Roland had recently transferred from D Troop to A Company, 9th Aviation
Helicopter UH-1D 66-00779
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Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1D tail number 66-00779
Date: 08/15/1968
Incident number: 680815241ACD Accident case number: 680815241 Total loss or fatality Accident
Unit: A/9 AVN 9 INF
The station for this helicopter was Dong Tam in South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: YT149111 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48PYT149111)
Number killed in accident = 4 . . Injured = 0 . . Passengers = 0
costing 514554
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: OPERA (Operations Report. )
Loss to Inventory
Crew Members:
P CW2 FLORIO ROLAND LOUIE KIA
AC WO1 TUCKER BYRON CLAIR KIA
CE SP4 KNUTSON JAMES KEITH KIA
G CPL HIGGINBOTHAM OSCAR K JR KIA
Accident Summary:
The aircraft departed Camp Martin Cox, Bearcat, RVN at 0605 hours 15 Aug 1968 to perform a routine courier mission in support of the 9th Signaled BN, 9th Infantry Division. After takeoff, the crew of 66-779 monitored a radio call on guard concerning a downed dustoff helicopter. At 0606 hours the pilot of 66-779 called Bien Hoa tower on guard and offered assistance in search and rescue operations. Bien Hoa tower gave the location of the downed aircraft as about 6 miles south of Zuan Loc. The pilot of 66-779 advised Bien Hoa tower that he was proceeding from Bearcat enroute to the area of the downed aircraft and start a search. The last radio transmission from the crew of 66-779 to Bien Hoa tower was at 0608. At approximately 0619, aircraft 66-779 struck a non-electrical support cable of the power lines that cross highway 1 at coordinates YT 155113.
After striking the cable, the aircraft crashed and burned. The main portion of the wreckage was located 132 meters from the point of the wire strike.
This record was last updated on 05/25/1998
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Date posted on this site: 05/25/2020
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