Helicopter OH-13S 64-15416

Information on U.S. Army helicopter OH-13S tail number 64-15416
The Army purchased this helicopter 1065
Total flight hours at this point: 00000305
Date: 10/12/1966
Incident number: G957ACD Accident case number: G957
Unit: 173 ABN
South Vietnam
Number killed in accident = 2 . . Injured = 0 . . Passengers = 1
costing 55640
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 1LT JONES DOUGLAS LEE KIA

Passengers:
SGT FREEMAN DAVID HAROLD, AR, PX, KIA;

Accident Summary:

ACFT RETURNING FROM OPERATION AREA STRUCK HIGH TENSION PWR LINES ACFT STRUCK NOSE DOWN FIRE AFTR IMPACT TOTAL LOSS WIRES APPROX 50FT ABOVE GRD

War Story:
Sp5 Larry Snedden and I, Sp4 Alex Horvath had the sad job of transporting said aircraft back to Bien Hoa soon after the crash. It was one of our aircraft. THE major cause of the accident was that the a/c was flying directly into the sunset flying west unable to see the power lines. The sad part is that this accident could have been prevented by flying just a few feet higher. The power lines were common knowlege to all aircrews in the area. from: Alex Horvath at Ajh1300A@netscape.net phone: 440-796-7734.

This record was last updated on 11/20/2002

The following is crew member information for this incident:

Name: SGT David Harold Freeman
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 10/12/1966 while performing the duty of Passenger.
Age at death: 27.2
Date of Birth: 08/06/1939
Home City: Gadsden, AL
Service: regular component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: 173 ABN BDE
Major organization: 173rd Airborne Brigade
Service: U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 11E-068
Aircraft: OH-13S tail number 64-15416
Service number: 14731935
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 11F2P = Infantry Operations And Intelligence Specialist
Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea
Compliment cause: weapons
Vehicle involved: helicopter
Position in vehicle: passenger
Started Tour: 01/18/1966
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - non-aircrew
Length of service: 06
Location: Unknown Province
Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
Casualty type: Non-hostile - died of other causes
married male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Relgion: Baptist - other groups
The following information is secondary, but may help in explaining this incident.
Category of casualty as defined by the Army: non-battle dead Category of personnel: active duty Army Military class: enlisted personnel
This record was last updated on 08/24/1996

Name: 1LT Douglas Lee Jones
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 10/12/1966 while performing the duty of Pilot.
Age at death: 24.9
Date of Birth: 11/04/1941
Home City: Erwin, TN
Service: AR branch of the reserve component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: 173 ABN BDE
Major organization: 173rd Airborne Brigade
Flight class: 65-22
Service: AR branch of the U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 11E-068
Short Summary: Skids struck powerlines at Long Binh on highway 15. Jones and MSG passenger killed. Helicopter crash.
Aircraft: OH-13S tail number 64-15416
Service number: O5321144
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 1981 = 19 Rotary Wing Aviator (Unit Commander)
Primary cause: Wire Strike
Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea
Compliment cause: weapons
Vehicle involved: helicopter
Position in vehicle: pilot
Started Tour: 04/15/1966
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - pilot
Length of service: 02
Location: Unknown Province
Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
Casualty type: Non-hostile - died of other causes
married male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Relgion: Protestant - no denominational preference
The following information is secondary, but may help in explaining this incident.
Category of casualty as defined by the Army: non-battle dead Category of personnel: active duty Army Military class: officer
This record was last updated on 08/24/1996

The following is Goldbook information on US Army helicopter OH-13S tail number 64-15416
It is provided here as an ESTIMATE of the history of this helicopter and is not intended to be the final authority.
This helicopter was purchased by the US Army in 1065.
Please provide any additional information on this helicopter to the VHPA.

 
DATE  FLT HRS    UIC      UNIT          AREA          POST          COUNTRY
196610  14  305 WARJAA HQ 173AIRBN BDE  VIETNAM                     RVN       
196611   0  305 WARJAA HQ 173AIRBN BDE  VIETNAM                     RVN

Please send additions or corrections to:

Gary Roush

Send comments and questions to the VHPA at ( webmaster@vhpa.org )

Printed from databases on: 12/28/2016

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