Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 (HMH-463) was a
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
helicopter squadron consisting of
CH-53E Super Stallion
The Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion is a heavy-lift helicopter operated by the United States military. As the Sikorsky S-80, it was developed from the CH-53 Sea Stallion, mainly by adding a third engine, adding a seventh blade to the main rotor, ...
transport helicopters. The squadron, also known as "Pegasus", was last based at
Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay,
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
and fell under the command of
Marine Aircraft Group 24
Marine Aircraft Group 24 (MAG-24) is a United States Marine Corps aviation unit based at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay. MAG-24 is subordinate to the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and the III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF).
Mission
Pr ...
(MAG-24) and the
1st Marine Aircraft Wing
The 1st Marine Aircraft Wing is an aviation unit of the United States Marine Corps that serves as the Aviation Combat Element of the III Marine Expeditionary Force. The wing is headquartered at Camp Foster on the island of Okinawa, Japan. A ...
(1st MAW). HMH-463 was decommissioned in April 2022 as part of the Commandant of the Marine Corps Force Design 2030 initiative.
Mission
Provide
assault support transport of combat troops, supplies and equipment during expeditionary, joint or combined operations. Be prepared for short-notice, worldwide employment in support of
Marine Air-Ground Task Force operations.
History
Early years
The squadron was originally activated as Marine Bombing Squadron 463 (VMB-463), a fixed-wing bombing squadron, on July 20, 1944 at
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point,
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
and assigned to
Marine Aircraft Group 62,
9th Marine Aircraft Wing
The 9th Marine Aircraft Wing was an aviation unit of the United States Marine Corps based at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina. The wing was commissioned during World War II as a training unit for Marine Aviation personnel he ...
. In November 1944, the squadron was reassigned to
Marine Aircraft Group 34. The following February, the squadron was reassigned to
Marine Operational Training Group 81 only to be deactivated on July 28, 1945. On July 15, 1945, the squadron was reactivated at
Marine Corps Air Station Santa Barbara,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
as Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadron 463 (VMTB-463) and assigned to
Marine Aircraft Group 51. The following year, on March 20, 1946, the squadron was once again deactivated and would remain so until 1958. The squadron was reactivated on September 1, 1958 at
Marine Corps Air Station Santa Ana
Marine Corps Air Station Tustin (IATA: NTK, ICAO: KNTK, FAA LID: NTK) is a former United States Navy and United States Marine Corps air station, located in Tustin, California.
History
The Air Station was established in 1942 by the Uni ...
, California as Marine Helicopter Transport Squadron 463 and assigned to
Marine Air Group 36,
3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and then deactivated again less than a year later on June 30, 1959.
Vietnam War
Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 was reactivated on March 1, 1966 at MCAS Santa Ana and assigned to
Marine Wing Support Group 37
Marine Wing Support Group 37 (MWSG-37) was a United States Marine Corps aviation combat service support unit based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar that was composed of 4 squadrons, that provided the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and I Marine Expe ...
, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing flying the
CH-53 Sea Stallion
The CH-53 Sea Stallion (Sikorsky S-65) is an American family of heavy-lift transport helicopters designed and built by the American manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft.
It was originally developed in response to a request from the United States N ...
airframe. A four-plane detachment from HMH-463 deployed to
Marble Mountain Air Facility
Marble Mountain Air Facility (MMAF), also known as Da Nang East Airfield, Marble Mountain Army Airfield and Nuoc Man Airfield, was an aviation facility used primarily by the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. It was a helicopt ...
,
South Vietnam in December 1966. HMH-463 was reassigned to
Marine Aircraft Group 16. The remainder of the squadron would deploy during May 1967 to Marble Mountain where they participated in combat operations during the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
for the next four years.
[ Fails (1978), p.163.] On 8 January 1968, CH-53A #65-100 crashed in the
Hải Lăng Forest south of
Đông Hà Combat Base
Đông Hà Combat Base (also known as Camp Spillman, Camp Red Devil or simply Đông Hà) is a former U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army base northwest of Quảng Trị in central Vietnam. The base was first used by the 4th Marines in late April 1 ...
, killing all 46 personnel on board. One of the more different flights taken by the squadron occurred in 1968 when they participated in ''Operation Bahroom''. This entailed delivering an elephant via helicopter from the airstrip at
Chu Lai Air Base
Chu Lai Air Base was a military airport in Chu Lai, Vietnam, operated by the United States Marine Corps between 1965 and 1970. It was located near Tam Kỳ city, the largest city in Quảng Nam Province. Abandoned after the end of the Vietnam Wa ...
to the Special Forces camp at Tra Bong to work at a local
saw mill
A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ( dimens ...
. 1970 saw the squadron start to delve into bombing missions or what they termed "barrel bombing." During this time they would fly 2 - 4 ship flights at low altitude to draw enemy fire. Once they encountered enemy contact they would then fly over the area again and drop
55 gallon drums of gasoline and napalm that were sling-loaded to the bottom of the aircraft. Usually the force of impact would ignite the barrel mixture but they would occasionally need machine gun fire from the helicopter door guns or rockets from an
OV-10 Bronco
The North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco is an American twin-turboprop light attack and observation aircraft. It was developed in the 1960s as a special aircraft for counter-insurgency (COIN) combat, and one of its primary missions was as a f ...
or
AH-1 Cobra
The Bell AH-1 Cobra is a single-engined attack helicopter developed and manufactured by the American rotorcraft manufacturer Bell Helicopter. A member of the prolific Huey family, the AH-1 is also referred to as the HueyCobra or Snake.
