Hanson & Hubrins KIA
by Tom Ford
Our webmaster, Don Callison, for the combined site of C 3/17 and
D 3/5 conjoined twin AC Troops faithfully sends anniversary
notices to all of us combined Charlie Horse veterans on the
dates of the losses of our brothers.
The narratives are in some cases incorrect to some degree, and
the time and distance only makes these narratives more confusing
as they likely conflict with the true history of the
events.
Those discrepancies are largely why I wrote the Troop history
and I'm grateful that you at the VHPA who graciously published
it, and I'm equally thankful for Don's dedication to an effort
that benefits all of us..
It was an effort I made for the next of kin and the descendants
of our lost brothers to know the events leading to the loss of
their loved ones.
The incident that was emailed to us commemorates the Sept 24,
1971 loss of a scout aircraft and the death of two of the
occupants.
Accounts vary, but I'm concerned with the VHPA narrative as it
is incorrect in several ways.
On 24 Sept, I had deployed a scout team consisting of two
OH-6 Helicopters working as a team doing visual scouting in
the near vicinity of Quang Tri Combat Base.
It was combined mission, but primarily focusing on training of
the new pilots and crew members as the losses in the Scout
Platoon had been high and introducing new crews into a full VR
mission in the primary AO required hours and technique
training.
They may have been flying OH-58 but I think by that date the
Troop's transition into the OH-6 was complete.
Low level acrobatics in scouting takes a great deal of training
and I was deploying these teams into what we referred to as our
"backyard".
The enemy activity was usually low but the enemy traversed that
area regularly.
The mixture of the crew has led to many mistakes in narration
so let me clear it up hopefully once and for all.
In the aircraft that was forced down was a mixed crew of two
pilots (WO1 Hanson and 1st Lt Wagner) and a gunner, not a Crew
Chief, SGT Hubrins, who had transferred from P Co 75th Rangers
with a six month extension to fly in the Scout Platoon.
Lt Wagner was in control of the aircraft and either snagged a
tree with the tail rotor or took some small arms fire, that
issue will never be clear,
and executed a decent forced landing into some high brush and
trees.
The proximity to the base had two COBRA and a UH-1 Charlie Horse
team there almost immediately and the area was
secure.
The UH-1 had an ARP team but there was no clearing near to
execute an insert, and the crew had no rope or harness to lift
the crew out to a clearing for extract.
Amazingly, two 101st AB CH-47 were passing and monitoring our
radio, one offered to do an extract and lift two crew members at
a time to a clearing for our HUEY to extract.
Lt Wagner, having been the acting aircraft commander and the
least banged up, ordered Hanson and Hubrins to harness up and
he'd take the second lift.
What happened then is tragic but this is the best answer I
have.
As the lift of the two crew members was being executed, the Crew
chief of the CH-47 was unfamiliar with the mechanics of the
lifting system.
It has been explained to me by several persons at different
times that there is a selection switch for hoisting people into
the aircraft, and a separate switch for hoisting
equipment.
There was some confusion and as the two neared the hatch,
somehow the mechanism released them and they fell.
The two CH-47 left, and I can understand the shock that must
have been felt, and I've heard that the 47 AC never got over the
incident, but I never got to debrief the pilots involved.
By the time of the actual extract, several more Charlie Horse
aircraft had gotten on station and one, with a rope harness,
extracted Lt Wagner, and Charlie Horse ARPs were able to recover
the two dropped crew members.
Hanson was KIA but Hubrins was alive, only to pass later in the
hospital system.
Charlie Horse Maintenance teams along with the ARPs recovered
the downed Scout Aircraft.
That's the history as I know it, and I was the Operations
Officer and all the reports went through my bunker and I
debriefed all the D 3/5 crew members involved.
Tom Ford
Charlie Horse 26/3
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