Spur's OH-58 Kiowa Still Flying!
History of OH 58A/C 68-16935 Helicopter as of 20 May 14
In June 1970, Troop A of the 3rd Squadron, 17th Air Cavalry - radio call sign "Silver Spurs" - began receiving some of the first OH-58A "Kiowas" in Vietnam to replace the OH-6A "Cayuse" as the Army's scout helicopter. 68-16935 was one of the first of ten replacement aircraft we received and one of the few that survived the war and continues to fly today.
The Spurs had 10 Scout helicopters (Aero-scouts), 9 Cobra gunships (Aero-weapons) and 9 Hueys (Aero-Lift) assigned to our troop at that time.
The Aero-scouts primarily performed low-level, low speed, visual reconnaissance (VR) missions to search for, find and mark for our gunships the elusive enemy and conduct bomb-damage assessment (BDA) missions while being protected by our gunships flying above. Due to their low-altitude missions our scout aircraft and crews often became victims of enemy small-arms fire. Repairing combat damage was the norm for those in maintenance.
Specialist Bill Sager (pictured below at Quan Loi, Vietnam) was the initial crew chief assigned 935. 935 not only flew missions throughout III Corps, South Vietnam, but also inside Cambodia during the 1970 & 1971 Cambodia incursions.
Most of the 3/17th and attached personnel received a Valorous Unit Award for their efforts during the 1970 Cambodia incursion.
The citation reads as follows:
Some of our Australian friends of the 161 Recce Sqn. - call-sign Possums - also flew 68-16935 while attached to A Troop.
Dave Earley, who served with the Possum's writes:
"They were on 29 June '70, with Tom White down to Nui Dat to visit 161, 10 July (again to Nui Dat), 25 July with SP4 Jacobs (he contacted me not long ago), and 31 July with Sgt Boyd out of FSB Mace."
Regards,
David Nickel, Spur scout pilot writes on 14 Jan 04:
"About the 'accident': [ref. 12/31/70] We were on a VR along the Song Be river, the eastern boundary of our A/O when we flew out of Quan Loi, with our snake when we started taking fire from the river bank. Since our feet were almost wet at the time the crew's pucker factor escalated about as fast as I pulled pitch. Fortunately, the only damage to either personnel or the A/C, other than to the crew's underwear, was to the tips of the rotor blades as we chopped through the jungle canopy. To this day I don't know how the VC missed us - even a '58 looks big from about 200 feet away - but they did.
"When we got back to Quan Loi I blamed the damage to the rotor blades on 'hostile enemy action,' but the CO wasn't buying, hence the 'accident report.' Not much fun then, but reading it now brings back some good memories of a great bunch of guys."
Paul Clergy, Spur scout pilot writes on 16 Jan 04:
"Called John yesterday and we talked for about an hour. I was able to fill him in on crew members of the 58, Cobra, and the CC Huey. Mike Billow and Mike Jackson (still trying to find him) were in the Cobra, and Lt. Robt. Colgrove was in the CC ship. Have forwarded info to Billow as he has kept all of his flight info back to Flight School.
"John asked about some insignia on the 58. Wanted to know what 'AA/G' stood for and I almost dropped the phone from laughing! Asked him if he had ever been to a drag strip and said no. Advised him that you were a drag racer and probably stood for 'Double-A Gas.' I barely remember seeing it on that 58, but had forgotten about it.
"John is going to try and bring 935 to Dallas for the VHPA Reunion in July, 04. What a thrill that would be. I also have noticed the name of Bill Sager as a Crew Chief/Door Gunner. Has he been to the site or has anyone located him? Do you remember where he might have been from?"
[Paul's correct, that's exactly what AA/G stands for. Bill and I conspired to paint it on the engine cowling because of our mutual drag racing interest, in fact the Young family still is racing - see: Edwards & Young.