The AH ...
. On a mission over "Charlie Ridge" just west of
Danang
Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons ( ; vi, Đà Nẵng, ) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is o ...
the squadron dropped over 400 tons of the fuel mixture against entrenched
North Vietnamese Army
The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; vi, Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), also recognized as the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) or the Vietnamese Army (), is the military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the armed win ...
positions. After the Vietnam War, HMH-463 relocated to
Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay,
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
in May 1971 and was reassigned to
Marine Aircraft Group 24
Marine Aircraft Group 24 (MAG-24) is a United States Marine Corps aviation unit based at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay. MAG-24 is subordinate to the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and the III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF).
Mission
Pr ...
, 1st Marine Brigade.
In 1973, HMH-463 returned to Vietnam and participated in
Operation End Sweep
Operation End Sweep was a United States Navy and United States Marine Corps operation to remove naval mines from Haiphong harbor and other coastal and inland waterways in North Vietnam between February and July 1973. The operation fulfilled an Am ...
, the minesweeping operations in the
Haiphong
Haiphong ( vi, Hải Phòng, ), or Hải Phòng, is a major industrial city and the third-largest in Vietnam. Hai Phong is also the center of technology, economy, culture, medicine, education, science and trade in the Red River delta.
Haiphong wa ...
/Hon Gai Area of
North Vietnam
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
from February through July.
On 26 March 1975, HMH-463 embarked on the at
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...
and the Hancock proceeded to
Subic Bay
Subic Bay is a bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, about northwest of Manila Bay. An extension of the South China Sea, its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility, U.S. Naval Base Sub ...
and then on station in the Gulf of Thailand. On 12 April 1975, the squadron participated in
Operation Eagle Pull
Operation Eagle Pull was the United States military evacuation by air of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on 12 April 1975. At the beginning of April 1975, Phnom Penh, one of the last remaining strongholds of the Khmer Republic, was surrounded by the Khmer ...
, the evacuation of
Phnom Penh and 17 days later it participated in
Operation Frequent Wind
Operation Frequent Wind was the final phase in the evacuation of American civilians and "at-risk" Vietnamese from Saigon, South Vietnam, before the takeover of the city by the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) in the Fall of Saig ...
, the evacuation of
Saigon.
For its efforts during the US evacuation of South Vietnam, HMH-463 was awarded the "Outstanding Helicopter Squadron of the Year" award by the Marine Corps Aviation Association in 1975.
1990s
![Marine CH-53D Sea Stallion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Marine_CH-53D_Sea_Stallion.jpg)
In August 1990, HMH-463 deployed to
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
to take part in
Operation Desert Shield
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
. The squadron remained in
Southwest Asia
Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...
to participate in
Operation Desert Storm
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...
before returning to MCAF Kaneohe Bay in March 1991.
2000s
In March 2006, HMH-463 deployed in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), making it the first individual CH-53D unit to be deployed to
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
, but not the first CH-53D to enter the country for OIF/OEF. The squadron returned to MCAF Kaneohe Bay in October 2006.
On August 2009, HMH 463 deployed to the
Helmand Province
Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering area. The province contains 13 ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
in support of
Operation Enduring Freedom.
By the end of 2011, HMH-463 had retired all of its CH-53D helicopters. The unit completed the transition to the CH-53E in 2012.
On January 14, 2016 twelve Hawaii Marines were killed when two CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters collided off of the
North Shore (Oahu)
The North Shore, in the context of geography of the Island of Oahu, refers to the north-facing coastal area of Oahu between Kaena Point and Kahuku. The largest settlement is Haleiwa.
This area is best known for its massive waves, attracting surfe ...
.
HMH-463 was decommissioned on April 22, 2022 during a ceremony held at MCAS Kaneohe Bay, HI. The squadron's stand down was part of a restructure of Marine Corps forces in Hawaii as part of the Commandant of the Marine Corps Force Design 2030 initiative.
Unit awards
A unit citation or commendation is an award bestowed upon an organization for the action cited. Members of the unit who participated in said actions are allowed to wear on their uniforms the awarded unit citation. HMH-463 has been presented with the following awards:
See also
*
United States Marine Corps Aviation
United States Marine Corps Aviation (USMCA) is the aircraft arm of the United States Marine Corps. Aviation units within the Marine Corps are assigned to support the Marine Air-Ground Task Force, as the aviation combat element, by providing si ...
*
Organization of the United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is organized within the Department of the Navy, which is led by the Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV). The most senior Marine commissioned officer is the Commandant of the Marine Corps, responsible for organizing, recr ...
*
List of active United States Marine Corps aircraft squadrons
*
Notes
References
:
; Bibliography
*
*
*
;Web
HMH-463's official websiteHMH-463 Vietnam Veterans Website
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H463