The Aircraft

The Gunship section is now divided into Mini-guns, Frogs, Hogs, Super Hogs, and Other Gunship Pictures.
Please check each section for new material.

Mini-guns

UH-1M 66-00618- "The 1%" with chrome mini-guns. These are the very same ones that James Rodriguez had sent to Hawaii, chromed, and returned to Chu Lai. This picture of 618 was taken on a day when it was flying trail for UH-1M 66-00520. The team was returning from a combat mission where they had just scored three kills. That's what the crew chief Garry Roberts (who was known for his red hair, freckles, and blue eyes) is signaling to William "Jolly Wilson as he snapped this great photo. Picture contributed by Jolly Wilson. Here is Steve Kerchenfaut's recollection of how 618 came to be known as 1%. In the note to me, Steve refers to the crew member who named 618 the 1% " I AM NOT SURE WHO TOLD HIM BUT IT WAS A SOLDIER . IT WENT SOMETHING LIKE 100% OF YOU (HELICOPTER) PEOPLE ARE CRAZY BUT ONLY 1% ARE CRAZY ENOUGH TO TO FLY GUNS OR TO BE DOOR GUNNERS OR SOMETHING TO THAT EFFECT. HE THEN ADDED THE 1% UNDER THE SKULL AND CROSSBONES." This is the aircraft that is depicted in the Model Rectifier Corp. (MRC) 1/35th scale model helicopter. This 1971 picture taken and contributed by Jolly Wilson.

A closeup of the armament system with chrome mini-guns mounted on UH-1M 66-00618. Here is an excerpt of a explanatory note written by Jolly about the chrome guns and the 1% : "The way I remember it. Me and some of the guys were behind the armament shop right after Rodrigues had the mini guns mounted. It was said that Rodrigues sent two complete mini guns to his father chrome plating shop in Hawaii to be chromed. Our company commander at that time, who ever he was (I believe it was ......) spent his vacation in Hawaii and brought back the guns. These were the only chrome mini guns to have serviced in nam. I had thought that they were mounted at one time on 069 but I could be wrong. I do remember that on one of my off days while hanging a round the hanger, I read this posted letter. I don't remember word for word what it read, but do remember that it was saying that air crew members (crew chiefs and door gunners) made up only 1% of the combat troops in nam." 1971 picture taken and contributed by Jolly Wilson.

Two views of the armament system on UH-1C 66-15072. CE was Pete Verbeek at the time of these pictures in 1971. Pictures contributed by Mike Johnson.

Good view of 1967 UH-1C gunship armament system. Picture contributed by Robert Hovinen.

UH-1C 99-15011 Three photos depicting the damage done after losing the tail rotor gear box.
Verticle fin with the gear box missing. That's the tail rotor blade partially obscuring the tail number.
Rear view of the verticle fin plainly showing the tail rotor sticking through the fin.
Full view of the aircraft showing that losing a tail rotor and 90 degree gear box in flight wasn't too much for CPT. Roger Mothersbaugh to handle. He only cracked a chin bubble while landing the aircraft. Proof that 'Mutha' was one hell of a pilot. Pictures contributed by Tom Herrington.

Aircraft UH-1M 66-15011 "The Hydraulics Wonder". crewed by Don Wilson CE, Steve Rodriguez DG. "OH GOD I'M HORNEY" painted on the belly. Picture contributed by Owen "Butch" Brant.

