Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1H tail number 67-17801
The Army purchased this helicopter 0968
Total flight hours at this point: 00003111
Date: 04/02/1972 MIA-POW file reference number: 1812
Incident number: 72040220.KIA
Unit: F/8 CAV
South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: YD218628 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48QYD218628)
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense Intelligence Agency Reference Notes. Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Also: 1812 ()
Loss to Inventory
Crew Members:
ASTORGA JOSE M POW
CE SP5 PASCHALL RONALD PAGE RR
P WO1 FRINK JOHN WESLEY RR
P 1LT KULLAND BYRON KENT RR
REFNO Synopsis:
South Vietnam Ronald P. Paschall
Byron K. Kulland
John W. Frink
(1812)
On April 2, 1972, a UH-1H helicopter from the 1st Signal Brigade
with four men on-board was on a direct combat support mission near
Quang Tri City, Quang Tri Province. While searching for the crew
of a downed U.S. Air Force aircraft, the helicopter was hit by
hostile small arms fire and crashed. An airborne SAR mission
failed to locate any survivors and the crew was declared missing in
action.
In April 1972, a former People's Army of Vietnam sergeant reported
the downing of a helicopter on April 1, 1972, which crashed near an
anti-aircraft gun position in the vicinity of this loss incident.
The crew was believed to have been killed in the crash. In another
report, a former People's Army soldier reported sighting an
American POW in April 1972 who was being escorted by nurses near
the Ben Hai River in Quang Tri Province. The American was captured
from an aircraft shot down by People's Army forces.
In March 1973, surviving crewman Jose M. Astorga was repatriated
alive during Operation Homecoming. He reported that hostile fire
hit their helicopter's fuel cell which exploded, engulfing their
helicopter in flames. He believed all other crewmen died in the
ensuing fire and crash, and neither he nor any other returning POWs
had any knowledge that any other crewmen survived into captivity.
After Operation Homecoming, the other crewmen were declared killed
in action, body not recovered based on a presumptive finding of
death.
This record was last updated on 05/25/1998
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Date posted on this site: 10/25/2024
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