118th AHC
This is an authentic Vietnam era "Huey" that belonging to the 118th Thunderbirds. In 1964 it was landed near to a Vietnamese village and sustained some fairly severe damage to include "smiled" skids.
Records also show the crew to have been:
AC-WO1 Barry H. Semon
P- 1LT John "Jack" P. Clark
CE-W. N. Paradis
G- Lloyd A. Kerns
Personal Remembrance of Jack Clark on the crash of Thunderbird 62--02104:
Until the arrival of the 173rd Airborne Brigade and an Aussie battalion at Bien Hoa, in late 1964 and early 1965, the 118th sent a Huey and crew on week-long assignments to Phouc Vinh and Tay Ninh. The mission was to support the local American advisors and their Vietnamese counterparts and troops, to be on call at any hour day or night.
uring the third week of December 1964, WO Barry Semon, Specialist W. N. Paradis, Crew Chief, a gunner Lloyd Kearns and I were sent to Tay Ninh. For the most part it was a quiet week of "ass and trash." One notable event was our return from Trapan Roban (sp?), perhaps a dozen clicks west of Tay Ninh, with a very heavy load of unused barbed wire. At the controls, WO Semon accelerated at low level to 60+ knots and then did a rapid cyclic climb. Very unnecessary in a relatively safe area. I could feel my butt eating my seat cushion and imagined the "Jesus-nut" was feeling the same Gs. I certainly overstepped some boundaries when I asked WO Semon not to do that again -- I was only a few weeks in country and he was an experienced Aircraft Commander. He must have resented my criticism, because from then on he did all the flying.
Later in the week, he pulled the same maneuver coming off the Tay Ninh airstrip - a totally safe area. I pushed the cyclic forward to make my point - don't do that again! He must have understood, because he didn't say a word. A day or so later, again leaving the airstrip, he did it again. I was just about to call in our mission to Saigon when, at about 800-900 feet, the engine quit. I recall seeing the rotor rpm drop below 200 and we plummeted as our rate of descent climbed to over 3000 feet per minute - so fast my foot couldn't catch up to the floor microphone button as we fell out of the sky.
I assume WO Semon realized that we had so little rotor momentum that a normal flair and landing wouldn't work. As we very rapidly approached the ground, he evidently decided to make a running landing on a cart-way between some hooches. Good choice, except 1) we were going some 60 knots when we touched down, 2) the cart-way was no more than 15-20 feet wide, and 3) on each side of the cart-way was a drainage ditch. Amazing how, in the worst circumstances, time seems to slow down and details become very clear.
As we ran out of right pedal, the Huey slid toward the left-hand ditch. In slow motion in my imagination, the left skid was going to drop into the ditch and we would tumble tail over nose. Instead, the best possible thing occurred:: the ditch was just the perfect depth so that when the skid dropped in, it broke off cleanly. The belly skidded along the ground on the other side of the ditch, the right skid dropped into the ditch, and the Huey stopped in a perfectly level position against a post.
It was a wild ride, but everyone came out uninjured. However, our egos were tarnished a bit and the local children came out in huge numbers to "gawk" as they always did!