HH-43 OPERATION   from   Tan Son Nhut  Airbase, RVN 

 

In August 1965 the first HH-43B were flown to Tan Son Nhut AB  as part of a TDY consisting of personnel and  two Huskies from DET.5, CARC at K.I. Sawyer AFB, MI and one aircraft and personnel from DET.16, EARC at Homestead AFB, FL. 

TDY  DET.5 ,     CARC           K.I. Sawyer AFB, MI    with  HH-43B  58-1859  and 59-1541
TDY  DET.16 ,   EARC           Homstead AFB, FL       with  HH-43B  62-4515


There is some confusing information about the exact date and place of arrival , because the individual aircraft history records for all three HH-43B listed above gives arrival at Bien Hoa AB on 16 August 1965.  Photo caption on all three AirForce pictures presented below, gives Tan Son Nhut AB as the location.
But most important here,  is the "eye-witness" report  received in August 2006  (41 years after it all happened!)

Mr. James L. Hird, MSgt, USAF, Retired  recalls :
"We left K.I. Sawyer AFB, MI  July 31, 1965 on a C-124 and arrived at Tan Son Nhut on August 6th. I think we stopped at every Island in the Pacific. I don't have the aircraft tail numbers. We were there until the first part of January 1966. During that period we flew primarily Local Base Rescue, but did have some adventurous flights outside the base perimeter."

"The detachment that ended up at Tan Son Nhut was supposed to go to Pleiku , but there was no facility for us there so they put us in Tan Son Nhut. This was a detachment made up of troops primarily from K.I. Sawyer and Homestead, Fl. We were kind of an orphan unit because we weren't supposed to be at Tan Son Nhut either, so the Navy Detachment let us use one of there trailers and the Army gave us a little corner of the ramp to park our aircraft, very primitive situation."

"The detachment from K.I. Sawyer, which I was part of, arrived  with one aircraft and I think there were nine of us, pilots, crew chiefs and firefighters. During the period I was there, from Aug. 6, 1965  to Jan. 7, 1966 we only had two aircraft. I do remember we did get one from Da Nang but I don't remember where our other aircraft went. As far as I can remember the detachment at Bien Hoa was operating when we arrived at Tan San Nhut, but no idea how long it had been active. Hope this helps fill in some holes. It's hard to remember some stuff because at the time the only thing that kept us going was looking forward to getting out of that place."

The following eye-witness report and color pictures were received in September 2007 from HH-43B pilot , then Captain Bruce Ware (retired as Colonel, USAF)

"Thanks for sending your webpage. I remember Sgt. Hird pretty well. I can add to what he told about the trip and TDY.
It did take us a week to get to TSN, with stops at Hill AFB, Travis AFB, Hickam AFB, Wake AB, Guam AB, Mactan AB, then finally into TSN. We had a 12 hour layover at Hill, 24 hours at Hickam, then only 4 hours at the remainder, just time to get fuel and a C-124 crew change. As I remember we did have both the K.I. Sawyer helicopters on the aircraft. I was the "senior ranking officer" as a pretty young Captain and was accompanied by my copilot, Lt. Ted Cochran, and nine enlisted guys including a couple firefighters and a medic. The remainder of the contingent at TSN was from Myrtle Beach and I believe some from Homestead."

"We were on the US Navy ramp and they allowed us use of a couple trailers for our operations and one for the "alert" facility."

"We took the two KI HH-43Bs to Cam Ranh Bay in late October (1965) and they were the first two permanent aircraft on the base. Several of the enlisted and my copilot from KI volunteered to join me at CRB, though I hadn't volunteered!
The reason they were selected to go to CRB was because they had the floatation gear on the tail booms."

 

Flightline Tan Son Nhut AB  August 1965 - 91541 in front - photo by Mr. Bruce Ware

Flightline Tan Son Nhut AB  August 1965 - 91541 - 81859 - 24515  - photo by Mr. Bruce Ware

Flightline Tan Son Nhut AB  August 1965 - 24515 - photo by Mr. Bruce Ware

Captain Bruce Ware and  HH-43B "1541" -  Tan Son Nhut AB  August 1965 -- photo collection Mr. Bruce Ware

Tan Son Nhut AB, August 1965 - aircraft 58-1859  -copilot setting up the scramble checklist - photo by Bruce Ware

This picture shows the conexes which were "our  maintenance" facility at TSN! - photos by Bruce Ware, Aug 1965

 

THE BEGINNING  - 1965

In the beginning the LBR unit was not organized as a Detachment. Because of the fact that Headquaters 38th ARS was established at Tan Son Nhut AB as of July 1st , 1965 the Huskies which arrived in August 1965 were at first assigned to the 38th ARS as a LBR-flight. The LBR-flight (without DET number) existed until at least January 1968.

On 18 August 1965 the first HH-43B helicopter alert mission was flown from Tan Son Nhut AB and on 16 October 1965 the 38th ARS-flight  began functioning as a unit with the LBR helicopters. (source : AFHRA document  K318.204-6)

 

HH-43B  58-1859     Tan Son Nhut AB , RVN    August 1965      -   USAF photo

HH-43B  59-1541     Tan Son Nhut AB , RVN    August 1965      -   USAF photo

HH-43B  62-4515     Tan Son Nhut AB , RVN    August 1965      -   USAF photo

 

THE FOLLOWING YEARS  - 1966 -1972

Due the reorganization, effective  08 January 1966 and until at least January 1968 the un-numbered  LBR flight continued to operate from Tan Son Nhut AB as an element of 38th ARRS with different aircraft.
An Air Force document , dated  08 January 1968 , for the first time referred to Detachment 14 as the LBR unit assigned to Tan Son Nhut AB.

PARRC , 3 ARRG , 38 ARRS , LBR flight           08 JAN 1966   until   at least JAN 1968 
PARRC , 3 ARRG , 38 ARRS , DET.14                JAN 1968  until  08 FEB 1969  
41 ARRW , 3 ARRG , 38 ARRS , DET.14           08 FEB 1969 until  01 JUL 1971 
41 ARRW, 3 ARRG , DET.14                               01 JUL 1971  until reassignment to 40 ARRS on 15 SEP 1972 (no DET. number given)

 

last update : 16/09/2007