https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Knight/I intend posting a series of exciting personal stories about helicopter operations during the Vietnam conflict. They will be called 'Nam Notes 1, 2, etc. I served with the Royal Australian Air Force, No. 9 Sqn in 1969. We operated Bell UH-1H Iroquois helicopters, commonly referred to as ‘Hueys’. This nickname derived from their original military designation of HU-1 (Helicopter, Utiltiy-1). The crew composition was two pilots, a crewman who manned an M60 machine gun and operated the winch and a door gunner with an M60. We flew in support of Australian and New Zealand Army units, from their forward base at Nui Dat, in Phuoc Tuy Province, about seventy five kilometres to the south east of the Capital, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). The squadron’s main mission was troop-carrying sorties of various types. These included; the insertion and extraction of reconnaissance and fighting patrols, Special Air Service operations, general troop movement and MedEvac. The squadron also had a gun-ship flihourly12000-01-01T12:00+00:00https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Knight/5319166 Aussie Mines It must have been about twenty one hundred hours, that’s 9PM to the uninitiated. I was sitting in the bar of the RAAF Officer’s Mess at Vung Tau. I was at that time, teetotal, so I was probably sipping on a Coke and thinking that I may turn in shortly. The CO entered the room,...https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Knight/5315365 The Beckoning If you have looked up Thumbs Up in the Glossary, you will be aware, if not already so, that some gestures and body language can mean different things to different people. Of course, some may also be unintentionally offensive. I can remember in school during Shakespeare studies,...https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Knight/5315334 Tail Rotor Tales In ‘The Padre’, you may recall my pointing out that helicopter tail rotors are extremely dangerous things to be near. They pose the same sort of hazard as a propeller on an aeroplane. They just happen to be on the other end. This was probably a significant factor in these two...https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Knight/5315313 The Padre You may not be familiar with helicopter boarding procedures. However, you will at least have seen on the screen, the way people approach, or depart from a helicopter while the rotors are turning. Usually they are at a low crouch, head uncovered or with secured headgear, and normally...https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Knight/5315292 DUSTOFF Dustoff is the acronym for the motto of the US Army Medical Corps: ‘ D edicated U nhesitating S ervice T o O ur F ighting F orces’. The term was used to describe a helicopter operation that provided the MedEvac of wounded troops. In 1969, the US Army 45 th Medical Company normally flew...https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/Knight/526946The MP and the VC Some will have seen it in American movies; ‘Blue Thunder’ and ‘Apocalypse Now’ come to mind. Some will have heard tales of it in bars and military messes. I am referring to the story of the alleged practice of prisoners being thrown from helicopters, as an interrogation...