The Shootdown of Helicopter 66-19126

The Army purchased this helicopter 0767
Total flight hours at this point: 00000303
Date: 05/08/1968
Unit: 271 ASHC
This was a Combat incident. This helicopter was LOSS TO INVENTORY
This was a Logistics Support mission for Resupply , Sling Loading.
Unknown this helicopter was Landing at 1100 feet and 070 knots.
South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: WS731054
Small Arms/Automatic Weapons; Gun launched non-explosive ballistic projectiles less than 20 mm in size. (7.62MM)
The helicopter was hit in the Tail Section causing a Fire.
Systems damaged were: OIL SYS, HYDRAULIC SYS
The helicopter made a Forced Landing. Aircraft Destroyed.
Both mission and flight capability were terminated.
Burned
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Survivability/Vulnerability Information Analysis Center Helicopter database. Also: OPERA, JSIDR, CRAFX, MISC (Operations Report. Miscellaneous. Joint Services Incident Damage Report. Crash Facts Message. )
Loss to Inventory

Crew Members:
AC 1LT THOMPSON
P CW2 NEUHARTH
FE SP5 MCBEE JERRY
CE SP5 MARKELL DAN
G SP4 EDWARDS

War Story:
Hit at 1100 feet on approach 10 miles SW of Can Tho while carrying 10,000 pound sling load and crew of five. Lost utility hydraulic pressure and partial loss of number one and number two boost. Number engine and aft pylon were on fire. Landed and crew exited. Aircraft was consumed by fire. ol' Mother Goose, as my FE SP5 Jerry McBee, and me SP5 Dan Markell used to call her before her untimely demise. She was the first B model in the Delta, and the first to be shot down! Lt. Thompson and CW2 Neuharth, with gunner, Sp4 Edwards were the crew on that day. Jerry and I were also the crew for tail no. 482. I see she had a lot of hours. Jerry said he saw her in Panama. Dan Markell, September 2000

On May 8, 1968 I was a crew chief on Ch47 tail no. 126, Mother Goose. We were doing resupply, slingloading PSP sheets. We were probablyl 20-30 klicks from our base at Can Tho, Mekong Delta when we started taking on light machine gun fire. I can say machine gun fire since I noticed many holes appearing rapidly in our floor and then piercing the overhead. The rounds we took in the aft transmission caused a fire which rapidly spread. At the time we were hit we were probably at 800-1000 ft. Our pilots had no choice but to find a place to land immediately. For whatever reason, our PSP slingload never got jettisoned, making a running landing by a river clearing a bit rough but we all survived it. The five crewmembers wasted no time exiting the aircraft. We were pretty much lightly armed, two .45 cal. pistols and probably a few hunting knives, not a real threatening presence! From a distance we observed the aircraft, with blades still turning, burn to the ground. I never did look at the time when we were on the ground, but it probably was no more than 25-30 min. before the most odd looking, but really beautiful Air Force rescue chopper set down and had us headed back to our flight line.

January 29, 2007 - Webmaster's Note: Dan Markell is looking for the HH-43 that assisted them after they were shot down. If you have any information on the members of the HH-43 crew. Please contact me.

January 30, 2007 - Webmaster's Note: The crew for this pickup has been located. It was Tom Precious and Albert Tolefsen - Pilots, Ed Cartwright and Jim Spickler - Firefighters, Lonnie Carter - PJ.

Information on U.S. Army Helicopter CH-47B Tail Number 66-19126