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117th Assault Helicopter Company - "Warlords, Annie Fannies, Pink Panthers, Sidewinders"

Click here to visit 117th Assault Helicopter Company (Vietnam) Association

Click here to visit 117th Assault Helicopter Company


Warlord Crest


1st Aviation Brigade sleeve patch


Air Mobile Crest


Original 117th Av Co. Crest


Unit Crest when the company was re-named Assault Helicopter Company


Gag crest made up by 117th pilots circa 1968


Company Area


117th Operations


Side Winder Nose Art
Image courtesy of Dale E. Garber

A bunch of Side Winders


Eating some Coconut


Major David Jayne


Taking a break


Send Off





Chicken Plate


Having a Coke


Beach Bum Annie brings 'em back home


Annie 747


2nd Platoon Pink Panther


117th Chow Line


117th Flight Line


Drop off - "It was so humid that day that the slicks had to bunny hop their way to the edge of the mountain (in the distance) and then fall off the edge in order to gain enough forward air-speed to create lift."


A pair of Annies


Going in hot - Notice the white flash. That's a VC Rocket!


Air Assault


Ready


Warlord 26 with 50 cal


117th AHC 1st platoon Annie Circa 1967
Image courtesy of James Fischer

VC prisoner


Village


August 28, 1968 Home at last!


Plantation Inn - 117th Officers Club


(L-R) Lt Charlie Presnell, Lt Cummings, Capt Johnson


Not so good landing











Giving candy to children near Bagi, RVN 1968


ARVN Back from Patrol at LZ Courage, notice radio around neck


117th Tent Area Bao Loc RVN '67


18 C-130's moving day for the 117th IOC


117th at Dong Tam Airstrip '67


117th Swimming Mate


Helmet Art
Image courtesy of Mike O'Leary

Helmet Art - Photo 2
Image courtesy of Mike O'Leary

A "very" young me next to my aircraft's nose art.
Image courtesy of Dallas E. Figgins

This is my unit patch. I was with the 117th AHC in 1969 at Plantation airfield.? My callsign was Sidewinder08 and my a/c tail number was 488. I flew "firefly" missions, 2 "C" model gunships and one "H" model slick with 7 C130 landing lights in a cluster.? We flew 2 missions a night, one team flew three mission for III Corp then 15 min. standby the rest of the night, the second team flew 5 min. standby all night (lots of med-evacts)". Dallas E Figgins. NOTE-Unusual feature about Dallas's patch is?that it?has been personalized with?Dallas's aircraft tail number, call sign & nickname "Figg"
Image courtesy of Dallas E. Figgins

The M21 armament system, m134 minigun and m158 seven tube rocket launcher on a "C" model Huey
Image courtesy of Dallas E. Figgins

UH1H 65-09679, "Pussy Galore", after conversion from D configuration. Note the nose mounted pitot tube. Song Be, Fall of 1968
Image courtesy of Keith Alleger

Revetment area at Song Be
Image courtesy of Keith Alleger

1st Lt. Jerry Rafferty taken at Song Be. That may be Nui Ba Ra in the background
Image courtesy of Keith Alleger

Warrant Officer Jimmy Herron. Photo taken at Song Be
Image courtesy of Keith Alleger

Me with Warlord 679. Photo taken at Song Be field. We were still flying Special Forces B-36. Late Fall of 1968.
Image courtesy of Keith Alleger

SP Holoska, one of our crew chiefs, after he and our aircraft took some shrapnel. I was AC (Aircraft commander) that day and we were picking up a Special Forces Recon Team from a hot L.Z. North of Nui Ba Dinh. The shrapnel actually came from a rocket fired by one of our Sidewinder Gunships. We were picking up the Green Berets from the South side of the LZ and the guns were supressing an enemy unit in the treeline on the North side. The Sidewinder AC who fired the rocket later told me that he fired a pair and they collided after leaving the tubes. One went left and one went right. The one that went right landed just to the left of my aircraft as I was sitting in the LZ. The Explosion rocked the aircraft and the Master Caution Light and alarm went off along with all the caution lights on the warning panel. We were taking a lot of small arms fire. Caution lights or not, I was not about to sit in the LZ, so I took off half expecting to return to earth any second. When we got back to Tay Ninh, we discovered that there was no serious damage to the aircraft. A piece of the shrapnel had cut a wiring harness to the the warning panel and that, in turn, had set off all of the warning lights.
Image courtesy of Keith Alleger

One of our Crew chiefs photo-ed while in route to somewhere
Image courtesy of Keith Alleger

A 117th Slick down somewhere in the Mekong Delta in the late summer or early fall of 1968. Note marking on tail boom
Image courtesy of Keith Alleger

117th aircraft at Tay Ninh city Airport with Nui Ba Dinh in the background. The crewmember sitting at left was a kid named Barnes. I can't recall the name of the other kid. Barnes was killed six months later when his aircraft crashed while resupplying a B-36 Special Forces CIDG battalion in the field.
Image courtesy of Keith Alleger

Home away from home. In the Fall of 1968 we were supporting Special Forces team (B-36) with a temporary base camp at Tay Ninh City Airport, The tent to the right was the 2nd plattoon tent, the tent to the left was what passed ror a club.
Image courtesy of Keith Alleger

Officer's Hooches at 117th Base (Plantation Airfield, Long Binh) taken from the front of the 2d Platoon Warrant Officer Hooch.
Image courtesy of Keith Alleger

A 117th ship, crew and location unknown. Probably D/75 Rangers on board
Image courtesy of Tom Delaney photo via Randy White

This shot ?was taken in early 1970.
Image courtesy of Tom Delaney photo via Randy White

A diecast 1:48 replica of a Huey UH-1D tail number 65-00747. One of a kind - I promise that! My father was flying this huey while he received his DFC. His unit - the 117th BeachBums - Annie Fanny on the nose of course!


Major John Gower


Steve Walker





Jim Watkins








Sidewinders - 117th Guns (circa 1967)
Image courtesy of Dale Garber

"Pink Pussy" - short lived nose art found on a rough and ready 117th Slick (circa 1967)


Hiller OH 23


LZ English


III Corps Tactical Zone HQ - Bien Hoa, RVN


MACV HQ - Aug '68


This is AC 68-16406 in the revetment at Plantation sometime in 1971
Image courtesy of Alan A. Gott

2nd Platoon "Pink Panther" patch still sewn to pocket of an M-65 field jacket.
Image courtesy of Tillman


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