Yea, I got good at stopping the blades in line with the aircraft by using the tail rotor pedals for extra friction or traction depending on the wind that was available. Never got a single case of beer! The crew never knew that you could boost or stop the blades using the tail rotor. Never got caught, but never got any beer anyway.

Had a bunch of blade strikes though, Larry, Rex and I knew that it was gonna happen before it happened with one exception, a SOG mission, inserting to a bomb crater about 10 miles South of Polei Klang. I was watching a 9" tree to my 11 o'clock when one of the YARDS slungloaded himself on my shoulder strap as a means of standing up. Everyone was screaming "Baby Huey's Down" but 519 came back upright with more noise than I have ever heard from a helicopter. Larry had used his extra M-60 barrel to unload the YARD from the shoulder harness and deposit him in the bottom of the bomb crater. The 9" tree was gone and so was most of both blades from about 2' inside the trim tab to the end.

We made it back to Kontum and then we were ordered to fly it back to Pleiku. The world was at the pad when Larry and I landed including the person who ordered me to fly it back to Pleiku. Then he said, "Geeze if I'da known it was that bad I'da had it slung loaded back to here".

Hind site is 20/20 for that RLO! And I wanted to make it permanent.

Dave