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| Spotlight
in History |
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"This
small piece of metal is all that remains
of CO$T OF LIVING after her fatal crash
on May 5th, 1967 near Bong Son, Vietnam.
Luckily, someone had the foresight to
hack the Go-Go patch out of the forward
crown and bring it home to the Army
Aviation Museum." |
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In late 1965, Boeing
Vertol specially built four Armed/Armored
CH-47A Chinooks. #64-13145, being the
prototype, went to Edwards Air Force Base
for flight testing. #'s 64-13149,
64-13151, and 64-13154 were off for
evaluation in the field. On January 18,
1966 LTC William J. Tedesco assumed
command of Field Evaluation Detachment
(Special)(CH-47)(Provisional) at Fort
Benning, Georgia. On April 19th, the unit
was redesignated the 53rd Aviation
Detachment Field Evaluation
(Provisional), nicknamed Guns-A-Go-Go,
and ordered to Vietnam for temporary duty
(3 months in Vung Tau and 3 months in An
Khe). It is important to note that during
this evaluation, the ACH-47A's destroyed
every assigned target they engaged.
On July 4th, 1966 #64-13151 lost its #2
engine on a gun run and was force to land
in a stump infested open field. #151
received major damage to the underbelly
and crossbeams. This forced landing
earned the ol' girl a new nickname and,
henceforth, #151 was known as "STUMP
JUMPER". Nicknames for the other
three ACH-47A's would be affectionately
assigned by each of their crews and
painted just forward of the crew door on
the right side.
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64-13145
"Cost of Living"
Lost 5/5/67
Bong Son, Vietnam
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64-13149
"Easy Money"
Restored 5/1/00
Redstone Arsenal, AL
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64-13151
"Stump Jumper"
Lost 8/5/66
Vung Tau, Vietnam
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64-13154
"Birth Control"
Lost 2/22/68
NW Citadel Wall, Vietnam
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Sadly, just 30 days
after her forced landing, STUMP JUMPER
was involved in a freak ground-taxi
accident with another Chinook (#62-2118)
at Vung Tau Airfield. STUMP JUMPER was
completely destroyed, literally breaking
in two. With this unfortunate news,
testing of #64-13145 at Edwards AFB was
halted, and she began her long journey to
join her two remaining sister ships in
Southeast Asia.
The 53rd Aviation Detachment was attached
to the 1st Cavalry Division's 228th
Assault Support Helicopter Battalion in
early December 1966 and redesignated as
the 1st Aviation Detachment
(Provisional). #64-13145, soon to be known as
"CO$T OF LIVING", joined her
two sisters a few days later.
Tragically, EASY MONEY and CO$T OF LIVING
had just completed a gun run near Bong
Son on May 5th, 1967 when the pilot of
BIRTH CONTROL was told that CO$T OF
LIVING had been shot down… they
looked to the rear and saw the fireball.
The accident investigation revealed that
one of her M-24A 20mm cannon forward
mounting pins had vibrated loose,
permitting the weapon to rotate upward
and fire into the forward rotor system.
The blades quickly separated from the
aircraft, causing it to tumble out of
control to the ground. CO$T OF LIVING and
all eight of her crewmembers perished.
Then on February 22nd, 1968, while
participating in the big push to
recapture Hue during the Tet Offensive,
BIRTH CONTROL was hit while pulling up
from a gun-run, and had to auto-rotate
into the dry rice paddies about 600
meters NW of the Citadel walls. Under
intense fire, EASY MONEY came in and
positioned herself between BIRTH CONTROL
and the oncoming enemy, suppressing fire
while rescuing the downed crewmembers. As
EASY MONEY was struggling to get airborne
from all the extra weight, she received
several hits which wounded some of the
crewmembers near the back of the ship,
but made it safely out to Camp Evans.
Before an aircraft recovery could be
attempted, the report came in that the
NVA had walked mortars up to BIRTH
CONTROL, completely destroying her where
she sat.
Since the Army would not allow the last
ACH-47A to operate alone, plus the fact
that lift helicopters were badly needed
in the field, the program was canceled.
EASY MONEY was transferred back to Vung
Tau, where she served as a maintenance
trainer with the "in country"
Boeing Facility until the end of the war.
After the Vietnam War, EASY MONEY
eventually ended up at Fort Eustis,
Virginia in 1995, where it served as a
trainer for the Sheet Metal Course at the
Transportation School. Through the
efforts of many, EASY MONEY was restored
and placed on permanent display at the
United States Army Aviation and Missile
Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama on May
1st, 2000.
There are some outstanding sites on the
Internet that provide "first
hand" accounts of these four heroes
of Army Aviation's proud heritage and the
noble crews who served with them. Thank
you for preserving this legacy! |
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Guns-A-Go-Go : Frank
White's excellent Go-Go website. Check
his Go-Go art work and memorial tribute
to the "CO$T OF LIVING" crew.
Tons of photos and a very interesting
site.
228th
ASHB : Jim Ketcham's AWESOME
Winged Warrior Page, with a continually
updated "228th ASHB (Assault Support
Helicopter Battalion)". Also
included is a great historical and
photographic essay on Guns A
Go-Go,
plus an extensive photographic account of
the restoration of "Easy
Money". Anything you want to know
about the 228th and Guns-A-Go-Go, you'll
find it here.
U.S.
Army TACOM - Rock Island :
(helicopter gunships) check this
historical entry for Guns-A-Go-Go
and a description of its armament.
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