67-18542

 

 

          C Company - "Platex", 159th Assault Support Helicopter Battalion, unit patch, circa 1971.
Property of

C Company - "Platex"

159th Assault Support Helicopter Battalion

Republic of Vietnam

1971

 

 

         
1973: CH-47C Chinook helicopter 67-18542 sitting on a barge enroute to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia in 1973. The aircraft was transported from Fort Eustis, Virgina, and was destined for destruction as part of the crash testing conducted in support of the U.S. Army by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

             1973: CH-47C Chinook helicopter 67-18542 sitting on a barge enroute to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia in 1973. The aircraft was transported from Fort Eustis, Virgina, and was destined for destruction as part of the crash testing conducted in support of the U.S. Army by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Click-N-Go Here to view a larger image.

 

 

             67-18542, Boeing build number B-512, was a CH-47C helicopter. The U.S. Army acceptance date was 16 July 1968. 67-18542 accumulated approximately 1,519.0 aircraft hours. The administrative strike date was 1 July 1972.

   At some point, 67-18542 was assigned to C Company - "Playtex", 159th Assault Support Helicopter Battalion (ASHB), 101st Airborne Division, located at Phu Bai in the Republic of Vietnam (RVN). On 8 February 1971, 67-18542 was involved in an accident.

   The accident reports reads: "The accident occurred as the aircraft was being parked in a revetment after completing approximately 7 hours and 30 minutes of tactical missions. The aircraft was landed at Liftmaster heliport was taxied approximately 500 meters to its revetment. There were low ceiling and light rain falling, at the time, and it was during the hours of darkness. The ramp consists of M-8 steel matting and along the taxi way, it was uneven and rough. The pilots found it very difficult to taxi on the wet matting and on several occasions the aft landing gears had become de-phased. In order to be able to apply aft cyclic and the resultant pressure to the aft gear and to be able to use very little thrust, the aircraft commander elected to place the speed trim selector switch in the manual position and extend the forward trim manually to the half extended position. This resulted in the forward rotor being tilted forward and thus it pulled the aircraft forward. The aircraft was then taxied to the revetment and was proceeding into the revetment. When the nose was approximately 20 feet into the revetment the forward blades struck the left revetment was initially. The force of strike caused the entire helicopter to slide to the right and strike the right revetment wall. The forward blades made only one or two revolutions after initial contact. The sudden stoppage of the forward head caused the forward transmission to be torn loose and pulled forward breaking it away from the drive shaft and breaking off all manual and electrical controls. The aircraft turned or slid nose left in the revetment stopping as depicted in the sketch and photos. The engines were still running and aircraft rotors turning. They were brought to a stop by manually closing the fuel shut-off valves in the rear of the aircraft cabin section."

   There were two crew members injured: CW2 Steiner, R.A., Aircraft Commander and CPT Herrick, T.W., Pilot. CPT Nelson, R.A., was listed as a passenger.

   Following this incident a prohibition from extending the Longitudinal Cyclic Trim (Speed Trim) Actuators during ground taxi operations was placed in the Operators Manual.

   At some point, 67-18542 was somewhat repaired and returned to the Continental United States (CONUS) eventually winding up at Fort Eustis, Virginia, somewhere between the accident date and 1973.

   In 1973, 67-18542 was transferred to Langley Air Force Base (AFB). At some point between 1975 and 1976, 67-18542 was used in crash testing experiments conducted jointly by the U.S. Army, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the U.S. Navy at the Impact Dynamics Research Facility (IDRF) located at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia (see this article). The objectives of the crash tests were to evaluate the load-limiting performance of the seats, the structural response of the airframe, and the integrity of the cargo restraint systems.

   The last known location of 67-18542 was at Langley AFB. Aircraft status: Tested to Destruction.

 

 

          The Move to Langley AFB

 

 

         
1973: CH-47C Chinook helicopter 67-18542 sitting on a barge enroute to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia in 1973. The aircraft was transported from Fort Eustis, Virgina, and was destined for destruction as part of the crash testing conducted in support of the U.S. Army by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

             1973: CH-47C Chinook helicopter 67-18542 sitting on a barge enroute to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia in 1973. The aircraft was transported from Fort Eustis, Virgina, and was destined for destruction as part of the crash testing conducted in support of the U.S. Army by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Click-N-Go Here to view a larger image.

 

 

         
1973: A crane offloads CH-47C Chinook helicopter 67-18542 from a barge. The aircraft was transported from Fort Eustis, Virgina, and was destined for destruction as part of the crash testing conducted in support of the U.S. Army by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

             1973: A crane offloads CH-47C Chinook helicopter 67-18542 from a barge. The aircraft was transported from Fort Eustis, Virgina, and was destined for destruction as part of the crash testing conducted in support of the U.S. Army by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Click-N-Go Here to view a larger image.

 

 

         
1973: A crane offloads CH-47C Chinook helicopter 67-18542 from a barge. The aircraft was transported from Fort Eustis, Virgina, and was destined for destruction as part of the crash testing conducted in support of the U.S. Army by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

             1973: A crane offloads CH-47C Chinook helicopter 67-18542 from a barge. The aircraft was transported from Fort Eustis, Virgina, and was destined for destruction as part of the crash testing conducted in support of the U.S. Army by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Click-N-Go Here to view a larger image.

 

 

         
1973: A crane offloads CH-47C Chinook helicopter 67-18542 from a barge. The aircraft was transported from Fort Eustis, Virgina, and was destined for destruction as part of the crash testing conducted in support of the U.S. Army by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

             1973: A crane offloads CH-47C Chinook helicopter 67-18542 from a barge. The aircraft was transported from Fort Eustis, Virgina, and was destined for destruction as part of the crash testing conducted in support of the U.S. Army by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Click-N-Go Here to view a larger image.

 

 

         
1973: An aircraft tug pulls CH-47C Chinook helicopter 67-18542 away from a barge during the move to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. The aircraft was transported from Fort Eustis, Virgina, and was destined for destruction as part of the crash testing conducted in support of the U.S. Army by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

             1973: An aircraft tug pulls CH-47C Chinook helicopter 67-18542 away from a barge during the move to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. The aircraft was transported from Fort Eustis, Virgina, and was destined for destruction as part of the crash testing conducted in support of the U.S. Army by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Click-N-Go Here to view a larger image.

 

 

         
1973: CH-47C Chinook helicopter 67-18542 parked in the grass during the move to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. The aircraft was transported from Fort Eustis, Virgina, and was destined for destruction as part of the crash testing conducted in support of the U.S. Army by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

             1973: CH-47C Chinook helicopter 67-18542 parked in the grass during the move to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. The aircraft was transported from Fort Eustis, Virgina, and was destined for destruction as part of the crash testing conducted in support of the U.S. Army by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Click-N-Go Here to view a larger image.

 

 

          Crash Testing

 

 

         
Similar to 67-18542's demise, pictured is an unknown CH-47 Chinook helicopter undergoing T-40 crash testing conducted at Langley AFB in support of the U.S. Army by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

             Similar to 67-18542's demise, pictured is CH-47A Chinook helicopter 61-02418 undergoing T-40 crash testing conducted at Langley AFB in support of the U.S. Army by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Click-N-Go Here to view a larger image.

 

 

          This aircraft was piloted by:

 

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          This aircraft was crewed by:

 

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          Related Sites

 

          T-40 Crash Testing Report

 

          CH-47 Technical Reports

 

 

          The CH-47 - 40 years old and still circling the world.

         

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