Stumbled onto the site

[McQ]

Thought I'd t least post an introduction as well as say thanks to the creator(s) and maintainers of it.

I was active duty Aviation from 1985-1989, serving most of that time in Savannah, GA. Hunter Army Airfield. Was in D Company (General Support) of the 24th, and then three years in:
1st Attack Helicopter BN, 24th AVN
(which changed designations a few times)
24th AHB

I am Viper 172. Vipers Strike to Kill!

I'll try to get some scanned photos in here, wherever they belong.

Have some good photos of one of our AH-1s that went down at the NTC, in CA. No fatalities, but you wouldn't know it from the pics!

Also will try and get anything worthwhile in here.

It's nice to find the site. Brings back lots of memories, good and not so good. Randy Potter was my Advanced Tactics Instructor at Rucker. What a great guy. I still think about him a lot. I have a terrific photo of him and some of us in "training". That one will be a priority to get scanned.

I also remember Hal Reichele, though I didn't "know" him. I believe I was still the Battalion S1 when he joined the Vipers. Glad to see that someone was able to give the correct info on his crash.
Anyway....

Pleasure being here.

William Glenn McQuaig
(CPT, US Army Aviation)

[McQ]

Here is the photo of CWO Randy Potter (far right, with the 7-iron) from my flight school. Yeah, those were brutal times! ;D

I'm the caddie with the great looking WWII flight cap.

Photo taken in the summer of 1985, somewhere in northern Florida.

Randy was a hell of a great guy.

I hope it's OK to post the picture. If not, please let me know.

[McQ]

Lastly, the AH-1 crash at the NTC, Ft. Irwin, in 1987. Hard to believe, but both crew members walked away (ran away, actually) from this. Even harder to believe is that although I was there and watch them drill the aircraft into the ground from my OH-58, I can't recall the date of the accident! I'm trying hard to recall it, but it's been 20 years. I can't find any remaining paperwork at all. Even the back of the photos isn't much help. I got these copies from one of the Safety Officers at the time, but the back of them only specify some internal office numbers and the year (87). Weird that I can't recall the date, but can recall everything else about the mishap.

Posting these in hopes that they will serve this site some good. Otherwise, they've just been sitting on a shelf in my office for 20 years.

Before the crash, taken by another AH-1 crew:



The wreckage, part I (note the transmission in the upper left):



Part II, from ground level (yep, that's the tail rotor in the back seat):



Aerial view of the entire crash site. Aircraft impacted first in the lower left portion of photo. The engineering tape that comes from left and curves down and to the right runs directly into the point of impact. They needed to move the tape out farther, later. A faint gash in the ground is just visible, pointing toward the wreckage. Two guards can be seen standing near the wreckage, for scale.

[McQ]

Was that the sound of a pin dropping that I heard? Crickets?
;D

[longbowwife]

LOL, Love the crickets Thanks for sharing your pics ! Maybe more people will share theirs as well

[McQ]

Thanks, longbowwife. I was beginning to wonder if anyone even saw the pics!

[longbowwife]

[Ralph Hobson]

Hi,
I was a crewchieft with D 24th General Support OH58 Flight from 88 - 90. Did you know any of the guys with 58flight?

[smokey]

McQ.....thanks for the photo's. I went through flight school in 89 and I think 44E was still there........hell, I think I even flew it. That photo of you and the guys on the golf cart is classic. Brings back alot of good memories. Thanks buddy and take care.

[McQ]

Ralph said:

Hi,
I was a crewchieft with D 24th General Support OH58 Flight from 88 - 90. Did you know any of the guys with 58flight?

I may have known some of them, but I'll be darned if I can think of a single name right now. I had left D Company by late 87 to go to the Attack Battalion.

[Tim OLeary]

Wow, I was a Observer/Controller at Ft. Irwin when this accident happened. We were amazed that the crew just crawled out and ran away from the wreck. When we went to look at the wreckage the tail boom was attached by a wire bundle. We assumed the Cobra had made a sharp turn too low and hit a rotor blade on the ground which led to a rolling crash dispersing the force and saving the crew. I am sorry, but I did 46 rotations in three years so i can't remember the date either.

[timoleary]

I spent 11 years 5 months in the Army flying OH-58s primarily. I was assigned to the 229th Attack Helicopter Battalion, 101st Airborne (Air Assault), then I spent three years at Ft; Irwin as an Observer /Controller before doing three more years at Schofield Barracks, two of those in the 5th Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 14 months as Commander of B Troop. I now fly small planes for Federal Law Enforcement in Florida.

[McQ]

Tim said:

Wow, I was a Observer/Controller at Ft. Irwin when this accident happened. We were amazed that the crew just crawled out and ran away from the wreck. When we went to look at the wreckage the tail boom was attached by a wire bundle. We assumed the Cobra had made a sharp turn too low and hit a rotor blade on the ground which led to a rolling crash dispersing the force and saving the crew. I am sorry, but I did 46 rotations in three years so i can't remember the date either.

Yeah, that was quite a wreck! Kind of a bad "return to target" with a tail wind, and the clincher of not leveling out in time. And it rolled three times, which did disperse the force enough to allow the crew to literally crawl out and run away. I'm also thankful that the self-sealing fuel bladder worked. There was no post-crash fire.

Nice to see somebody else familiar with this one. Thanks for checking in!

[smokey]

timoleary.....very cool. I also am flying fixed wing aircraft for a law enforcement agency (Colorado State Patrol). Are you a member of ALEA. Anyway, just thought I would say hi.