Page 2 (of 3) "Dolphin 016" Dolphin Door Gunner and Crew Chief June 1967- June 1968 All captions listed are above their described photos. |
The four photos below are also of Machina's "Nose Art Dolphin" (Dolphin 235), but taken in early July 1967,
a few weeks before it crashed on the hilltop outpost. I was in maintenance when the aircraft came in.
In the top photo, posing with the aircraft, are left to right: Bailey, Dailey and Valentine.
Dolphin 235 was shot up on a battalion-level combat assault (CA) supporting the 101st Airborne Div. "way out west" of Thien Phouc in Indian country.
WO1 Jim McDaniel was flying as aircraft commander (AC) in the left seat, and WO1 Richard Machine was in the
right seat, on his last flight as a co-pilot before assuming AC duties. Both he and McDaniel had passed their AC checkrides the day before, and
the unit liked to pair an inexperienced AC with an experienced co-pilot. McDaniel "won the toss" and was assigned as
the AC on this mission, his first, with Machina as co-pilot. The crew assignment could just as easily have gone the other way.
During this CA, while at low level on short-final to the landing zone (LZ), they overflew the concealed VC who opened up
with automatic weapons as the helicopter flew low and slow, directly over their position. The aircraft took multiple hits with some
troops in the back being wounded, and Machine took two hits in his leg. We had a thin piece of armor plating on the floor;
however, the round that hit Machina
was an armor piercing round. It broke into two pieces as it came through the armor plate on the floor, and both pieces entered Machina's leg
at the top of his boot and traveled up his leg toward his knee. The wound was serious and Machina was medevaced
back to the States, ending his tour.
How ironic, as this was the first and only aircraft with nose art that Machina had personally
painted, at that time it was the only one in the company with the nose art, and it was to be Machina's last flight before becoming aircraft commander.
The second photo below shows where a round came through Machina's
windshield. The third photo shows blood in the chin bubble from Machina's wound. The round that hit him came up through the floor panel
of the helicopter just behind the left tail rotor pedal. The bottom photo shows the front of the aircraft and its nose art, with the
windshield bullet hole visible. There were also multiple bullet holes through the fuel cells and in the cargo area of the helicopter.
Actually my Mother didn’t know other than that I was in Maintenance my whole 174th tour.
She found out just before I came home. Dad knew the whole time. Below are six photos of me.
Top and bottom photos are me posing with Dolphin #016. The fifth from the top is my "pulling
guard duty" pose (note my M-14 I had for a couple of weeks). The photo with my chicken plate
on only, well…, I’m a little dirty there. We had just finished an "all day confiscation" of some
needed items for the Unit... Such as the 3/4 ton partially visible behind me!
Please don't tell anyone about that either (smile).