"Yes, Sir."
"You will discuss this-what mayor may not have happened at the Dant home-with no one else. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Sir."
"That will be all, Lieutenant," Bellmon said. "Thank you for coming in to see me." Geoff stood up, came to attention, and saluted. Bellmon returned the salute. Geoff did an about-face and marched to the door.
"See that he gets home somehow," Bellmon said to Johnny Oliver when the door had closed behind Geoff. "You and I are going out to Cairns. They're bringing the Chinook back with a Flying Crane."
"Yes, Sir," Oliver said, and started for the door. Before he reached it, the sergeant major opened it and walked in. "I thought you would want to see this, Sir," he said, and handed Bellmon a TWX.
OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE
WINDSOR, LT GEN, DCSOPS
HQ CONARC FT MONROE VA 1620Z IIJAN64 COMMANDING GENERALS, ALL SUBCOMMANDS
I. FOLLOWING FROM HQ DA FURNISHED FOR COMPLIANCE.
2. RECEIPT WILL BE ACKNOWLEDGED BY TELEPHONE AND REPEAT AND URGENT TWX.
CARTER, GEN, CG CONARC
OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE
HQ DEPT OF THE ARMY WASH DC 1600Z IIJAN64 COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, US ARMY PACIFIC COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, US ARMY EUROPE COMMANDING GENERAL, US ARMY ALASKA COMMANDING GENERAL, US ARMY SOUTHERN COMMAND COMMANDING GENERAL, US ARMY CONTINENTAL ARMY COMMAND
I. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY ALL REPEAT ALL CH47(SERIES) CHINOOK AIRCRAFT ARE GROUNDED, WHEREVER LOCATED. 'CH47-SERIES AIRCRAFT IN FLIGHT WILL BE CONTACTED AND REDIRECTED TO LAND AT THE NEAREST MILITARY OR CIVILIAN AIRFIELD.
2'. RECEIPT OF THIS ORDER WILL BE ACKNOWLEDGED BY URGENT TWX. NO REPEAT NO REQUESTS FOR EXCEPTIONS ARE DESIRED.
3. A TEAM OF USAF ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION EXPERTS ARE BEING SENT FROM WRIGHT-PATTERSON AF BASE OHIO TO FT RUCKER ALA TO ASSIST IN DETERMINING CAUSE OF FATAL CH47 ACCIDENT WHICH OCCURRED AT FT RUCKER THIS MORNING. THE POSSIBILITY EXISTS THAT ACCIDENT WAS CAUSED BY A DESIGN DEFICIENCY COMMON TO ALL CH47-SERIES AIRCRAFT.
FOR THE CHIEF OF STAFF:
Bellmon handed the TWX to Oliver.
"That's the message I didn't want General Windsor to give me over the phone," he said.
"Yes, Sir," the sergeant major said.
"Well, get the FOD to call them and acknowledge it," Bellmon said. "And then send them a TWX. I presume you've called Cairns?"
"Yes, Sir."
"And then call the hospital and tell them I want to see the commanding officer. And I also want to see here immediately the officers who went to see Mrs. Dant requesting permission to perform an autopsy on Lieutenant Dant's remains."
"Yes, Sir."
"Sir, I thought you were going out to Cairns."
"I am."
"When will you be back, Sir?"
"I don't know, Sergeant Major. Have them wait for me."
VIII
[ONE]
Cairns Army Airfield Fort Rucker, Alabama
1220 Hours 12 January 1964
Major General Bellmon and Captain Oliver, who were standing in front of Base Operations, with the AOD hovering nervously around, could hear the CH-54 coming a long time before they could see it. It was the largest, most powerful helicopter in the world. Designed and built by Sikorsky, it was universally called the Flying Crane, despite all efforts of the Army to label it Tarhe, after some obscure Indian tribe.
Bellmon wondered now, for the hundredth time, what idiot was responsible for the Indian-name nonsense, and how much time and money had been wasted on the whole aircraft naming business. Each aircraft had an official designation: a letter defining the type of machine, and a number. The H-13 was', in other words, Helicopter, type 13. The 0-1 was a liaison airplane, type 0-1. And the CH-47 "Chinook" was Cargo Helicopter, type 47. For some reason "Chinook" had stuck. But few of the other Indian names had. The H-13 and the 0-1 had also been assigned Indian names, but everybody called the H-13 the H -13, and the 0-1 the 0-1. Somehow the Indian name of the O-lA, the twin turboprop observation plane, the' 'Mohawk," had also stuck. But the HU-ls -were universally called Hueys.
And more often than not you got a'- blank look when you referred to almost any other aircraft in the Army's inventory by its Indian name.
The troops called aircraft what they wanted to- Huey and Flying Crane or whatever. Whenever the name they gave an , aircraft was the same as the one the Army officially dubbed' it, that was coincidence and nothing more.