This gunship had chrome trim on the mini-guns. A request for information about this aircraft resulted in the following e-mail from Robert Fureigh: Subj: "chrome trim on the miniguns" Date: 12/23/98. Hey Carl, To answer your question about Craig Thoricht's picture of the Musket aircraft with chrome trim on the miniguns: The tail # was 011. CE was Tim Mitchell. G was Steve Rodrigues. Rodrigues was from Hawaii. He mailed various minigun parts to Hawaii to a friend, who did the chroming and mailed them back to Chu Lai. Craig's picture is from too great a distance to show all the items that were chrome. Too bad James suddenly ran out of time, or he might have had a raccoon tail on the stinger, or baby moons mounted somehow on the skids. While James and Tim always flew on 011, a trail acft obviously, James was flying G in a lead acft with me when he took a .51 in the leg on our first inbound run on a mortar position. A few seconds later, the trail acft went down as AC Mark Mercer was shot in the back of his head (somewhere just above his medulla oblongata) and PP John Sharp was shot in the leg. By the way, Rodrigues kept those guns humming. Just like all the Musket crew members and their aircraft, Rodrigues' chrome-trimmed miniguns not only looked good. They shot good, and didn't quit! Miniguns -- with their high cyclic rate of fire -- were prone to quit, due to a "long round" catching on the inside of the ammo chute, a problem with the cross-over drive system, a problem with the feeder-delinker, or a myriad of other reasons. Rodrigues was often in his hootch with minigun pieces all over the place, filing on edges of pieces to make them smooth, greasing the insides of ammo chutes with GOB (those were the letters on the can weren't they?), etc. The last time I saw Rodrigues was when I dropped him and the remains of his leg off at the pad at 91st Evac. In the late 70s, I hopped a KC-135 to Hawaii. Tried to look up James. There are more Steve Rodrigueses in the Honolulu phone book than there were booby traps in the Americal AO. I wouldn't be surprised if there's not somewhere in Hawaii a '57 Chevy with fully operational miniguns mounted outboard. I've gotta find that guy. Maybe he'll show up in your Guest Book. Like most Musket EM, he belongs in some kind of Hall of Fame. Craig, thanks for sharing that picture. Robert Fureigh. <end of e-mail> 1971 picture contributed by Craig Thoricht.

M5 system- 40 MM cannon mounted on the nose of Aircraft UH-1C 66-15024, a "Frog". " Chuck Fatheree can tell you a story about this ship. "Another Over-gross Take Off at Tien Phouc". Picture contributed by Owen "Butch" Brant.

Unidentified Musket Frog gunship. Chuck, is this 024 before the big bounce at Tien Phouc? Picture contributed by Steve Kerchenfaut.

Musket gunship UH-1M 66-00520 parked at Chu Lai West was assigned to the 176th for approximately three months (Jul-Sep) during 1971 but was a fine example of a Musket lead rocket ship. The crew chief was William "Jolly" Wilson. 1971 picture contributed by Jolly Wilson.

Musket gunship UH-1M 66-00520 returning from POL at Chu Lai West. 1971 picture contributed by Jolly Wilson.

Nose view of Musket gunship UH-1M 66-00520 showing the excellent paint job. 1971 picture contributed by Jolly Wilson.

UH-1C 66-00561 was lost in action on 09-09-1970 in Happy Valley. On board were Bob Sizemore-AC Musket 35, Ernest Petty-P, Joe Brown-CE, and Darrell Pickett-DG. Click here for picture of Happy Valley. Pictures contributed by Owen "Butch" Brant.

UH-1C 66-00744. According to records, this gunship was flown 460 hours from July 1968 to April 1969. Records may not be correct or this may be the last photo taken of this aircraft in one piece. Does anyone know the fate of this Musket gunship? May 1969 picture contributed by Ralph Liening.

UH-1M 534 southbound at Tam Ky. Pete Verbeek was CE and "Dusty" was DG. Picture contributed by Owen "Butch" Brant. According to an e-mail note sent 04-09-2000, by Garry "Red" Roberts, 534 was destroyed in a wind storm with the Guard in Waterloo, Iowa several years ago.

Super Hogs

Pride Of The Muskets- UH-1M 65-09533. CE was Butch Brant at the time of these pictures in 1971. Pictures contributed by Mike Johnson.

Super Hog UH-1M 65-09533 -This "Mike" model gunship logged 1109 hours in 176th from 70-09 to 71-12. 1971 picture contributed by Craig Thoricht.

Huey C-model "Super Hog" gunship. Picture contributed by Steve Kerchenfaut.

"DO NOT KICK SPENT MACHINE GUN BRASS FROM THIS AIRCRAFT" Time to do some housekeeping after a mission on UH-1M 65-09533. Picture contributed by Owen "Butch" Brant.

Bouncing takeoffs in gunships were easier at Chu Lai West than at the Manor (concrete vs PSP). Picture contributed by Owen "Butch" Brant.

Musket ships inside reinforced hangar at the old MAG 13 area. These three tail numbers were always a welcome sight on hot CAs. Picture contributed by Owen "Butch" Brant.

