Company A, 4th Aviation Battalion
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to the guest book. Don "Mad Dog" Rawlinson Posted 11 FEB 2013
A Company, 4th Aviation Battalion, 4th Infantry Division Index
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A Company,
4th Combat Aviation Batallion
Got this through Landis Bargatze, A/1/8.
Below is some interesting information from Don 'Maddog' Rawlinson. It gives
us grunts a different perspective on what the 'Black Jacks' of the 4th
Aviation Battalion did while supporting us. These chopper pilots and the
entire air crew were our life-line for survival in the jungles. An awful lot
of us made it back to the world alive, because of their bravery and hard
work.
A big salute for everything you did and
the many lives you saved in A1/8 and the other companies of the 1/8th Infantry Battalion.
-------------------------------
Call sign Black Jack ___, A Company, 4th
Combat Aviation Battalion (AM) - (AM = Airmobile, concept we deployed under.)
Initially when A Company first deployed we used the call sign Black Jack,
followed by the last three of the aircraft tail number. Later in 1967 that
was replaced by the call sign and the designated placement of 24 aircraft.
Example; Black Jack 15, was aircraft 15 of 24.
1. A total of 25 aircraft made
up an Aviation Company
2. Company = 4 platoons of 6 aircraft each and one
aircraft for maintenance.
3. Most missions were single ship missions that
involved support, resupply, command & control, Direct Artillery,
Insertion, Extraction, LRRP, Dog
4. Heavy Lift operations typically
involved three companies of aircraft (72 aircraft total) at 4 to 5 troops per
aircraft. Number of troops depended upon temperature and humidity, density
altitude. That could leave the troops exposed for up to 30 minutes before
we could get back with more troops or begin resupplying the troops
originally inserted. If it was too hot and humid, sometimes we couldn’t
develop enough power to lift off.
5. Single company support would put 24
aircraft carrying 4/5 troops per lift for a total of 96 / 120 on 1 lift.
They would normally insert an entire company into just about any LZ on one
lift, however, it would be about 30 minutes before any of us could get back
with supplies.
-------------------------------
Huey Aircrew:
2 Pilots --- The Huey was
designated a two pilot aircraft and required two pilots for safety and
cockpit workload.
Crew chiefs --- loadmaster, fire guard, daily maintenance
on aircraft, gunner during battle, loading and unloading of paxs
(passengers), helped to clear the aircraft
Gunner = Protection of the
aircraft, assist in loading and unloading the aircraft, assist with
wounded, maintain the weapons, helped to clear the aircraft
-------------------------------
The gunner and crew chief were responsible
for fueling, checking the aircraft upon landing, loading food, water,
ammunition, explosives, etc. on each successive flight during that day.
On
days that were particularly long and grueling, when we landed the pilots got
to retire for the day. Not so for the crew chief and gunner who typically
worked on the aircraft preparing it for the next mission, before their day was
done.
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