"Surprise!- Close Call"

"Surprise!- Close Call"
Submitted by - CPT Robin (Obie) O'Brien, HH16, 219th Pleiku

In early 1967 I was assigned to the 219th Aviation Company as a FAC (forward air controller). I was returning from a mission to a Special Forces Camp south of Pleuku, Vietnam. I had an artillery observer in the back seat of the O-1 birddog I was flying. Seating is somewhat cramped and his knees were touching my back. We had been conducting "visual recognizance" while returning to our home base. While flying at aproximately 800 to 1000 feet elevation we sighted a group of 8 - 10 Montagnards about 500 yards off to one side of our flight path. They were running in a straight line parallel to us. Two of them in the middle of the group had a large "Bengal Tiger" hung beneath a bamboo pole. Normally the Montagnards did not run from us. I felt we should take a closer look to see what type of weapons they had and perhaps find out why they were running from us. I planned to circle around and cross the trail at a point where I thought they should be. I dropped  down to ground level so the wheels were almost touching the ground and the prop was stirring up dirt. We were flying with the windows open so I instructed the observer to get his rifle pointed out the left side of the aircraft and I would look out the right side. As we crossed the trail I heard a gun shot and smelled burnt gun powder. I thought the observer had fired his gun inside the aircraft. I pulled up and attempted to talk to him on the intercom. The radios had quit working so I pulled up higher and turned to look back at him. He was white as a ghost and very shaken. Later he told me that as we crossed the trail a little man had stood up from behind a small bush and ducked as the wing of the aircraft passed over his head. He stuck out his rifle and pulled the trigger. The bullet passed between us and as it went in one window and out the other the blast was caught in the aircraft as we flew by. I'm not sure why the radios failed as they came back on about ten minutes later. I never did see any of the men but I did feel the bullet pass by the back of my neck.