Maj. Van Reed
	Stars & Strips Newspaper
	See reproduction below...

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I Corp, Republic of Vietnam, 1969

Copter  Flies  on

Its  Ear;  Eludes

Enemy   Fire

By SSgt. P. L. Stacy

DA  NANG-- After  going  through  what  was  described  as "the

worst   experience   of   my   life"      while   crash   landing   his   battle

damaged   helicopter,  the  Marine   pilot   faced  another   hazard--the

enemy.

A CH-46 transport helicopter,  flown by Maj. Van  S.  Reed  (2279

Grandview    Dr.,   Decatur,   Ill.)    of    Marine    Medium    Helicopter

Squadron 165,  was  flying  from  Hill 55 with  an external load of sup-

plies and 10  troops  aboard  when  it  was  hit  by enemy ground fire.

"I didn't  realize  we  had  been  hit  until   I  noticed  the  nose  of

the  aircraft   begin  to  rise  and  couldn't  correct  it  with  the  stick,"

said Maj. Reed.  The  major  had  his crew  chief  direct all  the troops

to the  front  of  the  aircraft  in  hopes  of  leveling  the  helicopter. "I

couldn't  stop  the  nose  from  rising   and  knew  that  if  I  didn't  do

something  fast the  helicopter  would roll, then  it would be all over,"

he said.

After  reaching  a  75  percent   nose-up  pitch,  the  major,  using

his  rudder  controls,  slid  the  aircraft  into a  sharp  left  bank which

almost  put  the  helicopter on  its  side  but  brought  the nose down.

Again using the  rudders, Maj. Reed  leveled  the  helicopter  but

the nose  immediately  began to rise again.  With  no other  means of

keeping   the  nose  down,   he  continued   sliding   left  causing  the

helicopter  to  drop 300 to 400  feet each time.

"The  only  thing  I  could  hope  for  was  to  keep sliding  left  in

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Flies on Ears...

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circles  until  only a  few  feet  off  the  ground  and  drop  the  rest of

the  way," he  explained.

On  the  last  circle,  the  major   maneuvered   the  Sea  Knight  to

within five feet of  the ground  when the nose pitched  upward again.

"I knew  my  tail  rotors  would  probably  hit  the  deck first but there

wasn't anything else I could  do," he said.

Dropping  the  last  few  feet,  the tail  rotors dug into the ground

as   the  rear  of  the  aircraft  settled  down.   "The  front  of   the  Sea

Knight  then  slammed  to the  ground  driving  the  landing  gear  up

through the bottom of the helicopter between my co-pilot and me."

Maj.  Reed  assembled  the  troops and  his crew a short distance

from  the sea Knight, checking  to  make sure  everyone  was all right.

The  happy  feeling  of  being  alive  and  on  the  ground  was  short-

lived,  however,  where the Marines began taking  enemy  small arms

fire from a  nearby  tree line.

Maj. Reed  set  up  a  hasty  defense.   His crew chief and gunner

grabbed  a  machine  gun   which  they  had  removed  from  the  heli-

copter,  returned  to the  Sea Knight,  remounted  it and  began  firing

at  the  enemy  positions.

"The  machine  gun  fire  must  have  scared  the  enemy because

they  suddenly  quit  after  we  went  into  action,"  Reed  said.

Thirty minutes  later, the  crew  and  ground  troops  were  safely

aboard  another  helicopter.   A  CH-53  Sea  Stallion  helicopter  from

Marine  Heavy  Helicopter  Squadron 463  retrieved  the downed Sea

Knight  later  that  day.

- this article clipping  was submitted by Joe Morin

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	To the right is a view of the 46's cockpit. The striped deck (flooring) in the foreground is pushed almost perpendicular by landing gear.
	To the left illustrates why this was not a good day and that Lady Luck was aboard to assist in this controlled crash.
- photos courtesy of John Dullighan

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