Photos et vidéos / vol au dessus d'un nid de cocos

Passionnant travail de recherche !

Vidéo que m'a envoyé Joe Bowen (pour rappel, il était pilote de Cobra)



Légende du mail:

I took the video on the Scout mission.  
Our mission was to find NVA, kill NVA - with our own weapons or call in artillery or air strikes.  
Our organic Cobras were down for maintenance and that was why were flying two scouts together.  
We tracked the NVA to a hootch (building) and used white phosphorous  grenades to try and get then out of their bunker in the hootch.

Légende sur youtube:
This mission took place in March 1969 northeast of Saigon comprising two OH-6A Light Observation Helicopters (LOH) from B Troop, 1st Squadron 9th Cavalry, 1st cavalry Division.
We were tracking 5 enemy North Vietnamese soldiers and engaged them with machine guns and white phosphorous grenades to get them to come out of the abandoned hooch's.  
Of the six crew members flying the mission only one survived the war (Joe Bowen).
Saber White 14, Art Murray was shot down and killed on 15 May 1969 flying OH-6A 67-16657.  His name is on the Wall at panel 24W-018.  Art was the Pilot flying the OH-6A as our wingman this day.
Saber White 11, Bruce Churan was the pilot flying the aircraft that was making the movies.  Bruce was killed on 30 August 1969 during a mortar attack after he had beaten the odds flying as a Scout pilot.  Bruce's name is on the Wall at panel 18W-010.
The video below was made using a Super 8mm Movie Camera.  Sound was added after for background effect.

Bonjour,
depuis quelques mois je suis en contact avec un ancien Apache, Glen Senkowski, suite à un concours de circonstance sur ebay.
Un jour alors que je recherchais des diapos de Huey, je suis tombe par hasard sur des photos de lui que je connaissais via mes recherches sur la Apache Troop, il s’avérait qu'il vendait lui même ses propres souvenirs car ses enfants et petits enfants ne s’intéressent pas à son parcours au Vietnam, il a décidé donc de vendre tous ses souvenirs.
C'est souvent la bataille pour choper ses diapos (je suis tout le temps confronte à un ancien pilote d'helico du vietnam qui semble avoir un porte feuilles très bien garnit) mais je m'en sorts pas trop mal.
Glen était le pilote de Art Dockter lors qu'il était sur Apache 35. Auparavant Glen était sur Apache 22, Suzie Creamcheese, un gunship alors que Art était sur Apache 34.
Tous les deux ont fait un tour et demi.
Vu qu'il a encore une bonne mémoire il m'a légendé toutes les diapositives de Art (il était avec lui quand les photos ont été prises) et a pu m'apporter enormement d'infos sur leur unité.
Tout ce que je lui achète reste chez lui le temps qu'il ait tout mis en vente mais je peux déjà vous présenter les diapositives que je lui est acheté ces dernières semaines. J'ai mis les légendes et le titre qu'il leur a donne.
Il y en aura d'autres.
Bon visionnage.

Rearm UH-1B Gunship SUZIE Creamcheese at Tay Ninh, 1969
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Rearm of Huey Gunship at Apache Pad, Tay Ninh West in June 1969. Suzie was the last operational B-Model gunship of A 1/9 Cav and was turned into the maintenance hack in October.
Suzie was named and painted by SSGT Christopher "Kippy" Gray, the crew chief. Kippy was killed in action on December 21, 1969 while I was on leave.
-> Pour info, ma diapositive qui me sert d'Avatar est le dessous de Suzie Creamcheese et Glen m'a confirme que le nom du Huey vient d'une chanson de Franck Zappa.
Ci joint deux photos de Kippy.
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Apache 6 UH-1C Gunship at Tay Ninh, late 1969
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Brand new Charlie model gunship - note 540 rotor head. Apache 6, our CO, was selfish: I was the last gunship aircraft commander in the Troop, but I never got to fly it! Nui Ba Den in the background.
UH-1B Mighty Gun Bird Leaves Apache Pad, 1969
-> Pour info, Apache 6, c’était le commandant de la A Troop Paul Funk (à croire qu'ils ont pris Robert Duvall pour coller au physique de Paul Funk).

UH-1B 952, "Mighty Gun Bird," minus its pods gets ready for a maintenance run to Cu Chi.
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Taking Off from Apache Pad Past Crashed LOH, 1969
               
Taking off to the south at Apache Pad in 1969.
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The LOH that Harrell Mefford died in is still sitting next to the runway.
-> Pour info, Harrell est mort suite à un accident tout con, il a glisse sur l'Apache Pad, au lieu d'attendre que les pales de l'helico s'arrêtent, il est sorti et s'est pris une palle dans le ventre, il est mort d'une hémorragie interne.

