85-24338

 

 

         

 

 

             85-24338, Boeing build number M3108, was a CH-47D helicopter. The U.S. Army acceptance date was 31 March 1986. As of 24 November 1999, 85-24338 had accumulated 2,334.4 D model hours and 6,129.0 total aircraft hours.

   85-24338 was a conversion from the original A model Chinook 65-07979.

   On 29 March 1985, 85-24338 was inducted into the D model program, converted, and initially assigned to C Company - "Flippers", 2nd Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment, 18th Aviation Brigade, Simmons Army Airfield, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

   As of 21 March 2001, the 18th Aviation Brigade was located at Simmons Army Airfield, Fort Bragg, and was subordinate to the 18th Airborne Corps.

   The 18th Airborne Corps was subordinate to Forces Command (FORSCOM), which was a major command (MACOM) of 2nd Army.

   C Company was the former 196th Assault Support Helicopter Company (ASHC) - "Flippers". The 196th ASHC was redesignated A Company, 2nd Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment in approximately 1988.

   In September 1996, 2nd Battalion was deactivated and the unit was redesignated A Company, 159th Aviation Regiment and became directly subordinate to the 18th Aviation Brigade.

   In approximately November 1996, A Company was redesignated as C Company, 159th Aviation Regiment.

   In the mid to late 1990s, when SGT Mike Mobley was the Flight Engineer, 85-24338 was known as "The Other Woman". There was a beautiful young lady painted on one of the cabin windows. The aircraft picked up this name because, at the time, the fleet at Fort Bragg was terribly broken and it occupied most of the available time of every crew member and mechanic just to make one mission happen successfully. Those married were accused of having affairs because we spent nearly every waking hour with our aircraft instead of our families. We caught flak from our spouses and little gratitude from higher up the chain.

   As of 24 November 1999, this aircraft was 33.8 years old.

   As of 24 November 1999, the last known location of 85-24338 was at Fort Bragg, North Carolina assigned to C Company, 159th Aviation Regiment.

   Aircraft Status: Flyable.

 

 

             Mark Morgan, Maintenance Test Pilot writes: "I had my one and only Chinook dual hydraulics failure in this aircraft in the mid 1990s. The fleet at Fort Bragg was in horrible shape. We scraped together four airframes and deployed cross country to the National Training Center (NTC) in November. Aircraft were falling apart all over the States. I would no sooner get one fixed and have to divert to different location and repair another one. We made it into Sante Fe and the wind was howling and it was colder than hell. The next morning when the lead aircraft went to fire up the number one engine it wouldn't start. I was parked right behind him and knew instantly they just blew the 4 and 5 bearing pack seal as I watched several quarts of overpriced oil leak out the tail cone and onto the frozen tarmack. It took several days to wait for a new engine and several more to change it in the sub zero temperatures (no hangar available to work in). We got it fixed and I test flew it. The next day we were to depart onward to NTC and that's when the most terrifying thing in my life happened. When we began to pick up 338 to a hover - Gilligan said "hey - I can't move the controls". He was a young lieutenant and I can't remember his real name, but he reminded us of the comedy show from the 60s, so that's what we called him. Anyway, I grabbed the controls and low and behold - they were frozen stiff. Both of us together couldn't lower the thrust. Luckily, we were about 50 feet away from lead and when they picked up to a hover they blew all the air out from under us and we came down - and came down hard. I snatched the engine condition levers to stop and just hoped we didn't roll over. We didn't thankfully. Turns out, we had severed several hydraulic lines in the forward crown and make one hell of a mess bleeding the fluid overboard".

 

 

          This aircraft was piloted by:

 

          CW2 - CW4 Mark S. Morgan, PI/PC/MTP/ME, 1992 - 1995 / 1997 - 2000

 

          Your Name Here.

 

 

          This aircraft was crewed by:

 

          Your Name Here.

 

 

          The CH-47 - 40 years old and still circling the world.

         

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