Measels (left) and Lugo prep for take off.
Col. Measels looking his best.
Col. Measels wife of over 35 yrs. Kim.
"A Deans Slick Pilots Story"
For Dave Measels, the "Best of Times in the Worst
of Times" as a slick pilot in the 120th Aviation
Company, the "Deans" of Army Aviation, was
preceded by a few years. After flunking most of
my courses at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas,
I enlisted in the Army in August 1961. Several
years later, I completed Infantry OCS and applied
for flight school. In 1963, the demand for aerial
targets was still fairly low, so it was not until
the fall of 1965 that I made it to Fort Wolters
with the "Blue Hat" class of 66-6. In June 1966,
I arrived in Vietnam on orders to the 1st Cavalry
Division, but was diverted to the 117th Aviation
Company on the beach at Dong Ba Thin. After
several months of flying with the "Beachbums" in
support of the 101st Airborne Division in the
Pleiku area, at one of the nightly operations
mission briefings, it was announced that a
volunteer was needed to go to the 120th "somewhere
down south." Against my belief not to volunteer
for anything, I said I would go. So much for the
myth that only the best pilots were selected to go
to the 120th!
When I arrived at Tan Son Nhut in August 1966
after one of those great C-123 flights out of
Pleiku, I was put aboard the Deans ¾ ton cargo
truck "shuttle bus" to the Deans slick pilots'
villa on Cach Mang street in Saigon. I could
hardly believe my good fortune at being delivered
from a tent cot in the sand to a villa with
running water, clean sheets, and a real bed. I
found that missions in the 120th were indeed
varied. The Deans supported the Headquarters,
United States Military Assistance Command Vietnam
(MACV) and flew the Commander (COMUSMACV) who was
during my tenure Generals William Westmoreland and
Creighton Abrams. When I arrived, the slicks were
all UH-1 "B" models except for one "D" model
allegedly obtained solely for flying the press,
but seldom used for that purpose. I found it
strange that any bird and crew could be scheduled
to carry General Westmoreland on the theory that
if they were sabotaged, it would be tough to
figure out the right one. The aircraft were also
a stark contrast to those used by other generals
in country. The Deans' birds were unpolished and
did not have the plush seat cushions favored by
most generals.
Other diverse missions included support of the Air
Force by flying the beacon used by the B-52
bombers for their final course into the "box" for
"Arc Light" missions. The Arc Light missions
required two aircraft with one flying a tight
orbit at 500 feet above ground level over a known
reference point. The second bird was to assume
the orbit if the first was shot down. When clouds
obscured the reference point, the beacon bird
sometimes flew close enough to the box to see the
bombs as they passed by the door. After the
strike, the fun part was the low level passes over
the box for bomb damage assessment. Those B-52s
sure killed a lot of trees! Later in my tour, I
took some of the eight engine B-52 pilots out to a
box to give them an up close view of their work.
As we cranked, I yelled "COMING HOT ON NUMBER
ONE", followed by "COMING HOT ON NUMBER TWO" and
by the time I got to four, they realized they were
being had.
Another fun mission was the SEAL insertions in the
Rung Sat Special Zone between Saigon and Vung Tau.
The Rung Sat took on a much different flavor after
Captain Rogers and his Razorback crew was shot
down by an RPG. The wingman said they took one up
the "hell hole" and the rotor blades stopped
turning before it inverted into a ball of flames.
I returned to the pad just afterward and MAJ Ralph
Gonzales, the Operations Officer, took the left
seat and Captain Ray Sandlin, the Razorback
Platoon Leader, climbed into the back. At the
crash site, I dropped Ray to the muddy marsh as
low as the scrub trees would allow. After a few
more low level orbits, Ralph wanted to join Ray on
the ground so I dropped in again. Ralph
jettisoned the door and jumped his 200 plus pounds
out into the mud. It took full forward cyclic to
get the ship stabilized and gain a little slow
airspeed. Those on the ground were able to locate
the remains of one of the crew members and we
loaded all on board for the return to Saigon
Heliport just before dark, but it was not until
the next day before the pilots were found in the
seats of that burned out bird and the other crew
member was found. I still recall that was a tough
and emotional flight to make.
The Deans also flew air assaults to insert ARVN
soldiers into LZs around Saigon. On these, the
Razorbacks flew the more traditional armed escort.
Other slick missions included flying the MACV
brass out to the field, flying the Saigon press
corps out to get the latest hot story, support to
the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID), and many a "pigs and rice" mission. The
best part of the slick missions over a 90 mile
radius from Saigon was the "dead time" waiting on
our passengers at the Special Forces camps where
we would load up the bird for a visit to the local
free fire zone. Nothing like letting the door
gunners shoot up ammo while the green beret types
tossed out grenades, used their M-79 grenade
launchers, and fired M-16s at targets of
opportunity.
After flying enough that the Huey became an
extension of my hands, I was made an instructor
pilot and then the unit standardization IP. I had
great fun shooting touch down autorotations to the
sod around Saigon and to the runway at Long Thanh.
I also recall switching the engine fire warning
light with the master caution light, then turning
the hydraulics off which caused the red FIRE light
to come on, then we ignored the passengers as they
panicked trying to get the crew's attention.
Slowly but surely, the slick B models were
replaced with D models, then eventually with H
models. The Razorbacks kept their B models until
I departed in February 1968. Man they had it
tough getting out of Saigon heliport with a loaded
rocket bird. The Razorback door gunners also
pulled the barrels on their flex guns on short
final into the heliport. I recall they lost a
crew member when he fell out of the bird while
removing the barrels on short final and fell onto
the road between the heliport and the PX.
Earlier, I mentioned the villa in Saigon where the
slick pilots lived. The Razorback villa was a
short walk down the street. I recall that one
night Morey Safer visited the Officer's Club bar
to film for one of his TV stories and the
Razorbacks were being their usual wild bunch. As
Morey asked one what he did, he replied "I fly a
gunship every day killing Vietnamese…. uh, I mean
Viet Cong." Actually, he was right on both! I
always wondered how that story went over in the
States.
Eventually, I fell in love with Kim, the villa
club bartender, and we were married. As of this
writing in January 2003, we have been married for
over 35 wonderful years. We had two sons and both
served as Army soldiers. We returned to Fort
Wolters in February 1968 and I trained as many
pilots as possible so I would not have to return
to Vietnam. That worked until 1972, when we
returned to Vietnam where I was an airmobile
advisor to the VNAF helicopter squadrons at Pleiku
Air Base. In 1973, I was assigned to Fort Riley,
Kansas to command the 335th Aviation Company
"Cowboys." At that point, I became dissatisfied
with the challenge of Army Aviation. The Cowboys
had captains as XO, operations officer, and
platoon leaders and the warrant officers were all
Vietnam experienced. Flying air assaults on Fort
Riley was just too automatic. In Germany, I took
my first battalion command as an infantry major
and saw the leadership challenge was in other than
aviation.
My over 33 years of military service has included
command of three companies, two battalions, and
the 2d Infantry Division Support Command. I look
back on my time with the Deans and wonder about
where today finds company commanders Fred Farner,
Tom Daly, and Richard Beck; pilots Ralph Gonzales,
Frank Hunt, John Jones, Vincent Olson, Ray
Sandlin, Ira Greeley, Linc Shibao, Dave Johnson
and many others; the myriad of other great warrant
officer pilots, and the crew chiefs, door gunners,
and maintenance folks who pulled it all together
in the "Best of Times in the Worst of Times."
God Bless You All!
David A. Measels
