“This small piece of metal is all that remains of “CO$T OF LIVING” after her fatal crash on May 5th, 1967 near Bong Son, Vietnam. Luckily, someone had the foresight to hack the Go-Go patch out of the forward crown and bring it home to the Army Aviation Museum.”

In late 1965, Boeing Vertol specially built four Armed/Armored CH-47A Chinooks. #64-13145, being the prototype, went to Edwards Air Force Base for flight testing. #’s 64-13149, 64-13151, and 64-13154 were off for evaluation in the field. On January 18, 1966 LTC William J. Tedesco assumed command of Field Evaluation Detachment (Special)(CH-47)(Provisional) at Fort Benning, Georgia. On April 19th, the unit was redesignated the 53rd Aviation Detachment Field Evaluation (Provisional), nicknamed Guns-A-Go-Go, and ordered to Vietnam for temporary duty (3 months in Vung Tau and 3 months in An Khe). It is important to note that during this evaluation, the ACH-47A’s destroyed every assigned target they engaged.

On July 4th, 1966 #64-13151 lost its #2 engine on a gun run and was force to land in a stump infested open field. #151 received major damage to the underbelly and crossbeams. This forced landing earned the ol’ girl a new nickname and, henceforth, #151 was known as “STUMP JUMPER”. Nicknames for the other three ACH-47A’s would be affectionately assigned by each of their crews and painted just forward of the crew door on the right side.

Sadly, just 30 days after her forced landing, “STUMP JUMPER” was involved in a freak ground-taxi accident with another Chinook (#62-2118) at Vung Tau Airfield. “STUMP JUMPER” was completely destroyed, literally breaking in two. With this unfortunate news, testing of #64-13145 at Edwards AFB was halted, and she began her long journey to join her two remaining sister ships in Southeast Asia.

The 53rd Aviation Detachment was attached to the 1st Cavalry Division’s 228th Assault Support Helicopter Battalion in early December 1966 and redesignated as the 1st Aviation Detachment (Provisional). #64-13145, soon to be known as “CO$T OF LIVING”, joined her two sisters a few days later.

Tragically, “EASY MONEY” and “CO$T OF LIVING” had just completed a gun run near Bong Son on May 5th, 1967 when the pilot of BIRTH CONTROL was told that “CO$T OF LIVING” had been shot down… they looked to the rear and saw the fireball. The accident investigation revealed that one of her M-24A 20mm cannon forward mounting pins had vibrated loose, permitting the weapon to rotate upward and fire into the forward rotor system. The blades quickly separated from the aircraft, causing it to tumble out of control to the ground.CO$T OF LIVING and all eight of her crewmembers perished.

Then on February 22nd, 1968, while participating in the big push to recapture Hue during the Tet Offensive, “BIRTH CONTROL” was hit while pulling up from a gun-run, and had to auto-rotate into the dry rice paddies about 600 meters NW of the Citadel walls. Under intense fire, “EASY MONEY” came in and positioned herself between “BIRTH CONTROL” and the oncoming enemy, suppressing fire while rescuing the downed crewmembers. As “EASY MONEY” was struggling to get airborne from all the extra weight, she received several hits which wounded some of the crewmembers near the back of the ship, but made it safely out to Camp Evans. Before an aircraft recovery could be attempted, the report came in that the NVA had walked mortars up to “BIRTH CONTROL,”completely destroying her where she sat.

Since the Army would not allow the last ACH-47A to operate alone, plus the fact that lift helicopters were badly needed in the field, the program was canceled. “EASY MONEY” was transferred back to Vung Tau, where she served as a maintenance trainer with the “in country” Boeing Facility until the end of the war.

After the Vietnam War, EASY MONEY eventually ended up at Fort Eustis, Virginia in 1995, where it served as a trainer for the Sheet Metal Course at the Transportation School. Through the efforts of many, EASY MONEY was restored and placed on permanent display at the United States Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama on May 1st, 2000.

There are some outstanding sites on the Internet that provide “first hand” accounts of these four heroes of Army Aviation’s proud heritage and the noble crews who served with them. Thank you for preserving this legacy!