Phil Rybolt, Skip Armstrong and Chick Harrington shared a common background before they left home for Vietnam: each was raised in a small town and chose to fly aircraft that would most certainly put them at risk in a war zone. 

The three pilots were willing to talk to my co-authors Denis Hambucken, John Warner and me about their experiences, but it was clear that some details of their service would not be shared.  Certain pieces of what was seen and heard were too sensitive or painful to recount, even decades later.

Rybolt was drafted at 19 and chose U.S. Army flight school over infantry training.  In July 1967, he landed in Saigon, trained and ready to fly with the 1st Air Calvary Division, 1st Brigade. 

Now retired from flying medical transport planes, Rybolt talked about his near misses and the losses he witnessed during his time in Vietnam.  Stored in a closet are the boxes of medals, including a Purple Heart, he received for “personal bravery and devotion to duty.”  He put them on the dining room table during our conversation, along with photos of himself as a 20- year-old pilot, each one an illustration of his time in a dangerous place.   

Check out my blog in the coming weeks for previews of Skip Armstrong and Chick Harrington’s stories. The full accounts of their time as helicopter pilots in Vietnam and elsewhere are included in Prairie Flyers of Central Illinois: A Century of Aviation in America’s Heartland, set for publication this summer by The History Press.