Apache Blues M60 Gunner Loading Up, 1970
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Taken at Apache Pad 1970 - Apache Blues load up for another patrol.
-> Pour info, il a un peace and love sur son casque.

Hootch Decorations at A 1/9 Cav Headhunters, 1969
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This was one end of the Headhunter Lift Aircraft Commanders' hootch, occupied by myself, (35) Mike Adkinson (34) and John Allan (32, "Tuna.") I painted all the signs and my nickname was Apache Cougar. We had a new Lift Platoon leader, and I welcomed him by painting the turtle with Captain's bars humping a Warrant Officer's helmet. The senior officers tended to ignore all but the worst of the abuse - what were they going to do: send us to Viet Nam?

Apache-Troop Scout Hootch, , 1969
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This is the hootch where Apache 13 lived, along with some others. To the left is the northwest "Green Line" of Tay Ninh West. Way off to the right you can see the tower for the main runway. All of the wooden rocket shipping boxes are filled with sand to provide protection from incoming mortars and rockets, which arrived weekly and sometimes daily.

UH-1 Low Level Into Hotel 6 Saigon, 1969
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One of the more fun chores was flying people into Saigon and Bien Hoa. You didn't have to talk to the towers if you came in under the traffic pattern, which was our preferred way to fly anyhow. During the growing season I would drag the belly of the aircraft through the rice to clean it off. My crew chief liked that a lot: the farmers, not so much. Just another américain Air Pirate! The crew chief and door gunner sat in the forward cabin during these trips to stay out of the wind.

Low Level on the Song Am Co Dong River, 1969
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Flying the river low level south of Tay Ninh. They would pull sampans up under the overhangs and then form bridges across the river at night to pass supplies brought in from Cambodia. Rules of engagement were strict on the river, and both sides knew very well what they could, and couldn't get away with. We had to provoke the VC to fire first and it was damn near impossible. In fact, I never even saw anyone with a weapon working on the river.

A 1/9 Cav Apache Troop Awards Ceremony, 1969
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I am fourth in line. It was easy to tell who was scheduled to get a decoration: just look at the boots!

Apache Troop Blues Lagering, 1969
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We started losing more scout aircraft in the second half of 1969 and it was taking too long to get the Blues on station from Tay Ninh when somebody got shot down. It was therefore decided to lager the Blues at firebases closer to where the Pink Teams were working. We all hated lagering - no smiling faces in that crowd! This may be LZ Ike, which was centrally located in our AO.

Bomb Craters Between Nui Ba Den and the Fish Hook, 1969
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This was one of the more hotly contested areas in III Corps, running up between Nui Ba Den and the Razorbacks. This looks like the results of several B-52 strikes, called "Arc Light's." If you saw one at night, you would know how they got that nickname. During the daytime, they looked like "Arc Steam's."

Air Strike Near the Fish Hook, 1969
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Nui Ba Den from the Northeast. This was the most dangerous area in III Corps and the question usually wasn't if you were going to take any fire, but how much and how accurate.
Judging by the smoke, this was probably a strike with 750lb GP bombs by F-4 Phantoms. Target was probably fortified bunkers. Note that the streaks in the photo are the reinforcing webs reflected off the instrument panel shroud.

USAF FAC Rash 11A OV-10 Shoot Down Near Fish Hook, 1969
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The crash site of OV-10 "Rash 11A" is near the center of picture, just above the stream. It is the rectangular bare patch and the bright objects are pieces of aircraft. It was most likely shot down by a DsHK .50 anti-aircraft gun the 16 November 1969. Apache Cobras either killed or chased off the gun crew and Apache 34 in a UH-1 went down and snagged the gun with a grappling hook. We inserted the Blues, who recovered the body of the Rash pilot.
Pour info, se rapporter au sujet plus haut concernant la mort du pilote d'OV-10 "Rash 11A"

Headhunters Flying Around East Side of Nui Ba Den, 1969
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Headhunters returning empty after inserting the Apache Blues to Tay Ninh around the east side of Nui Ba Den. That was usually the long way, so had probably been working up around the Fishhook region.

