HMH-465

Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 465
HMH-465 Unit insignia
Active	December 1, 1981 - present
Country	United States
Allegiance	United States of America
Branch	United States Marine Corps
Type	Heavy helicopter squadron
Role	Assault support
Part of	Marine Aircraft Group 16 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing
Garrison/HQ	Marine Corps Air Station Miramar
Nickname	Warhorse
Tail Code	YJ
Engagements	Operation Desert Storm Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Iraqi Freedom * 2003 invasion of Iraq
Commanders
Current commander	LtCol Eric Gillis

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 falls under the command of Marine Aircraft Group 16 (MAG-16) and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (3rd MAW).

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 1, 1990 the squadron arrived at Jubail, Saudi Arabia in support of all joint forces in theater. During this deployment, the squadron lost two aircraft leaving the unit with six helicopters for the remainder of the war. 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

HMH-465 CH-53E doing an external lift in Iraq

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. The squadron supported numerous exercises in this period throughout the Asian theater.

A CH-53E from HMH-465 picking up a load of rotor blades from a downed chopper on December 25, 2006.

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

The Warhorses have deployed numerous times in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. On the night of April 1, 2003, the squadron comprised the CH-53E element of Task Force 20, the special team that extracted prisoner of war Army PFC Jessica Lynch.^[1] Their latest tour began in October 2006, where they are based out of Al Asad and providing assault support to Marines in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq.^[2] On December 11, 2006, a helicopter from HMH-465 carrying 21 personnel crashed while landing, killing 1 and injuring 17.^[3]

In the spring of 2007, HMH-465 has supplied detachments for the 15th and 31st Marine Expeditionary Units. Through these detachments the Squadron has continued to support the Global War on Terror throughout Southeast Asia and provide vital disaster relief.

The Warhorses deployed three aircraft and 40 Marines to Naval Air Station Lemoore on July 2, 2008after California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger requested military assistance to fight raging wildfires. The helicopters provided heavy lift rotary wing support to United States Northern Command and the National Fire Center.^[4] After nearly two weeks, where they dropped more than 68,000 gallons of water on the Basin Complex Fire in Big Sur, the squadron's detachment of three helicopters and 30+ Marines was moved to McClellan Airfield near Sacramento to aid fire fighters with a 7,000-acre (28 km²) wildfire burning in Mendocino County.^[5]

Supporting the Global War on Terror continues to be a priority by conducting training detachments across eight states in preparation for further deployments.

See also

United States Marine Corps portal

• United States Marine Corps Aviation
• Organization of the United States Marine Corps
• List of United States Marine Corps aircraft squadrons

References

Notes

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Marine Corps.

1. ^ Visconage & Harris: 102.
2. ^ "Hot to trot, Warhorses take to Iraq’s skies". Marine Corps News. U.S. Marine Corps. http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/9F6F9788481E122E8525723700270666?opendocument. 
3. ^ "Incident Date 061211 HMH-465 CH-53E BuNo unknown Crashed on landing", USMC Combat Helicopter Association, 08 February 2007
4. ^ Roach, Cpl. Brandon. "Wing aids firefighting efforts". Miramar News (United States Marine Corps). http://www.miramar.usmc.mil/newspage67.htmOpenDocument. Retrieved 2008-07-09. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ Davis, Kristina. "Miramar copter squadron to remain in NoCal to fight fires". San Diego Union-Tribune. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20080712-1429-bn12fires.html. Retrieved 2008-07-13. 

Bibliography

• Visconage, Michael D. & Harris, Carroll N. "Third Marine Aircraft Wing - Operation Iraqi Freedom". Marine Corps Association, 2004.

External links

• HMH-465's official website