Crunched Musket at Chu Lai Main - Note: two pictures, be sure to scroll down. Crew OK, had a lucky day. Saddest crew chief in the company. This bird, UH1-C 66-15027, had just come out of a 100 hour PE. CE had painted it with hi-gloss enamel. It was a thing of beauty. Scott Reed, Musket 33, was making a night take-off from Hawk Hill on dustoff cover when the engine quit. He used up some of his rotor RPM in order to stay out of the wire and the claymore mines in the perimeter defense line. Just as the aircraft was sliding safely in the mud of a rice paddy and Scotty was imagining himself receiving the Broken Wing award, he saw the very real dike that he was about to hit at a 45 degree angle. 1970 picture and information contributed by Roger Ladd.

Musket Rocket Pod - Just one of the hazards involved in flying gunships. "Musket version of "premature ejaculation".Nobody was hurt when that rocket went off in the tube but it did put one hell of a hole in the skid - Musket Skid. I do not recall the crew names of the crunched Musket but do recall we had a real "stress relief debrief" at the O Club that night. Lt. Cardin was the AC if I recall correctly.". 1970 pictures and information contributed by Roger Ladd.

AC #68-15759 (lost in Laos) is first bird in this photo taken on the 176th flight line on the side of the high speed taxiway at Chu Lai West. All the aircraft were parked in this area after the move to the old MAG 13 flight line and quarters. Picture and info contributed by Wayne "Lightnin" Resemius.

Part of the instrument panel of #962. Lightnin`s brand new 1st assigned A/C as MM19 # 962. Picture and info contributed by Wayne "Lightnin" Resemius.

Battalion garage sale! Picture contributed by Murlen Richmond.

The gunner's seat on UH-1H 68-15541 "IN A GADDA DA VIDA". Jay (Gunner for Joe Gross on "541" painted this on his seat. This picture certainly describes the contradictions of the war in Vietnam with LOVE painted on the seat, the peace symbol painted on the flight helmet, and the M60 machine gun laying across the ammo can. Picture contributed by Joe Gross.

The last two days of UH-1H 67-17565 - October 3-4, 1968. "WO Borden was our main A/C commander. He had a day off. Joyner and Koehler were the pilots for the day. As far as I know none of the crew were hurt. I went back and helped Koehler get untangled from his straps. We were the last to get away from the A/C. We both ran to safety. I had a lot of JP4 fuel on me. We thought the A/C might blow up. A few minutes later he and I went back to the chopper to shut it down. That is when we knew some one had been hurt. I did not know the man who was hurt or even that he had been killed. I know both of his legs were off and he lost a lot of blood. We stayed back and let the medics take care of him. He was on the re-supply pad, he was not with us. We were carrying mail sacks and I believe three passengers. As far as I know none of them were hurt either." Click here to read more about 565. Pictures and info provided by Ronald Kelly.

UH-1H 66-16839 -This damage is thought to be the result of an RPG hit. Ben Trevino was possibly the pilot. Picture and info provided by Ronald Kelly.

UH-1H 67-17510 docked at the flare revetment for flare duty. The following was recieved via E-mail from Charles Chatham on 05/18/2000: I remember one time it was hooked home because of a oil line coming off in the Hell Hole and we were forced to land outside some village until Blacksmith came and when the problem could not be determined in the field the decision was made to call in a CH-47 to hook it back to the manor where the problem was found. Another incident was when we were making a troop insertion near LZ center. It was a combined mission with several other companies. My ship was shot up a bit after the second insertion, we landed at the loading LZ and had to manually shut the fuel off as the umbilical cord for the circuit breakers had been shot up and the pilot could not shut down the engine. Kerlin was my gunner at the time, the pilot and peter pilot did get some shrapnel damage but were OK. The helicopter was again hooked out from there back to the Minuteman Manor. It was in repair for a couple of weeks for electrical and mechanical damage. Another time it was damaged during the night when a mortar landed between the unprotected side of the revampment out on the flight line. We also lost the door on the gunners side once. And on another day we received 3 bullet holes on the CE side leading from below my foot towards the back of the fuel cell. We flew away from the pacified village we were resupplying and checked for leaks later at another site. I had taken pictures of some of the damage done during the troop insertion damage at LZ Center but my pictures were lost. Picture and information contributed by Charles Chatham.

Charles Chatham's corner of UH-1H 67-17510. "This was CE side and some of my weapons I used. Got the M79 Grenade launcher from one of the pilots... We always took our M16, M60, and I also wore a .45. It was mainly for insurance in case of crash and losing weapon did not what to be unarmed, did use it one time when I was on the ground with a couple of grunts that were with us looking for 3 VC on the ground who were hiding from us..."

