02-05-2022, 08:24 AM
Sky's first reaction was to marvel at the burrowing ability of Yellow 2s AC and then as the first shrapnel, dirt. And dust pinged 915 Sky asked himself, “Did I shut this thing down yet”?
As Sky was trying to figure out if 915 was still running the Yellow 2 slick took off straight up with the FNG new guy at the controls and transmitting, “Mayday Mayday Mayday” on UHF 243.0 guard frequency.
Not only had the FNG left his aircraft commander on the ground chewing a fox hole with his teeth but his uncoordinated lift off had almost made his tail boom contact 915s rotor blades as there had been less than 3 feet of clearance at most between the two birds spinning/turning parts..
As more mortar rounds landed Sky finally figured out 915 was still running even though she was at idle. He started rolling on the throttle without over temping the engine and was starting to get enough rotor RPM to get 915 up on the toe of her skids. Now that there was possibly enough room he would try to make a running take off from LZ Bronco.
As the burrowing AC of Yellow 2 saw his FNG depart with “HIS” aircraft and Yellow three starting to build up a head of steam and noise for lift off a voice in his head evidently told him to get up and catch a ride with 915 as the KRUMP of impacting mortar rounds spurred him on to a burst of speed an Olympic athlete would have been proud of. He had sprang from the dirt and dove into 915s cargo hole. Sky did not see him and the first indication of Yellow 2s AC was on board was a loud Thump Sky could hear through his tight fitting helmet. He turned his head in time to see the warrant officer holding his side and struggling to get to the cockpit area as 915 clawed for air. About this time Yellow 2s FNG was on the radio hollering about being a New Guy who was airborne but did not know which way to go. He went on and on about how LZ Bronco was getting mortared and how he would circle at altitude Etc. Etc. “ Mayday, Mayday, Mayday”!
The now displaced Yellow 2 aircraft commander finally made it between Sky and Bobby Bad Back and pointed while saying, “Follow that aircraft”!
Sky smiled and nodded while he keyed his mike trigger to tell the FNG to relax and get off the radio. “Just follow us to Bu Dop....Ahhh not to close New Guy.... STAY BACK”!
When yellow 2s AC had jumped into 915's cargo hole the aircraft was probably already do 5 to 10 knots across the ground while trying to achieve translational lift. 2's AC made the opening to the cargo hole but was slammed into the aft bench seat leg rest. As Sky looked at this poor dirty Warrant Officer Sky knew this AC was madder than most people could imagine by some of the comments he was making about his FNG right seater. Sky just smiled with his eyes under the dark visor of his helmet as he thought “ I would not want to be Killer Spades' Yellow 2s FNG when we get to Bu Dop”.
The flight to Bu Dop was uneventful so after refueling and shutting down 915 and waiting for the rotor blade to coast to a stop Sky exited the aircraft. He, Bobby, The Door Gunner and Crew Chief all did a very intense and complete walk around inspection of 915. All they found were 4 small holes midway up the vertical fin which supports the tail rotor and its' drive shaft. 915 was still good to go.
There seemed to be some sort of commotion down the flight line where the lift birds had parked and in the general vicinity of the now parked former Yellow 2 bird. From Sky's vantage point it looked like a couple of Warrant Officers were holding Yellow 2s Aircraft Commander's arms behind him as he jumped, kicked, and jerked trying to get his hands on his new guy FNG right seater who had left him at LZ Bronco. Sky realized at this distance if gunfire broke out he would just duck behind 915 and wait “whatever” out.
This had been a weird day from the start. That morning in the hot darkness of his mosquito net covered cot Sky had been awakened by his platoon leader and assigned his “task” for the day. He was to continue getting Bobby Bad Back ready for Aircraft commander by letting him fly left seat when circumstances permitted. Sky's mission today would start with him joining up with a Killer Spade flight leader at Bu Dop before 08:00 and forming a lift company to pull the remaining troops out of Cambodia .
