Sometimes you do everything right, but it just isn't your day. A part
fails and your helicopter comes apart in flight, or, another aircraft
runs into you and the pieces of both fall to the ground below, or the
enemy gunner pulls the trigger at just the right moment and his rounds
find your aircraft in exactly the right spot to take it out of the sky.
Whichever way it happens, it wasn't your day.
Which is why, after 24 years and over 5,000 flight hours with four armed
services, Major Robert Curtis was so surprised at being alive when he
passed his retirement physical. Starting with enlisting in the Army to
fly helicopters during Vietnam, and continuing on through service with
the National Guard, Marine Corps and Royal Navy, he flew eight different
helicopters--from the wooden-bladed flying he OH-13E, through the
Chinook, SeaKnight and SeaKing, in war and peace around the world.
During that time over 50 of his friends died in crashes, both in combat
and in accidents, but somehow his skill, and not an inconsiderable
amount of luck and superstition, saw him through.
His flying career began with a misbegotten strategy for beating the
draft by enlisting. With the Vietnam War raging full blast in 1968 the
draft was inevitable, so he wanted to at least get some small measure of
control of his future. Although he had no thought of flying when he
walked into the recruiting office, he walked out signed up to be a
helicopter pilot. What he did not know was that 43% of all the aircraft
sent to Vietnam were destroyed in combat or accidents. Soon he was in
the thick of the war, flying Chinooks with the 101st Airborne. After
Vietnam he left the Army, but kept flying in the National Guard while
going to college. He was accepted at two law schools, but flying is
addictive, so he instead enlisted in the USMC to fly some more. Over the
next 17 years he would fly around the world off US and British ships
from Egypt to Norway and all points in between. His engaging story will
be a delight to all aviation enthusiasts.
