Minuteman and Musket patch images created by (our late friend) Quenton Burge. Blacksmith patch provided by "Butch" Brant. All stories, letters, and pictures are property of their respective authors and therefore fully copyrighted ©. Information referred to as the Helicopter database is provided by and used with permission of Gary Roush, Webmaster of the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA) and is fully copyrighted, Copyright © 1998 and 1999 Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA).

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This site is dedicated to the men who served in field units on the ground in Vietnam . They sacrificed so much for so little in return. It was the duty of Army Aviation to support those brave men. This site is also dedicated to the memory of all the 176th AHC members who died in  Vietnam, for they will never hear a fellow Viet Vet say "Welcome Home."

I hope that each former 176th member who visits this site finds something of value, for the site is yours, made up almost entirely of individual contributions.  I don't know all the reasons why I have been so driven to create it. The seed sprang from an e-mail exchange between myself and Don West in early 1997 as we reminisced about Reg Cleve and other old friends. I think that Ed Covill summed it up best for me when he wrote, "You have provided 'the lit runway', 'the old couch in the Hooch', the mug of 'Musket Mead', and the camaraderie of fellow aircrew to unwind with at the end of a particularly bad mission. You also provide the vehicle to document the history of the 176th AHC. If we don't document it, who will?"

Carl Zipperer
Minuteman 27 1970-71

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From SEABIRDS: An Unofficial Illustrated Encyclopedia of Naval Aviation
Aerocatures (TM) and Text by Hank Caruso
Copyright 1995 by Hank Caruso
Published by Howell Press. Reprinted courtesy of the publisher.

Page 42
helo noun Helicopter, a flying machine that remains airborne by beating the air around it into submission. Some believe that continued intervention by the Almighty is also required. Helo crews acknowledge the religious aspects of rotary wing flight with their slogan, "To hover is divine."

"HELICOPTER PILOTS ARE DIFFERENT"
By Harry Reasoner

The thing is, helicopters are different from planes. An airplane by its nature wants to fly, and if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or by a deliberately incompetent pilot, it will fly. A helicopter does not want to fly. It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in this delicate balance the helicopter stops flying immediately and disastrously. There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter. This is why being a helicopter pilot is so different from being an airplane pilot, and why, in general, airplane pilots are open, clear-eyed, buoyant extroverts, and helicopter pilots are brooders, introspective anticipators of trouble. They know that if something bad has not happened, it is about to.

Hey G.I., you beaucoup ÐIÊN CÁI ÐÂ`U!

Flying formation in a combat assault during monsoon weather.
Flying combat missions in low ceiling/low visibility conditions with no navaids in the Americal Division AO was routine for helicopter pilots.
IFR conditions meant I Follow Roads or I Follow Rivers. Resupply missions in the mountains during monsoon season was extremely hazardous even without encountering enemy fire.
Picture contributed by Wallace Young

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This page was last updated on 06/24/2017
created on 08/24/1998

They will not be forgotten.

All stories, letters, and pictures are property of their respective authors and therefore fully copyrighted ©.
Information referred to as the Helicopter database is provided by and used with permission of the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA) and is fully copyrighted.