Edward L. Rowny
was highly imaginative, especially in developing equipment for us. For example,
instead of having troopers slide down ropes into simulated jungles, Trudeau devised
a device resembling a roller shade. When a trooper was ready to get back into the
helicopter, he simply tugged on the rope attached to his harness and up he went.
Another of Trudeau's ideas was to blow a hole in the jungle canopy by using
explosives. A helicopter wishing to land in the jungle would first drop a large
charge of explosives. After the explosive charge went off, troopers would descend
into the area with chain saws, cutting down any trees which might still be standing.
Within a few minutes, a landing area would be ready to receive a helicopter.
The imaginative spirit caught on quickly and other officers began to dream up
concepts and gadgets for us to test. One set of ideas came from General Andrew
P. O ' M e a r a He was not a member of the Howze Board but followed our activities
closely. He believed that there was a possibility that the U.S. would get into a
nuclear war and that helicopters were ideally suited for use in conjunction with
tactical nuclear weapons. Once a week we would put on a show to which we
invited officers and civilians from the Pentagon. I remember particularly one
demonstration that we put on for Secretary McNamara and his civilian whiz kids,
because of an accident involving one of the Army's fixed-wing logistical airplanes.
Q ..
Was this the Caribou?
A ..
Yes. The Caribou was a rugged fixed-wing aircraft which could take off and land
from fields or cow pastures. We had several of these Caribou outfitted with
bladders carrying helicopter fuel. The idea was to turn it into a roving filling
station. The plan was to have a Caribou, loaded with fuel, land in the middle of
a cow pasture. Five troopers would jump out and extend hoses to five points on
a star. The helicopters would then land and be refueled at each of the stations. To
gain surprise, the Caribou, like the helicopters themselves, would fly the nap of the
earth and come in right over the tree tops. In this way they avoided detection by
radar. They would come into an area so quickly that the enemy wouldn't see or
hear them until it was too late to react.
In preparation for McNamara's visit we had practiced the exercise four or five
times. Each time, the Caribou would come in a bit lower. The final rehearsal was
perfect, the Caribou flew in just a few feet above the tree tops. During the
exercise, I was standing next to Secretary McNamara when the Caribou, having
come in too low, caught the tops of the trees and crashed right in front of us.
Fortunately, the fuel did not explode or catch fire and no one was killed. But it
had been a close call. A few minutes later the five helicopters arrived and we had
to describe to the secretary what would have happened had the Caribou not
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