Always amazed me that no one ever thought to arm those big lumbering Hueys right from the start. Landings were elevator with a cut cable but nothing could get them up rapidly. This must have been filmed early in the war. Some of the M60s still hanging from bungee cords and those "HERE I AM - SHOOT ME" uniforms with patches, rank stripes, bright white name tape and bright yellow US ARMY tape and cleaned and pressed on top of it.
Initially we flew in VNAF H-34s with Vietnamese pilots. Holes cut everywhere to reach components, pink hydraulic fluid everywhere, one exit door made it tough though that big 9 cylinder engine up front provided some ground fire cover. Poor pilots sitting 15ft in the air made great targets