Sky realized as soon as he was told that “lead” would be a Killer Spade instead of his own companies lift birds evidently the great planners of this days endeavors expected the flight to be in some serious Sh!t. Ever since Bravo Company (call sign “CHICKEN MAN”) got their butts blown away in the first two weeks of Cambodia the planners decided to take two or three birds from each company to make up a flight of lift birds. This arrangement was usually only done when there was expected to be enemy action and the possibility some of the slicks getting shot down. Some days, if only for one mission, a large flight of slicks would be led by a different company. The lead ship might be a Killer Spade (Alpha Company), Bravo Company (Chicken Man) or Charley Company (Ghost Riders). Delta company was exclusively our gun ship company that went with us into harms way when we might need covering fire by our gunships.
Before Bravo company's decimation (and another little engagement that got Charley Company at an LZ that became known as Shakey's Hill ) each company usually flew together with their own people. All the Aircraft Commanders and New guys lived together in the same one or two sand bagged living areas. Because they lived and fought together they could more or less read each others thoughts and were one hell of a tight knit fighting force. Weaklings never led a flight much less became an Aircraft commander.
After his morning brief and wake up call Sky was dressed and walking in the darkness to the revetment that protected his ride for today who would be Aircraft 915. His thoughts were more on possibly deflating Bobby Bad Back's ego that what mission they would be flying today. Sky knew how the Killer Spade boys ran their flights; usually down wind seemed to be a normal approach procedure for them. The way they did things were a function of staying alive in Ta Nin province which was their normal area of operation (AO).
It was almost a given if Killer Spade tried to work in Ghost Rider's AO they got their noses bloodied and how conversely the Ghost Riders from Phuc Vhin would suffer the same while working in the Killer Spades A.O..
Each company had suffered minimal losses since the first day of the Cambodian operations. Ghost Riders had lost two aircraft with crew as had Alpha company Killer Spades. The first Cav could always get the boys new aircraft replacements so a bird lost with no one hurt really didn't matter all that much as it might just turn into another good war story. However, death mattered for all the reasons it has mattered through out all of history . When an outfit like Bravo Company got mostly blown away and lost their old guy aircraft commanders it was a very hard time for them to rebuild an effective lift company without going out and crashing birds on a weekly basis.
As Sky was trying to figure out if 915 was still running the Yellow 2 slick took off straight up with the FNG new guy at the controls and transmitting, “Mayday Mayday Mayday” on UHF 243.0 guard frequency.
Not only had the FNG left his aircraft commander on the ground chewing a fox hole with his teeth but his uncoordinated lift off had almost made his tail boom contact 915s rotor blades as there had been less than 3 feet of clearance at most between the two birds spinning/turning parts..
As more mortar rounds landed Sky finally figured out 915 was still running even though she was at idle. He started rolling on the throttle without over temping the engine and was starting to get enough rotor RPM to get 915 up on the toe of her skids. Now that there was possibly enough room he would try to make a running take off from LZ Bronco.
As the burrowing AC of Yellow 2 saw his FNG depart with “HIS” aircraft and Yellow three starting to build up a head of steam and noise for lift off a voice in his head evidently told him to get up and catch a ride with 915 as the KRUMP of impacting mortar rounds spurred him on to a burst of speed an Olympic athlete would have been proud of. He had sprang from the dirt and dove into 915s cargo hole. Sky did not see him and the first indication of Yellow 2s AC was on board was a loud Thump Sky could hear through his tight fitting helmet. He turned his head in time to see the warrant officer holding his side and struggling to get to the cockpit area as 915 clawed for air. About this time Yellow 2s FNG was on the radio hollering about being a New Guy who was airborne but did not know which way to go. He went on and on about how LZ Bronco was getting mortared and how he would circle at altitude Etc. Etc. “ Mayday, Mayday, Mayday”!
The now displaced Yellow 2 aircraft commander finally made it between Sky and Bobby Bad Back and pointed while saying, “Follow that aircraft”!
Sky smiled and nodded while he keyed his mike trigger to tell the FNG to relax and get off the radio. “Just follow us to Bu Dop....Ahhh not to close New Guy.... STAY BACK”!