"Pickles was my first and longest assigned AC. John Kerlin was also my gunner on 510."

"Note the custom paint job I did on my helmet the right side had a banner saying ARIZONA and on the left side there was a banner saying RoadRunner. You can also see the peace hand on the right side of the visor cover and on the left I had painted a hand pointing a finger. Wish I could have brought it home with me." Picture and info contributed by Charles Chatham.

This is a Maint solution to a problem ship. Strip it and put it out to sea, No one thought that we could lift a Huey with a Huey. Picture and info contributed by Mike Parris.

"This bird could be for those who are air sick, Just drive around and park in ambush." Picture provided by Mike Parris.

Chopper being 'hooked' back to the flight line at Duc Pho. Probably UH-1D 65-10054. 1967 picture contributed by Hank Anthony.

UH-1D 65-10054 after it was 'hooked' back to the Duc Pho flight line with 3 bullet holes under the door, 1 through the '1' in 176, 2 through the windshield, 2 through the nose just left of the numbers '054', 1 through the center of the cargo door, 1 through the leading edge of a main rotor blade, and 2 through the tail boom. 1967 picture contributed by Hank Anthony.

UH-1H 67-17239 in a revetment at the Manor. Note the plexiglass patch in the right chin bubble. Rick recalls that the bullet ripped up the instrument panel pretty good, but he can't remember who was peter pilot that day. Bet that peter pilot remembers the day well. In this picture, all the panels have been pulled in preparation for P.E. or battle damage repair. The ammo can in the gunner's well was a 40mm ammo can which would hold 2800 rounds of 7.62mm for the M60. The small pictures on the right are the crew and friends who flew many hours together on 239. L to R- Door gunner Walter Hall (KIA), crew chief Rick Reavill, and aircraft commander Jerry Penny. Picture and information contributed by Rick Reavill.

An unidentified chopper burns on the airfield at Duc Pho. Picture contributed by Hank Anthony.

After the fire. A good example of what was usually left when a Huey catches fire. It is easy to determine the parts made from magnesium. Picture contributed by Hank Anthony.

Slick with broken tail boom caused by crash following a tail rotor failure. 1971 picture contributed by Bill Church.

UH-1H 68-15333 Disconnected pitch tube leads to disconnected tail boom. Someone on the night crew removed one side of the collective pitch tube from the swash plate and went back to the hangar for tools. Lt. Bueche came out, ran it up, and pulled pitch. The main rotor blade cut off the tail boom. Click HERE to read two unofficial accounts of what happened. Click HERE to read the Army Aviation Safety Database information on UH-1H 68-15333. March 1, 1970 picture contributed by Ralph Liening. Database info contributed by Gary Roush, VHPA.

The demise of UH-15333 - Was this A/C the 198th Bde. CC bird in 1969? Don Culler was the last AC to fly this aircraft. It is possible that the person looking at the aircraft in this picture is Gordon "Butch" "Chickenman" Sears-Minuteman 27. 1970 picture contributed by Don West.

UH-1H 68-15366. This slick was flown 3,229 hours in the unit from March 1969 to December 1971. May 1969 picture contributed by Ralph Liening.

Bullet hole in plexiglass windshield. The round that made this hole struck John Longstreet "MM X-Ray" in the shoulder. See Story #4 The one and only time I forgot my chicken plate, to read John's account of this incident. 1970 picture contributed by Owen "Butch" Brant".

"This photo is of Smokey 500 as she is moved into position to fill the fog oil tank. This stuff was real thick and was a bear to hand pump. I was in the gunner position, Rick Deems was the crew chief, James Horton was AC, and we (AS USUAL) had a new peter pilot. I didn't write down his name. I hope he wasn't the one that we had to break from making us salute on the flight line." Picture and info provided by Mike Parris.

The tail boom of Smokey 500. Why was the tail boom removed from the fuselage? Minuteman Manor control tower in the background. April 1970 picture contributed by Ralph Liening.

SB Flyby with Smokey 500. 1970 picture and information contributed by Roger Ladd.

Flyby with Smokey 500 showing off. 1970 picture and information contributed by Roger Ladd.

Smokey 500 with perforated chin bubble. UH-1H 67-17500 was in the 176th from 68-06 to 70-11 with 1,805 hours.1970 picture and information contributed by Roger Ladd.

