Accident at Lai Khe 1/16/1969

Company A

227th Assault Helicopter Battalion

1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)

On the morning of January 16, 1969, at their base in Lai Khe, Vietnam

CPT David A. Carlin (Executive Officer)

CWO George F. Lapan (Maintenance Officer)

SP5 John C. Deaton (Crew Chief)

SP5 Paul R. Dew (Crew Chief)

SP5 Frederick L. Holder (Maintenance Specialist)

SP5 John Mirich (Maintenance Specialist)

all members of Company A, 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division
along with PFC Jon Osheim, a Chaplain's Assistant, were killed in an aircraft accident.

This is what people back in the world (i.e. United States) would have seen - if they saw anything at all about this accident. Family members would have received more information - but little that would explain the loss of their loved ones.

There is more to their story - about fighting in a war - and about human compassion.

In January 1969, Company A was based at Lai Khe, Vietnam on the east side of the runway in a grove of tall rubber trees. Our new Company area was a vast improvement over our former home.

The company was previously stationed at Camp Evans just a short distance south of the DMZ. Camp Evans was located along the main north - south road (Highway 1) in the northern war zone ( I Corps) of Vietnam. This location was north of the ancient capital of Hue and south of the city of Quang Tri and the DMZ. To the east of Camp Evans was Highway 1, then about five miles or so of flat sandy terrain with a few tree lines - a railroad line - the old highway 1 ("The Street Without Joy") and then the sandy beaches of the South China Sea. To the west of Camp Evans are the jungle mountains that run generally north - south. Over these mountains is the A Shau Valley and then the border with Laos. The Camp Evans was home to helicopter, infintry and artillary units as well as administration and supply.

While stationed at Camp Evans, members of company A 227th AHB were involved in relieving the marines at Khe Sahn, they particiapted in the feroucous fighting in the A Shau Valley, and also in the fighting in Hue after the Tet 1968 offensive. Our unit flew daily in support of the troopers of the First Cavalry Division, moving them in combat assaults, and also flying resupply, command & control, and evacuation in the area directly south of the DMZ, from Laos to the South China Sea.

In the fall of 1968 the entire Cavalry Division moved south to III Corps to fight, as it turns out, the same NVA enemy we had fought in I Corps. Company A, 227th AHB was the first helicopter unit to move south and took up position initially at Quan Loi, just east of the Fishhook - a section of the Cambodian border curving down into Vietnam.

On our first day in Quan Loi we were immediately in action, flying troopers of the First Cavalry Division in a combat assault in support of Firebase Dot. After a few days of action out of Quan Loi, we moved south to Lai Khe which was to be our "home" for the foreseeable future.

Lai Khe is positioned along highway 13, north of Saigon and supported the First Cavalry Division which was acting as a shield for Saigon.

Throughout this entire time period the radio callsign of Company A was "Chickenman". This callsign was/is a source of pride and honor. Based on the radio serial popular in the 60's, troopers of the First Cavalry Division knew that "Chickenman" would be there when needed.

Company A - Chickenman - was a company of UH-1H slicks - the icon of the Vietnam War - these were lightly armed UH-1H "Hueys" flying combat on a daily basis. Our pilots and crew daily put themselves at risk. This was a shooting war - and casualties occurred. Getting shot at happened - getting shot down was also a possibility.

On flight days you and your crew would strap on your helicopter and spend the day (and sometimes the night) flying different missions in support of the combat units.

CPT David Carlin was Executive Officer of Company A at the time of our move south. He had his octagonal tent at the end of the Company roadway. Through the trees beyond you could see the Lai Khe runway and across the runway the former headquarters of the First Infintry Division.

CWO George Lapan was in charge of aircraft maintenance for the company - making test flights and supervising the maintenance specialists/crew chiefs in their duties. His office was a shipping container located on the flight line.

SP5 Deaton and SP5 Dew were each assigned an aircraft and flew as aircraft crew chiefs on a daily basis on assigned combat assaults, resupply and command and control flights.

SP5 Holder and SP5 Mirich were assigned to maintenance on a regular basis and flew as backup crew chief when needed.

Prior to this day - A/227 had been asked to deliver a homemade see-saw made by an Engineer Battalion at Lai Khe to the children of a local orphanage.

On the day of the accident, these pilots and crew found the time and opportunity to schedule the delivery to the orphanage.

The aircraft (UH-1H; tail number 66-16302) they planned to use for the delivery had originally been assigned that day to WO John Ray to be used on a Combat Assault mission. Just after he had started the aircraft, operations radioed to him to shut it down and take the new aircraft we had just received - and another crew chief - for the day. This decision was made so maintenance could perform the scheduled service on this aircraft.

