Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Hard Landing?

The Pentagon has said that the H-60 Blackhawk helicopter that had to be abandoned and destroyed after the raid on Bin Laden's compound crash landed.

This, however, might be a bit of disinformation.

In 1970, the U.S. mounted a raid on Son Tay, a North Vietnamese prison camp, in which the first helicopter to land did so in what's called "a hard landing" to get the raiders in place as quickly as possible.

"The landing was a hard one, but successful. Rotors contacted some of the tall trees which bordered one side of the landing area. It was anticipated that damage would occur and the plan provided for the HH-3 to be considered a loss. By means of an explosive charge with a timing device, it was to be destroyed upon departure of our troops from the compound."


The helicopter in the Bin Laden raid was also reportedly tricked out with stealth technology, according to Popular Science, making it all the more important that it be destroyed.