TDY to Tan Son Nhut Air Base
While assigned to the 33rd ARRS at Kadena Air Base Okinawa I had the opportunity to go TDY to Tan Son Nhut Air Base at Saigon SVN.
There were eight HH-3Es there to provide Air Rescue and Recovery Support for southern Viet Nam. Four HH-3Es from Clark Air Base, two from Kadena, and two from Osan. Darrell Baldwin and myself were tasked to travel to Tan Son Nhut to provide maintenance support for the HH-3Es and allow some of first group to return to Kadena.
Darrell and I were on the night shift and became involved in a couple of heavy maintenance tasks of which were a Main Gear Box and a Main Landing Gear change. The gear change was one that neither of us had ever done before so it was a true learning experience. Darrell pretty much completed the gear change by himself.
Getting to the interesting part of the story, Darrell and I had returned to our quarters after closing down the flight line for the night. When we left there was one lone Security Police troop posted to keep an eye on the aircraft. He usually sat on a chair in front of the maintenance shack keeping an eye on the choppers.
Later that night we received a call to return to flight line, as the word was that there had been a possible sapper intrusion to our area and we were to check the aircraft.
Upon arriving at the aircraft, Darrell and I found the Security Police troop setting on his chair and he seemed to be in a trance of some sort. We also noticed a huge piece of debris laying on the ramp near the tail of one of the choppers.
Upon questioning the Security Police troop we were informed that he had been sitting quietly watching the aircraft when all of a sudden this huge piece of debris came over the top of the line shack. It landed on the ramp not more than 20 feet in front of him narrowly missing the tail of one of the helicopters.
Naturally this guy was scared to death as he figured an attack on the base was under way.
We determined the debris on the ramp was the roof off of a storage/latrine building behind the line shack. A C-130 was preparing for takeoff and when it lined up into the wind to do some pre takeoff checks the prop blast took the roof off.
Once we checked the entire area for possible damage to the helicopters and got the Security Police troop settled down, we returned to our quarters.
There obviously could have been significant damage to one of the helicopters had the debris hit the tail section. More importantly had the Security Police troop not been sitting next to the building he could well have been injured, possibly fatal.
Darrell and I remembered that night as "the night the wind blew the roof off of the old s--- house". This is my memory of another fun TDY with helicopters.
There is also a faint memory of returning to Kadena with a knot on my head as a result of "bailing out of a burning helicopter", which I recall happening at the NCO club. Rotorhead Chuck Bramhall was there and witnessed the event and was my alibi and he supported my story of how I received the knot on the head to the wife. Obviously the wife didn’t believe a word of it. What really happened is another story for another time, well maybe not. (Jim Moore)
There were eight HH-3Es there to provide Air Rescue and Recovery Support for southern Viet Nam. Four HH-3Es from Clark Air Base, two from Kadena, and two from Osan. Darrell Baldwin and myself were tasked to travel to Tan Son Nhut to provide maintenance support for the HH-3Es and allow some of first group to return to Kadena.
Darrell and I were on the night shift and became involved in a couple of heavy maintenance tasks of which were a Main Gear Box and a Main Landing Gear change. The gear change was one that neither of us had ever done before so it was a true learning experience. Darrell pretty much completed the gear change by himself.
Getting to the interesting part of the story, Darrell and I had returned to our quarters after closing down the flight line for the night. When we left there was one lone Security Police troop posted to keep an eye on the aircraft. He usually sat on a chair in front of the maintenance shack keeping an eye on the choppers.
Later that night we received a call to return to flight line, as the word was that there had been a possible sapper intrusion to our area and we were to check the aircraft.
Upon arriving at the aircraft, Darrell and I found the Security Police troop setting on his chair and he seemed to be in a trance of some sort. We also noticed a huge piece of debris laying on the ramp near the tail of one of the choppers.
Upon questioning the Security Police troop we were informed that he had been sitting quietly watching the aircraft when all of a sudden this huge piece of debris came over the top of the line shack. It landed on the ramp not more than 20 feet in front of him narrowly missing the tail of one of the helicopters.
Naturally this guy was scared to death as he figured an attack on the base was under way.
We determined the debris on the ramp was the roof off of a storage/latrine building behind the line shack. A C-130 was preparing for takeoff and when it lined up into the wind to do some pre takeoff checks the prop blast took the roof off.
Once we checked the entire area for possible damage to the helicopters and got the Security Police troop settled down, we returned to our quarters.
There obviously could have been significant damage to one of the helicopters had the debris hit the tail section. More importantly had the Security Police troop not been sitting next to the building he could well have been injured, possibly fatal.
Darrell and I remembered that night as "the night the wind blew the roof off of the old s--- house". This is my memory of another fun TDY with helicopters.
There is also a faint memory of returning to Kadena with a knot on my head as a result of "bailing out of a burning helicopter", which I recall happening at the NCO club. Rotorhead Chuck Bramhall was there and witnessed the event and was my alibi and he supported my story of how I received the knot on the head to the wife. Obviously the wife didn’t believe a word of it. What really happened is another story for another time, well maybe not. (Jim Moore)
posted by Jim Moore at 2:55 PM
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