Comprising a Life
The Bonsai, Travels and Haiku of Vaughn Banting
Views taken from helicopters
It is often said that the war in Vietnam was the helicopter war and to the extent that to this day, I only bother looking up when I hear that distinctive propwash from a Huey helicopter I guess its true.
In my various duties in Vietnam I put in enough total air hours in the Huey helicopter to earn an air metal. Although most of those hours were garnered while attached to an Army aviation battalion, the air hours I accumulated during the goings and comings from missions in the bush also added up. As RTO(radio/telephone operator) for my platoon I not only rode in a lot of helicopters but I also called a lot of them in, including my own dust off (medical evacuation helicopter) when I was wounded.
But the thing I liked most about helicopters was the perspective they offered you. From a commercial airliner one sees things from above but to such an extent that all human scale is lost. Where as to due to the low elevations that we flew at, traveling in a helicopter in Vietnam was more like a magic carpet ride (that is if you were lucky enough not to collide with a bullet during your flight).
Here is Vietnam from the air. Enjoy your flight.
Michelin Rubber Co. was very big in Vietnam, with plantations. stretching as far as the eye could see. But true to course their French owners had arrangements with the Viet Cong that their workers were never attacked. We enjoyed no such scheme.
All the doorgunner's fixed machineguns had been modified with bean cans to help the belt feed better
No one but I seemed to be interested in these ancient ruins. I looked up the civilization that they had to have belonged to once but I have forgotten.
