CH-46 154038

ffuries · **Posted:** Wed Aug 18, 2021 1:07 pm

CH-46 154038, purported to have taken part in the evacuation of Saigon, and now the Kabul evacuation. After her final flight and arrival at Kabul Air Port, she was disabled by the aircrew and left behind. Sad end to a long career, if all is true. Would have been a great museum bird if you ask me......

https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=116535

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11324

Thanks for posting that article. Sad to lose a mechanical veteran like that.

sandiego89 · **Joined:** Mon May 21, 2012 12:28 pm **Posts:** 1199

Quite the war horse, imagine it will sit for decades until the next clean up happens.

TimAPNY · **Posted:** Sat Aug 21, 2021 7:22 pm

I remember seeing that picture of the CH-46 a week ago or so and thought... Who the heck is flying a Sea Knight and that is cool is see one is out there flying still. Maybe there is more but I am understanding the Navy is no longer flying them.

Cool story, maybe next go around we can pick it up and take it home.

Tim

Stoney · **Posted:** Sun Aug 22, 2021 11:06 am

Columbia helos still operate them.

Noha307 · **Posted:** Sun Aug 22, 2021 6:35 pm

For what it's worth, recent events caused me to reread through some of Dr. Leeker's excellent work listing former Air America aircraft. I was motivated to do so because I remember reading that the Bell 205 in Hubert van Es's famous photo of the evacuation of Saigon still exists. It was registered as N47004, msn 3211, and was last noted as being registered to a Bill Williams of Dothan, Alabama in 2013.

We can only hope to see it and BuNo 154038 side by side in a museum someday!

sandiego89 · **Joined:** Mon May 21, 2012 12:28 pm **Posts:** 1199

TimAPNY wrote:

I remember seeing that picture of the CH-46 a week ago or so and thought... Who the heck is flying a Sea Knight and that is cool is see one is out there flying still. Maybe there is more but I am understanding the Navy is no longer flying them.

Cool story, maybe next go around we can pick it up and take it home.

Tim

Tim, the US State Department took on @23 surplus CH-46's starting around 2012. They were used for embassy support missions in Afghanistan where travel by air was much more attractive than ground travel. The CH-46 has been fully retired by the US Navy and US Marine Corps with the last examples flying Navy VERTREP mission around 2004 and the last examples with the US Military @2015 with the USMC retirement of the Search and Rescue "Pedros" at USMC Air Station Cherry Point, NC. Other civil uses continues in small numbers.

old iron · **Posted:** Tue Aug 24, 2021 7:36 am

Do we know for sure that this helicopter has been disabled? Seems like they have a lot of these flying back and forth.

marine air · **Posted:** Tue Aug 24, 2021 9:54 am

I thought the same thing. Why wouldn't they fly it out to Pakistan or Tajikstan, Turkmenistan? Those countries are still our allies. Isn't the helicopter still worth several million dollars?

marine air · **Posted:** Tue Aug 24, 2021 9:55 am

I thought the same thing. Why wouldn't they fly it out to Pakistan or Tajikstan, Turkmenistan? Those countries are still our allies. Isn't the helicopter still worth several million dollars?

sandiego89 · **Joined:** Mon May 21, 2012 12:28 pm **Posts:** 1199

marine air wrote:

I thought the same thing. Why wouldn't they fly it out to Pakistan or Tajikstan, Turkmenistan? Those countries are still our allies. Isn't the helicopter still worth several million dollars?

Several articles have indicated the CH-46's were disabled as the crews walked away to catch a C-17 out of there. I think there has been some of the usual confusion between spotting CH-46's and CH-47's on the news, the two have been confused with each other for decades. I have seen clips with both 46's and 47's.

I think the time was numbered for the CH-46's, even with their rehab, they were getting tired, and like countless other vehicles, MRAP's and gear, simply abandoned. I do hope and imagine that the CH-47's were flown out. I do note many Afghani AF fixed and rotary wing aircraft did fly out to the North.

L-188 · **Joined:** Sat Feb 14, 2015 11:20 am **Posts:** 164

Fingers crossed that someway, somehow this one gets to Pakistan, somehow gets home and somehow makes it to NASM

old iron · **Posted:** Sun Aug 29, 2021 6:41 pm

My guess is that NASM would not want this. They have the original Piasecki XHRP-X - unfortunately still in storage - which I think they would argue filled the tandem-rotor slot. A "french" is currently on display, but on loan from the Marine Corps Museum.

NASM has been fairly aggressive in adding helicopters to the collection in recent years - I count 8 accessions and 2 deaccessions (Kellett XR-8 and Sikorsky UH-34D Seahorse) since 2003.

L-188 · **Joined:** Sat Feb 14, 2015 11:20 am **Posts:** 164

old iron wrote:

My guess is that NASM would not want this. They have the original Piasecki XHRP-X - unfortunately still in storage - which I think they would argue filled the tandem-rotor slot. A "french" is currently on display, but on loan from the Marine Corps Museum.

NASM has been fairly aggressive in adding helicopters to the collection in recent years - I count 8 accessions and 2 deaccessions (Kellett XR-8 and Sikorsky UH-34D Seahorse) since 2003.

Wouldn't the historical value qualify in some way? Maybe someone somewhere would see it as worth saving. And what is a french?

Clifford Bossie · **Posted:** Mon Aug 30, 2021 11:14 am

L-188 wrote:

old iron wrote:

And what is a french?

CH-46 = Fr og. For some reason WIX changes the little aquatic amphibian to "French" :lol:

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