You folks are going to love this video. When I was in the Air Cavalry one of the things that I loved to do was air shows, public displays and shows for the kids. Most crew chiefs did not like doing those shows because the aircraft can get really dirtied up and you must do a very, very careful inspection to make certain that no foreign objects have been deposited where they can cause an accident. I cannot even begin to tell you how it feels to put a child into the pilot’s seat of your bird and watch as those eyes dilate wide open accompanied by a huge gasp with ear to ear grin. Well, watch the video and you will see lots of smiles:
It isn’t all about war. My very first mission as a scout helicopter crew chief was to fly a search and rescue mission with my pilot. Two youngsters were on a outing on Fort Hood, Texas near Belton lake when the preteen boy and girl somehow got separated from mom and dad. That is some beautiful but remote territory there in the Texas Hill Country. Ft Hood is huge and covers a lot of rugged wilderness. There are rattle snakes (big ones), scorpions and tarantulas there that come out at night to feed. Also wild boar.
We flew out to our assigned search grid and commenced flying our zigzag search pattern. Just before night fall we spotted some movement on the ground. It was the little boy. He and his sister had hidden in the bushes until they heard they Army helicopter flying around. That’s when the little boy moved and we spotted him. What a reunion that was! I have never been hugged so hard in my life. First by the kids, then by mom and dad! Lots of hand shakes and claps on the back too.
In later years that first mission would help me through the grief of losing some of my buddies by reminding me why we serve. In one shinning moment of time all was right with the world because two young, innocent folks were brought home safe and sound by those Army guys in their helicopter.
Sorry. I did not intend to ramble but I am damn proud of those service members in that video! AIR CAVALRY, SIR!
Eric I think I know just how you felt when you found that little boy and girl. I spent 15 years in a search and rescue group here at home. It makes you feel so good to reunite people with their loved ones when a search goes right. Remembering the ones that went the way we wish they all would helped me through the few that turned into a recovery.
The recoveries really do suck. MedEvac/Dust Off flights from civilian air crashes and wrecks on the highways can be very bad too. Those things always hit you afterwards when you are in some down time because the adrenalin rush fades away. There have been times that I just sat and shook for long amounts of time. Other times I just cried and cried. I have watched it drain the emotion right out of a very great bunch of guys and gals. We learned from the Vietnam War Vets to talk about it to each other no matter how tough that may be. We always made a point of talking about the good ones and goofy ones too. Memories of that one mission have gotten me through some very rough times indeed.
I’m with you all the way. I grew up the in Civil Air Patrol, served in the USMC, USN and now I volunteer with the Red Cross Disaster Team and LifeFlight. It’s all about community, and trying to leave it better than you found it.
They also serve, who offer support!
3/5 USMC 1969-1972 Phu Bai/Danang, RVN
USS William H. Bates (SSN 680), SUBRON TWO 1973-1981
USS Dallas (SSN 700), SUBRON TWO 1981-1989
Eric as a 17 year old in aviation training I watch one of Igor Sikorsky fly his first helicopter in Connecticut. It was a tubing frame with his seat up front in the open and fan belts running all over the bird. Went up made a turn paused, some one loaded a suit case in the front while hovering a few feet off the ground. It took some time to get the thing to fly forward. It was on display for years at a Springfield Mass fair ground building.
As for war birds not always being used for war I took part in dike flood patrol on the Mississippi River during WWll in L2s,3 and L5 observation planes. The L5 Stinson Sentinel was my favorite on hospital flights from dirt farm road and fields. These aircraft could hover to observe cannon fire and bomb german tanks with gas cans in war. Some of us were caught bombing farm barns in the states with sacks of flower. We had to practice.
Later in C 47s we went on many so call training flighs with kids to burn hospitals. The family and children loved the free ride in a big plane… And then when we needed a band for a dance we would pick up a name band in New York and fly them to New Orleans with a overnight stop at Ft Bragg. Every crew had to have so many hours of traning flights. Never did any Beer flights.
How about the bombing of Berlin Kids–On flights into Berlin with coal and other supplies during the blockade by Russia the military transports dropped tons of candy. BILL
In the 1960s I was in the Canadian coast guard. We lost a lot of people at sea mostly guys in the fishing fleet. But we saved a whole lot more than we lost. I was a Radio operator back in the Morse code days. I would sit Thu a mayday steady as a rock while the rescue was in progress. Doing what had to be done. When it was over and I was either on the way home or at home I’d get the shakes for a few minutes or so but it would soon pass. I was young then and never gave it much thought.
I never realised how much it affected me until years later on the week I retired. The tremendous feeling of relief that flooded over me was nothing short of astonishing. I no longer had to worry about who was in danger. What call might come in when you least expect it. A great burden was lifted from my shoulders. The thing that kept all of us going day after day was the times we made the difference of life or death to someone. People do not realize how hard it is to spot something from the air. Aircraft stick out like a sore thumb up flying around up there in the air, but a small boat in distress on a white-capped sea is very hard to see. Carry an orange smoke flare and you are spotted almost immediately. An overhead helicopter is easily seen and heard thru the trees by someone on the ground but from the air spotting someone on the ground the observer is hampered by the natural camouflage of the forest. Fire off a red flare or light a smokey fire and the plane will pick out your position easily.
Our people gladly put their lives at risk daily to save another human being in trouble. We just ask that you please do your part in all of this by; checking the weather, not skiing out of bounds, file a flight/float plan, tell someone where you are going and update them whenever possible. Wear adequate clothing just in case, etc. Our guys have always been willing to put themselves in danger when accidents happen. It is an insult to these brave men and women when You don’t take even the basic precautions to protect yourself.
The very worst example I can think of is a gentleman who left Prince Rupert in a 16foot open boat heading for Sandspit in the Queen Charlotte’s 120 nautical miles away across the ever dangerous Hecate strait with a 1/2 tank of gas, no radio, told no one where He was going, had no wet weather gear aboard, never been to Sandspit, Hadn’t checked the weather because “Uh duh ummm it was good out when I left.” He ran into a storm just as he ran out of gas. luckily this occured just a couple of hundred feet from a fishing boat in mid strait that was running from the storm. They took him aboard saving his life in the process only to be berated by him for not taking his boat in tow. The boat was never seen again. He actually cursed the skipper and his deckhand because he wanted to go back to Rupert instead of to Sandspit. This guy did not really need or deserve a boat so no loss there. He was Landed in the Charlotte’s left standing on the dock and had to make his own way back to the mainland. He got no sympathy from Sandspit Coast guard station when we learned how he had treated the crew of the fishboat that had saved his miserable life.
Most people are not like this guy was. even those folks that were the authors of their own misfortune are very grateful to their rescuers and that is part of what makes it all worth while, part of what takes the sting out of losing someone.