Headhunters Enroute to FSB Carolyn, 1969
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Nui Ba Den from the Northeast. This was the most dangerous area in III Corps and the question usually wasn't if you were going to take any fire, but how much and how accurate.
We have just dropped off the Blues and flying to FSB Carolyn to lager. Carolyn is the round tan patch under the Hueys. We generally flew strung out as shown, because poorly trained antiaircraft gunners would aim at the lead ship and wind up hit the second or third. As for well-trained gunners, it didn't matter is you were 50 feet or 50 miles apart. We would stay at altitude until right over the firebase, then chop the throttle and spiral down. That reduced our exposure to enemy around the firebase.

Nui Ba Den and Razorbacks - Late Summer 1969
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Transporting the Apache Blues to drop in for morning coffee with the NVA. Nui Ba Den in the foreground with Razorbacks behind. The area in between is now under water.

Co H 75th Ranger Bn LRRP Team Pickup, 1969
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LRRP team pickup in a cold PZ. Those were the best kind!

Long Final to 9th Cav Blues Insertion, 1969
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Inserting the Blues between the Razorbacks and Niu Ba Den, late summer 1969. Smoke is from artillery prep - white phosphorus rounds were fired at the end to indicate the shelling was over.

Missed LZ, A Trp 1st Sqdn 9th Cav, 1969
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We briefly had a Lift Platoon leader who was not competent to fly and even less competent to lead. This is one from a series of slides of what I believe was his last attempt to lead a Blues insertion. He wound up flying us through our Cobra prep, missing the LZ (Landing Zone) by about 1/2 a Klik, and dropping the Blues into solid 10' elephant grass. I lost the most incredible slide I think I ever took in Vietnam, which was part of this series. However, I did find an original print from the slide that is in pretty sorry shape, which will be listed as part this set. It is the only print I had made. What you see on the print is a lift of Blues being flown through their own Cobra prep: the gray puffs underneath the aircraft are exploding 40 mm HE rounds being fired by the Cobra turret! Once on the ground, the Pink team managed to get all the Blues rounded up and led them to a clear area for extraction. I doubt they could see 2' in front of themselves the whole time.

Headunter Chalk 3 Flying Out of Position, 1969
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Going somewhere to do something. The streaks on the slide are reflections off the instrument panel shroud.

Headhunters on a Mystery Tour, 1970
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I THOUGHT this was flying up Highway 13 Loc Ninh during the Cambodian incursion, but the slide is dated two months before we went into Cambodia. In that case, I have no idea where we were going or what we planned to do when we got there, but since Hwy 13 was the only improved road that cut across our AO from Tay Ninh to Loc Ninh, it's a safe bet that I have the highway right

Sunrise Over Nui Ba Den and the Flightline
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One of very few artsy-fartsy pictures I took. Eat your heart out, Ansel Adams.

Close Air Support, 1969
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A nice study in Close Air Support provided by USAF F-4 Phantoms. The way it worked was the US troops would mark their location (in this case with a red smoke) and give the heading and distance to the target area to the Forward Air Controller (in our area, OV-10 "Rash" aircraft.) The FAC would then mark the target with a white phosphorus rocket, and the F-4s would roll in based on that mark and the friendlies' location. Then we would come in and perform a bomb damage assessment, and it would all start over again. The gray smoke is left from a previous bomb run.

pour ceux que ça intéresse, ici l'interview de Glen Senkowski (et d'autres apaches) par contre c'est en VO.
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je viens de me rendre compte que je n'ai pas mis de photos d'une vue d'ensemble de la Apache Pad.
C'est la bande de bitume perdue dans l’immensité de la base de Tay Ninh.
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Très sympa tout ça !

KVK a écrit:

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This was my personal defense kit: underfold Russian AK47 and a pair of Chinese RKG-3 shaped charge grenades.

Très beau post, et cette dernière photo est géniale.
Folding stock AK, pas franchement courant.

Sneeden a écrit:

KVK a écrit:

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This was my personal defense kit: underfold Russian AK47 and a pair of Chinese RKG-3 shaped charge grenades.

Très beau post, et cette dernière photo est géniale.
Folding stock AK, pas franchement courant.

j'ai pas mis toute la legende de la photo, il avait aussi ajouter ça
About a month later I switched to an RPD loaded with AP and API rounds. It turned out to be a sweet little truck killer.

KVK a écrit:About a month later I switched to an RPD loaded with AP and API rounds. It turned out to be a sweet little truck killer.

un pilote qui utilise un RPD en arme de bord ?
énorme

deux nouvelles qui viennent compléter mon lot.

Encore merci pour le partage.