Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1D tail number 66-01149
The Army purchased this helicopter 0167
Total flight hours at this point: 00000154
Date: 06/03/1967
Incident number: 670603011ACD Accident case number: 670603011 Total loss or fatality Accident
Unit: 173 AHC
South Vietnam
Number killed in accident = 6 . . Injured = 3 . . Passengers = 6
costing 228554
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Army Aviation Safety Center database. Also: OPERA (Operations Report. )
Loss to Inventory
Crew Members:
AC O2 JT CORNETT
P WO1 NEWMAN ALLEN TRUMAN KIA
CE E3 DV WARD
G PFC EXUM EDMUND GARDNER JR KIA
Passengers and/or other participants:
E8 BIRD, PAX, D
LTC KIERNAN JOSEPH M JR, AR, PX, KIA
LTC SMITH RODNEY HOWE, AR, PX, KIA
MAJ TREADWELL MILLARD LEON JR, AR, PX, KIA
SGM RIMES TERRY MARTIN, AR, PX, KIA
Accident Summary:
At low level, the aircraft struck a wire and pitched up to a nose high attitude. The pilots could not control the aircraft. The tail rotor and skids hit the ground. The aircraft bounced back into the air and ignited. It came to rest on its top left side and burned.
This record was last updated on 09/17/1998
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Date posted on this site:
10/25/2024
Copyright © 1998 - 2024 Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association
War Story:
I was with the 173rd AHC at Lai Khe from 4/67 to
12/67. As near as I have been able to determine the passenger KIA's were;
LTC Joseph W. Kiernan jr. from Inglewood, New Jersey; LTC. Rodney Howe
Smith, Arlington Virginia;MAJ.Millard Leon Treadwell,Ludowici, Georgia; And
Sgt.Maj.Terry Martin Rimes, Thomasville, Georgia. I have not been able to
find out who the surviving passengers were. At the time of the crash WO1
Newman was flying the aircraft. We were flying low level across rice
paddies . There was a tree line ahead of us with aprox. 80 to 100 ft. tall
trees and a village inside the tree line. We climbed over the tree line and
the power lines were right there in front of us. I yelled over the
intercom" Powerlines ahead" . I believe Mr. Newman saw them at the same
time and tried to climb over them.Our skids snagged the top wire, stretched
it , then I watched the wire break at the tower, and then snap back in on
us, into the main rotor, around the fuselage where it punctured the fuel
cell . We caught fire right away, the ship was pitching and yawing very
severely and started rolling to the left and falling. We rolled inverted,
the tailboom hit and we slammed down on the left side rolled inverted
again,and stopped. I think the fuel cell exploded then. I was hanging
upside down, popped open my harness and fell free, I unhooked the PIO kid
who was in my gun well with me and dragged him out, then went back and
grabbed the only guy I could see in the fire, a Sgt. and dragged him out
then I saw Lt. Cornetts door come off , and he started trying to crawl out
and I grabbed him and dragged him out, and the I turned back to get Mr.
Newman and it exploded again and there wasn't any thing there , just this
huge fire. Lt. Cornett and I ran around to the other side of the fire but
there wasn't anybody there. All we could see were flames. We went back
around to the other side and moved the 2 injured passengers over to the
base of a tree on the edge of the graveyard that we had crashed in, checked
them both over to see how badly hurt they were and then looked for weapons,
as we had lost ours in the crash except for Lt. Cornett's .38. I am going
to end this now even though there is quite a bit more. This is the first
time I have gone back and really picked through all the details in 31 years
and it is still pretty intense. Once again I thank you for your time and
info, and I hope I haven't overloaded you with too much of this story. I
look forward to talking to you again . Doug
From: "Doug Ward"