OPERATION
KING’S RANSOM
PART II
Dale
Dunham:
We
operated out of the "old" airport some distance from the
Outside the House: John Christianson, Norm Buck, T.J.
May, Don VanMeter and Dale Dunham
Dale Dunham:
We spent
most of our time in the field and it was almost always fun (by my standards
anyway), almost as much fun as getting back to a hot shower after a couple of
weeks.
Let
me preface my remarks by saying there was no backup (except in a few isolated
instances),
so when our
two birds went out they were on their own almost all of the time. If you
couldn't
get to "civilization" on your own you were in deep Ethiopian
camel dung.
LtoR: Theron J. May, Dale Dunham (can anyone
identify the three other people in uniform?)
JOHN
CHRISTIANSION
After one night out in the
bush, and after hiking about a half mile to a stream to take a quick bath, we
saw a lion chasing a buck in the brush near where we made camp--this was after
we had taken off from the site.
Dale Dunham &
John Christianson in the bush
From
then on, I set up the 43 landing spot with two holes for the front gear--this
way the floor would be level. The few inches drop it gave me worked out
well. I also set up a tarp right below the azimuth doors in the cabin and
had it set to let out any water that dripped in through the rotor
shaft/transmission housing when it rained. We were there in the rainy
season so this act was necessary too keep the inside of the machine dry.
It worked well and the water was funneled to the back step by the clamshell
doors. I also used a mosquito net with my air mattress and sleeping bag
inside; all the comforts of home. The rest of the guys wanted to sleep in
tents or in a small building at Arba Minch--or wherever we were if one was
available. I did keep the cargo net up in place in case a lion or leopard
decided to see if I was a good meal or not.
Lions, Tigers and Bears: John Christianson checks area before taking his morning sabbatical
Neil J. McCutchan
One of the places
we 'based' out of in the boonies was Akba Minch (I believe that's the
right spelling). One day it was quite dusty and the crew used a
trailing static line to try to discharge the static electricity that was
generated. (See the 'dusty' photos attached - Sling load and dust and one with
supplies).
Here is an internet site
devoted to the Kagnew mission that is 'managed' by those assigned there:
"Ethiopian/US Mapping
Mission"
Shortly after landing a
number locals came in. One of the crew chiefs had some medical supplies
that was used to treat a minor skin problem of one of the locals.
Dale
Dunham:
And then there was the time we departed
on one of those long legs, with nothing in between, that required landing and refueling
from the fuel we were carrying in the cargo slings. About ten miles out
something in the other birds cargo sling didn't look quite right to me so we
returned to our departure point for a closer look. Yes, it was possible
to mistake a 55 gallon drum of wash water for a similar drum of JP-4. A
"new to the operation" crew chief had uploaded four drums of water
instead of JP-4. If I hadn't noticed the "not quite right" appearance
of those drums our only recourse at the refueling point would have been to
drain all of the fuel from one helicopter for the other and do a one helicopter
fuel shuttle to get both birds back up and running. (I didn't like "one
aircraft" operations)
It also worked the other way around. We were
traveling with a CH-3 in a high elevation area. After landing the three
birds just before nightfall and securing things for the evening I had crew
members roll some of the 55 gal water barrels we were carrying into a
semi-circle windbreak behind the campfire. Not only a good wind break, but they
reflected the heat from the camp fire (on a very cold night) and would provide
us with warm water to clean up. Several hours into relaxing around the
fire the 12 or 15 of us were about ready to roll into our sleeping bags.
I was gazing thru the fire, not really looking at anything, and thinking about
tomorrow's mission. I swear I could feel the hair stand on the back
of my neck as I realized I was looking at three barrels of fuel, all more than
half engulfed in the fire (where they had been for the last two hours).
What now? After yelling (perhaps "croaking" would be more
accurate) a warning I did the only thing I could think of...push the drums back
out of the fire with my feet and run. In the seconds of rolling the drums
back I would have bet you anything the agitation was going to cause them to
blow. Nope, still here, and everyone had nice hot JP-4 to wash up with if they
so chose. Before someone asks " why in hell didn't you ID those
drums...it's a long story.
The availability of fuel was
always an issue, storing it in a safe place so it would be there when
you arrived on fumes presented challenges. Happily it always seemed to get
used. A missionary station near the Sudanese border was where we left
some fuel for safe keeping. After we didn't use the fuel before its "shelf
life" expired the missionaries used it to operate everything you
can imagine (and some I couldn't). Then they used the drums for a 30 ft well
casing. We enjoyed their meager hospitality while we were there, at least
until we realized they were also a leper colony. That put a few of the crew off
their feed at the dinner table.
Unfortunately, leprosy is the least
of the bio threats you have in the tropics (and some of our missions took us
from the comfortable elevations (above 6,000') to places you really didn't want
to go. We had a "sign-off" sheet posted in the office back at
Addis;
it reminded you to take your
anti-malaria pills. But, take them with something to eat or you may experience
some symptoms of diarrhea. Two of our crew chiefs, who were otherwise the
type of young men you would want with you if you got in a jam, kinda fell on
their swords here. After about a week out on a low elevation mission we
had to return to Addis because they were running very high temperatures.
Fortunately Addis has an execellent tropical medicine hospital and after losing
about 35 lbs apiece they were back on their feet. But, malaria sticks with you
as long as you live.....Hope you guys are doing well today.
On one of our operations in the Arba
Minch area there was some unusually heavy rainfall that washed out the
bridge over a sizable river between the town and the agricultural farming
area. Besides providing the only access to the large peanut farms where
many of them were employed, the bridge was the link to the airport (a dirt
strip) and northward to Addis. We were making supply runs to a HIRAN
site on a nearby mountain top. To carry the heaviest loads possible we only carried
enough fuel to get there and back for refueling. It was a simple matter
to drop into a field on the other side of the river and carry a load of
stranded natives across the river on the way back.
I don't recall for sure, but I think we
could get about 30 in the cabin and then pop over the river, a couple of
hundred yards. Never did get around to reporting that "rescue"
but, we carried hundreds across that river...until we discovered some of
them going a second time for perhaps the most exciting experience of their
lives.
On a different type of
"rescue" mission we helped recover a CH-3 that made a hard landing on
a "hilltop". The rotor blades took out the overhead throttle
quadrant, the cockpit windscreen, and did bad things to the rotor blades.
We strapped new rotor blades to either side of the HH43-B, strapped a new
windscreen over the cabin clamshell doors and flew them to the accident
site. Using some inventive offloading and maintenance lifting
procedures, we were able to help them put "humpty dumpty" back together
again.
Following up on our Arba Minch Exercise
on how many natives you can squeeze in the cabin for a quick hop across the
river. The peanut farms were very large and we were guests for beer and roasted
peanuts ( lots of roasted peanuts) in the evening hours before they shut off
the lights (generator) about 2100 hrs. In return, after it was dark, we
rode with them in a land rover with a spot light and shot Dik-Dik and Oribi
(respectively about the size of a jack rabbit and 2 or 3 times larger). They
had no weapons so they were delighted that we could help them reduce the
numbers of these antelope that devastated their crops. The antelope
were very plump from having such an unlimited food source...so they were
considered a delicacy. I thought so too. However, the old saying that, you are
what you eat, is very true. They tasted just like the roasted peanuts.
Fuel resupply dropped by
C-130