ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED 31 OCTOBER 1966

RIPPLE SALVO… #243… EXPANDED COVERAGE by RTR of American helicopter ops in Vietnam… but first…

Good Morning: Day TWO HUNDRED FORTY-THREE of remembering events from fifty years ago both at home and over Vietnam…

31 OCTOBER 1966… HOME TOWN HEADLINES from the New York Times… On a fair but bit warmer Dark Monday on Broadway…

Page 1: “President Flies To South Korea”…”President Johnson arrived in south Korea today for the last scheduled stop on his seven nation Pacific tour after paying a brief but warm tribute to Malaysia during a brief stop in Kuala Lumpur and giving a brief blunt warning to Communist China….In his first direct comment on the latest Chinese nuclear test he reasserted the promise of support for any non-nuclear nation subjected to threat of nuclear blackmail. China’s pursuit of a nuclear arsenal, he said, not only makes arms control vastly more difficult, it also invites danger to China itself. The President added: ‘For the leaders of China must realize that any nuclear capability they can develop–can–and will–be deterred.’…”…Page 3: “Johnson Given Huge Welcome In Bedecked Seoul”…”President Johnson was welcomed to south Korea today with a huge demonstration of good will toward the United States. Throngs of citizens had gathered on the streets of the capital city and along the 14-mile road to Kimpo Airport hours before Mr. Johnson’s special blue and white plane touched down in mid-afternoon.”……Page 2: “Anti-U.S. Riots And Fatal Shooting Mar Johnson Malaysia Visit”…”Anti-American  riots broke out here (Kuala Lumpur) and in three other Malaysian cities today. The man fatally shot during the President’s 22-hour visit was a 21 year old Chinese demonstrator. He was killed in a battle with police. The dead man was a part of a group officially reported to number 500 that carried signs and placards protesting American involvement in Vietnam.”…

Page 1: “20 Right Wingers Arrested In State In Weapons Plot”…”About 20 men and tons of weapons were seized yesterday to break up what the police called a conspiracy by right wing extremists to ‘devastate’ three privately owned camps in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. In a series of raids that began in Queens shortly before dawn and was still spreading across the state late in the day, the police seized arsenals that included mortars, bazookas, machine guns, semi-automatic weapons, homemade bombs, more than a million rounds of ammunition, machetes, cross-bows and garroting nooses. According to District Attorney Nate Hentel of Queens the prisoners were members of the Minutemen, a right wing group that believes a Communist uprising or invasion is imminent. The weapons…belonged to bands of Minutemen. Mr. Hentel refused to identify the camps, but he did say the Minutemen were dedicated to ‘destroying and demolishing Communist left-wing and liberal installations.” This is the biggest haul of weapons and death dealing material seized in the area in the memory of a veteran law enforcement officer who said, ‘We have effectively broken up the secret organization in this area and have removed literally tons of death inflicting weapons, ending the possibility of the loss of life.’…”…

Page 2: “Harriman says That Hanoi Cannot Gain Its Objective”…”President Johnson’s roving Ambassador Averell Harriman said today that it was impossible for North Vietnam to gain its objectives militarily in Vietnam. Mr. Harriman was in Ceylon (Colombo) to brief Ceylonese officials on the Manila Conference, and said at a news conference that any impression that the United States would tire of the war was entirely false. ‘I can assure you that the entire people of the Unite States are supporting the President in the war and it is tragic if the fighting continues. If any power in Asia wants to extend its power, that threat must be faced.’…”… Page 1: “Sonic Boom To Limit Speed Of Superjets Across U.S.”…”America’s supersonic airlines has for all practical purposes become an over-water airplane. Sonic booms will limit its speed over land to that of present jets unless some unexpected technical breakthrough is made or the best boom theories available now prove to have been pessimistic.”…

