Yellow Three

Company A

227th Assault Helicopter Battalion

1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)

YELLOW THREE, YOU'RE ON FIRE!

by Aircraft Commander, WO-1 John L. Keller, 1st Flt Plt, A/227th

It started out as a typical day while flying with First Flight Platoon of A/227th in the Central Highlands. Our unit was set up at LZ Oasis in the area south of Pleiku. The red dirt was everywhere, especially when it was hot and dry. On this day in November, 1966, I was assigned to fly with Captain Irvin Hutton in a "new" UH-1D, 65-10040. It had recently been picked up at the delivery site in Vung Tau and flown to LZ Oasis as a Company replacement aircraft for 62-12372. I had flown #372 back to the Golf Course, so it could be rebuilt back in the States. #040 would eventually be assigned to one of the other flight platoons.
We were given a mission to fly to the Ple Mei Special Forces Camp and pick up an assault force for an insertion in an LZ about 20 "clicks" northeast of the runway at the camp. After we loaded, Captain Hutton and I joined up in a 'heavy left' formation and we were assigned the Callsign of "YELLOW TWO" where we flew on the right side of the formation. Captain Hutton was getting some needed left seat time and I was happy to be an experienced Aircraft Commander (AC) who was coaching him on flying formation from a different seat. I had a little over 600 hours 'in country' and about an even number of hours flying from either seat. About two-thirds of the way to the LZ, we heard a call, 'Yellow three, you’re on fire!' That really got our attention as we wanted to protect the other bird if it went down prior to the LZ. About 30 seconds later, another frantic call was heard, 'Yellow three, you're on fire!' Boy, that sounded really frantic, and then another call, 'Yellow two, it’s you that's on fire!' Someone else in the formation behind us had seen the mistaken identity. Now we were looking at everything in and around the aircraft. The sun was high in the sky and it was very bright and shining in the greenhouse over my head. What I could not see at first was the faint orange lettering on the new, gray, caution panel. Transmission oil pressure was checked and it was falling to zero! We were now on short final to the LZ, but the LZ was on fire over on the left side.
It seems, our gun support, D/227, had sent tracers and rockets into the dry brush and tall grass on their firing pass. The fire was blowing from left to right and we were aligned to land in the far right side of the LZ. Touching down, I was at the controls and rolled the throttle completely OFF, while the troops jumped out to set up a perimeter. I heard from the Crewchief (cannot remember who it was) that we had oil all over the tailboom. We kept the battery ON so we could communicate with the other aircraft. The fire continued to race towards us from our left side. The Crewchief removed the inspection panel on the right side of the transmission well and informed me that the oil filter inspection cover's gasket had blown a chunk out the side and that was the source of the oil. Streamlined airflow took the oil up and around the engine and over the hot exhaust stack; which produced one heck of a lot of smoke!
We asked any other birds to bring us transmission oil so we could get away from the fire in the LZ that was racing towards us. I was starting to see a brand new aircraft burning in the LZ and me getting Court-Martialed for destruction of Government Property! The Crewchief quickly added six quarts of donated oil and we started up and headed for the Special Forces Camp at a very low altitude; less than 50 feet, and about 100 knots! It was the longest 20 KM flight of my short career as an Army Aviator! An immediate shutdown at the camp brought out some of our regular maintenance personnel from Oasis, headed by SFC Patriquin. After taking off the filter inspection cover, he realized the nearest gasket was at Oasis. He then cut an exact gasket replica out of an Individual C-ration box and installed it and torqued down the bolts. We didn't fly on the subsequent lifts, but went back to Oasis with the maintenance bird following us.
The aircraft had just undergone a 25 hour check and the transmission filter had been checked. When the inspection plate had been tightened, it must have made a slight crimp in the gasket. Just the right amount of heat and pressure caused a one inch chunk to blow out the side. The 'field expedient' fix by SFC Patriquin stayed on the helicopter until the next 25 hour inspection. A C-ration box had saved the day; not just to replace hunger, but to keep an aircraft flying!