The 1974 White House helicopter incident

[Slater]

I don't recall this receiving a ton of news coverage at the time, but of course that was pre-Internet/Social Media. If it happened today, I'm sure that everyone would fill their Huggies:

"On February 17, 1974, United States Army Private Robert K. Preston took off in a stolen Bell UH-1B Iroquois "Huey" helicopter from Tipton Field, Maryland, and landed it on the South Lawn of the White House in a significant breach of security. Preston had enlisted in the Army to become a helicopter pilot. However, he did not graduate from the helicopter training course and lost his opportunity to attain the rank of warrant officer pilot. His enlistment bound him to serve four years in the Army, and he was sent to Fort Meade as a helicopter mechanic. Preston believed that this situation was unfair and later said that he stole the helicopter to show his skill as a pilot."


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_W...opter_incident

[markm]

I love wild men like this. Antonio Brown, etc. Shake it up without harming anyone.

[SteyrAUG]

So he failed to graduate and decided stealing a helo and landing it on the White House lawn would be a demonstration of his capabilities. Well I guess technically he did demonstrate what he was capable of and why he should never be trusted with anything.

Christ, can't you make a second attempt at graduating helo school? Or if not permissible find something else to do?

[Averageman]

Christ, can't you make a second attempt at graduating helo school? Or if not permissible find something else to do?

Different time and place, failing a Military school after E-5 when I was enlisted was a career ender.
I would imagine, it was tough and there was a lot of pressure to push hard in training with as little time invested as possible to reach a Pass/Fail point to drop a lot of students.
I know that sounds counterproductive, but there used to be a few schools like that.
I was six hours into the test to attend Master Gunner School and an Instructor said "We're at 35 %". I asked, you mean "So we've passed 65% of the guys?" He said "No, 35% of you guys will be back tomorrow."

[SteyrAUG]

Different time and place, failing a Military school after E-5 when I was enlisted was a career ender.
I would imagine, it was tough and there was a lot of pressure to push hard in training with as little time invested as possible to reach a Pass/Fail point to drop a lot of students.
I know that sounds counterproductive, but there used to be a few schools like that.
I was six hours into the test to attend Master Gunner School and an Instructor said "We're at 35 %". I asked, you mean "So we've passed 65% of the guys?" He said "No, 35% of you guys will be back tomorrow."

I understand that. I also understand post VN there was a metric shit ton of qualified pilots and they didn't need a lot more.

These are all things Preston SHOULD Have considered, he was lucky to get a general discharge after all was said and done. He probably didn't feel he got treated fairly, the army generally doesn't care about your feelz.

What he accomplished with this stunt was a one year sentence (reduced to 6 months) and a $2,400 fine. He probably also achieved a reputation for being unstable that likely followed him through the rest of his life and closed many doors that might otherwise have been open to him.

If you join the army, do your best, do your time and try not to complain about it too much. Everyone in the army is in the same army and mostly doing (or did) the same shit you have to do. If it proves it ain't for you, finish your time and appreciate the hiring preferences that come with an honorable discharge.

Of course easy to say and hard to do so think HARD before you commit 4 years of your life to anything, much less the military. In 1974 the cemeteries were full of guys who died WISHING the worst thing that ever happened to them is they failed some training course and ended up in a maintenance crew.

[utahjeepr]

There were quite a few guys in the infantry that rocked out of their "preferred" MOS, or contract opportunity. Most made shitty grunts too.

Can't say any went quite this far. I can't believe he didn't get busted back to a single cell lifeform and awarded the BCD.

[Slater]

He got hit five times by Secret Service gunfire but only suffered superficial wounds. Lucky SOB.

[chuckman]

Then there was the Marine mechanic who stole an A-4....

[SteyrAUG]

Then there was the Marine mechanic who stole an A-4....

That one I kinda understand. He wasn't pulling a "that's not fair, I can fly" stunt. He understood he was gonna get "one flight" and decided it was worth it.

Ironically HE got a "other than honorable discharge."

And because he didn't make a BFD out the things it seems he did ok after being discharged and "later qualified as a test pilot in more than 20 different military and civilian aircraft, and became a contractor to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He holds patents in aviation design and engineering technology."

That was an interesting story.

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-...for-a-joyride/

[qsy]

This stunt resulted in the Army installing ignition keys in all of the RW aircraft.