LOCATION

1-30 November 1970, Marble Mountain Air Facility, DaNang, RVN

The "Purple Foxes" of HMM-364 flew 1,047 hours during  the month of Novem- ber 1970.   This  effort  represented  1,273 tasks  for  4,111 sorties  including  the transport of  9,861 passengers/troops  and 214.4  tons of cargo.  There  were  129 missions  flown  in  support of 275  casualties.  These  casualties represented  106 emergency, 92 priority and 77 routine evacuees.

The "Purple Foxes" received fire nine times during  the month and had taken six hits in their aircraft.  It is of interest to note that all of the fire incidents and hits taken during the month occurred while flying medevac missions.

On  the  12th  of  November  Lt. SMITH  and  Lt. NICHOLS  were  part  of  the mission  86/41 package  working out of  Baldy.  They were  launched out on  two separate occasions to medevac wounded Marines.  The first time zone AT988401 had two medevacs in  it.  Due to the nature of  the zone they were unable to land and had  to lift the medevacs out of  the zone by  jungle penetrator.  The second zone was located at AT981452 and was no different.  Lt. SMITH had to cll upon the help of  his Crew Chief,  Sgt. SHEARER to help him lift  the medevac out of the zone by the jungle penetrator.

The following day Capt. GARCIA,  on mission 73,  was called upon to  extract a Recon Team from  Ba` Na`  Mountain.  For  the  past  three  days  aircraft  from MAG-16  had been trying  to extract  the team but due to  bad weather and high altitude  (4,000') of  the zone, were unable  to get in.   When  the weather  finally cleared and  Capt. GARCIA pulled  the team off  the side of  the mountain  they had an emergency medevac with  them for three days and had been without food for the last four days.

Bad luck  hit HMM-364 on  the 17th of the month.  The  SDO was turning up an aircraft  at night so that squadron  maintenance could make  some checks on  it. The aircraft had no wheel brakes and just as the SDO was running the engine up the  aircraft drifted  into another  parked aircraft throwing debris over  the flight line damaging three aircraft in all.

The 24th of November  started out with a  NBC Drill being held in  the squadron area.  Everyone  was  required  to  wear  their  gas  mask  while  performing their duties between the hours of 0800 - 0900, the squadron area  being under a  simu- lated gas attack.

That  same day  Lt. BENSON  was getting  his aircraft  commander  check  from Maj. JENSEN  on mission 86/41.  During  the day  they were called  upon to  ex- tract some medevacs from the Que Son Mountains at AT991438.  Arriving at the scene  they discovered that  there were more medevacs than they were previously informed about and  that they were in  several different  locations.  The  weather was closing  in as  Lt. BENSON started his approach to  the first zone located  at AT991438.  The clouds and visibility in the area caused Lt. BENSON to loose sight of the zone and he turned control of the aircraft over to Maj. JENSEN who set up for  the approach to  the zone.   As Maj. JENSEN came in  on final to the zone he  started receiving hostile fire, despite  this fire, poor visibility and turbu- lence he completed the mission and flew the wounded to LZ Baldy.  outbound to the  second zone  at AT993437 he  realized  that  the terrain would  prevent  him landing in  the zone.  He elected to make a low approach and had  the crew chief throw a Neil Robertson to the troops in the zone.  He circled overhead while  the ground  personnel  prepared  the medevac, and when  they were  ready, he again approached  the zone and  came to a  hover  over  the  medevac  so  he could  be hoisted aboard in  the Neil Robertson.  The final zone was located  in a ravine at AT982421 and  the approach had to be made head on and then  the aircraft  had to  be  turned  into it  and held  in a hover  while  the ramp was  lowered and the medevacs  were  loaded  aboard.  Despite  the  turbulence in  the area  and  poor weather,  Maj. JENSEN  again  completed a difficult  mission  that  undoubtedly saved several Marine lives.

On  the night of the 28th of November  the mission 80 crews were called upon to rescue two downed Cobra pilots in the Que Son Mountains.  Due to the weather, and the fact that both pilots were safe in a friendly position, the package did not launch.

While on routine  missions within  the DaNang area  and close  to military  com- pounds, HMM-364 received fire  twice at two different locations (LZ-11 and Red Beach).

The "Purple Foxes" maintained  an average  aircraft availability of 12 and a air- crew availability of 20 during  the month.   The high pilot  flew 86 hours  for  the month  an  the high crew chief and gunner  flew 110 and 114  hours respectively. There were 141 Air Medals and 42 Air Crew Wings awarded during the month.

3 November 1970 - While  on a  mission  87 strike in  the  Que Sons  the  pilot of aircraft  154014  landed on a tree stump in  the zone and tore a hole in  the right wing  stub.   The troops  were disembarked and  the  aircraft  was  flown back to Marble Mountain.

8 November 1970 - The  pilot  of aircraft 153358 took  fire while on a night med- evac mission at  AT815516 resulting in five holes in  the aft pylon and above  the pilot cockpit.

8 November 1970 - Aircraft 153355  received fire at  AT8955 while flying at  500' in  bad weather  which knocked out  both essential/monitor  buses and  the main line contactor.  He continued the mission until the medevac was complete.

15 November 1970 - Aircraft 153350 had to make a precautionary  landing at LZ Ross due to the #1 Boost Pressure Line blowing.

17 November 1970 - Aircraft  153365  while  having  its  ECLs  positioned by the SDO started moving  forward and struck another aircraft and caused  damage to three aircraft in all.