Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopter 87-00102 (Crashed).

87-00102

(87-0102)

Property of "Sugar Bears North", 22 December 1994 - 22 May 2005.

B Company - "Sugar Bears North" unit patch.

242 ASHC / B Company - "Sugar Bears North" D model fielding poster.

B Company - "Sugar Bears North" High Altitude Rescue Team (HART) patch.

Property of the "Geronimos", 21 May 1991 - 22 December 1994.

205th Assault Support Helicopter Company (ASHC) unit patch, circa 1987.

205th Assault Support Helicopter Company (ASHC) - "Geronimos" D model fielding poster.

B Company, 6th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment unit patch, circa 1989.

Property of the "Cyclones", 15 June 1988 - 21 May 1991.

295th Assault Support Helicopter Company (ASHC) aircraft nose decal, circa 1987.

295th Assault Support Helicopter Company (ASHC) D model fielding poster, circa 1988.

87-00102 parked on Pad One East, Hangar One, Wainwright Army Airfield, Fort Wainwright, Alaska, June 2002.

Boeing CH-47D helicopter 87-00102 sits outside historic Hangar 1 on Wainwright Army Airfield (WAAF), at Fort Wainwright, Alaska in June 2002.

   87-00102, Boeing D model kit number M3221, was a CH-47D helicopter. The U.S. Army acceptance date was 25 July 1988. 87-00102 was test flown and accepted at 3,951.2 aircraft hours. As of 2 March 2001, 87-00102 had accumulated 1,745.1 D model hours and 5,687.1 total aircraft hours.

   87-00102 was a conversion from the original A model Chinook 63-07911.

   On 29 July 1987, 87-00102 was inducted into the D model program, conversion complete on 15 June 1988, and initially assigned to D Company - "Cyclones", 502nd Aviation Regiment, 7th Corps, United States Army Europe (USAREUR), located at Coleman Barracks near Mannheim, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) (West Germany).

   D Company was the former 295th Assault Support Helicopter Company (ASHC) - "Cyclones".

   D company was deactivated in approximately 1992.

   On 2 August 1988, 87-00102 was shrink wrapped and prepared for overseas shipment to be received by B Company, 70th Transportation Command (TRANSCOM), Coleman Army Airfield, located near Mannheim, FRG.

   B Company, 70th TRANSCOM was the Aviation Intermediate Maintenance (AVIM) company.

   On 9 September 1988, the aircraft arrived by barge via the Rhine River.

   On 13 September 1988, 87-00102 was transferred to D Company, 502nd Aviation Regiment, also located at Coleman Barracks, at 3,953.2 aircraft hours.

   On 23 December 1990, 87-00102 deployed via surface vessel to Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Desert Shield / Storm and was transferred to Company G (-) - "Hookmasters", 149th Aviation Regiment, Texas Army National Guard, 5th Army, when that unit deployed to Southwest Asia from Grand Prairie, Texas.

   On 2 February 1991, 87-00102 arrived in Theater, at 4,352.0 aircraft hours.

   On or about 21 May 1991, 87-00102 was transferred to B Company - "Geronimos", 6th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, normally stationed at Finthen Army Airfield, Finthen, FRG.

   B Company, 6th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment was the former 205th Assault Support Helicopter Company (ASHC) - "Geronimos", 4th TRANSCOM, United States Army Europe (USAREUR), located at Finthen Army Airfield, Finthen, near Mainz, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) (West Germany).

   In November 1988, the 205th ASHC was redesignated B Company - "Geronimos", 6th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, and made a subordinate unit of the 12th Aviation Brigade, 5th Corps, USAREUR, when the 4th TRANSCOM was de-activated.

   It may be of interest to note that, on 19 November 1988, the 205th ASHC and the 295th ASHC performed a "Flag Swap".

   For its last day in existence, the 205th ASHC was located at Coleman Army Airfield, Mannheim, FRG.

   The 295th was then located at Finthen Army Airfield for its last 24 hours.

   The following day both units were deactivated and reformed.

   The 295th ASHC was redesignated B Company, 6th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment.

   The remnants of the 295th ASHC were further divided into E Company, Task Force Griffin. Task force Griffin was later renamed Task Force Warrior.

   B Company consisted of the pilots, flight engineers, and crew chiefs.

   E Company consisted of the maintenance personnel.

   In September 1992, both B Company and E Company were deactivated.

   By the end of November 1992, Finthen Army Airfield was closed and control of its facilities was turned over to the German government.

   The 205th ASHC, located on its last day at Coleman Army Airfield, was redesignated D Company, 502nd Aviation Regiment.

