This piece of nylon seat-back is a great souvenir for Elton. He was lying on the cargo floor watching a sling load when a 105 round came thru the ship about three feet over his head. It entered thru the right fuel cell and exited above the left fuel cell (taking the hydraulic line for the hook with it). See the aircraft photos below.
This photo by Ron Camp.
I was at Quan Loi that day (Nov'68) on C/228th's #131. My crewchief (don't remember his name) and I had just finished changing lord mounts when I noticed another hook coming in pretty fast. They hovered off the side of the runway to set her down. I could tell her swivel locks and brakes were not working because she would roll around when the pilot tried to lower the pitch. She finally settled in a low place and they shut down. We went over to see what was going on. Couldn't believe my eyes! After almost 30 years - here are the pictures to prove it... (Webmaster)
The 105 goes in from the right!
And it comes out on the left!
These two photos were from CW2 Don Coder and forwarded to me by Steve Lindholm.
This story was also in "Stars And Stripes". The AC was 1LT Kenneth C. Keating and the
other pilot was WO Mark Clements. Flight Engineer was SP5 Elton B. Chappell and the CrewChief
or Gunner was Steve E. Sylvia. The aircraft was A/228th's CH-47A 66-19078
A / 228th ASHB: Chinook vs. 105 Howitzer 
