Age at Loss: 25 yrs. old
On September 20, 1965 at 2:29 p.m., two helicopters assigned to Detachment #1, of the 38th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron based at Nakhon Phanom Air Base,
Thailand were scrambled to pick up a downed F-105 pilot. The pilot was located approximately 35 kilometers southwest of Ha Tinh and 20 kilometers east of the Lao/Vietnam border in the North Vietnamese province of Nghe Tinh.
The weather was inclement, and the visibility was poor. The downed pilot was located in a small bowl-shaped canyon approximately 800 ft. in depth. The canyon was completely enclosed by steep slopes.
The width at the top of the canyon varied from approximately 200 to 500 yds. At the southeast end of the canyon was a narrow gap. Using the downed F-105 Pilot as bait, the canyon was a perfect place to trap a helicopter rescue crew. Evidently, this is exactly what the North Vietnamese and
Laotians did.
At approximately 5 miles from the scene of the
downed pilot one helicopter, Call Sign Duchy 22, took the position of "high bird" and initiated a holding pattern. The second helicopter, Call Sign Duchy 41, took the position as "low bird", the lead aircraft. Duchy 41 proceeded to the downed pilot's
location under the direction of the A1E fighter aircraft which was already on station.
Duchy 41 located the pilot of the F-105 and came to a hover approximately 100 ft. above his location. The
helicopter began receiving ground fire from two sides of the canyon and was observed to settle to the ground by the A-1E pilot. The A1E pilot immediately called a "May Day" announcing that Duchy 41 had crashed.
Duchy 22 immediately began its response to its
crashed sister bird under the direction of the A1E pilot and arrived on the scene in approximately 5 minutes. Duchy 22 started its descent to attempt to pick up any survivors from the crashed helicopter.
The Pararescuemen (PJ) dropped the auxiliary fuel tank from the rear of Duchy 22. As he watched the trajectory of the tank to the ground, he spotted the wreckage of the helicopter. He observed that the
helicopter had dropped into a small clearing on an incline and was held upright by the trees and undergrowth. The only major damage that he noted was that the rotor blades had been sheared from the hubs and that the hubs were still turning. The PJ began to direct the pilot into a hover over the wreckage.
At an altitude of approximately 50 ft. the PJ observed extensive ground fire in the area of the wreckage. The ground fire was very intense. Duchy 22 was struck numerous times on the right side by the ground fire, damaged, and forced to abort the rescue attempt. As the pilot of Duchy 22 initiated his climb from the hover position, a pen flare passed in front of the helicopter.
Due to the dense foliage, no survivors or casualties were observed by the crew of Duchy 22 nor did they see any of the enemy who was firing upon them.
Although damaged, Duchy 22 did return to its home base.
An electronic search was made for the remainder of the day and again at first light the next morning with negative results. (Crash Site
Map)
The pilot in command of Duchy 22 felt that there was a strong possibility that at least some of the men survived the crash. However, because of the terrain in the area of the crash site, and the A1E pilot's observation of enemy trucks and ground troops in the area, he did not have high hopes for the crews success at evading capture. This concern was later proved valid when Radio Hanoi announced that "September saw the first US helicopter downed in
North Vietnam and the capture of its entire crew.
The members of the crew of Duchy 41 were:
Captain Thomas F. Curtis, Pilot
Captain Duane W. Martin, Co-Pilot
Airman Third Class Arthur N. Black,
Pararescueman
Airman First Class William A. Robinson, Flight Mechanic.
Captain Curtis, Airman Black, Airman Robinson, and Captain Willis Ellis Forby the F-105 pilot
were captured by the North Vietnamese and returned to the United States in 1973. Captain Martin evaded immediate capture in North Vietnam and made his way into Laos where he was subsequently captured by the Pathet Lao and
imprisoned.
If you have any additional information
regarding Duane or this incident, please contact me. 