When yellow 2s AC had jumped into 915's cargo hole the aircraft was probably already do 5 to 10 knots across the ground while trying to achieve translational lift. 2's AC made the opening to the cargo hole but was slammed into the aft bench seat leg rest. As Sky looked at this poor dirty Warrant Officer Sky knew this AC was madder than most people could imagine by some of the comments he was making about his FNG right seater. Sky just smiled with his eyes under the dark visor of his helmet as he thought “ I would not want to be Killer Spades' Yellow 2s FNG when we get to Bu Dop”.
The flight to Bu Dop was uneventful so after refueling and shutting down 915 and waiting for the rotor blade to coast to a stop Sky exited the aircraft. He, Bobby, The Door Gunner and Crew Chief all did a very intense and complete walk around inspection of 915. All they found were 4 small holes midway up the vertical fin which supports the tail rotor and its' drive shaft. 915 was still good to go.
There seemed to be some sort of commotion down the flight line where the lift birds had parked and in the general vicinity of the now parked former Yellow 2 bird. From Sky's vantage point it looked like a couple of Warrant Officers were holding Yellow 2s Aircraft Commander's arms behind him as he jumped, kicked, and jerked trying to get his hands on his new guy FNG right seater who had left him at LZ Bronco. Sky realized at this distance if gunfire broke out he would just duck behind 915 and wait “whatever” out.
This had been a weird day from the start. That morning in the hot darkness of his mosquito net covered cot Sky had been awakened by his platoon leader and assigned his “task” for the day. He was to continue getting Bobby Bad Back ready for Aircraft commander by letting him fly left seat when circumstances permitted. Sky's mission today would start with him joining up with a Killer Spade flight leader at Bu Dop before 08:00 and forming a lift company to pull the remaining troops out of Cambodia .
Sky realized as soon as he was told that “lead” would be a Killer Spade instead of his own companies lift birds evidently the great planners of this days endeavors expected the flight to be in some serious Sh!t. Ever since Bravo Company (call sign “CHICKEN MAN”) got their butts blown away in the first two weeks of Cambodia the planners decided to take two or three birds from each company to make up a flight of lift birds. This arrangement was usually only done when there was expected to be enemy action and the possibility some of the slicks getting shot down. Some days, if only for one mission, a large flight of slicks would be led by a different company. The lead ship might be a Killer Spade (Alpha Company), Bravo Company (Chicken Man) or Charley Company (Ghost Riders). Delta company was exclusively our gun ship company that went with us into harms way when we might need covering fire by our gunships.
Before Bravo company's decimation (and another little engagement that got Charley Company at an LZ that became known as Shakey's Hill ) each company usually flew together with their own people. All the Aircraft Commanders and New guys lived together in the same one or two sand bagged living areas. Because they lived and fought together they could more or less read each others thoughts and were one hell of a tight knit fighting force. Weaklings never led a flight much less became an Aircraft commander.
After his morning brief and wake up call Sky was dressed and walking in the darkness to the revetment that protected his ride for today who would be Aircraft 915. His thoughts were more on possibly deflating Bobby Bad Back's ego that what mission they would be flying today. Sky knew how the Killer Spade boys ran their flights; usually down wind seemed to be a normal approach procedure for them. The way they did things were a function of staying alive in Ta Nin province which was their normal area of operation (AO).
It was almost a given if Killer Spade tried to work in Ghost Rider's AO they got their noses bloodied and how conversely the Ghost Riders from Phuc Vhin would suffer the same while working in the Killer Spades A.O..
Each company had suffered minimal losses since the first day of the Cambodian operations. Ghost Riders had lost two aircraft with crew as had Alpha company Killer Spades. The first Cav could always get the boys new aircraft replacements so a bird lost with no one hurt really didn't matter all that much as it might just turn into another good war story. However, death mattered for all the reasons it has mattered through out all of history . When an outfit like Bravo Company got mostly blown away and lost their old guy aircraft commanders it was a very hard time for them to rebuild an effective lift company without going out and crashing birds on a weekly basis.