Not my expertize, some of the folks there before know more and maybe someone flew with him
But for an Army Chinook to fly Medvac is really pretty unusual, normally they used deciated Hueys.
For Marine Huey and CH46, Phrogs, to come in low level was not unusual it got in and sometimes out faster with less chance of taking heavy fire from the LZ The bad aspect ws little room for error or a mistake. Today's aircrew train all the time at low level with and without NVG's I think last WTI I flew in all mission were flown at less than 150 feet.

CHinook?

RDNewman,
What Top A was telling you is that Marines don't fly Chinooks, the Army does and they don't do low level like we do or did (still do).
I'll never forget watching the Army go in and out of LZ's in RVN all the time thinking how slow and vulnerable they appeared to be...Chinooks and Hueys alike!
When our guys went in it was a completely different story low and FAST!! Stand on it to stop and yank on it to leave! We bought high performance helicopters for a reason and we required them to perfom at HIGH levels!! For those reasons we saved, in my opinion, thousands of lives in Viet Nam and probably Panama, Grenada, and every venue the Corps has used them!

Flying at treetop level was the most fun I ever had, especially when I was with our very best pilots. I knew that we were exposed to enemy fire for much less than if we were at higher altitude, plus, I just never liked flying high! Still don't! We Crew Chiefs and Gunners learned the difference between the "good" sticks and the ones that were okay. I liked 'em all,but some were a little better than the rest and that made it more fun and we knew we were in for more "derring do" if necessary with those drivers than with others. Some would routinely trust us to guide them into a "blind"stand of trees to hoist up a wounded man, where they had to back the bird into position. Some wouldn't hear of it, if they couldn't ascertain their own clearance...Itwas a trust thing and had to be learned.....
Hope this helped.
Semper Fi
Joe

VNAF Insertions

Didnt have the experiece with our Marine Corps as the above Marines did. Was with VNAF for 4 years as advisor (1964-1968) as they flew the UH, CH, & G model H34s. They used the low fast level for insertion in enemy territory. Also they would make a rapid landing sometimes in small trees & other growth several times ; than take off repeating this tactic until they off loaded their agents or troops. Thus confusing any observer as to where they off loaded. The crews that usually flew these missions were given extra compensation and were usually skilled cowboy types. Needles to say the helicopters (some painted black & without markings) recieved much damage, usually to the rotor blades from chopping small growth. SF PM

Thanks!

Thanks for all the information (even tho it took six months for me to get back to the thread ;-). I'll be including some of the information on my dad's page of my website: http://okie.rdnewman.com .