Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1H tail number 69-15684
The Army purchased this helicopter 0970
Total flight hours at this point: 00000238
Date: 03/01/1971 MIA-POW file reference number: 1712
Incident number: 71030110.KIA
Unit: 11 GS 1 CAV
Cambodia
UTM grid coordinates: WU955265
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: 1712 ()
Loss to Inventory
Crew Members:
C SP5 DAVID GARY CHARLES KIA
C SP4 SABLAN FRANK AGUAN KIA
AC WO1 BLACK PAUL VERNON RR
P WO1 UHL ROBERT DALE KIA
REFNO Synopsis:
BLACK, PAUL VERNON
Name: Paul Vernon Black
Rank/Branch: W1/US Army
Unit: 11th Aviation Group, 1st Cavalry Division
Date of Birth: 26 April 1948 (Santa Cruz CA)
Home City of Record: Central Valley CA
Date of Loss: 01 March 1971
Country of Loss: Cambodia
Loss Coordinates: 115940N 1055238E (WU955265)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1H
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
SYNOPSIS: On March 1, 1971, W1 Paul V. Black was the aircraft commander of a
UH1H helicopter on a combat mission about 15 miles within Cambodia in Kampong
Cham Province. During the mission, the aircraft received enemy ground fire,
crashed and burned. The helicopter apparently lost its main rotor on impact
with the ground. The vehicle exploded into a fireball. All the crew members
were aboard the aircraft at the time, and none were seen to exit.
Subsequent recovery efforts recovered the remains of the pilot and passengers
(no further identification available), but no trace could be found of W1 Black.
He is thought to have perished in the crash of the aircraft.
War Story:
Two Left Bank birds were shot down with the loss of
all personnel.
The second bird was shot down near Dambe, Cambodia (WU 955 265)
on 1 Mar 71. The 371ST people were SP5 Gary David and SP4 Frank A.
Sablan. They were O5H's assigned to the 371ST Radio Research Company.
O5H's are Radio Interecept Operators. The 371ST RRC supported the 1ST Cav
and operated at the time out of Phouc Vinh, RVN. The pilots probably were
from B/229TH as the aircraft belonged to the 11Th GS. I would imagine that
pilots were drawn from the Division if a shortage occurred.
The pilots listed as killed that day were WO1 Paul Vernon Black
and WO1 Robert Dale Uhl.
The aircraft, itself, was configured with radio direction finding equipment
and was unarmed except for personal weapons. It had a crew of four, two
pilots and the two O5H operators in the back. Their mission was to track
the enemy via of intercepting their radio transmissions and then fixing
their locations with triangulation. That called for flying slow and easy
with many turning patterns and reporting back to HQ what was significant or
not. The O5H's were not mere passengers as the report suggests in one part
but they were full time crew members of a special electronic surveilance
aircraft. Radio Research as it was know in Vietnam was in reality the Army
Security Agency and hence the classified mission. It was not what some
people called people sniffers.
The second Left Bank Bird, 69-15684, was brought down by a 37MM from 3000 feet and there was a main
rotor separation. The only friendly witness's to this was an ARVN Column
in the area. Their organization is listed as USARV because I think that was
who their mission was in suport of as opposed to the Division. The Cav was
in the process of repositioning for standdown and return to Fort Hood.
Larry E. North, March 1997, lnorth@cyou.com
There were three (3) original Left Bank aircraft in the 11th GS, 1st Cav. I know because I flew them as well as the two (2) assigned to A Co, 4th Infantry Div. The ORIGINAL three in the 1st Cav were tail numbers 66-16334, 335, and 336. The two in the 4th were tail numbers 66-16489, and 491. This account gives a different tail number to the Left Bank aircraft Paul Black was flying. The originals were D models which, I understand, were later converted to H models. While they were D models, there was 50 pounds of weight on the stinger to keep the aircraft within CG and also limited us to only 1200 pounds of JP-4. This was necessitated because of the electronic equipment mounted directly behind the front seats. (Since the electronics were mounted on a steel base, it could have been relocated to a different aircraft and, hence a different tail number went down.) Even the writeup by someone in ASA thinks there were 6 original Hueys. They do not mention any tail numbers though.
Luther A. (Al) Bennett, Jr at albennett@triad.rr.com May 2006.
This record was last updated on 05/30/2006
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Date posted on this site: 09/07/2007
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