Currently we have not been able to make contact with Bill Sager. He and I exchanged correspondence for a short time after I departed the troop until about the time the troop was once again flying across the fence inside Cambodia in '71 which as noted in the offical aircraft record below, was then 'classified' and probably why we lost contact. I do know Bill survived the war but I can't recall his home of record. - R. Young]
My personal thanks to Paul Clergy, Dave Earley, Dave Nickel, VHPA and John Peacocke of Sunrise Helicopters, Inc. for the information provided and for John's generous support of the Spurs!
If others have pics, logs, or any additional information - particularly regarding those who were flying with the aircraft on the dates indicated below - please contact John as he is working to reconstruct the complete history behind this aircraft.
Spur reunites with 68-16935
April 2008:
Following our Spur reunion in San Antonio, Bill Sager met up with John Peacocke for the first time and had the opportunity to fly his chopper once again after all these many years!
Bill Sager & John Peacocke with 935
9 July 2004:
Pam and I just got back from Houston, Texas. We finally had the honor to meet John Peacock of Sunrise Helicopters, and see, feel, fly in, and get some stick time in 935 on 2 July! It was a very memorable experience, to say the least.
John and Forest have done a wonderful job on the ship - it is in excellent condition! Hard to believe it is 34 years old ! Wish we would have had the current increased power back in Nam and the engine has over 1600 hrs on it, never got into the yellow with three people on board, 96 degrees, and nearly a full fuel load.
John has a GPS system on the bird that is really slick!
John Peacocke & Bear with 935
John, my personal thanks to you, Forest, Robin and all involved keeping 935 flying. It was an honor to meet all of you, and your lovely wife, Jennifer. What a treat for Pam and I !
I cannot put into words how special it was to fly in one of our old ships, one I knew well as scout line chief when it was new and joined our troop. Bill Sager was the original crew chief. Scout Paul Clergy was wounded while flying the chopper on 16 Mar 71 inside Cambodia. A patch the ship received in Vietnam is still present today on the left side, near the tail boom attachment point.
Fellow Troopers, 935 is in great hands! John is an excellent pilot ! I LOVED the take-off when John pulled pitch and pushed the nose over and later when he took us low-leveling! It was great to hear the blades pop when banking again! Pam's been on several commercial helicopter rides, but none like this one! It gave her a feel of how we flew in Nam, and the small size of the bird.
Since the Army had converted 935 to a C model and it flew in Desert Storm where it experienced a hard landing, John had it painted in Desert Storm colors.
7 May 2014:
Dear Mr. Peacocke,
My name is Michael E. Roeding I would like to contribute some information to your website http://northwestvets.com/spurs/68-16935.htm about Kiowa 935. I was her last Crew Chief and had the honor of having my last flight in an OH-58 on active duty in 935. I was an acting Maintenance Platoon Sergeant in A Company 4th Battalion 1st Aviation Regiment stationed at Ft. Riley, KS from 1994 - 1996. We were a Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance Platoon (TARP) "Samurai" for the Aviation Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division at Marshall Army Airfield. We received 935 along with another OH-58C around late June early 1995 from the 1st Battalion 1st Aviation Regiment "Gunfighters" who had inactivated in that same time frame. Our battalion was scheduled next to draw down, so it was in August 1995 that we received instructions for the retirement of our OH-58Cs, our original 6 plus the two (935 one of them) received from 1-1 Avn. 935 was one of 6 that flew cross-country from Ft Riley, KS to Van Nuys, CA to given to the LAPD Air Support Division (here is the story: http://articles.latimes.com/1995-08-22/local/me-37615_1_city-council). Upon arrival we handed over the keys and logbooks to the LAPD and were their guests for two days then we all took a commercial flight home. Back at Ft. Riley I took all the remaining bench stock, parts and manuals packed them into footlockers and shipped them UPS to Van Nuys. That closed the chapter for active duty OH-58Cs at Marshall Army Airfield.
The aircraft that flew to Van Nuys were:
68-16935, 70-15302, 68-16870, 68-16886, the remaining two are 68-16932 and 68-16737 I am unsure because of the clarity of my photos.
If you have any questions please contact me I would be happy to help in any way. I would also like to see if you have any copies of the historical files DA 2408-15.
