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I am looking for verification of where the helicopter door gunner school was on the East coast i1968 and 1969. Was it at Beaufort or New River? Thanks for any assistance on this.
Semper Fidelis
Randy
Posted : 2012-11-26 13:15
Re: door gunner school
West Coast, Camp Pendlton.
Posted : 2012-11-26 17:22
Re: door gunner school
Thought the west coast went to Yuma.
Wayne Stafford
RVN 68-69
Yuma Raft Skipper 1970
Posted : 2012-11-27 23:26
Re: door gunner school
East coast of Viet Nam out over the ocean.
Semper Fi
Bruce "Howdy" Mayor HMM-161 '69-'70
Posted : 2012-11-28 01:18
Re: door gunner school
Out behind the Hanger at Marble Mountain too learn 50 cal. And then out over sea for firing practice
Posted : 2012-11-28 10:05
Re: door gunner school
Never saw or heard of one except in RVN. Above the South China Sea, low level, killing old barrels!
Posted : 2012-11-28 16:32
Re: door gunner school
Joe Reed;37102 wrote: Never saw or heard of one except in RVN. Above the South China Sea, low level, killing old barrels!
That's all I 'member, too--along with Hai Van pass, pick out tree or big rock, make passes and see if you could hit it with first couple rounds 🙂
Posted : 2012-11-29 07:35
Re: door gunner school
Wayne Stafford;37094 wrote: Thought the west coast went to Yuma.
Wayne Stafford
RVN 68-69
Yuma Raft Skipper 1970
On the West Coast,circa '65-'66,gunnery practice was held at Yuma,AZ. HMM-164 used 60's but '165 used the newly aquired aerial '50. It was discovered at that time that existing gun mounts were not sufficient to withstand the recoil from the MA-2. Structural damage was observed & the mounts had to be modified. Been there/done that.
Craze
S/F,Mike
TAKE NO PRISONERS.,SHOW NO MERCY.
DEATH SMILES AT EVERYONE...,MARINES SMILE BACK...
Posted : 2012-11-29 20:00
Re: door gunner school
mecollins;37111 wrote: On the West Coast,circa '65-'66,gunnery practice was held at Yuma,AZ. HMM-164 used 60's but '165 used the newly aquired aerial '50. It was discovered at that time that existing gun mounts were not sufficient to withstand the recoil from the MA-2. Structural damage was observed & the mounts had to be modified. Been there/done that.
Craze
Craze, When 165 got to RVN they were using M-60s, maybe that's why. We got .50s in early '68 for everyone, some got them sooner than that. I qualified with the M-60 when we were on the Valley Forge in Jan 1968.
Posted : 2012-11-30 00:11
Re: door gunner school
Vmo-1, New River in 1967 we would configure a couple of our Huey's with guns and rockets and shoot up dumpsters placed right on the inland waterway between New River and the coast. Funny thing, we would first sendout a slick with a message panel on the large rear window telling the Yacht's on the water way "Live firing, leave now". The boats would move a few clicks away, drop anchor, mix a few cocktails, and enjoy the fireworks.
Posted : 2012-11-30 11:40
Re: door gunner school
HMH-462, MCAS(H) Futenma..dropped some barrels on a small piece of land in the ocean. Also used the aerial gunnery range on the island of Iejima. RVN was out over the ocean at Marble mountain...
Larry Groah
Posted : 2012-12-03 13:09
I know when MAG 16 rotated out of Marble Mountain to Santa Ana we used the aerial gunnery range down at Pendleton (next to the bird sanctuary where we occasionally started some fires with the .50 tracers.) Sgt John "Obie" O'Bryon HMH-361
Posted : 2017-09-10 20:54
.50cal. school on Viages island range in late 68 and early 69 with HMM 261 on carib. 3-68. USS Boxer also fired the 5 in. guns while we were on the ship.
Posted : 2017-12-30 08:40
