We’ve been learning about Karl Porisch’s Vietnam service, piloting CH-46 helicopters with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263 (MMH 263) out of Marble Mountain Airfield south of Danang. He arrived there in October 1970.

Karl recalled the pilots of MMH 263 were busy.

“Most of the time you flew every day and it probably was good. That was what you were there for and I don’t think any of us were ever bored.”

He explained that Mission 55, Resupply, was their most common mission and described a resupply mission, beginning with load pick-up.

“(The pick-up point) would have an LZ (Landing Zone) guy with an FM radio. We’d call to say we were inbound. They’d say, “Hey, good morning, Peachbush 10! How are you doing?” (Karl chuckled) It wasn’t exactly proper radio etiquette. They’d brief us on where we were going and the coordinates for the units there. It was almost always a cargo net, an external load. The center of the 46 had a hole they called the Hell Hole. I don’t know why they called it that, but that’s where there was a cargo hook. We’d hover down and the first thing they’d do is ground everything because helicopters generate static electricity. He’d touch a stick to the helicopter to ground it. Then he’d hook up the net. The crew chief said (via the intercom), ‘We’re hooked up. Lift it up.’ You’d pick it up and he’d report, ‘It’s off the ground. Everything looks good.’ Once you got it off the ground, you made sure you had power to take off — that it wasn’t overloaded. You’d look at your RPM; a triple tachometer, two for the engines and one for the rotor RPM, to make sure there wasn’t any drooping. You did that and off we’d go to the first drop location.”

The procedure at the drop location was similarly choreographed.

“I’d key the FM radio and say, ‘Bravo One Four this is Peachbush 10 inbound for resupply.’ That guy would give you the wind data and report if there had been any enemy contact. Then he would say, ‘We’re throwing out smoke.’ For obvious reasons he never reported the color smoke. Then ahead there’d be green smoke coming up from the jungle. You’d say, ‘Bravo One Four, understand. Roger your green smoke.’ He’d reply, ‘Roger, Peachbush 10, green smoke.’ We knew the wind and its direction. You’d hover over the LZ and set the load on the ground. There was a button on your cyclic, called your ‘pickle button.’ The crew chief would say, ‘Load’s on the ground.’ You’d push that button and it’d disconnect. Then you’d go back and pick up another load or continue the mission.”

The CH-46 helicopters had fuel for just over two hours of flight time. If Karl’s section of two helicopters had more resupply drops, they would have to return to Marble Mountain to refuel. They also refueled at the end of each mission.

“If you were coming back from the south, you’d say, ‘Marble Tower, Peachbush 10 is five miles south.’ They’d say, ‘Roger, clear Runway 30. Then you’d land and taxi back. After every flight or intermediately we did hot refueling. We never shut down. You taxied into the fuel pits. The Crew Chief (grabbed a fuel nozzle) and locked it in. He’d turn the pump on and it didn’t take long. We could haul 1,300 pounds of fuel in each stub wing. Then we went back and parked. Every squadron had steel revetments filled with sand about five feet above the ground. The purpose of those were for rocket attacks as protection from shrapnel. You taxied into the revetments and went through the shut-down.”

The pilots’ mission did not end with engine shut-down.

“The pilot went to the Ready Room to write his maintenance report so maintenance knew what to look at overnight. The co-pilot was responsible for the After Action Report. It was a form that (listed) all the crew on-board the aircraft; the mission number; and the helicopter’s Bureau Number. There was a space for the 6-digit coordinates of everywhere you went. When the AAR and the Maintenance Report were done, you were released.”

Every third day the Danang Air Support Center (DASC) assigned Karl’s squadron the medevac mission for the Tactical Area of Responsibility (TAOR) — from north of Danang; south to LZ Baldy; and west to the border with Laos. The 263 Duty Officer assigned different flight crews for morning, afternoon, and night medevac missions. Karl described their medevac protocols.

“We always flew (medevac) with a Navy flight surgeon. When you went to pick someone up, they (came on) litters. There were three places where we could take wounded soldiers, depending on the injury. The 95th Evac, an Army unit, was where we took head wounds. 1st Med, a Navy facility, was where we took pretty much everything else. Sometimes the medical ship USS Sanctuary would be in Danang harbor. That was for extremities. So, if someone had a bad leg wound, we’d go there. But the flight surgeon made that decision. He’d say, ‘We’ve got to get this guy to the 95th Evac.’ Once we knew that, we’d call and say, ‘This is Peachbush 10 inbound with an emergency medevac, 95th Evac.’ They knew where we were going, then and we’d land. That’s how we handled the medevacs. There were times I would have liked to know how those guys came out, but there just wasn’t any way.”

Sometimes a mission was particularly satisfying, but a mission also could get hairy very quickly.

©2025 William D. Palmer.