If my memory is correct, the Aircraft was from HMH-363, A flight of two were heading from Iwakuni to Okinawa. one of the A/C developed Main Gear Box Low oil pressure, accompanied with a chip light. The crew was going to lower the aircraft closer to the surface, as the collective was lowwered the turns deteriated and the aircraft stalled in flight. Paul moore probably has the exact info on this, he was the tech rep at the time.

Sorry if I have this confused wiwth a different incident.

R/S K.D. Logue

Loss of MGB Pump

KD, is correct. The Helicopter flying with them saw a puff of white smoke from the Gear Box area than the helicopter started to desend down. It appeared that the MGB froze & the Rotors stopped & the Helicopter fell on in to the ocean. They observed one man clinging to the right side of the helicopter as it went under the water. They searched but could not locate anyone. The Navy Later stationed a barge over the site & brought the Helicopter up. The Crew was still starpped in. It was found that the MGB oil pump failed which resulted in a fleet wide bulletin to pull the pumps for examination. I knew the crew by sight but names escape me. SF PM

I Was There, 6th of May 1985

The Squadron Was Hmh-462. That Was A Very Sad Day In My Career. Capt Reese Was A Fine Marine Officer, Outstanding Pilot, With A Bright Future Ahead Of Him. He Had A Beautiful Wife, And Was A Strong Mussel Bound Young Marine And With A Very Leval Headed Demenor. Capt Jeff Tuset And Sellers Were Also Fine Aviators. 17 Perrished That Day. 11 Squadron Members, A Few From Mals And I Think A Space A Rider From Iwakuni. They Had A Wingman Also A 53 From The Squadron. They Had Radioed The Sister Ship That They Lost M.g.b. Oil Pressure And Started To Get Chip Lights. While They Were Keying The Radio To Talk To The Sister Ship Said They Could Here The Transmission Squeeling In The Background. This All Took Place In A Matter Of Minutes. Reese Reported They Were Trying To Make It To A Island. The Condition Deterioated Fast. Resse Reported They Were Going To Ditch. They Entered A Autorotation And About 50 Or 500 Ft. Off The Surface. The Rotor Stopped And The Blades All Messhed. The Air Craft Pitched Up Then Went In. Lt. Wise From Dash 2 Was Giong To Go In For A Attemped Rescue, They Thought Was Sgt. Thom From Mals Hanging On The Aux Tank. The Sea Was Too Rough. The Second Or Third Pass All Was Gone.

They Lived Buy The Rule That Was Said The Transmission Could Run For 30 Minutes With No Lubrication. They Proved The Engineers Wrong. This Event Took Way Less Than 30 Minutes. A Bearing On The Lube Pump Failed. This Was Comfirmed When The Gearbox Was Recovered At Great Depths. We Were All Shocked. Dash 2 Flew Back To I Forget Which Island. The Next Day I Crewed My Aircraft Off Okinawa With Capt. Bruce Service To Retrieve Dash 2. The Weather Was Too Bad To Make It. Almost Total I.f.r. I Talked To The Eye Witnesses Soon After. This Is What I Remember. A Short Time After We Rotated Back To The States, And Hmh-361 Assisted With The Recovery Of Some Of The Body's, (not All Recovered), And The Transmission. It Was A Sad Day I Will Never Forget.

Gysgt (ret) Rocky M. Panos

MGB - oil

All of us that flew in the 53A models were told and believed the story of the
"30 minute life" of the MGB without lubrication.

I am certainly glad that all of us were lucky enough to not have it tested.

I guess we were just young and naieve at the time.

30 minute mith

Thanks Rocky for the first hand info. The 30 minute thing was tested in a USAF H53 sometime before this incident. In that case they were again over the Ocean Off Japan, when they noted the same indications on the MGB, loss of oil pressure, High Temp & Chip lite. They had a small island in sight & flew with power, (no autorotation). The crew observed the MGB was glowing red hot but continued flight with power until in the few minutes they were able to land on the Island. As soon as the power was reduced the rotors stopped instantly as the MGB froze. Probably in the case of Capt Reese if they had maintained power they could have made it down to the ocean. SF PM