   Additionally, when the 12th Aviation Brigade stood down in approximately late 1992, it was relocated to Fort Bragg, North Carolina and redesignated the 159th Combat Aviation Group (CAG). The 159th CAG was relocated to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in 1997.

   On 1 July 1991, 87-00102 departed Southwest Asia for its return to the FRG, at 4,478.1 aircraft hours.

   87-00102 spent 151 days deployed to Southwest Asia from 2 February 1991 to 1 July 1991 and accumulated 126.1 aircraft hours in support of Operation Desert Shield / Storm.

   87-00102 remained assigned to B Company, 6th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment until the unit was deactivated in September 1992.

   On 26 October 1993, 87-00102 was transferred to Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD), Corpus Christi, Texas, for On Condition Maintenance (OCM).

   On 1 April 1993, 87-00102 arrived by ship at the Port of Beaumont, Texas, enroute to CCAD, at 4,050.6 aircraft hours.

   On 26 October 1993, 87-00102 arrived at CCAD at 4,654.9 aircraft hours.

   On or about 31 January 1994, 87-00102 was assigned to the Aviation Intermediate Maintenance company (AVIM), H Company, 123rd Aviation Regiment, Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

   Fort Wainwright was the former historic Ladd Field of World War Two era fame.

   In approximately March 1994, H Company was redesignated C Company, 123rd Aviation Regiment.

   On or about 22 December 1994, 87-00102 was assigned to B Company - "Sugar Bears", 4th Battalion, 123rd Aviation Regiment, Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

   B Company was the former C Company, 228th Aviation Regiment (16 October 1987 - 24 June 1994).

   C Company was the former 242nd ASHC - "Muleskinners" (located in Alaska from November 1971 to 16 October 1987).

   When United States involvement in the Vietnam conflict ended, 242nd ASHC was relocated to Alaska.

   The aviation unit in Alaska at the time was designated the 236th ASHC, 19th Aviation Battalion (April 1971 - November 1971).

   When the 242nd ASHC relocated to Alaska and reformed, the unit name changed from "Muleskinners" to "Sugar Bears", and the unit designation went from the 236th ASHC to the 242nd ASHC.

   At some point, the unit was split into two companies. One company remained in Alaska and became known as "Sugar Bears North". The other company, C Company, 1st Battalion, 228th Aviation Regiment, was relocated to Fort Kobbe, Panama and became known as "Sugar Bears South".

   From 14 March 2001 through 9 July 2001, 87-00102, along with 89-00168, 89-00169, and 89-00176, self-deployed to Anchorage, Alaska, then via surface vessel to the country of Thailand to participate in Joint Training Exercise Cobra Gold 2001. The return trip was in reverse order.

   In approximately December 2004, 87-00102 deployed with the Sugar Bears to the Middle East Theater in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

   On 22 May 2005, 87-00102 was lost due to an accident in the country of Iraq.

   With only the left main fuel pumps in the ON position, the aircraft experienced a dual engine flameout when the fuel in that tank was exhausted. The subsequent attempted autorotation was unsuccessful and the aircraft was totally destroyed during the landing sequence.

   As of 1 January 2002, this aircraft was 37.4 years old.

   As of 22 May 2005, the last known location of 87-00102 was in Iraq, assigned to B Company, 4th Battalion, 123rd Aviation Regiment.

   Aircraft status: Crashed.

A Crash in Iraq

Saturday, 22 May 2005: Five Fort Wainwright Soldiers were injured when their helicopter crashed in Iraq. The CH-47D Chinook cargo helicopter, tail number 87-00102, lost power and the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing. Army officials are being pretty tight lipped about what exactly happened, and haven't released the names of injured troops. But we do know that five Fort Wainwright Soldiers were hurt, after the chopper had to make an emergency landing.

"Two of the crew members were treated and released, one is in the hospital overnight for observation, two others were evacuated to Germany for further treatment. None of them suffered life threatening injuries,� says Linda Douglass, a public affairs officer at Fort Wainwright.

The Soldiers were part of the B Company - "Sugar Bears North", 4th Battalion, and 123rd Aviation Regiment and have been serving in the Middle East since last December. That unit is made up 500 soldiers from Alaska - primarily pilots, and mechanics. There were five Soldiers on board when the helicopter was forced to land after both engines lost power and now has significant damage. "Damage to the aircraft is significant and but again, we are just pleased that the pilot was able to bring the helicopter down with no fatalities,� says Douglass.

All five of the injured Soldiers have spoken with their families, who were immediately notified about the crash. Fort Wainwright officials say families are always very relieved to hear from there loved ones whenever anything like this happens in war.

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Deemed uneconomical to recover and a total loss, 87-00102 was blown in-place to prevent use of the various parts and pieces by others, as shown in the following photographs: