USAF Helicopter Pilot Association

What's new . . .

As of August 7, 2014

 

Jollies in the Caribbean and attached story “Alice doesn’t live here anymore”,

The Third Pedro, Into Thin Air,  (experiences),

Operation Ivory Soap; added to 3rd ARRG, (units).  

 

As of April 7, 2013

Ponies, Pedros, and Jollys” “old”? Call Signs,

Stories from one of our own, “Kirkland,

41st Rescue Squadron

As of Feb 3, 2012

Added Wild Bill and the Fiddlers” and 6th Air Force”.

As of 18 Oct 2011

Added 345th Troop Carrier Sqdn and more on 2157th ARS and 23rd HES. Thanks to John Rivers for info and pictures. Added 23rd Flying Training Squadron.

As of 14 Aug 2011

Added stuff on Christmas Island, more links on “Pony Express”.

As of 8 Jun 2011

Added Area 51 Ops and Chopper in a Box to Experiences.

As of 9 Apr 2011

Added to 40th, added 4460th HS,

and The JG Cannon.

As of 14 Feb 2011

Added pictures from Bill Peel's scrapbook on 3rd ARS-Korea and more info on H-34 AFRES.

As of 27 Oct 2010

Added pages om Mid-Air Retrieval (MARS) operations.

350th Strat Recon Sq. 432nd Tac Drone Grp, 6514th Test Sq, 6593rd Test Sq.

As of 5 Oct 2010

Added some info to .581st, 37th ARRS, 40th ARRS,40th HES, 55th RQS and Operation Look See

As of 14 July 2010

Reinstated some stories in Experiences “that got lost in the shuffle.”

As of 8 July 2010

40th Heli Sq First All Female Helicopter Crew and Captain Abbe Warren is our first female pilot member. Welcome aboard, Abs.

As of 12 April 2010

I added a link on the Home Page to an Air Force Times database of USAF medal award citations. It allows you to look up by name the medal awards of USAF heroes.

Look up Awards for USAF Heroes

As an example, here is the link to the award of the Air Force Cross to Jerry Griggs

http://militarytimes.com/citations-medals-awards/recipient.php?recipientid=3476


As of 4 March 2010

Added a link to the "Links" page to display "The Aviation Cadet Program". Many of our members were commissioned through the Aviation Cadet Program. I believe it describes not only the history of the Cadet Program, but documents the tremendous contribution the cadets have made to the Air Force and to the United States. Along the way it also provides a look at the history of all pilot training in the Army/Air Force. Read it here

  


 

As of 25 January 2010

Added a link to the Virtual Vietnam Wall to the "Links" page. This page has photos and information on the persons listed on the Vietnam Wall. It does not list all names on the Wall, nor all of the Units serving in Vietnam, but has interesting information the the names that are included. It also has many links to other interesting sites. You can search for names alphabetically, by unit, or by date of death.

http://www.virtualwall.org/index.html


 

 

 

As of January 2010

The 2009 Reunion Report Information is posted under “Memories of our Reunions”.

Added Don Carty's tale to “Experiences”.


 

 

 

As of December 11, 2009

Added photos and stories to 22nd HeliRon (Helicopter Units)courtesy of Marv DeLong and Chuck Rohr.


 

 

 

As of November 20th

Changed the Membership page to show that all active duty helicopter pilots are eligible for free membership.

See the Membership page

As of November 4th

Added a link to the web page for the all personnel 20th Helicopter Reunion Website on our Links page.

www.20thhelicoptersquadronreunion.com


As of October 5th, 2009

Added a link on the Thule AB page to display the movie on the building of Camp Century under the Ice on the Greenland Ice Cap
Click to view 1961 US Army Documentary on the building of Camp Century

As of June 26, 2009

Added Don Eastman's CH-3 Air Refueling and Water Landing tests to History Page 2.

Added three more war stories to Experiences.


