HORNBERGER JOE K
WO1 Joe K Hornberger was a potential member who died during training before going to Vietnam on 05/28/1967 from Mid-air
Fort Knox, KY
Flight Classes 67-1 and 66-23
Served in the U.S. Army
This information was provided by Greg Ross, Charles Oualline.
More detail on this person: Joe K. Hornberger
died on 5/28/67 (DDT) in the same UH-1H with
Dennis L. Knoll. I witnessed the accident at Ft.
Knox. The two UH-1Hs destroyed were #66-16032
and #66-16055. The other two pilots were injured
but obviously lived. I don't remember which ship
Hornberger & Knoll were flying. 10 of 11 men
aboard their ship were killed; 1 of 10 was killed
in the other. All who lived were injured and/or
burned. The two meshed main rotor blades.
From: Charles E. "Chuck" Oualline, July 2000.
Joe K Hornberger and Dennis L Knoll were flying
aircraft serial number 66-16055. PFC Terry Knoll
was also killed..According to the technical report
of the US army aircraft accident Form 2397-3.
From: Jay Stankiewicz
Stories from the Vietnam, told by the people who
experienced it
"The Incident at Dorret's Run"
I, too, along with my wife, was in the crowd on
the day the rotors of these to aircraft made
contact and crashed. I was a Spec4 and was given
two tickets to this "Fire Power Demonstration." It
was on the Sunday before Memorial Day on a very
hot afternoon in late May. The event opened with
ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK coming over the
loudspeakers. I am unsure of the number, but I
think it was 5 M60 tanks came up over the berm in
front of us firing down range. There may have been
some APC's as well. Then two Air Force
Thunderchiefs (I think) buzzed the crowed and
dropped napalm out in the valley. It was
deafening. We could feel the heat as the wind
carried it in our direction.
An LOH may have preceded them, then the two
UH1B's appeared in the distance. There was a
slight flash when the rotors collided, then one
crashed on its tail, while the other crashed on
its nose. The one crashing on its tail immediately
burst into flames; only 1 GI survived. In the
other one, there was only 1 fatality. All of the
survivors were injured. There is additional
information about the heroism demonstrated that
day by the survivors on this site for the 3/17Air
Cavalry unit from which the choppers flew.
northwestvets.com/spurs/317honor.htm
The crowd was in shocked, realizing immediately
that this was NOT part of the show. All medical
personnel were called out of the crowd, and
dispatched to help the wounded. But, any survivors
were aided by those still able in the two two
aircraft. A chaplain said a prayer and the crowd
was dispersed. We returned to the OD Army buses
and returned to the area on the post where we had
parked. It was a somber ride. The memory of this
has been seared in my mind for 47 years.
Witness 2
It took me over a year
to get it, but I requested through one of our
state's senators, a copy of the accident
investigation into this incident. It is about an
inch of documents. Any attempt to provide pictures
was rather futile as they had been copied too many
times to yield any details. I did not want to see
pictures of the deceased, but the position and
condition of the aircraft would have been of
interest. However, there are copies of the
testimony given during the formal hearing to try
assess what happened.
There are a lot of redactions (out of respect for
the deceased) but two things emerge from the
many documents. 1) the pilots had a limited
number of hours of flying time after competing
their training (at Fort Rucker, I am assuming). 2)
they tried to determine who ordered them to fly
parallel when the training and operational
protocol is to fly in echelon-slightly behind and
to the side.
Who was in charge and who issued the orders for
the pilots to fly side-by-side and at the exact
same altitude is not clearly revealed. It appeared
to be a public relations officer who thought it
would be more dramatic to have the Hueys split to
the left and right of the grandstand.
Unfortunately, they never got that far.
Other data and research reveals that there were 5
Soldier's Medals awarded for heroism that day
because of the actions of pilots or crew members
of the two LOH's and two Huey gunships who
immediately landed and rescued survivors from the
crashed and burning aircraft. They also flew
injured survivors to Ireland Army Hospital which
reduced the impact of the injuries by getting them
to medical care as soon as possible.
This Memorial Day (2017) will be the 50th
Anniversary of the accident. I wish there was at
least a plaque or monument to 10 soldiers on
Dorret's Run to honor those who died that day--in
the service of their country but in a senseless
sacrifice. I have never forgotten that day.
Burial information: Manila Cemetery, Manila, AR
This information was last updated 09/16/2018
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Date posted on this site:
10/23/2024
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