"Jump Over to the Other Side"

 

This happened during the mid 70's when the Comancheros were D. Co. We had a crewchief in our unit named Harry D Rogers who was just a little bit behind the power curve. This is his story as it was told to me. We had just got a new pilot fresh out of flight school who needed an orientation flight of the Fort Campbell AO. Harry D Rogers was the crewchief for the flight. Everything was going well until our unit IP had the new pilot try his hand at landing in a confined area. The newbe pilot was concerned about clearing the tail of the Huey, so he told Harry, "Chief, jump over to the other side and clear me down". The pilots felt a slight rolling motion. "Hey Chief, are we clear?" Silence. "Chief?" More silence. The IP glances down on the left side and there is Harry flat on his back on the ground! He must have fallen twenty five to thirty feet! Fearing the worst, the IP takes the controls and lands in a LZ about 100 yards away from the confined area. While the IP is shutting down, he sends the pilot to the hover hole to see what became of Harry. About halfway there, the pilot saw Harry walking his way! They walk back to the aircraft and check out Harry for any injuries. He had a few bumps and bruises, and the wind knocked out him, but was otherwise fine! The pilot and the IP asked what happened. Harry said that he thought he heard the pilot say, "Jump over the side and clear me down". So that's what he did. This is a true story. I have changed Harry's name to protect the innocent. And innocent he was. 

 

Tom Cavanaugh

D/101 Comanchero 4/74-7/76

 

 

© All Stories are under copyright to the authors and may not be copied and/or Used in any matter without the permission of Author. All Rights Reserved.

 

[Home] [101st Aviation Battalion History] [A trip to FSB Rockpile] [Richmond] [BBQ Deer] [BOOM BOOM] [The Boot] [Bug Eater] [CCN 1970] [The Counter Terrorist Raid] [Cyclic Climbs and Airbursts] [Miss America and Dan Feezell] [FLY DELTA’S BIG JETS] [Hideout Hog] [The Hand] [A/101 and Hamburger Hill] [The Hog] [A Hot Extraction] [Kosovo Trip After Action Report] [Jump Over to the Other Side] [Just say it was the Comancheros] [Raid on the Danang Deep Water Pier] [The Long Journey Home] [LZ LOLO, Lam Son 719] [LZ LOLO 03 Mar 1971] [Recollections of Lam Son 719] [Pilots I flew with] [A Reading from the First Book of Rucker] [Night Mission and Milo's Tower] [Summary of September 14, 1970 CCN mission] [UFO] [SOG HALO Extraction] [The Spring of 69 was an exciting time to be a Coma-Coma-Comanchero] [Stormy Weather] [VI TANH 1965] [Weird Harold] [Aviation songs that were sung by Crewmen] [Poems submitted by Veterans]

 Copyright © 1998-2003 A/101 AVN. All rights reserved.
Revised: 12/06/02.