First Flight

By Hal Lotman

 As I remember, it was a sunny day in July 1966. I was stationed at Fort Jackson SC, and assigned to C Company, US Army Garrison. My duty station was Owens Army Airfield, about a 30 minute drive from Fort Jackson. We had two Bell OH-13B helicopters and two Canadian-built de Havilland U-6A Beavers, a High winged utility airplane with a radial engine. [And a two-bladed propeller. Ed.] Strangely we had only one pilot for each type of aircraft.

De Havilland U-6A Beaver

After four months assigned to the Army Aviation Detachment, Owens Army Airfield, I became the Crew Chief to one of the OH- 13B helicopters. A few weeks later, to my surprise, the U-6A Beavers pilot fired one of his crew chiefs during a 25 hour maintenance inspection. He then appointed me his new crew chief. Me? A guy who had never even been inside a U6A! The Beaver was built in 1954 but the engine was originally built in 1939. The previous crew chief completed the 25 hour maintenance inspection and showed me around the plane. After lunch, the pilot walked me around the plane showing me what trouble spots he wanted me to double check. Then he told me I would fly with him during the test flight. I wasn’t happy to do so because I didn’t do the inspection. But a Warrant Officer 2 out ranks a PFC, so I climbed into the the copilot’s seat. 

After he started the engine, he showed me what I needed to watch during the flight. Just as the plane unstuck from the runway, the windshield went black! I didn’t know what I should do and looked at the pilot. We were about 100 feet up and had already flown past the runway. The pilot, my pilot, told me he was shutting down the engine to save what he could! 

Oh great! No power! No runway! And only about 100 feet up! Suddenly I felt closer to heaven than the ground. 

Shutting down the engine, he banked hard left trying to reach the other runway, all the while shouting at the mic alerting the tower of our crash. 

Crash! A word I wished never to hear while flying. He opened his door to see where we were because the windshield & door windows were black with oil. I was close to soiling my pants. 

We lined up on the runway’s painted center line and 

… landed! 

The fire truck was there alongside of us as we coasted to a stop. Just about everyone, soldier, civilian, whatever was running toward us. I climbed out of my Beaver, dropped to my hands and knees and kissed the runway. Thankful that I hadn’t soiled my pants. We sent the Beaver, my Beaver to Fort Bragg for the incident investigation and repairs. We soon found out the engine oil sump plug had backed out causing the engine oil to drain out. Apparently it was not properly torqued down nor was it safety-wired. The mechanics who inspected the Beaver were amazed there wasn’t evidence of a hard landing and all seven cylinders were still attached to the oil-less engine! 

Well we had a skillful pilot and some luck. We got the plane back after about 3 months with a newer rebuilt engine. The only one hurt was the previous crew chief. He was exiled from the airfield to the tinder mercies of the Commander, C Company, USAG, Fort Jackson, SC.