In industry, Bellmon thought, if some middle-level manager came up with a stupid idea like that, wasting time and money on, something that wasn't important in the first place, you could find out who he was and fire his ass. In the Army, you were stuck with the dumb sonofabitch.
"There it is, Sir," Johnny Oliver said, and pointed to the east.
The Flying Crane, with the fuselage of the crashed Chinook dangling beneath it, was approaching Cairns low and slow. It was not alone in the sky. There were three Hueys and a Hughes OH-6, which had another infernal Indian name, but which, like the two other Light Observation Helicopters, was universally called the Loach. These others served, to illustrate how enormous the Flying Crane was. They look like porpoises around a whale, he thought, or maybe starlings around an eagle.
As Bellmon watched, the OH.,.6 suddenly lowered its nose and picked up speed and then headed across the field as the Flying Crane continued its approach to the runway.
Mac McNair in the Loach, Bellmon thought. Supervising.
Jesus Christ! Does he really think he knows more about the Crane than the people he assigned to fly it? Now he is going to land, get out of the Loach, and get in the way of the people who have to put it on the ground.
And then he had another thought: I am in Disposition Condition Four. I will have to watch myself.
"Let's walk over there, Johnny," Bellmon said evenly. He turned to the AOD. "Major, there may be a callâť
âśI'll have someone standing by to fetch you, General," the AOD said. As they approached Hangar 104, they saw that the aircraft normally parked there had been moved. What stood instead on the concrete parking pad between Hangars 103 and 104 was a tank transporter Lowboy, a multi wheeled open trailer which sat very low (hence the name) to the ground. The intention, obviously, was to lower the crashed Chinook onto the Lowboy and then move it inside Hangar 104. Normally Hangar 104 was crowded with aircraft having their avionics worked on by SCATSA, but he saw that it was now just about empty.
There were over a hundred people scattered around the area. Some of them with reason to be there, but the great majority were just spectators who had somehow heard that the crashed Chinook was being brought home.
What McNair should be doing is getting these people out of the way.
As if on cue, Colonel Mac McNair's Loach landed. McNair stepped quickly out of it, trotted to the nearest officer he could see, and spoke to him. Then the officer started shooing people off the parking area. McNair walked to the Lowboy, where half a dozen Officers and noncoms were standing, and then started looking around for the Flying Crane.
With a little bit of luck, the little bastard will-get blown away by the down blast; he doesn't weigh a hundred and twenty pounds. Serve him right.
"Good afternoon, General," a voice said, and Bellmon turned to see Lieutenant Colonel Charles M. Augustus, the bald, barrel-chested SCATSA Commanding Officer. He was saluting.
"Hello, Charley," Bellmon said, returning the salute. "Bad business, this. Have you met Johnny Oliver?âť
âśNo, Sir," Augustus said. "But I heard about him. How are you, Captain?âť
âśHow do you do, Sir?" Oliver said.
"The word is," Augustus said, "that they've grounded them, worldwide, 'pending determination of airworthiness.' âś
âśIt just came down. That hurt you?âť
âśYes, Sir. Bad. I have all kinds of radiation-pattern problems, especially with the FM antennas. I need another hundred hours' flight time.âť
âśCan't be helped, Charley," Bellmon said.
"General, how would you fe
el if I went to the Chief Signal Officer and explained my problem?" Augustus asked.
The question momentarily surprised Bellmon. 'Signal Corps Lieutenant Colonels do not normally communicate directly with the Chief Signal Officer of the Army, who is not only a major general, but a member of the palace guard in the five sided Palace on the Potomac.
But then Bellmon remembered that Lieutenant 'Colonel Augustus was not a typical commanding officer. For one thing, he had recently been selected for full colonel. For another, when he had come to Rucker, Bellmon had checked him out. He'd wondered why the Signal Corps had insisted on getting Augustus a space in the Blue Courses (the quickie flight-training program for senior officers), even though there were a number of Signal Corps full colonels who were not only already wearing wings, but who seemed better qualified to command SCATSA than Augustus.
What he'd learned about Augustus was that he was one of that small group of Signal Corps officers he thought of as warriors rather than technicians. For instance, Augustus had gone ashore on D-Day in Normandy as a nineteen-year-old second lieutenant in the Rangers, and he'd been a captain two days later. In Korea, he had served with Task Force Able, a hush-hush operation that operated behind the Chinese and North Korean lines. And between- Korea and his assignment to Rucker, he had the reputation of being the Chief Signal Officer's hatchet man, sent from one Signal Corps unit to another around the world looking for deadwood to trim.
Although it was physically on Fort Rucker, SCATSA was directly subordinate to the Chief Signal Officer and not to Mac McNair at the Army Aviation Board. McNair, who understandably thought that SCATSA should be there to fix the
Board's avionics, and nothing more, period, was often unhappy with Augustus. For Augustus considered that his mission was to provide Army Aviation generally with the best available avionics-his choice~ not McNair's. McNair had tried a half dozen times to have Augustus transferred and had failed. The Chief Signal Officer was pleased with what Augustus was doing, and how he was doing it, Q.E.D., or Augustus would not be Colonel (Designate) Charles M. Augustus.