31 OCTOBER 1966… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…NYT (1 Nov reporting 31 Oct ops)…Page 7: “United States Air Force Phantom jets encountered heavy ground fire when they rained 500-pound bombs on an anti-aircraft site south of Dong Hoi and 35 miles north of the DMZ. United States Navy Intruders and Skyhawk jets flew through heavy cloud and rain to bomb installations near the ports of Haiphong and Thanh Hoa. Vietcong guerrillas shot down a United States transport 23 miles southwest of Saigon. The three man crew was rescued by helicopter.”… “Vietnam: Air Losses”(Hobson) Two fixed wing aircraft downed in Southeast Asia on 31 October 1966…

(1) CAPTAIN P.G. KNIGHT and A1C R.E. HEMVREE were flying an O-1E Bird Dog of the 19th TASS and 505th TASW out of Bien Hoa and a strip near the Cambodian border and were taking off from the forward strip when hit by intense automatic weapon fire in the port wing. They were rescued from the resultant crash with minor injuries…

(2) CAPTAIN THOMAS E DAVIE, CAPTAIN JOSEPH E. DOUGHERTY and SSGT ELIJAH R. WINSTEAD were flying a UC-123B Ranch Hand Provider of the 12th ACS and 315th ACW on a defoliation mission about 25 miles southwest of Saigon and hit by enemy automatic fire that wiped out the port engine. The pilot was unable to feather the engine and subsequently crashed in the jungle. Minutes later all three crewmen were rescued by two HH-43s. All suffered minor injuries and for SSGT WINSTEAD, this was his second survived UC-123 crash in five months…   oohrah…

RIPPLE SALVO… #243… RTR for 30 October included a very brief reference to the loss of three helicopters in SVN on October 29. Your Humble Host got a short bleep from a dear friend and former Air Force Lifesaver, who happened to be flying one of the helicopters that was on scene to rescue the crews of the downed ‘choppers and their passengers, that I want to make a part of the RTR record…From Fred Bergold: “Bear, of those losses in the Central Highland two of the helicopters were from my unit, our only two. First mission was to pick up seven wounded troops about a mile from the Cambodian border. The first helicopter went in and had picked up four of the wounded and I was on final to get the next three when the lead decided to add a fifth, so I pulled off, and as I, did he was hit by an RPG. I got hit the next afternoon but made it to a forward artillery site.”

Thanks, Fred… for the shortest version of a war story I ever read… Lunch on the 9th so I can pump you for “the rest of the story.”…[and a Post Election commiserate (?)]

In the process of looking for more on this incident I decided to expand my current coverage of “the air war in Vietnam,” Operation Rolling Thunder, to include more of the ops in the RVN, especially helicopter ops. Why the helos?… Here’s why… From a pair of credible internet sources: “Approximately 40,000 U.S. helicopters pilots flew in the Vietnam War. Approximately 2,202 pilots were killed, along with 2,704 crewmen. For those with their hands on the joystick that means 5.5% never made it back (from a full tour). Considering that the average pilot flew 4 times a week, he could expect that during his tour in Vietnam he was flying up against the Grim Reaper on 11.4 of his flights…” That sent me to the VHPA (Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association) summary of “Helicopter Losses During the Vietnam War.”… as compiled by Gary Roush.  Good information in the aggregate, but not much detail, just numbers and nameless… But numbers that make it clear flying in “low level hell” over Southeast Asia was hazardous for your health…

A few of those numbers…

(1) About 12,000 helicopters went to war– all services total… about 5,100 were destroyed…

(2) Total helicopter pilots killed in Vietnam= 2,202…Total crewmen=2,704…

(3) UH-1 Hueys:  7,013 served and 3,305 were destroyed and 1,074 pilots and 1,103 crewmen were Killed in Action…

Future RTR posts will include every bit of helicopter action my expanded research uncovers. Meanwhile, the website is wide open for the storytellers of the gallant rotary wing community that flew “low over hell” to sound off… Please, be my guest…

Lest we forget…        Bear               ……….  –30–  ……….