Thank you,
Michael E. Roeding
Selden, NY
20 May 2014:
Mr. Peacocke,
I just reviewed my flight log book from Desert Shield and Desert Storm. As I said I was assigned to C Company 1st of the 1st with the Gunfighters. My primary aircraft that I flew in most was tail number 68-16761, but I also flew a lot in 68-16949, and 71-20349. Your aircraft belonged to B Company 1-1 and was one of only a few that still had the flat windshields. I actually logged 3.4 flight hours of combat time in your helicopter on 14 March 1991 and again on 22 March 1991 for 1.4 hours. That was after the ground war was halted and we were doing mop-up operations. In fact the OH-58 Pilots (PIC) were sent out on search and destroy in teams of two aircraft. LTC Hayles trusted me since I had been an OH-58 crew chief previously so I was one of the few WO1 PIC in the battalion. Most of the Apache WO1 were Co-Pilot gunners and not PIC. (Kelly Gulker was one however, that was a really good one. He was also from Junction City Kansas right there. His dad was a Viet Nam pilot.). We each had EOD guys on board and were destroying tanks by detonation. I was paired up with LT Massey who was in one of the other aircraft with the two EOD guys and I had one or two bales of det cord and plastic explosives, and I think they had the blasting devices in the other bird. We would land, roll back to idle, dismount the EOD team they would come to my aircraft, get the explosives, wire up the Iraqi tanks, BRDMs or other vehicles and set 3 minute timers. LT Massey would block the MSR by landing on them sideways to block any traffic from about 3-4 kilometers away, then once the fuzes were set I would fly the two EOD guys away a safe distance wait the 3 or 4 minutes, and then Kaboom. A really big K-A-B-O-O-M! One was a 5 ton Iraqi supply truck loaded to the top with 155 illumination rounds. It was an impressive explosion, we even got in a little trouble over that one. Several rounds would be cooking off after the explosion because the crazy EOD guys wanted to stack all the AK47 small arms ammo on top of the C4, and looking back on it was a pretty dangerous and dumb thing to do. We even joked about it because LT Massey after taking off banked to the left to go around to watch one of the explosions and burn and then was screaming about the tracers that were cooking off that were passing by his aircraft - he would have been the only OH-58 pilot to shoot himself down with secondary explosions. Dumb, really dumb, but we thought it was fun and funny at the time.
I do have the tape of me flying around Tallil airfield and will see if I can get it converted to a CD. I have been meaning to do that for a long time and my son has been telling me to do that as well. I will make copies of my logbook and send them to you from my work e-mail. I might even be able to send a color copy of my blood chit.
Looks like I only flew 935 in combat on two occasions for sure.
Before we left Ft. Riley for the Desert, we trained at the Apache Training Brigade at Ft. Hood Texas, but I did not record any of the tail numbers while I was there. I was only a WO1 at the time and left the flight records pretty much up to Flt OPS folks. I did not have very many hours and was not smart enough to keep a really good flight log until we got alerted for sure to deploy. Then everyone was keeping track of their flight time.
Mark McClure
CW3 (Retired)
Charlie "Attack" Company
Gunfighters
=====================
Vietnam History courtesy of the Helicopter OH-58A 68-16935 Information on U.S. Army helicopter OH-58A
tail number 68-16935 PILOT WAS FLYING THE ACFT J0 KNOTS AT TREE TOP LEVEL AND HAD A MAIN ROTOR
BLADE STRIKE.\\
Information on U.S. Army helicopter OH-58A tail number 68-16935
Information on U.S. Army helicopter OH-58A tail number 68-16935
The following is Goldbook information on US Army helicopter OH-58A tail
number 68-16935
Please send additions or corrections to VHPA information:
Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association
The Army purchased this helicopter 0470
Total flight
hours at this point: 00000497
Date: 12/31/70
Accident case number:
701231011
Unit: A/3/17 CAV
The station for this helicopter was Di An in
Number killed in accident = 0 . . Injured = 0 . . Passengers = 0
costing
4318
Source(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Army Aviation
Safety Center database.
