allen_idaho
Hero Member
- #1
Thread Owner
I thought some of you might find this interesting.
Operation Frequent Wind was the final evacuation of Vietnam in 1975. In the chaos to flee the country, dozens of helicopters were filled to capacity with evacuees and flown to a waiting fleet of ships, just off the coast.
During the mass exodus out of the country, more than 7,000 people were transported to the waiting fleet by helicopter. But with so little available deck space, many of those helicopters had to go. The answer was to simply jettison them overboard and make room for the next ones coming in. As a result, 45 UH-1 Hueys and 1 CH-47 Chinook were pushed overboard. While several other helicopters were flown near the ships and abandoned in mid-flight when the pilots jumped out to be rescued at sea.
It would be very interesting to locate and dive one day.
Operation Frequent Wind was the final evacuation of Vietnam in 1975. In the chaos to flee the country, dozens of helicopters were filled to capacity with evacuees and flown to a waiting fleet of ships, just off the coast.
During the mass exodus out of the country, more than 7,000 people were transported to the waiting fleet by helicopter. But with so little available deck space, many of those helicopters had to go. The answer was to simply jettison them overboard and make room for the next ones coming in. As a result, 45 UH-1 Hueys and 1 CH-47 Chinook were pushed overboard. While several other helicopters were flown near the ships and abandoned in mid-flight when the pilots jumped out to be rescued at sea.
It would be very interesting to locate and dive one day.