As Bellmon considered this, he noticed that the insignia of rank on Augustus's flight jacket was still the silver leaf of a lieutenant colonel. Most officers made a beeline for the PX to obtain the insignia of their new rank as soon as it was announced they had been selected for promotion. Augustus, to his credit, obviously thought he had better things to do.
In balance, Bellmon concluded, the only thing wrong with Augustus that he could call to mind was that he was too chummy with the Green Berets, not just with his own brother, which was understandable, but in particular with Colonel Dick Fullbright, who Bellmon thought was a real pain in the ass.
"You think going to the Chief Signal Officer would do any good, Charley?" Bellmon asked.
"There's no sense in sending Chinooks to Vietnam, General, if they can't communicate with combat arms units on the ground," Augustus said.
"The larger question would seem to be the one about whether we're going to be able to put Chinooks in the field, period," Bellmon replied. When Augustus didn't answer, he went on: "If your question is, 'Would I be annoyed?,' the answer is 'No, I wouldn't.' I don't think it will do any good, the TWX came from DCSOPS himself-but good luck. If you get permission to fly one, maybe we can too.âť
âśI think we're going to find something stupid happened here," Augustus said, gesturing toward the Chinook as it was maneuvered toward the Lowboy.
"Pilot error?" Bellmon asked a little coldly.
"No, I mean something like a nut that didn't get tightened.
A wrench that got into the transmission. Something really stupid." Bellmon shrugged and turned his attention to the Chinook.
The Flying Crane hovered over the Lowboy and then, just perceptibly, moved closer to the ground. The Flying Crane had a second set of pilot's controls, in a sort of second cockpit, which face to the rear. It was being flown from that position now. The rear-cockpit pilot could see what he was doing; the pilot up front could not.
When the Chinook fuselage touched the Lowboy there was a faint thump and then a creaking sound.
Ground handlers jumped onto the Lowboy and disconnected the cables. When they were through, one at a time, they raised their arms over their heads in a signal. When all of them had their arms in the air, there was a change in the sound of the engines, and the Flying Crane rose straight up for fifty feet, turned so the nose was pointing toward the runways. And then, dropping its nose to gain speed; it flew away.
Bellmon started to walk toward the Lowboy and then turned to say something to Colonel Augustus. Augustus wasn't there.
He looked around for him and saw him entering Hangar 104.
"He's headed for a telephone," Bellmon said to Oliver. "I wouldn't be really surprised if he got away with it. Having the Chief Signal Officer lean on DCSOPS, I mean. He's an interesting-capable-fellow.âť
âśYes, Sir," Oliver said. He thought: And I'll just bet he would know how to rig a radio so that Bellmon can talk on the phone from a chopper. I'm damned sure going to ask him.
Bellmon walked up to Colonel John W. McNair, who saluted.
"Two things, Mac," Bellmon said. "First, I called George Rand at Benning and told him to send his Vertol tech reps and the Lycoming ones if he can lay his hands on them down here right away. It's important that we learn what caused this as soon as we can.âť
âśThank you, Sir.âť
âśSecond, there was an unfortunate situation at Mrs. Dant's home involving two pathologists from the hospital. âś
âśI don't quite understand, Sir.âť
âśDon't spread it around, Mac. This is just for you. But they asked the widow for permission to retain 'specimens,' and then told her which specimens they would like to have.
"Goddamn!âť
âśI'll deal with it," Bellmon said. "But when you go over there .. . I thought you should know the situation.âť
âśYes, Sir. Thank you. Are we grounded?âť
âśWorldwide. And the Air Force, in what I am sure is a gesture of interservice camaraderie, is sending an accident investigation team from Wright- Patt."
The U. S. Air Force maintains a large aviation-engineering facility at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
"The bastards were probably sitting around on their packed suitcases," McNair said, "waiting for something like this to happen. I don't need the sonsofbitches.âť
âśThey are to be shown every courtesy, Mac," Bellmon said.
"Yes, of course, Sir," McNair replied. "But in point of fact, We know as much about these choppers as anybody; more than they do."
"As soon as you find out anything, I want to know. No matter what time it is.?'âť
"Yes, Sir. We'll keep at it until we find out what happened."
Bellmon offered McNair his hand, and what could have been a smile, and then started back toward Base Operations.
In the staff car, as they drove past Hangar 104, where the Chinook was being slowly pulled into the hangar, Bellmon said, "What did we forget to do, Johnny?âť
âśI'm speaking from a position of ignorance, Sir; I don't know what we're supposed to do. âś
âśWe've dealt with the families. We're doing everything possible. . ." He paused and thought that over. "We're doing everything possible to determine the cause of the accident. The press. . . . Goddamn, we've forgotten the press!âť
The Aviators Page 18