Sometime later that day, after the maintenance was completed, PFC Jon Osheim, a Chaplain´s Assistant, joined the crew and the aircraft departed its parking area and made an approach and terminated at a hover near the maintenance area of the Engineer Battalion at Lai Khe. There were seven persons aboard the aircraft as they hovered over a play ground teeter totter which the Engineers had constructed for an orphanage. The teeter totter had previously been rigged as a sling load by the aircraft commander of this helicopter.

The sling was attached to the lifting hook of the helicopter. The aircraft hovered straight up to an altitute of 50 to 75 feet, checking the load. The pilot then called the Lai Khe tower for take off clearance. He was cleared to depart parallel to and east of the runway.

As he began to accelerate the load began to oscillate badly. After a few hundred meters, and at perhaps forty knots of forward speed, the end support bracket broke off the pivot bar of the teeter totter. This caused the load to shift and the steel triangle, which was the support bracket, to whip violently at the end of its rope. At a point when the main load was at its aft most position of oscillation, this steel triangle slipped forward, then aft, allowing the tail rotor to strike the rope which attached it to the rest of the teeter totter. At that point the tail rotor was observed to slow down and almost stop.

The load was jettisoned at this point and the helicopter proceeded forward on a track of about 050 degrees with its nose turning slowly to the right. When the fuselage had turned to approximately 90 degrees to the flight path, the forward speed had decreased to near zero. At that time the helicopter began to spin to the right.

Witnesses disagree as to the number of turns the aircraft made, but generally agree that it was numerous turns, the nose swinging to the right. When the tower operator observed the load fall to the ground, he advised the pilot "you have dropped your sling load". The pilot´s answer was "thank you".

At about the time the fuselage began to turn the pilot said to the tower "I have tail rotor failure". The tower rogered this and advised that the crash crew was notified. The pilot apparently was unable to increase his forward speed to the point that the aircraft would streamline and continue to fly without the tail rotor drive. He was, however, able to keep it airborne for a considerable period of time. Witnesses observed what sounded to them like repeated increasing and decreasing power applications and erratic attitude changes that appeared to be attempts by the pilot to move the aircraft away from the troop area over which he was spinning.

A crew member, thought to be the crew chief, was seen standing in the cabin of the helicopter, leaning out waving his arms in an effort to get people to leave the area where it was apparent they were going to crash. Just prior to striking the trees the pilot said over the radio "We´re going in".

The Aircraft Commander for this flight was CWO Lapan, the Pilot was CPT Carlin, Aircraft Crew Chief was SP5 Deaton, and flying with them to assist in the delivery was SP5 Dew (whose aircraft was also down for maintenance that day), SP5 Holder, SP5 Mirich, and PFC Osheim.

The aircraft was destroyed as it spun into the 60 foot tall rubber trees. The main rotor blades were sheered off by the trees - and the tail boom was separated from the aircraft as the aircraft fell from height to the ground.

Photo by Larry Russell

Those killed on January 16 were proud of their unit and as combat veterans, they had fought bravely in support of our ground troops. They understood the risks of war and had seen it's dark side first hand. They had also seen the effects of the war on the people (and children) of Vietnam.

Photo by Larry Russell

Much has been said about the war in Vietnam - most not supportive of our mission - some not complementary of the troops fighting the war. Compassion and caring however were not absent from the hearts of those fighting the war in Vietnam.

These combat veterans died on a flight of compassion, trying to help the orphans of the Vietnam War.

Photos below by Bob Witt

Photos below by William Van Dyke, who was with S-4, 2nd battalion, 2nd infantry, 1st Infantry division at Lai Khe

Update
Information about PFC Jon Osheim, the Chaplain's Assistant lost in this accident.
Provided by Billy J. Price, Retired Military Chaplain who was at Lai Khe on this date

Since there was only one helicopter crash out of Lai Khe in January 1969, I am 99% sure that this was the crash I know about. Chaplain Carl Towley (sp?) and some of us were standing outside while he was waiting for the helicopter that was going to take a net full of goods for the orphanage at Ben Cat. I assume that was where it was going because Carl was covering the1/16 and he was going to catch the copter. His assistant whom I have never met came up to him and asked if he could since he never been in a helicopter before. So when the helicopter arrive and was loading the net his assistant boarded it. The helicopter took off with the net swinging underneath and it took a sharp curve and the net swung above and wrapped around the propeller and the helicopter went down. If Carl had said no, he would have been on it. We did not see it going down.

Update
Information provided by Gerald Echols who was in the tower at Lai Khe on this date

I was in the tower on the day of the accident. I was just off shift and had not climbed down yet. Carwile was the active controller. There was me, Carwile, Durdel. and one other controller in the tower. We all witnessed the crash.
I crossed the run way to the crash site. The dead had been removed, except for one. He was mangled and hanging in a very tall rubber tree. Baggage and rubble were scattered over the area. I recall one corner of a hooch had been destroyed. Also, vivid to this day, I see a football lying on the ground next to the fuselage. Rumor was one of the passengers was on the way to ETS.
A sad, tragic day !