CW2 Martin Beckman provided the following list of AH-1G aircraft assigned to Company D, 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Air Cavalry, for the time period 1969-1970
12 AH-1G’s and 1 LOH assigned with their serial numbers (where known) and nicknames
A/C Nickname Serial Number
I
II Montana Mercenary
III Leprechaun and Raid 68-15058
IV
V Corsair 68-17077 ???
VI Arizona Gambler
VII The Odyssey 548 ????
VIII Johnny* then “Ghost”? 442 ??? *first VIII crashed
IX Hulk 66-15262
X The Gremlin 67-15803 VHPA Mag. Vol.23,No.1
XI Timujin Ship 67-15768
XII
XIII El-Loch-O -14388 (OH-6A)
We lost three ships between Aug 69 and Aug 70 that I know something about, one was Captain Carl Chapman, one WO1 Glenn Hirata, and one was one of our of our IP’s Warrant Officer Clark with an engine failure.
Carl was shot down near Song Be, a .50 Cal to the tail rotor, Glenn crashed, and the IP forgot to flare at the end of an autorotation to Thunder Road, near Thunder one just north of Lai Khe. I was part of this flight of two returning to LK.
Hi…I came in to Co D in January 70. I went down in 67-15674 on Jan 10 of 70. 674 was named, “Experience” with CW-2 Wally Schumaker. I was in the unit until it became E Troop…and left Dec 21, 70.
JH
Looking for a Thomas L Nelson who may have been assigned in June 1968.
I was in D company 68 thru69, door gunner on 624 B with steve Burris crewchief at camp Evans, then to Lai Khe where I took over Louis Baumas cobra ‘The Mercenary’ as crew cheif and renamed it the ‘Montana Mercenary’.
Really missed flying in the old B model.
Richard Quimby?
Does anybody remember Thomas Donnelly? He was in the company in 1970. He worked on Cobra helicopters. Thanks.
I have a picture of “Johnny” VIII with my Papaw, John Blott. Taken in 68/69, would love to share it with anyone interested!
Just realized I also have a picture of El -Loch-O XIII 14388 also 🙂