Another Seawolf gunship has surfaced

[Mike Dobson]

Gentlemen, please check your logbooks for B model 64-13980. This one is listed on our list of helos and was assigned to HAL-3 in Sept of 1970. I see no reference to damage but somehow, it seems to have made it back to the states, and now resides in a home owners yard in Punta Gorda FL.    According to a newspaper reporter from a Sarasota Newspaper, our helo was involved in a recent auto accident where a DUI driver left the road, entered the yard, and hit the helicopter ........  I'm not sure of the amount of damage, but I will try to connect with the present owner in the near future. Does anyone see a battle history in personal logbooks about this gunship?  It would seem that some damage was incurred as it most likely survived VN by way of a repair facility.

[Howard Jacobs]

Great find Mike!  I wonder if the owner would be willing to have parts from this helicopter sent to the ones that could use them that are on static display?  I know the one in Patriots point is messed up and I believe the one at the SEAL Museum suffered some storm damage. Not sure about the one on the Midway but I assume it's well taken care of.  Just a thought if the car did enough damage to it that the owner would not want it or would be willing to donate parts.

[Dan Arnes]

UH-1B 64-13980, Bell SerNo 1104

Information obtained from List provided by Sid Nanson, Aviation Historian (British Army Air Corps)
and:
List of Helicopters used in Vietnam assigned to HA(L)-3 based on U.S. Army Goldbook records after September 1966:

Assigned HA(L)-3 - 09/12/1970 - 08/11/1971, 846 Total Flt Hours with squadron.  

Below link says last owner Howe Bros, Shell Creek Airpark, Punta Gorda, FL

http://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=66080

These guys are also supposed to have another of our helos 64-14022
http://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=66082

Dan

[Don Poole]

Brothers....yet another opportunity on the part of my project to construct plaques for our plankowners/families as a momento. If anyone makes contact with these folks and they are willing to part with a documentable chunk of one of our birds, let me know.  I still want to make these gifts for our members, all at my own expense.....all I need is actual pieces....the rest is up to me.
Don

[tphillips]

I flew this bird in Binh Thuy 8 Jan '71 on a maintenance test flight.  It does NOT show in my logbook on Det 9 during my time from 01 February to 30 Sept '71.

[Kenneth Eward]

Has anyone considered asking the owner to donate 64-13980 to the Seawolf Association for restoration? There aren't too many survivors left, and it would be great to rescue this one if the owner is willing. If the Association is a 501(c) veterans organization, the owner could get a sizable tax deduction, and it wouldn't be hard to find willing private and public donors to help with the parts that would be needed. Some of the damaged parts could be used in the presentations to plankowners mentioned above.

We (VHCL in Wisconsin) are just getting started restoring 64-13984, which was a Seawolf in the fall of '71 and in all likelihood came off the assembly line alongside this Huey. It would be nice if both could be saved.

Ken

[Mike Dobson]

The bird in Punta Gorda has been going through a slow reconstruction ---- I'm not sure what damage she sustained with the drunk driver ----- but there are sources that seem to indicate there are two down there. BUT, keep in mind, there are a lot of miles of perhaps complicated travel to get a hulk anywhere  

[Kenneth Eward]

Hopefully the collision doesn't complicate the work too much - it'd be nice to see it whole.

[Dan Arnes]

Ken,
I show the following UH-1B BuNo's in that sequence as Seawolf helos:
64-13980, 64-13981, 64-13982, 64-13983, *** 64-13985, *** , *** 64-13988, and 64-13989,

but not: 64-13984, 64-13986, or 64-13987.

I know Goldbook shows an estimated history and not final authority, but it lists 64-13984 in 1971 as:
DATE  FLT HRS    UIC      UNIT          AREA          POST          COUNTRY
197101   4 3190 WG2PAA ACT 14TH ACR     GERMANY                     EUROPE
197102   5 3195 WG2PAA ACT 14TH ACR     GERMANY                     EUROPE
197103   9 3204 WG2PAA ACT 14TH ACR     GERMANY                     EUROPE
197104   1 3205 WG2PAA ACT 14TH ACR     GERMANY                     EUROPE
197105   0 3205 WG2PAA ACT 14TH ACR     GERMANY                     EUROPE
197106   0 3205 WG2PAA ACT 14TH ACR     GERMANY                     EUROPE
197107   2 3207 WG2PAA HHC 14 ARMD CAV  GERMANY                     EUROPE
197108   3 3210 WG2PAA HHT 14 ARMD CAV  GERMANY                     EUROPE
197109   2 3212 WG2PAA HHT 14 ARMD CAV  GERMANY                     EUROPE
197110   0 3212 WG2PAA HHT 14 ARMD CAV  GERMANY                     EUROPE
197111   0 3212 WG2PAA HHT 14 ARMD CAV  GERMANY                     EUROPE
197112   0 3212 WG2PAA HQ TRP 1 14 ACR  GERMANY                     EUROPE

and shows last time in Vietnam:
196803   0 1934 WC3GAA 116 ASLT HEL CO  VIETNAM                     RVN
196804  28 1962 3304   BELL HCPTR       BAILMENT   FT WORTH         AVCOM
and never returned to Vietnam.

I assume you have logbook records showing it as a Seawolf?

Or, I guess it might have been mis-typed 64-13980??

Dan

[Kenneth Eward]

Dan,

My mistake: the UH-1B we're restoring is 64-13948, not 984. (That's what I get for staying up past my bedtime.)

Cheers,

Ken

[Dan Arnes]

That explains it!