Boeing CH-47A Chinook 66-19029.

66-19029

Property of the "Geronimos"

in Vietnam, 1967 - 1969

Geronimos' unit patch from the early days of Vietnam.

66-19029, Boeing build number B-287, was a CH-47A helicopter. The U.S. Army acceptance date was 16 December 1966. 66-19029 accumulated 1,510.0 aircraft hours. The administrative strike date was 6 May 1969. At some point, 66-19029 was assigned to the 205th Assault Support Helicopter Company (ASHC) - "Geronimos", located at Phu Loi, in the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). When United States involvement in the Vietnam conflict was drawing to a close, the 205th ASHC was relocated to Europe and became part of the 4th Transportation Command (TRANSCOM), United States Army Europe (USAREUR), and was located at Finthen Army Airfield, Finthen, near Mainz, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) (West Germany). In November 1988, the 205th ASHC was re-designated B Company - "Geronimos", 6th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, and made a subordinate unit of the 12th Aviation Brigade, 5th Corps, USAREUR, when the 4th TRANSCOM was de-activated. B Company was deactivated in September 1992. When the 12th Aviation Brigade stood down shortly thereafter, it was relocated to Fort Bragg, North Carolina and re-designated 159th Combat Aviation Group (CAG). The 159th CAG was relocated to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in 1997. On 6 May 1969, 66-19029 was lost due to an accident. While conducting a refugee transport mission, 66-19029 crashed on take off. The aircraft was fully loaded with South Vietnamese passengers when it suffered from a dual engine failure. The Flight Engineer, SP5 Wayne Allums, was killed after making several attempts to extract the crew and passengers from the burning wreakage. The aircraft was consumed in the post crash fire. Approximately 38 passengers died, and several others suffered severe burns. The last known location of 66-19029 was in the Republic of Vietnam. Aircraft status: Crashed.