These seven photos of "Easy Rider" ( UH-1C 66-15045) were taken at the Rearm point at Duc Pho in November 1970- after CW2 Greg Manuel and 1Lt. Bob Hackett went down at night in the Rice Bowl. (The Rice Bowl was a well known area south of Duc Pho near FSB Debbie.) Despite the fact they hit a tree with the tail rotor while low-level--AND that the crewchief's seat belt broke, actually sending him rolling across the rice paddy--everyone walked away from the crash.
The top photo (property of Robert Brackenhoff) clearly shows the red transmission fluid (often mistaken for blood) several feet around the gunship! The second and third color photos below that were taken by Fred Thompson.

The following account was provided by David Rosenthal in February 1997:

"I was Aircraft Commander of a Dolphin that was on 'Second Flare' that night. The weather was 500 feet, overcast, and shitty. 'First Flare' went inadvertent IFR (Instrument Flight Rules--meaning they flew into the clouds). I was notified about it when someone came down into 'The Hole' (my hootch) to get me. Duc Pho GCA (Ground Control Approach) was struggling to get on the air to help 'First Flare' get back down (provide them radar guidance back to Duc Pho). Because 'Second Flare' NEVER goes (kind of an inside joke), they'd assigned 1LT Terry Hays as my Peter Pilot. The poor guy had only been in-country about a week.

We launched and soon discovered that 500' was the best we could do. We had to set the flares to '0' since the next setting was 500'. This meant they'd go off as soon as they hit the end of the lanyard attached to the aircraft. Easy Rider's wingman, the second Shark, was securing the crashed gunship, and a second gun team was on the way. Meanwhile, the grunts were running toward the crash site and there were dinks everywhere." (continued below)

Because we couldn't get higher than 500 feet, our flares only helped a little since they'd only be able to burn a few seconds before hitting the ground and mimicking the 'China Syndrome,' where they'd ignite ANYTHING. The grunts enjoyed this since my pattern was lighting off the village where the bad-guy dinks were hiding. Other illumination came from the Four-Deuce (4.2-inch) mortar unit on nearby FSB Debbie. That was the GOOD news. The BAD news was that the pattern of the mortars was directly overhead!, and the flares, their parachutes, and their ejected metal casings were joining the liquid rain already falling on us..."

Once back, I made Hays stay in the aircraft while we fueled (remember, one pilot had to get out for that operation and it was usually the new guy), and I think I kissed the ground more than a few times. I was just tired. Very tired..."