HMH-465

'Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 465' ('HMH-465') is a United States Marine Corps helicopter squadron consisting of CH-53E Super Stallion transport helicopters. The squadron, known as "Warhorse", is based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California and is attached to Marine Aircraft Group 16 (MAG-16), 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (3rd MAW).

Contents

History

Early years

1990s

Global War on Terror

See also

References

External links

History

Early years

Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 465, the "Warhorse", was established on December 1, 1981 as the first West Coast squadron to fly the CH-53E Super Stallion. It became the Marine Corps' second and Marine Aircraft Group 16's first CH-53E Squadron.
The "Warhorses" deployed and flew in combat for the first time during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. On September 15, 1990 the squadron arrived at Jubail, Saudi Arabia in support of all joint forces in theater. The squadron provided heavy lift support for I MEF throughout the entire conflict. HMH-465 finally returned to Marine Corps Air Station Tustin on March 15, 1991.

1990s

Another challenge for HMH-465 came on October 5, 1991. The squadron packed up all assets, both personnel and aircraft, on board five C-5's and two C-141's and deployed to Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa, Japan for a seven month Unit Deployment. This period was the first such deployment for the CH-53E's. The squadron supported numerous exercises in this period throughout the Asian theater.

On January 13, 1995 two squadron aircraft assisted in the recovery of four Navy aircrew members who ejected when their F-14D's collided. For this action 11 squadron members were awarded Sikorsky Aircraft Rescue Awards.
In January 1998 HMH-465 achieved 20,000 mishap free flight hours.

Global War on Terror

HMM-465 has deployed numerous times in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Their latest tour began in October of 2006, where they are based out of Al Asad and providing assault support to marines in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq.^[1]. On December 11, 2006, a helicopter from HMH-465 carrying 21 personnel crashed shortly after take-off, killing 1 and injuring 17^[2].

See also

★ List of United States Marine Corps aircraft squadrons

References

1. Hot to trot, Warhorses take to Iraq’s skies
2. "Incident Date 061211 HMH-465 CH-53E BuNo unknown Crashed on landing", USMC Combat Helicopter Association, 08 February 2007

External links

★ HMH-465 Official Website