May-June 1973-page 06 , 07 , 21

“Southeast Asia”

RotorTips  May-Jun-1973 - p.06,07 : 

B52 Survivors Rescued By HH-43's

In separate missions, both at night, HH-43 crews from the LBR Flight, 40th ARRSq, at Nakhon Phanom RTAFB, Thailand, rescued B-52 crew members who had bailed out of the giant bombers. An HH-43 crew from Det 7, 40th ARRSq, at Da Nang Afld., also rescued downed airmen from a battle-damaged B-52. Following are reports on the three incidents:

Nakhon Phanom Det's First Mission

....The "Pedro" alert crew was notified at 2105L that a B-52 was experiencing an inflight emergency. This was the only information available and as the crew was strapping in, Maj Robert R. Reeves and Capt George E. Schrimpf observed a huge fireball south of the base. At 2107 Pedro was airborne and began to receive signals. Two HH-53's and a CH-53 followed Pedro to the impact area and all deployed to pick up the crew from the B-52. Because of the number of helicopters in the area, the survivors had difficulty in distinguishing among the aircraft when they attempted vector procedures for a pickup. Major Reeves used the distinctive floodlights of the HH-43 to nullify this problem. 

The first survivor was picked up by SSgt Ricky C. Sheets as hoist operator and was helped aboard and examined by the med tech, Sgt Harold D. DeLoma. At that point, Sgt Frederick Thomas, crewchief, spotted another victim suspended in the tall trees that dotted the pickup area, and directed Pedro to a hover near that individual, the B-52 navigator. The survivor was severely entangled in his chute harness and appeared to have shroud lines wrapped around his neck. Major Reeves decided to lower SSgt Michael J. Kolar on the forest penetrator to try and free the crewmember. Approach to the survivor was made very slowly, with Captain Schrimpf and Sergeant Sheets giving directions to safely move Pedro with less than a foot of clearance from the trees. As Sergeant Kolar was approaching the survivor on the hoist, the .interphone system failed and emergency hand signals were utilized between Sergeant Sheets and Major Reeves.

The navigator did have several shroud lines and his lowering device around his throat and was hanging at a 45-degree angle, head down, about 20 feet above the ground. Sergeant Kolar secured him to the penetrator and slowly began to cut him loose, carefully shifting the survivor's weight to the rescue device so as not to upset the precise hover amongst the trees. When the navigator had been freed, the pickup was completed and Sergeant DeLoma examined the survivor and found him uninjured by his experience. At 2140 Pedro returned to base with two survivors and transferred them to the awaiting ambulance.

Nakhon Phanom Det's Second Mission

At approximately 2340.... the local base rescue flight was notified by base Command Post to scramble on a probable bailout by the crew of a battle-damaged B-52. Pedro took off immediately with Capt Robert D. Thompson as aircraft commander and Captain Schrimpf as co­pilot. Initial vectors to the possible bailout area were given to Captain Schrimpf by the command post, and while following these, Pedro was notified by the tower that the B-52 crew was starting to eject. Almost immediately thereafter beeper signals were heard and Pedro homed in on them.

Soon after, the pilot of the downed B-52 came up on his survival radio and gave his position, so Captain Thompson directed him to light the night end of a flare to pinpoint his location. It was readily visible, and Pedro went into a 70 foot hover over the survivor and Sergeant Sheets made the hoist recovery, aided by SSgt Ronald T. Jerome, crew chief. As soon as they had the survivor on board and secured, he was examined by SSgt William B. Powers and found to be in good shape....

Because of the number of helicopters in the pickup area, a tremendous amount of attention and coordination between Captain Thompson and Sergeants Jerome and Sheets, serving as scanners, was necessary to maintain a safe operation in the trees without a visible horizon. Captain Schrimpf, while assisting in keeping a safe tree top hover for the hoist operation, was also relaying all radio traffic from King (C-130 Airborne Mission Commander) to the helicopters.

Time elapsed from sighting the survivor until he was airlifted back to the waiting base hospital personnel was approximately 15 minutes.

Det 7, B-52 Rescue Mission

The HH-43 alert crew from Det 7 scrambled in the early morning darkness after a battle-damaged B-52 ditched in the Gulf of Tonkin and the crew bailed out overwater 30 miles north of Da Nang. "Pedro 61," with 1stLt William L. Latham, Jr., as pilot and Capt Bruce K. Roberts as copilot, flew IFR to the site and joined "Covey 30," another aircraft searching for the survivors.

As it was still dark and IFR, Pedro 61 and Covey 30 flew above the dense clouds and used direction-finding equipment in an attempt to locate the downed airmen in the 15-foot, haze-covered waves below. The weather was so poor it took more than 30 minutes to localize the search area enough so that the HH-43 crew could conduct a further search, visually, from a lower altitude.

The sun had risen by this time, so Lieutenant Latham called for "survivor's smoke" and the downed airmen were spotted almost immediately after complying with the request. The forest penetrator with flotation collar was used to hoist two men to the HH-43 which then returned to base for refueling. The others were picked up by the Navy and, with one exception, later airlifted back to base in a Det 7 HH-43. Another survivor was plucked from the water by a ship 15 miles away.

Sharing in the rescue mission with Lieutenant Latham and Capt Roberts were Sgt Michael P. Parchment, helicopter mechanic, and Sgt Jesse McCoy, a medical technician.

RotorTips  May-Jun-1973 - p.7 :

A-7 Pilot Rescued

NAKHON PHANOM RTAFB, Thailand - A pilot who ejected after his A-7 flamed out was picked up shortly afterward by an HH-43 crew from the LBR Flight, 40th ARRSq, here. Manning the rescue helicopter were 1stLt George S. Tarrant, 1stLt Jack S. Ranck and Sgts Frederick Thomas, Harold D. DeLoma, Lawrence H. Crouch and Jerry L. Allen.

The Pedro crew scrambled after notification that an aircraft was flaming out. Seconds later they spotted a fireball about three miles from the base and then Sergeant Crouch saw a parachute in the trees about a mile south of the impact area. Immediately afterwards, Sergeant Allen spotted the survivor on the ground in a wooded area with 30-foot trees. Dry rice paddies were interspersed throughout the area. A landing was made in a rice paddy and the downed pilot was taken aboard and returned to base.

RotorTips  May-Jun-1973 - p.21 :

Det 14 Rescues Marine, Medevac Villagers

TAN SON NHUT AB, RVN - Ordnance aboard a burning fighter began exploding a few seconds after the pilot of the downed plane was airlifted from the site by an HH-43 crew from Det 14, 40th ARRSq (MAC), at this base.

Several of the "Pedro" alert crew had been watching as Marine A-4's launched when one of them left the run­way and burst into flames. The HH-43 flew to the area and picked up the pilot who had ejected. As the survivor was delivered to the Marine revetment area, ordnance aboard the downed aircraft began exploding.

Capt Andrew B. Comrie was pilot of the Pedro and 2ndLt Richard A. Schlais was copilot. Crewmen were SSgt Howard E. Bowers, Sgt Carl V. O'Neill and Sgt Kenneth Daniels.

In another mission, an HH-43 crew from Det 14 medevaced four wounded villagers who were injured when hung ordnance fell from a VNAF aircraft returning to base. A VNAF gunship circling the village, four miles from the base, directed Pedro into the area and remained overhead for support until the survivors were aboard. Vietnamese ground troops deployed around the village to secure the area before Pedro returned on the second sortie.

Captain Comrie was pilot on the mission and Lieutenant Schlais was copilot. Crewmen were Sgt Francisco J. Betancourt and Sgt Burney D. Williams.

last update : 31/12/2007