Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1D tail number 66-16343
The Army purchased this helicopter 0567
Total flight hours at this point: 00001288
Date: 04/16/1969 MIA-POW file reference number: 1426
Incident number: 69041617.KIA
Unit: B/101 AVN
South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: YC752591 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48PYC752591)
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: 1426 ()
Loss to Inventory
Crew Members:
P WO1 KONYU WILLIAM MICHAEL BNR
AC WILLIAMS GREGORY
CE ALLEN
G COSTA
REFNO Synopsis:
KONYU, WILLIAM MICHAEL
Name: William Michael Konyu
Rank/Branch: W1/US Army
Unit: Company B, 101st Aviation Battalion, 101st Airborne Division
Date of Birth: 18 March 1947
Home City of Record: Phillipsberg NJ
Date of Loss: 16 April 1969
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 155349N 1073414E (YC752591)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1H
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: On April 16, 1969, WO William M. Konyu was the pilot of a UH1H
helicopter on a combat mission in northern Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam,
about 10 miles from the border of Laos.
As WO Konyu made his short, final approach to the landing zone (LZ), he
received intense enemy fire. The windshield on the pilot's side was shattered.
Konyu was seen to throw up his hands and slump forward over the controls. The
co-pilot was wounded in his legs, and lost control of the aircraft. The
helicopter subsequently crashed, rolled over on its side and burned. Attempts
to reach the helicopter by personnel on the ground were impossible because of
the intense heat of the burning aircraft.
U.S. ground teams inspected the aircraft later, and reported a burned form in
the pilot's seat. Three crewmen and passengers had been rescued. (If other
personnel were aboard and killed, no mention is made in public record.) The
team was uncertain how to recover what they believed were the remains of the
pilot, and left the area, but returned later in the day to prepare to extract
the remains.
When the extraction team arrived four days later to recover the remains, they
had disappeared. Evidence that enemy forces had been at the site were
discovered, and it was assumed that the enemy buried the pilot somewhere
nearby, but no graves were located. Konyu was listed among the missing because
his remains were never found.
This record was last updated on 09/03/2015
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Date posted on this site: 10/25/2024
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