Report: US Air Force helicopter shot from ground in Virginia, forced to land, 1 Airman injured....

That's pretty messed up.

I wonder if the person doing the shooting knew it was a military bird, or if they were just out shooting at anything that flew overhead?
 
Now that its open source, I can confirm it happened Monday. The huey received small arms fire with multiple hits and the pilot was hit in the hand...the co pilot landed the aircraft. Ground fire originated vicinity of Manassas.
 
Long_Hunter said:
Now that its open source, I can confirm it happened Monday. The huey received small arms fire with multiple hits and the pilot was hit in the hand...the co pilot landed the aircraft. Ground fire originated vicinity of Manassas.
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What are the odds they'll locate the shooters position?
 
mig1nc said:
You mean call in a B-52 strike?
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Funny you mention that: my son, who's in the Army, just called today (first call in about six weeks) following up a long series of exercises: he excitedly mentioned a low level bomb drop by 2x B-52s. "Loudest f***n explosion I've heard in my life from 3 miles away!" This from an armor officer who's heard some loud stuff.
 
fishgutzy said:
Air Force Para rescue area some bad ass mf'ers. They are the ones that go in behind enemy lines to rescue downed pilots.

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Come on now, we all know they're not "real" AF (again, I jest....)

Reconnaissance corpsmen and PJs end up a lot of the same schools together, so I am well acquainted with them (and CCTs).
 
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If a BLM / Antifa member done this it would be dropped from all news outlets.

I don't see how they would ever find this stupid idiot. Why would anyone do this?
 
ES44AC said:
I don't see how they would ever find this stupid idiot.
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I bet a shiny new dime that they catch him or her. Probably not by the use of exciting new technology, but by waiting for the dummy to brag about it to a few friends.

That aside, I always assumed that the floors were armored. It seems a bit shortsighted not to protect the pilots from small arms fire.
 
JimB said:
I bet a shiny new dime that they catch him or her. Probably not by the use of exciting new technology, but by waiting for the dummy to brag about it to a few friends.

That aside, I always assumed that the floors were armored. It seems a bit shortsighted not to protect the pilots from small arms fire.
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Weight is generally the issue for most helicopters. Any armor you add reduces what they can lift in terms of supplies and manpower.
 
Chuckman said:
Come on now, we all know they're not "real" AF (again, I jest....)

Reconnaissance corpsmen and PJs end up a lot of the same schools together, so I am well acquainted with them (and CCTs).
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Smartest enlisted force in all the services, we send our officers off to the fight
 
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JimB said:
I bet a shiny new dime that they catch him or her. Probably not by the use of exciting new technology, but by waiting for the dummy to brag about it to a few friends.

That aside, I always assumed that the floors were armored. It seems a bit shortsighted not to protect the pilots from small arms fire.
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That's why UH1 pilots sat on their flak jackets in Vietnam. You can poke a screw driver through the skin of the bird with not too much effort.
 
fishgutzy said:
No matter who the shooter was the media will say it was an illiterate MAGA hate wearing KKK member.
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Did they have nooses too?

JimB said:
I bet a shiny new dime that they catch him or her. Probably not by the use of exciting new technology, but by waiting for the dummy to brag about it to a few friends.

That aside, I always assumed that the floors were armored. It seems a bit shortsighted not to protect the pilots from small arms fire.
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They'll post themselves on Twitter doing it.

A buddy that was in 'Nam, a door gunner who ran twin swing mounted '60's in Huey's, said they sat on their combat helmets for protection. Huey's were known for their thin aluminum skins. That's one reason the Gerber MarkII knife was popular. You could cut yourself out of a crashed Huey with one. He also mentioned that the fuel cells were actually self sealing fuel bladders that were often pierced from small arms fire.

images
 
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I'd like to know more details about the altitude, etc. but if it was anything other than very low and slow or hovering then we are almost certainly talking rifle since the dude was accurate enough to score multiple hits, and likely a semi auto one at that. This could be (dare I say it?) a false flag against scary black rifles.
 
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American military still flies Hueys?
 
They were flying over Indian country and should have returned fire; if they weren't loaded to do so, they should have been.
 
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AR10ShooterinNC said:
The USAF and USMC have been updating them, the modern UH-1 are good choppers.
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That’s awesome! I grew up on Air Force and Army bases in the 70s and 80s always used to see them flying around when I was a kid. I like them. :)
 
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gc70 said:
They were flying over Indian country and should have returned fire; if they weren't loaded to do so, they should have been.
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I'm sure they didn't think they would be shot at. Not here, right?

It's was probably like "ting, ting, ting." Then, "Hey, Scott. Did we just get shot at?"
 
Flashpoint said:
I'd like to know more details about the altitude, etc. but if it was anything other than very low and slow or hovering then we are almost certainly talking rifle since the dude was accurate enough to score multiple hits, and likely a semi auto one at that. This could be (dare I say it?) a false flag against scary black rifles.
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If they were flying as low as some I've seen in the Fayetteville area, it could have been a handgun, but probably just flew a little close to someone's marijuana field and they were scared of losing their cash crop.
 
I'm also reminded of stories of Vietnam, that most everything that took off from an air field got shot at with small arms fire, except Huey's. Because, Huey's would turn around and shoot back.;)
 
I would love to have been a door gunner. A guy in my unit in the late '90's had gotten roped into doing it during Sandbox 1. Said he got shot one mission (chest plate took it), he thinks by a 7.62x54 & said it woulda knocked him out the opposite door if not for his harness.
 
Etruett said:
If they were flying as low as some I've seen in the Fayetteville area, it could have been a handgun, but probably just flew a little close to someone's marijuana field and they were scared of losing their cash crop.
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Yep...thousands upon thousands of acres of woods to fly over and they buz houses constantly....like, I can see the face of the pilot when they go over...usually start multiple chopper runs in big circles about 10-11pm at night......almost every dam day.
 
I used to live under the flight path for Simmons Army Airfield. Chinooks & Blackhawks at all hours of the night. No way I could live over off Chicken Rd.

Wouldn't particularly wanna live out near any of the DZs, either.
 
Crazy Carl said:
I would love to have been a door gunner. A guy in my unit in the late '90's had gotten roped into doing it during Sandbox 1. Said he got shot one mission (chest plate took it), he thinks by a 7.62x54 & said it woulda knocked him out the opposite door if not for his harness.
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I don't know about now, but during the day, it was not considered a long life expectancy occupation. ;)
 
georgel said:
I don't know about now, but during the day, it was not considered a long life expectancy occupation. ;)
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But don't it look like fun? I was an adrenaline junkie as a younger, angrier man & not necessarily known for making rational decisions. :D Hell, I fought for ten years to get into jump school & spent the next ten on jump status :confused:
 
Crazy Carl said:
But don't it look like fun? I was an adrenaline junkie as a younger, angrier man & not necessarily known for making rational decisions. :D Hell, I fought for ten years to get into jump school & spent the next ten on jump status :confused:
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Honestly, given the opportunity? Yeah, I'd have done it. ;)
 
ES44AC said:
If a BLM / Antifa member done this it would be dropped from all news outlets.

I don't see how they would ever find this stupid idiot. Why would anyone do this?
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Here's my theory. That helicopter unit flies the distinctive green and white color scheme of the executive / VIP transports. Think like Marine One.

I bet it was some antifa punk thinking he was shooting at President Trump.

Getting shot in the hand could be a potential career ending injury for a helicopter pilot.


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