Pictures of:
1. U.S. Navy EC-121 Crash at Da Nang Main 1970 (1 Survivor?)
2. U.S. Navy EC-121 Take Off Chu Lai.
3. U.S. Navy EC-121 Take Off Chu Lai.
Credits: Unknown - Please advise and I will give credit or delete as you choose.
[Note: Page edited for appearance 21 November, 2001.]
A
recent article by me that was published in the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots
Association (VHPA) Magazine had an error concerning Colin Powell.
Please accept my apology and consider accepting my explanation in the
message below. Any or all may be published in the next VHPA Journal, however,
I would appreciate seeing the draft first.
Thanks,
Mike
********************************************************************************
-----
Original Message -----
From: Mike McCormick <mailto:mmccor@wirural.com>
To: [Deleted by Author]
Sent:
Wednesday, January 10, 2001 4:15 PM
Subject: RE: Your letter in the VHPA newsletter
I’m sorry I ever sent that email to VHPA. I DID NOT know it was going to be
published, and some of it was “tongue in cheek”. It was bad judgment on my
part.
I will answer some of your questions below. I am so sorry to have offended
you and others.
<<The Colin Powell story is just absolutely false
I retracted (re-wrote) that message on my web site the next day when realizing I had
put Colin in front of the word Powell. See my last message below for
inexcusable explanation. BG Powell was not Colin Powell.
<<I don't ever remember (and this can be researched rather easily I
suspect)
<<a US Navy aircraft carrier stationed within helicopter distance of Chu
Lai.
The
“carriers” I mentioned were not the big ships one thinks of. They were
small helicopter or transport (maintenance?) carriers, probably of the type
used for ship protection in the North Sea during WWII. I’m just guessing
here. The boat had a deck like a carrier. I made at least two such trips for
sure (UH-1) and absolutely did not have radio contact, as I remember. Also
as I remember, the flights were pre-announced from my OPS people or
somewhere in Americal HQ. i.e. they knew I was coming. The landing part
was
tongue in cheek. We did land to some type of person on the deck giving hand
signals and I was always afraid, as the ship was moving. We had to land straight to
the deck rather than hover. I first did that type of mission as a pilot, not an AC.
A fellow Pelican sent the following to me:
The carrier that was occasionally operating near Chu Lai was the USS
Valley Forge, a small WWII jeep carrier then used as a helicopter carrier
for the Marines. I landed on the ship twice during my tour as a Pelican
OH-6 pilot. First time was off Da Nang, I took the Americal G-3 out for a
meeting. Second time was several months later, they were off the Batangan
Peninsula. As I remember it both times I had a lot of commo problems with them.
<< Do you REALLY expect us to believe that the crew of an electronics
bird
(EC-121), whose job is to protect our fighters from Sam’s up north, even if
they would take an Army WO1 helicopter pilot with them on missions to
North Vietnam, would leave said Army helicopter pilot at the controls, ALONE,
approaching SAM range of Haiphong Harbor, while they slept in the back?
How
many times? You say "often?" Really?
>
I absolutely stand by this story, and know former Pelicans Aviators alive
today who remember me flying with the Navy. The Aircraft I flew in was on
"Barrier Patrol" (i.e. Airborne Radar Picket) between Hinain Island and
Haiphong Harbor. The part about the guys going in the back and sleeping
was also “Tongue in Cheek” . I don’t know what they did in the back of the aircraft.
The
Flight engineer behind, me (and literally looking over my shoulder) was
perfectly qualified to fly the aircraft and there was never any danger that
I could do something wrong. The aircraft was on autopilot. All I had to do
was turn a knob in the console between the pilot and co-pilot seats when
notified by the radar operator.
"I rode in a jump seat behind the pilot (left side of cabin), on take off and landing."
I can't remember after all of these years where I rode, I remember being up in
front when not in the co-pilots seat; perhaps I was standing.
The part about Steak and lobster was exaggerated. We usually had box lunches.
I specifically remember four missions, and remember coming back on less than four
engines twice. On one occasion a prop ran away, or there was a governor problem
(can’t remember exactly) and one engine had to be shut down. The pilot and co-pilot
were especially worried about that kind of a problem on take off to the south, since
with an engine failure, and with a full load of fuel. the failure might cause descent
into the ammo dump at the south end of Chu Lai Main (or so they told me.) That was
a very good reason for me not riding in one of the front seats on take-off. I had no
idea of the emergency
procedures on the aircraft.
<< Do you REALLY expect us to believe that two flight helmets dropped
into
the South China Sea
One of the helmets floated. I don’t know why. I never thought about it. We
did have a Styrofoam looking material in our helmets. Maybe that is what
caused it to float. The CE fished it out of the water.
<<> Do you REALLY expect us to believe that the "Boos" (I
guess you mean
C-7A
Caribous) did low approach pallet drops at "Son Tra Bong?"
Yes, wheels on the ground. Pallets coming out the back end. At Tra Bong SF
Camp.
Aircraft continued up into the air.
<<> Do you REALLY expect us to believe that, as a "Wobbly
1" Army aviator,
you "refused to salute anyone below the rank of major..."?
Completely
tongue in cheek and withdrawn from my web page.
If you were a Junior Officer that I offended in 1969, then I have only one thing to say:
"Sorry
'bout that. Don't mean 'nothin".
********************************************************************************
Michael
McCormick
West
Bend, Wisconsin USA
WEB: http://www.dconsultants.com/
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