Crew Members:
P O3 NICKEL DE
Accident
Summary:
The Army
purchased this helicopter 0470
Total flight hours at this point:
00000647
Date: 02/28/71
Unit: A/3/17 CAV
This was a Combat incident.
This helicopter was REPAIRED IN THEATER
This was a Recon mission for Unarmed
Recon
While in Operations Area this helicopter was Unknown at 0050 feet and
040 knots.
South Vietnam
Helicopter took 1 hits from:
Small
Arms/Automatic Weapons; Gun launched non-explosive ballistic projectiles less
than 20 mm in size. (7.62MM)
Systems damaged were: ELECTRICAL SYS
The
helicopter made a Forced Landing. Aircraft was capable of one time
flight.
The aircraft was diverted or delayed after completing some mission
objectives.
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was
created or updated: Survivability/Vulnerability Information Analysis Center
Helicopter database. Also: LNNF (Lindenmuth New Format Data Base. )
The Army
purchased this helicopter 0470
Total flight hours at this point:
00000695
Date: 03/16/71
Unit: A/3/17 CAV
This was a Combat incident.
This helicopter was REPAIRED IN THEATER
This was a Recon mission for Unarmed
Recon
While in Operations Area this helicopter was Unknown at 0060 feet and
050 knots.
Classified
Helicopter took 2 hits from:
Small Arms/Automatic
Weapons; Gun launched non-explosive ballistic projectiles less than 20 mm in
size. (7.62MM)
Systems damaged were: PERSONNEL, FUEL SYS
Casualties = 02
WIA . .
The helicopter made a Forced Landing. Aircraft was capable of one
time flight.
The aircraft was diverted or delayed after completing some
mission objectives.
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the
incident was created or updated: Survivability/Vulnerability Information
Analysis Center Helicopter database. Also: LNNF, FM386, CASRP (Lindenmuth New
Format Data Base. Casualty Report. )
It is provided here as an ESTIMATE of the history of this
helicopter and is not intended to be the final authority.
This helicopter was
purchased by the US Army in 0470.
Please provide any additional information
on this helicopter to the VHPA.
DATE FLT HRS UIC UNIT AREA POST COUNTRY
7004 0 0 W0Y6AA OS TO CONUS ITR CONUS AVCOMITR
7005 0 0 WHB1AA 166 TRANS CO VIETNAM RVN
7006 50 50 WAAMA0 TRP A 3SQ 17CAV VIETNAM RVN
7007 65 115 WAAMA0 TRP A 3SQ 17CAV VIETNAM RVN
7008 96 211 WAAMA0 TRP A 3SQ 17CAV VIETNAM RVN
7009 59 270 WAAMA0 TRP A 3SQ 17CAV VIETNAM RVN
7010 49 319 WAAMA0 TRP A 3SQ 17CAV VIETNAM RVN
7011 80 399 WAAMA0 TRP A 3SQ 17CAV VIETNAM RVN
7012 98 497 WAAMA0 TRP A 3SQ 17CAV VIETNAM RVN
7101 60 557 WAAMA0 3 17 AC SQ A TP VIETNAM RVN
7102 90 647 WAAMA0 3 17 AC SQ A TP VIETNAM RVN
7103 48 695 WAAMAT 3 17 AC SQ A TP VIETNAM RVN
7104 54 749 WAAMAT 3 17 AC SQ A TP VIETNAM RVN
