174th Assault
Helicopter Company

DOLPHINS & SHARKS


174th Aviation Company Ambushes V.C. Ambush


The following is the text from a newspaper article in the
THE ARMY REPORTER that was published in 30 July 1966.
(See Note at end of this article for information on The Army Reporter)

Below the descriptive information on The Army Reporter,
Bernie Cobb has provided a "Postscript" to this article with
more information and the names of the Shark pilots involved.


174th Aviation Company Ambushes V.C. Ambush
30 July 1966

QUI NHON, (14th AVN-IO) - Using Viet Cong tactics, the 174th Aviation Company killed 10 V.C. and destroyed their automatic weapons position seven miles north of here.

For several days a small force of Viet Cong had been shooting at helicopters from the 174th Aviation Company which were flying rations and ammunition into remote outposts manned by elements of the ROK Capitol Division. Each day, armed helicopters were dispatched to the scene only to find that the V.C. patrol had disappeared.

Desperately seeking a solution to the problem, the 174th decided to ambush the ambush. An aviator and two volunteers were airlifted into the area where they set up an observation post.

After two days of waiting they spotted the V.C. patrol getting into position.

When the next helicopter flew a supply mission into the outpost, the V.C. began to fire. Armed (Shark) helicopters, which had been orbiting out of sight, were called in by radio from the small observation post. The armed Hueys arrived on the scene and annihilated the V.C. patrol before they had a chance to hide. Subsequent supply flights have been conducted into the outposts without further enemy harassment.


NOTE: The following was taken from the front of THE ARMY REPORTER

THE ARMY REPORTER is published weekly under the supervision of the information Office (IO), United States Army Vietnam (USARV) and is an authorized Army publication. The command newspaper has a circulation of 60,000 and is printed in Japan. Opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the department of the Army. This newspaper utilizes the facilities of the ARMED FORCES NEWS SERVICE and ARMY NEWS FEATURES. Contributions are welcome and may be sent to: THE ARMY REPORTER, USARV-IO, APO 96307 or telephone ARMY 397.

Gen. W.C. Westmoreland....................Commanding General
Lt. Gen. Jean E. Engler............................Deputy CG
Col. Robert J. Coakley...................Information Officer
Maj. Nicholas Terzopoulos..................Officer-in-Charge
EDITORIAL STAFF
SSgt. Bob Bolia.......................................Editor
Sp5 Bob Thomas..................................Asst. Editor
SP5 Bill Wool...................................Asst. Editor
Sp4 Maury Moser.................................Staff Writer
Sp4 Rod Challenger..............................Staff Writer


Postscript

By Bernie Cobb


The account of our ambush in THE ARMY REPORTER, above, is brief and fairly accurate except for names. The person who submitted that article either didn't furnish names or the newspaper didn't have time to verify them.

To set the record straight, I am the "aviator" who came up with the plan to "ambush the ambushers," and I led the mission on the ground. Since my crew wouldn't be flying during the mission, my crewchief and gunner were eager to go with me.

I am sorry now that I didn't keep a personal log, but I didn't and I can't furnish their names. The aircraft commanders of the two gunships I had orbiting out of sight behind the nearby hill were Major Bob Jones and Major Dick Overhamm.

When the VC were spotted from our position on the ground and the gunships unloaded their rockets, I reported a squad of 12 VC dispatched to wherever VC go when they are zapped. According to the article, we got credit for 10 VC killed.

More details can be found in my 1966 TIDBITS OF HISTORY, subhead "Frustrations," which is located at http://www.americal.org/174/cobb-02.htm.

After that mission, our slicks were able to continue their resupply missions to that outpost without incident. My frustrations disappeared because the Sharks had again taken care of the Dolphins, albeit in a somewhat unorthodox manner.

Bernie Cobb
Shark6 (1965/66)
Major Bernie Cobb, SHARK 6
The 174th's first gunship platoon leader