 

 

 

As of May 3, 2009

Added The Helicopter and American Helicopter Pioneers.


 

 

 

As of March 29, 2009

Added 606th Air Commando Sqdn to “Units” page. Thanks, Preston.


 

 

 

As of November 22, 2008

Added pictures to Reunion 2008 page.


 

 

 

As of September 10, 2008

Added more photos to more Reunions pages.


 

 

 

As of August 17, 2008

Added photos to 6593rd Test Sq courtesy of George Kekuna.

Added photos to 85 and 87 Reunions pages. I missed the 1990 Ft. Walton Reunion (daughter's wedding) and do not have any photos from there. Please send me some of your photos of Ft. Walton and any others that you might think appropriate. Also could use some from Dayton and AlbQ.

Edited some pages, ie corrections, typos, added photo credits,etc. If you notice anything that needs correcting, let me know. Could always use more stories and pictures, guys. Thanks in advance.


 

 

 

As of July 15, 2008

Added story of Rescue of Covey 585 submitted by Jon Hannan in “Experiences”.

Added Photo of first group of 917th Instructor Pilots to “Units” page. Thanks, Lou.


 

 

 

As of April 18, 2008

Added story about a Ride from the A Shau Valley submitted by John Bradford, ex-Army Special Forces.


 

 

 

As of April 5, 2008

Revised 20th SOS in “Units” to include pre- and post-Vietnam history of the 20th. Added Jim Foster's pictures to Hornets.

Added some personal stories from Marvin DeLong in “Experiences”.

Added Stead H-43B (Donohue and Kekuna) Sierra Nevada Rescue at 11,600 ft. in “Experiences”.

Added Air Force Times article, Capt. Tammy , submitted by Ted Smith. Adobe PDF file.


 

 

 

As of Feb 9, 2008

Updated 21st SOS to expand History from 1956-2007 to “Units” page.


 

 

 

As of Jan 15, 2008

Added 917th FTD -Tan Son Nhut AB, SVN to “Units” page.

Added 21st SOS-NKP RTAFB, Thailand to “Units” page.


 

 

 

As of November 20, 2007

Added 6593rd Test Squadron (satellite recovery) - Hawaii to “Units” page.


 

 

 

As of October, 2007:

Check out the new web page for Operation Look See – An H-19 flying from a boat to finish the survey of sites for the Dew Line.
Operation Look See - Greenland

I have added more comments and photos of H-21s in Thule compliments of Bob Adams.

Following his article, I also added an email from Tom Green courtesy of Jim Moore which describes the recent deactivation of the 21st SOS, along with a couple of photos. Sad thing! - Also check out the Stars and Stripes article usafhpa.org/21STSOSFINALFLIGHT.pdf

With the permission of Dale Robinson, I have added his entire article on the activities of the 20th SOS from 1976 to 1990 to our 20th Helicopter Squadron web page. Previously the article was available by clicking on a link to Dale's web site. https://usafhpa.org/20thponies/20ponies.htm

I have updated the MARS web page with photos from John Dorgan supplied by Jim Moore https://usafhpa.org/432drone/drone.htm

New web page on Thule AB, Greenland. Page is under construction, will be updated as new information and photos are received. Thule

Read about the controversy over the replacement Combat Search and Rescue Helicopter compliments of Dale Robinson. CSAR-X
Also read: http://dailyreport.afa.org/AFA/default.htm

2157th ARSKorea mid 1950's (Jun 07)

Read about the deactivation of the 551st Special Operations Squadron at Kirtland compliments of JB Moore.
551SOS1
551SOS2
551SOS3

Det 10, Binh Thuy - couple images didn't come thru, still working. (Mar 07)

The "Black Mariah" - the history of CH-3 #63-09676. (Mar)

58th ARRSThe Great Flood, Tunisia 1969 (Mar)

Couple of more stories in “Experiences”.

Redtail BirdsH-21's of 22nd and 24th Helicopter Squadrons. (Mar)