Smokey 500's scorecard. 1970 picture contributed by Roger Ladd.

Smokey 500 being carried to the hangar after shoot down. Everyone seems to have pictures of this aircraft. Someone needs to contribute the story about this shoot down. 1970 picture contributed by Brian Elliott.

Broken bird coming home via Chinook. Would this also be Smokey 500? 1970 picture contributed by Roger Ladd.

Formation in the sunset- Going home, or possibly just beginning a night combat assault. This 1970-71 picture contributed by Steve Clark.

Parts R Us - 14th Combat Aviation Battalion bird. Picture contributed by Roger Ladd.

The day Lt. Gross "got too close!" A nice way of stating that two aircraft may have been flying in an overlapping formation and meshed rotors. Read the accident report and read between the lines. 1970 picture contributed by Roger Ladd.

14th Combat Aviation Battalion Commanding Officer's bird. Picture contributed by Roger Ladd.

OOPS! Too Hot and Too Heavy- "Bob Bodo's aircraft was loaded too heavy with ammo and it was way too hot to hoover. We were supporting the 2/327th, 101st and ferrying supplies to the field. The pad was on the edge of mountain, so extra ammo was able to be loaded, meaning pull enough collective, slide off the pad and nose it over for airspeed. This worked just fine many times, but you had to watch what they were loading. Bob was the lucky guy to load 81 MM mortar rounds. He really was not watching closely enough and they loaded all the way to the bulk head. The WO, believed this was OK, many trips prior, no problem right! Well, they checked the collective and believed they had enough to make it off the pad and nose it over, Wrong. The Huey was so cool, it just slide off the pad turned right and plopped right in the weeds. Nobody was hurt, the Firebase CO was really pissed, cause this makes for a great target for mortars. Next day, CH34 came and carried her home to Chu Lai. She was rebuilt and was flying in 1 week." Picture and information contributed by Dale Wiese '67-68.

Look Out For That TREE!! The aircraft commander who flew this bird into the only tree south of Chu Lai near the monastery had a nickname the same as the name of a cartoon character. He Roger Ram-jetted that tree after making a sharp turn. Should have looked before turning. This 1970-71 picture contributed by Steve Clark.

Result of low level Huey vs a tree. Come on, Roger Pettner, tell us how you ran into the only tree on that road near the monastery south of Chu Lai. 1970-71 picture contributed by Brian Elliott.

65-09962 was the tail number of this UH-1H. 962 was assigned to the 176th from 70-12 to 71-04 and had 379 hours logged during that time. Those jet revetments in the background were nice during rocket attacks. There was a hootch in one of them for the stand-by crews. 1971 picture contributed by Craig Thoricht.

A Slick in hanger for maintenance. 1971 picture contributed by Craig Thoricht.

UH-1H 17458 being rolled out after 100 hr. inspection. Picture contributed by Rick Phillips.

UH-1M 66-15072 -Another "Mike" model gunship. Logged 756 hours from 70-12 to 71-10. 1971 picture contributed by Craig Thoricht.

UH1-H -Anybody recognize this aircraft? Picture contributed by Clayton Jeter.

UH-1H 951 - 14th Combat Aviation Battalion helicopter. CE was Garza. Picture contributed by Clayton Jeter.

UH-1H 037 - Dropping troops in a rice paddy while Smokey lays smoke around the LZ. 037 was a good aircraft. Picture contributed by Steve Kerchenfaut.

Flight lead landing to banana smoke. Picture contributed by Steve Kerchenfaut.

Flying formation. Picture contributed by Carl Zipperer.

An O-1 Bird Dog over Vietnam. This was the only fixed wing aircraft serving in combat in Vietnam that was slower than a UH-1H helicopter. Most helicopter pilots can remember flying close enough to O-1's in order to wave as they passed by. These aircraft flown by Army pilots served an important role as artillery forward air controllers (FACs). Picture contributed by Tom Herrington.

A high performance twin engine OV-10 Bronco came armed with WP marking rockets and .30 cal machine guns in the wings. The unit stationed at Chu Lai used the call sign Helix. They were Air Force pilots and some of the best FACs in Vietnam. They were a highly professional group who were a pleasure to work with and saved many lives. This Bronco was piloted by Lt. Davis, USAF. Picture contributed by Tom Herrington.

The cockpit of an Otter. Picture taken while enroute during R&R contributed by Tom Herrington.