19 Minutes to Live - Helicopter Combat in Vietnam

19 Minutes to Live - Helicopter Combat in Vietnam PDF

Author: Lew Jennings

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2017-07-13

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13: 9781548484538

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"19 Minutes to Live" illustrates the incredible courage and determination of helicopter pilots and crews supporting those heroes that carried a rucksack and a rifle in Vietnam. Over 12,000 helicopters were used in the Vietnam War, which is why it became known as "The Helicopter War". Almost half of the helicopters, 5,086, were lost. Helicopter pilots and crews accounted for nearly 10 percent of all the US casualties suffered in Vietnam, with nearly 5,000 killed and an untold number of wounded. Lew Jennings flew over 700 Air Cavalry Cobra Gunship Helicopter missions and received Three Distinguished Flying Crosses for Valor. This memoir describes first-hand the harrowing experiences of helicopter pilots and crews in combat operations, from the far South to the DMZ, including the infamous Ashau Valley, Hamburger Hill, LZ Airborne and others.

Summary of Lew Jennings's 19 Minutes to Live

Summary of Lew Jennings's 19 Minutes to Live PDF

Author: Everest Media

Publisher: Everest Media LLC

Published: 2022-07-24T22:59:00Z

Total Pages: 55

ISBN-13:

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Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I had dreamed of flying since I was a toddler, and I had earned my Pilot’s license at age 19. I was working fulltime and attending community college at night. My draft classification was IA, and I knew in the back of my mind that I could be called to serve in the military at any time. #2 The average life expectancy of an Army Helicopter Pilot in combat was only 19 minutes. I was ecstatic and couldn’t sign the papers fast enough. I was a soldier first and a Pilot second in the Army, which meant that I would be sent to Fort Polk, Louisiana, for Basic Combat Training as an Infantryman before attending flight school. #3 My father had arranged for me to fly for the first time in a helicopter. I was shocked at how difficult it was to fly, and I was soon called up to start my processing. I took all the written tests, received a flight physical, appeared before an acceptance board, and received orders for my first assignment: Basic Infantry Combat Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana.

90 Minutes Over Cambodia

90 Minutes Over Cambodia PDF

Author: Kameron Brooks

Publisher:

Published: 2022-12-24

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9780578810898

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to fly alongside of a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War? Come along with me and discover what it was like to live, fight and fly a helicopter in combat in a foreign country 13,000 miles from home. The main story is a US Army helicopter pilot's account of a very dangerous 1970 clandestine helicopter rescue mission of four South Vietnamese Long-Range Patrol members from inside Cambodia. The book is also interspersed with other accounts of Vietnam War flying stunts, mishaps and near misses, some dangerous and others admittedly reckless, all during the author's one-year tour of duty in South Vietnam. The people mentioned in the book are all real and made up the author's family, both at home in rural Western New York and for one action packed year, his "new" family of helicopter flyers stationed at Camp Holloway, Pleiku, Vietnam.

Hornet 33

Hornet 33 PDF

Author: Ed Denny

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2016-10-13

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 1476625719

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Combat helicopter pilots in the Vietnam War flew each mission facing the possibility of imminent death. Begun as a series of attempted letters to the Department of Veterans Affairs, this compelling memoir of an aircraft commander in the 116th Assault Helicopter Company--"The Hornets"--relates his experience of the war in frank detail. From supporting the 25th Infantry Division's invasion of Cambodia, to flying the lead aircraft in the 101st Airmobile Division's pivotal Operation Lam Son 719 invasion of Laos to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail at LZ Hope, the author recounts the traumatic events of his service from March 1970 to March 1971.

US Helicopter Pilot in Vietnam

US Helicopter Pilot in Vietnam PDF

Author: Gordon L. Rottman

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2011-09-20

Total Pages: 136

ISBN-13: 1780960840

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The helicopter changed war forever. This book examines the range of duties helicopter pilots carried out in Vietnam, from air-lift, med-evac and fire-support to landing in high volume crossfires in 'Hot LZs'. Protected by little more than an armoured seat, operating in terrible conditions and flying long hours these brave men led hard, dangerous lives, and casualties were high. Following these pilots from initial deployment through to the deadly thrill of combat in a war zone, Vietnam veteran Gordon L Rottman's book is a crucial examination of the pilots who fought so valiantly for their country. Often unmoved by the politics of the war, conflicts at home and other social issues, the Vietnam helicopter pilots just wanted to fly. As the saying went 'who needs drugs, I'm already high'.

