Cover, Newsweek March 15 1971

Remember the rash of downings earlier this year? Well, looks like we lost another last week. Wikiepedia has a list. I was surprised at the total number.

There are a couple of things here - vulnerability of helicopters through enemy fire and maintenance issues.

The helicopter is a complicated piece of machinery where hundreds of pieces are working together trying to tear themselves apart. They are maintenance intensive and with additional flight hours are even more so.

I’m guessing that helicopters in Iraq are logging a tremendous amount of hours as they are probably the safest way to travel and avoid IEDs on the ground. Given the conditions in Iraq (dust and clay), enemy fire, more hours - This has to be taking a toll on our fleet.

Here is an interesting assignment for you from the “not everything is on Google department”.

Go to the library, head into the stacks and look through Vietnam-era copies of Time, Newsweek, or U.S. News and Report. It is very interesting top see how that war was reported. I’ve got a stack of old magazines myself and recently discovered a copy of Newsweek -March 15, 1971 - titled the Helicopter War. Seems appropriate given the spat of helicopter downings in Iraq.

The article documents a particular battle (Lam Son 719) where the US lost a lot of helicopters. We just invaded Laos. Helicopter tactics were evolving and Airmobile forces were a relatively new concept. In this battle, helicopters were thrown against conventional forces and basically were chewed up. This quote from the story basically sums it up.

“When we were in South Vietnam, we were told not to go out if the enemy had 2 .51 cal guns working together. Out there in Laos, those guns stretch as far as the eye can see”.

What was the turning point when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan? Stinger missiles taking away Russian helicopters. So if we can’t depend on helicopters in Iraq, well we are in big trouble. Oh yeah - what was the replacement time for a Helicopeter in Iraq?

Looks like everything is on Google . Here the article from a site documenting the battle of Lam Son 719. Or you can link directly to Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5.

Read the article and check out the box inset on Page 5. False briefings anyone? The more things change the more they stay the same.