DavidDSmith
Operator
After high school to flight school in Ft. Rucker, AL '78-'79 and from the OH-58's at Ft. Hood to the UH-1's I have flown over 4,600 hours, with over 3K in the OH-58. I selected to go with maintenance officer while stationed in Germany and from that position I awarded the opportunity to fly in full spectrum of aircraft. Listed OH-58, UH-1, CH-47, AH-1, and the last one being the UH-60. Only when I left the military was I able to fly the OH-6 or rather the 500D. Extremely interesting flight characteristics. I would compare it to the OH-58 with the AH-1 flight controls.
"...percolates above all the rest." Might also want to also consider John Charles Bahnsen, Jr., for that honor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_BahnsenHello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “Low-Level Hell: Vietnam War’s Most Legendary Army Aviator?” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/low-level-hell-vietnam-wars-most-legendary-army-aviator/.
CAPMARINE276
Master Class
My second operation, in Guam hospital, then on to Millington TN- retired at 40%( now 100%)
