SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015
7 B
The Florence Senior Center
once again is offering the
chance to win a gourmet prime
rib dinner for 10.
Tickets are now available
for the annual fundraiser for
$10 each. Only 300 tickets
will be printed.
The raffle is open to the
community and all ages are
encouraged to participate.
Since this is a fundraiser, there
are no restrictions on who can
buy tickets or who can attend
the winning meal.
Tickets are available at the
senior center, 1570 Kingwood.
The senior center is open
from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. week-
days. Reserve tickets by call-
ing 541-997-8844.
Chef Larry Osgood will pre-
pare the five-course feast for
the winner and nine guests.
The winner of the raffle will
be drawn on St. Patrick’s Day.
B Y C AL A PPLEBEE
Special to the Siuslaw News
A quiet word about
your hearing.
We’re very
good listeners.
N
ot being a veteran, my
only rides in helicop-
ters over the years have
been in smaller, civilian and
recreational choppers.
I had watched the M.A.S.H.
TV series and observed mede-
vac choppers there, and multi-
ple Vietnam era movies and
books demonstrated uses they
found in that war. But it wasn’t
until I was recently reading
“The History of the Vietnam
War” by Douglas Welsh that I
started to realize just how
much in its infancy helicopter
warfare actually was at that
period of time.
I dug into my library to learn
more.
With aviation itself still in its
infancy since the Wright
Brothers first powered flight at
Kitty Hawk in 1903, almost
simultaneously aviation enthu-
siasts around the world were
working on an aircraft capable
of hovering. Bi-planes and air-
ships continued to improve in
technology and capabilities
over the next few decades, par-
ticularly during WWI, but the
evolution of a true helicopter
seemed stalled.
It wasn’t until the late 1930s
and early 1940s that success
was finally realized by pio-
neers such as Igor Sikorsky,
who would enjoy great success,
as well as by various individu-
als whose design would end up
as Bell Aircraft helicopters —
and Frank Piasecki, with his
tandem rotor “flying banana.”
Although the American
armed forces didn’t fully adopt
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T t h o our Sponsors!
In Memory of Patsy Ferguson
Florence Elks Lodge 1858
Pacific Seafood
R & R King Logging
Peace Health
Ladies of the Elks Lodge 1858
Oregon Pacific Bank
Burns Riverside Chapel
Best For Hearing
Koning Family
Resurrection Lutheran Church
Florence Dental Clinic
Central Coast Disposal
Chad Clement D.D.S.
Ray Wells
Radio KCST/KCFM
Florence Lions Club
Tony’s Garage
Waste Connections, Inc.
Holloway & Associates
In-Kind Sponsors
BJ’S Ice Cream/Bakery
Florence Sign Shop
Grocery Outlet
Morgan’s Country Kitchen
On The Coast Printing
Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission
Red Rose Catering
Shipping Solutions
Shoreline Customized Apparel
Susan Lyons
Silent Auction Sponsors
Stuart Matthews
Huntingfish Charters
C&M Stables
APEXHELI Oregon INC.
Bill & Marybeth Hodgson
Fresh Harvest Cafe & Bakery
Lovejoy’s
City Lights Cinema
Jane Erwin
Pam Hyman
Kitchen Klutter
Susan Gilday
Nature’s Corner Cafe
Michael MacDuffee
Outlaw’s Custom Creations
Blubell Vanderpool
Gene Olson
Last Resort Players
Seacoast Productions
I visited with one Vietnam
veteran who fought on the
ground who stated that he and
his fellow soldiers loved get-
ting dropped close into a battle
via helicopter, but more often
than not had to hike back out
on foot because the choppers
became attractive targets when
they came back in to extract
them.
As with most subjects we
touch on in the Chronicles,
there simply isn’t space to do
such a subject justice; I haven’t
even touched on the current
developments and tactics
enjoyed by helicopter warfare.
But just as we saw the evolu-
tion of both the machine and
the tactics employed with it
back in the 1940s and 1950s,
today we’re witnessing a simi-
lar evolution with the advent of
UAV’s and drones and their
usefulness in warfare. It will be
interesting to look back 50
years from now and see what
impact they have on what we
think of as conventional war-
fare today.
To learn more about military
heritage in general, visit the
Oregon
Coast
Military
Museum website at www.ocm
hm.com
Find a treasure at FEC’s
Indoor Yard Sale
Jewelry, household items,
fishing gear, antiques and
more will available during the
indoor yard sale at the
Florence Events Center,
Saturday, Feb. 21.
The Friends of the FEC are
sponsoring this walk through
indoor bazaar, from 8 a.m. to 2
p.m. Nonprofit groups and
individuals are invited to rent a
FLORENCE: 541-997-7617
1525 12th Street, Suite 2
EUGENE:
the helicopters until the late
1940’s, an incident in the clos-
ing months of WWII would
demonstrate its capabilities and
usefulness when a newly oper-
ational Sikorsky flew a mission
to rescue a downed Tenth Air
Force flyer who had crashed in
an extremely remote jungle
area in northern Burma.
The Korean conflict in the
early 1950s would further
enhance the capabilities of the
chopper, particularly in the role
of a medevac vehicle and the
evolving
Mobile
Army
Surgical Hospital.
The Vietnam war starting in
the early 1960s would see a
phenomenal leap in capabilities
and tactics of the helicopter as
it grew beyond just a medevac
role — although that continued
— and expanded its role as a
gunship and tool for insertion
of troops into battle zones.
Not only did the guerrilla-
style tactics of the North
Vietnamese army challenge
and impact the traditional tacti-
cal approach to combat, the
helicopter itself contributed
greatly to responding to that
challenge by allowing U.S.
forces to be inserted quickly
and close to action when need-
ed — and in some cases
extracted as well.
booth space to display their
goods. Space will be available
up until Thursday, Feb. 20, at 5
p.m. for any group or individ-
ual to participate in the sale.
For more information on
purchasing a booth, come in to
the Florence Events Center
office at 715 Quince St., or
contact Jennifer Connor at the
FEC at 541-997-1994.
R ene w
r
o
e
b
i
Tod
scr
ay
Siuslaw News
A ND
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Helicopter warfare