7105 80 829 WAAMAT 3 17 AC SQ A TP VIETNAM RVN
7106 92 921 WAAMAT 3 17 AC SQ A TP VIETNAM RVN
7107 33 954 WAAMAT 3 17 AC SQ A TP VIETNAM RVN
7108 61 1015 WAAMAT 605 TC DS VIETNAM RVN
7109 90 1105 WAAMAT 2 17 ACV C TRP VIETNAM RVN
7110 107 1212 WAAMAT 2 17 ACV C TRP VIETNAM RVN
7111 73 1285 WAAMAT 2 17 ACV C TRP VIETNAM RVN
7112 4 1289 WAAMAT 388 TC CO VIETNAM RVN
7201 46 1335 WAYNAA 18 CAC VIETNAM RVN
7202 62 1397 WAYNAA 18 CAC VIETNAM RVN
7203 69 1466 WAYNAA 18 CAC VIETNAM RVN
7204 110 1576 WAYNAA 18 CAC VIETNAM RVN
7205 51 1627 WAYNAA 18 CAC VIETNAM RVN
7206 68 1695 WAYNAA 18 CAC VIETNAM RVN
7207 107 1802 WAYNAA 18 CAC VIETNAM RVN
7208 29 1831 WAYNAA 18 CAC VIETNAM RVN
7209 0 1831 WAYNAA 18 CAC VIETNAM RVN
7210 0 1831 WAYNAA 18 CAC VIETNAM RVN
7211 0 1831 WAYNAA 18 CAC VIETNAM RVN
7212 0 1831 W0Y6AA ARADMAC IN MAINT NAVAL AIR STN AVSCOM
7301 0 1831 W0Y6AA ARADMAC IN MAINT NAVAL AIR STN AVSCOM
7302 0 1831 W0Y6AA AVSCOM PROJECT LOAN ST LOUIS AVSCOM
7303 0 1831 W0MUAA ARADMAC IN MAINT NAVAL AIR STN AVSCOM
7304 0 1831 W0MUAA ARADMAC IN MAINT NAVAL AIR STN AVSCOM
7305 0 1831 W0MUAA ARADMAC IN MAINT NAVAL AIR STN AVSCOM
7306 0 1831 W0MUAA ARADMAC IN MAINT NAVAL AIR STN AVSCOM
7307 0 1831 W0MUAA ARADMAC IN MAINT NAVAL AIR STN AVSCOM
7308 0 1831 W0MUAA ARADMAC IN MAINT NAVAL AIR STN AVSCOM
7309 0 1831 W0MUAA ARADMAC IN MAINT NAVAL AIR STN AVSCOM
7310 0 1831 W0MUAA ARADMAC IN STORAGE NAVAL AIR STN AVSCOM
7311 0 1831 W0MUAA SUPPLY DIV 5TH ARMY FORT SILL TRADOC
7312 0 1831 W0MUAA ARADMAC IN MAINT NAVAL AIR STN AVSCOM
7401 0 1831 W0MUAA ARADMAC IN MAINT NAVAL AIR STN AVSCOM
7402 0 1831 W0MUAA ARADMAC IN STORAGE NAVAL AIR STN AVSCOM
7403 1 1832 W0MUAA SUPPLY DIV 5TH ARMY FORT KNOX TRADOC
7404 0 1832 W0MUAA ARADMAC IN STORAGE NAVAL AIR STN AVSCOM
7405 0 1832 W0MUAA INST MAINT FLT 1ST ARMY FT CAMPBELL FORSCOM
7406 0 1832 W0MUAA INST MAINT FLT 1ST ARMY FT CAMPBELL FORSCOM
7410 6 1855 WPZ699 NAT GUARD NAT GDZI
7411 2 1857 WPZ699 NAT GUARD NAT GDZI
7412 12 1869 WPZ699 NAT GUARD NAT GDZI
7501 5 1874 WPZ699 NAT GUARD NAT GDZI
7502 13 1887 WPZ699 NAT GUARD NAT GDZI
7503 11 1898 WPZ699 NAT GUARD NAT GDZI
7504 16 1914 WPZ699 NAT GUARD NAT GDZI
7505 20 1934 WPZ699 NAT GUARD NAT GDZI
7506 14 1948 WPZ699 NAT GUARD NAT GDZI
7507 2 1950 WQNST0 NAT GUARD NAT GDZI
7508 5 1955 WPZ699 NAT GUARD NAT GDZI
7509 4 1959 WPZ699 NAT GUARD NAT GDZI
7510 1 1960 WPZ699 NAT GUARD NAT GDZI
7511 2 1962 WPZ699 NAT GUARD NAT GDZI
7512 3 1965 W7NKAA NAT GUARD NAT GDZI
VHPA Head Quarters or Gary Roush or Mike Law
Printed from databases on: 08/27/00
Copyright © 1998, 1999 and 2000 Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association
The following recent aircraft history provided by
John Peacocke, Sunrise Helicopter, Inc.
