Personal Narrative Manuscript/Mixed Material Software, E-Resource Audio Recording Francis J. Bayer Collection
Veterans History Project Service Summary:
- War or Conflict: Persian Gulf War, 1991; Vietnam War, 1961-1975
- Branch of Service: Army
- Unit of Service: 155th Aviation Company; 92nd Aviation Company; 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Division; 35th Infantry Division; Army National Guard
- Location of Service: Blackhorse Base, Vietnam; Central Highlands, Vietnam; Ban Me Thuot, Vietnam; Cambodia; Laos; Fort Knox, Kentucky; New York; North Carolina; Delaware; Nevada
- Highest Rank: Chief Warrant Officer 3
- Collection Number: AFC/2001/001/17074
His grandfather and father were Marines, but Francis Bayer had other ideas about serving his country-he wanted to fly. He enlisted in the Army in 1967 because it was the one branch that guaranteed he would get into flight school. In Vietnam, Bayer flew helicopters involved in troop insertions and reconnaissance, learning to improvise under fire or in a tight spot. He is proud that in postwar tests of air-to-air combat situations, tactics that he helped develop allowed his helicopter to outmaneuver Navy jets. He continued flying after his service days, working rescue and medevac jobs.
Francis J. Bayer Collection
Interview / Recording
Transcript
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PlayOperating a helicopter involving eye-hand-body coordination; training started with keeping the helicopter inside a football stadium; on one night course run, wind changing direction, so he calculated a short cut to get him back with enough fuel; another helicopter ran low on fuel and made an emergency landing--inside the Texas State Prison. 00:06:01.5 - 00:11:35.3
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PlayFirst duty assignment in Vietnam: attached to the Royal Australian Navy, supporting Australian and U.S. ground troops for four months; reassigned to Central Highlands, supporting Special Forces; flew along Cambodia-Laos border; last three months in country were out of Nha Trang. 00:16:36.5 - 00:19:25.5
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PlayFirst day in country; told that only ten percent of pilots would survive to finish their tours of duty; in fact, only ten percent of his class did not make it through; Army trained so many helicopter pilots that there was a surplus by the end of the war. 00:20:33.1 - 00:23:43.9
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PlayAustralians' unique way of suppressing a landing zone; landing a helicopter in formation amid rocket fire from other helicopters without any sighting system; they used grease pencil on their windshields to line up the rocket fire. 00:24:04.1 - 00:26:21.9
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PlayBasic duties: troop insertions, resupply missions with discretion to avoid giving away positions of their troops to the enemy; reconnaissance by fire; occasionally taking fire from reckless ARVN troops, but that didn't happen often with threat of retaliation; at end of 1968, new rules of engagement required them to get permission to return fire. 00:31:36.9 - 00:35:52.3
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PlayDoing postwar tests on the OH58 helicopter, performing well in air-to-air situations with Navy fighter jets; devising tactics that are still in use for air combat scenarios. 00:41:03.1 - 00:43:14.2
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PlayDad and grandfather were both Marines; latter served in WWI, father in WWII and Korea; told his father that he joined Army for a chance to fly; one way of staying in touch with home from Vietnam: on the way back from missions, using the helicopter's radio to patch in to ham radio hookup; not allowing for time difference and waking up his family in the middle of the night. 00:43:41.0 - 00:45:45.8
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PlayLunch food wasn't special, but being an aviator had its advantages over the infantry: morning and night they got a hot meal, and they did have a bed to sleep in every night; improvising to keep their tents out of the mud; company parties featuring fresh deer meat, hunted down in helicopters. 00:54:12.7 - 00:56:27.6
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PlayFavorite aircraft to fly in Vietnam was the UH1, the D model with more power; the one he had was nicknamed was Baby Hook (as in Chinook, the large troop carrier); episode of extracting troops from hover hole, an opening in the jungle canopy, requiring delicate maneuvering; when they were ascending with a heavier load aboard, their lift started to fail and they had to shear off some tree tops to make it out. 01:21:06.5 - 01:26:04.2
About this Item
Title
- Francis J. Bayer Collection
Names
- Morse, Rebecca D.
- Adult Learning Programs of Alaska
- Bayer, Francis J.
- Betts, Amy J.
Home State
- Missouri
Headings
- - Bayer, Francis J.
- - Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Personal Narratives
- - United States. Army.
- - Persian Gulf War, 1991 -- Personal Narratives
- - United States. Army.
Repository
- Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
Gender
- Male
Race
- White
Status
- veteran
Service History
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975
- Branch of Service: Army
- Unit of Service: 155th Aviation Company; 92nd Aviation Company; 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Division; 35th Infantry Division; Army National Guard
- Location of Service: Blackhorse Base, Vietnam; Central Highlands, Vietnam; Ban Me Thuot, Vietnam; Cambodia; Laos; Fort Knox, Kentucky; New York; North Carolina; Delaware; Nevada
- Highest Rank: Chief Warrant Officer 3
- Dates of Service: 1967-1992
- Entrance into Service: Enlisted
- Military Status: veteran
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Persian Gulf War, 1991
- Branch of Service: Army
- Entrance into Service: Enlisted
- Military Status: veteran
Materials
- Audio: CD [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 2003-05-21; 1994-12-31)
- Audio: Audio Cassette [2 items] -- Oral history interview (collected unknown)
- Audio: CD [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 2003-05-21; 1994-12-31)
- Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Transcription of audio recording (collected 2003-05-21)
- Computer File: Floppy Disk [1 item] -- Electronic file of manuscript (collected 2003-05-21; 2003-06-18)
Collection Number
- AFC/2001/001/17074
Cite as
- Francis J. Bayer Collection (AFC/2001/001/17074), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
Online Format
- audio
- online text
Additional Metadata Formats
Part of
Wars & Conflicts
Service Branch
Location of Service
- Ban Me Thuot, Vietnam
- Blackhorse Base, Vietnam
- Cambodia
- Central Highlands, Vietnam
- Delaware
- Fort Knox, Kentucky
- Laos
- Nevada
- New York
- North Carolina
Service Unit
- 155th Aviation Company
- 1st Cavalry Division
- 35th Infantry Division
- 8th Squadron
- 92nd Aviation Company
- Army National Guard