Rattler One-Seven

Rattler One-Seven PDF

Author: Chuck Gross

Publisher: University of North Texas Press

Published: 2006-06-13

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 1574412213

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Rattler One-Seven puts you in the helicopter seat, to see the war in Vietnam through the eyes of an inexperienced pilot as he transforms himself into a seasoned combat veteran. At the age of twenty, Chuck Gross spent his 1970-71 tour with the 71st Assault Helicopter Company flying UH-1 Huey helicopters. He inserted special operations teams into Laos and participated in Lam Son 719, a misbegotten attempt to assault and cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail, during which his helicopter was shot down and he was stranded in the field.

To the Limit

To the Limit PDF

Author: Tom A. Johnson

Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 611

ISBN-13: 1597974463

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Helicopter pilots in Vietnam kidded one another about being nothing but glorified bus drivers. But these "rotor heads" saved thousands of American lives while performing what the Army classified as the most dangerous job it had to offer. One in eighteen did not return home. Tom A. Johnson flew the UH-1 "Iroquois" -- better known as the "Huey" -- in the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion of the First Air Cavalry Division. From June 1967 through June 1968, he accumulated an astonishing 1,600 flying hours (1,150 combat and 450 noncombat). His battalion was one of the most highly decorated units in the Vietnam War and, as part of the famous First Air Cavalry Division, helped redefine modern warfare. With tremendous flying skill, Johnson survived rescue missions and key battles that included those for Hue and Khe Sanh and operations in the A Shau and Song Re valleys, while many of his comrades did not. His heartfelt and riveting memoir will strike a chord with any soldier who ever flew in the ubiquitous Huey and any reader with an interest in how the Vietnam War was really fought.

Firebirds

Firebirds PDF

Author: Chuck Carlock

Publisher:

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13:

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At age 19, Chuck Carlock volunteered to become a helicopter pilot, convinced that by the time he finished training, the Vietnam War would be over. Little did he know that he would see some of the war's most intense combat. This dramatic, first-person account propels readers into the chaos of machine-to-machine combat, chronicling some of the most ferocious combat undergone during the years of American involvement in Vietnam. 30 photos.

Snake Pilot

Snake Pilot PDF

Author: Randy R. Zahn

Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 495

ISBN-13: 1597973246

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Based on audiotapes he recorded during the war and sent home to his family, Randy Zahn's Snake Pilot recounts his experiences flying AH-1 Cobra helicopters during the Vietnam War. First deployed in Vietnam in 1967 and loaded with a formidable arsenal of weaponry, the Cobra was the first helicopter designed from inception as an attack aircraft. It dramatically changed the nature of the war in Vietnam by offering the Army, for the first time, its own powerful and highly accurate weapons platform for close-air-support missions. Randy Zahn arrived in Vietnam shortly before the 1970 U.S. invasion of Cambodia, one of the most impressive demonstrations by the Cobra in the war. He describes his stunning transformation from a naive, middle-class teenager from southern California to a hardened killer during his tour in Vietnam. Unlike the pilots who flew the fast-moving strike jets, Zahn experienced the war "up close and personal," witnessing the grisly effects of the Cobra's firepower on enemy soldiers. The author does not glorify killing but rather explains in sharp relief the kaleidoscope of emotions associated with combat: fear, revenge, hate, remorse, pity, and even ecstasy. He captures many of the ironies and nuances inherent in Vietnam, especially during the final years of the conflict. Zahn displays a sensitivity rarely found in memoirs written by battle-hardened warriors. This human element, combined with the vast amount of archival research and interviews with members of his former unit, ensures that Snake Pilot will become the definitive account of the role helicopters played in Vietnam.

Gunship Pilot

Gunship Pilot PDF

Author: Robert F. Hartley

Publisher: LifeRich Publishing

Published: 2015-02-24

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 1489703950

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It was 1968 and Robert Hartley was on his first combat mission in Vietnam as copilot of a helicopter gunship. As he and his platoon leader flew over the A Shau Valley, a Chinook helicopter engulfed in flames suddenly came into view. Hartley noticed tiny black smoking objects exiting the tail ramp of the aircraft. Seconds later, he realized those objects were men escaping the flames and plunging to their deaths. It was in that moment that he silently wondered, How the hell did I get here? Mr. Hartley was still wet behind the ears when he was tossed into the cauldron of Americas most unpopular war as an attack helicopter gunship pilot. As he shares a gripping, birds-eye view of battles that took him from the Demilitarized Zone in the north to the Mekong Delta in the south, Mr. Hartley compellingly details how he learned to rely on his superior training and equipment to follow through with his mission to kill the enemy and save the lives of his fellow soldiers below. Gunship Pilot provides an unforgettable glimpse into two combat tours of duty in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot soaring high above rice paddies and jungles attempts to fulfill his duty of protecting Americas warriors on the ground.