40 Year Reunion of the Helicopter Unit

[wroughtn_harv]

Bird you look good, wife looks better, but that's life in the city when you're this close to the country. ;>)

We just had a reunion with the guys I was in Nam with in June. Double doggone darn, those boys sure got old on me.

My first Huey ride in Nam ended up with my bud attempting suicide. What happened was I was sitting behind the co-pilot. In that seat when you look down you don't see any ship because the belly is below and to your left. When you look up all you see is rotors beating the bejezzuz out of the air above you. This is all with the doors back so the door gunner behind you has room to see and fire.

As I was sitting there thinking about how one bullet from a quarter mile away could bring this whole shebang down the pilot banked a turn, my side down. That's when my bud who was sitting inboard of me attempted suicide. He pushed me out.

I was held in of course with the seat belts. But my hands and weren't restrained. I darn near beat him to death.

 

[mjarrels]

As a Navy airdale, all my helicopter flights were free!

mark

 

[scott_vt]

1*I graduated from high school in 1959.
.

Good Afternoon LB,
Sheesh I thought I was old !


Good Afternoon Bird,
Some very interesting pics ! Talk about evolution of the helicopter !

It must have been great to have a reunion like that !

 

[tugboat-2]

Hey Bird,..count on you for a great thread, WoW!! SORRY to hop right over your great "chopper" stuff, but trying to keep it brief,..yeah sure! Any photos of the "Beaver"? At 16 my summer job in Northern Ontario was a Junior Forest Ranger with Dept. of Lands & Forests,..(Natural Resources). I flew with (former WW-II Cdn Air Force) pilot in "our" 1949 Beaver float plane. Various chores, dropping parachute-supply-loads to men in "lonely" Fire Towers,....flying supplies to Forest fire crews, dropping fish, stocking lakes,..flying canoes (strapped to pontoons), equipment and men to bush locations. "Drops" (of course)done through the "bomb-bay" hatch. Target misses were "my" fault..Oops! Good golly and to think they actually "paid" me to have the most fun I "ever" had! (well,....shhh!)

The loads, the storms, tree-top-flying, the "small" lake landings and take-offs and even a "loop-da-loop",..(which many argued later "couldn't be done with a Beaver Float)..my pilot agreed: "It couldn't be done because the Cdn Air Force "rule-book" said so, . .doesn't mean the "aircraft" can't! I was there in the co-pilot seat through-out the experience, which meant the world to "me"!!

Many experiences, convinced me the Beaver (designed and built in Malton, (Mississauga, Ontario),..was and still "IS" the "safest", most reliable bush plane!! Many, many originals still working all over the world.

REALLY SORRY for length Bird,..any pics of "your" Beaver or "thoughts"? I know "choppers" are your interest but since you mentioned it,..?

"Tractor-connection": Harrison Ford purchased a rebuilt "Green and Yellow" Beaver, (not exact but close to John Deere). He and Miss Flockhart flew it out of Toronto's Island Airport bound for California,..after a nice interview about it, (was it last year or the year prior perhaps?)

Thanks Bird for kick-starting my very favourite memories!! (WoW, 56 years ago!!)(Musta been a young feller back then!!) But recall details and feel of the yoke like twas yesterday!!
CHEERS !
. . tug

 

[Bird]

Tug, I don't have any pictures of the Beaver. A short time before I transferred into the helicopter unit, our chief civilian pilot and head mechanic had flown to Tucson, AZ, to the Davis-Monthan AFB and picked out two Bell 47s and the Beaver. They arranged to have the helicopters shipped to Dallas and they flew the Beaver back to Dallas.

For those unfamiliar with Davis-Monthan AFB, some call part of it the boneyard because thousands of obsolete or unused military aircraft of all descriptions are stored there in a dry climate to minimize corrosion. And in the '70s Police Departments could get certain items at no cost.

When I took over the helicopter unit, the Beaver was in the shop to be painted, since both it and the choppers came in military "olive drab". We got it back with a fresh coat of white paint with a little red trim in December, 1973.

Tug, the "bomb-bay" hatch on ours was just for aerial photography. Actually it was very seldom used, and I don't even know when they got rid of it.

But I understand what you're talking about with the Beaver; still lots of Beavers (and Otters) in use in both Canada and Alaska. It seems a bit of a shame when a manufacturer really gets something right and then later quits making them.

 

[tugboat-2]

Thanks Bird, . . I have been to the Davis-Monthan AFB and it is truly out-of-this-world,...unbelievable the number of every possible aircraft parked in just the most precision neatness so no space is lost for the "thousands" of aircraft there! All neatly intertwined in rows that go on forever!!

I wasn't going to mention this part as it puts a sadness to my story but on the other hand it sort of completes a circle of some sort. I mentioned my Beaver pilot,..."Al Sanderson",...he was later recruited by Ontario Hydro as a pilot and shipped off to "Texas" to learn to fly choppers for them. Unfortunately he died in a training accident in Texas, but he lives on forever in my memory as "Great"!!

Just wanted to thank you for your Thread Bird, because it stirred up some great, (although not exactly related) but wonderful memories from a distant past!!!

CHEERS,... best wishes and Congratulations on your 40th!!!
. . tug

PS: ......you and the Mrs lookin' pretty spiffy there,.....NICE!!

 

[Bird]

Tug, I didn't get to personally see Davis-Monthan AFB until January, 1990, after I retired. For anyone who plans to be in the Tucson, AZ, area, they have free public tours that you might enjoy. I don't know if you still need advance reservations or not, but since we were there for a month, it wasn't a problem to call and make reservations for one of the tours.

 

[tugboat-2]

Bird: We "used" to visit the in-laws in south Tucson every winter. FIL had been the WW-II Canadian leader of the Canada-USA First Special Service Force and he had arrainged for my wife and I to go to Davis for the tour, I can't recall if we had reservations or not but it was a "memorable" place!!

Had a buddy out there was a Deputy Sheriff and I spent time riding with him but he also had a country band he played "pedal steel" with so I spent more time with him than with the in-laws and always enjoyed Tucson AND my drive across Texas getting to and fro. (Was going to write a song to that effect).

Anyway as usual Bird, I'm getting lengthy so I'll cut myself off about here and once again, I wish you and yours the very best!!!

CHEERS!
. . tug