Helicopter Accidents

Year 1969 accidents

Kaman Seasprite Accidents

Year	Version	C/N
1969	UH-2A	61	149759 : Kaman K-20 Seasprite, c/n 61, ff?; del USN as UH2K-1, 149759 unk; redesig UH-2A in 1962; xfer NAS Jacksonville, FL, unk; w/o 03Mar69.
1969	UH-2A	66	149764 : known HC-7 /VH-14
1969	UH-2A	69	149767 : 10aug69, UH-2C type with HC-1 Det31 on USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31). I was on my 3rd flight of the day in this helo and we had just trapped the last jet for this session and our pilot decided to do an auto-rotation from 3,000 feet. When we pulled out there was a series of violent jerks and the next thing we knew we were going into the water upside down. When we hit water we were on our side for several seconds, deployed the airbags, but the helo sank fast. All four crew were safe, a destroyer picked us up and we were returned to the carrier by another UH-2C. Our flight crew consisted of Lt Bill Bentley, co-pilot LTJG John Lovell, myself (AN Dave Wiczek) and ADJ-2 Jerry Vanlandingham who sustained injuries of a broken collar bone and a broken arm. a/c sank to the bottom of the Tonkin Gulf and to my knowledge was never seen again
1969	UH-2B	94	150144 : 1967 UH-2B asg HC-2 Det.60 as /HU-26