Hooks Memorial Airport
20803 Stuebner Airline #12
Spring, Texas 77379
Phone (281) 251-4005
Fax (281) 251-8848
Website: http://www.sunrisehelicopter.com
June 2003
Information taken from helicopter logs still with the aircraft:
ABOVE INFORMATION TAKEN FROM OLD DA FORM 2408-15 AND ENTERED BY ARADMAC ,NAS,CC,TEXAS
15 Feb 1974 Received retro Grade by Sea 22 Feb 1973 and repaired for numerous bullet holes E.M Wilkey AVSCOM Manager AEM NO. FESA-6167 ARADMAC
28 Feb 1974 Acft test flown released for flight at 1735.5 acft hrs.
19 Aug 1975 TB55-1520-228-30-8 insp of Xmsn Link Assy C/W by AASF MT ARND AC TT 1841.
12 May 1976 TB-1520-228-20-21 Insp of seat belts c/w by AASF ARNG MT AC TT 1896.
6 June 1977 TB55-1520-228-22 Insp of Oil cooler blower C/W by USABA Amarillo TX AC TT 1962.7
25 Oct 1978 Various TB's and repairs by Bell Helicopter Textron Amarillo TX
08 Dec 1978 Aircraft modified to OH-58C By Bell Helicopter Textron Amarillo TX under contract DAAJO1-77-0013 AC TT 1972.5
10 Nov 1980 Gen-80-17 Remove 5 year old restraint equipment Bell Helicopter Textron Amarillo TX
05 Feb 1981 Co D 82nd AVN BN FT Brag NC
01 DEC 1981 Co D 82nd AVN BN FT Brag NC AC TT 2258.0
04 SEP 1987 Co D 1/82nd AVN BN FT Brag NC AC TT 2975.9
19 Oct 1987 OCM/ACE Team Ft Hood TX AC TT 2994.0
13 SEP 1988 Wire strike and Search light installed CCAD CORPC, TX AC TT 3065.6
04 Jan 1989 SOF OH-58-88-06 CCAD CORPC, TX AC TT 3065.6
21 Feb 1989 SOF insp and Accpt insp SVC CO 1-1 AVN REGT FT Riley KS 66442
06 SEP 1990 Casy heater insp SVC CO 1-1 AVN REGT FT Riley KS 66442 AC TT 3365.0
29 Jan 1991 M/R blade erosion SVC CO 1-1 AVN REGT FT Riley KS 66442 (Operation Desert sheild/ Storm APO NY 09784) AC TT 3383.3
13 FEB 1991 Hard Landing Insp SVC CO 1-1 AVN REGT FT Riley KS 66442 (Operation Desert sheild/ Storm APO NY 09784) AC TT 3408.8
10 April 1991 oh-58-91-asam-04 SVC CO 1-1 AVN REGT FT Riley KS 66442 (Operation Desert sheild/ Storm APO NY 09784) AC TT 3434.1
09 Sep 1991 OCM/ACE SVC CO 1-1 AVN REGT FT Riley KS 66442 AC TT 3458.0
01 Dec 1993 D CO 1-1 AVN REGT FT Riley KS 66442 AC TT 3852.5
01 Jan 1995 D CO 1-1 AVN REGT FT Riley KS 66442 AC TT 4072.1
31 July 1995 Oil sample Taken AC TT 4085.0 engine 627 TT
20 July 1997 Los Angeles Police Department Static display Van Nuys Airshow
17 April 2002 Flown to Hooks Airport Purchased by John Peacocke Sunrise Helicopter Inc.
20 April 2003 Aircraft put on line with the Patton Village Police department and integrated into the Houston Area ALERT team.
AIRCRAFT UPGRADES:
The exhaust stacks installed on 935 are heat suppressing units, basically they present a cooler temp stack because of the fins.
The T63-720 engine has about 100 (450 Total) more shaft horse power than the T63-700 (317-345 shp in Nam). We find we can stay in the green in almost all situations.
DESERT STORM:
