1974 White House helicopter incident 1974
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 17 February 1974 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1974 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Post-1945 (1946 onwards) | derived from year |
| Location | United States | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | North America | Natural Earth |
| Coordinates | 38.8967, -77.0364 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
On February 17, 1974, Robert Kenneth Preston, a private first class in the U.S. Army, took off in a stolen Bell UH-1B Iroquois "Huey" helicopter from Tipton Field, Maryland, and landed it on the South Lawn of the White House in a significant breach of security. Preston had enlisted in the Army to become a helicopter pilot. However, he did not graduate from the helicopter training course and lost his opportunity to attain the rank of warrant officer pilot. His enlistment bound him to serve four years in the Army, and he was sent to Fort Meade as a helicopter mechanic. Preston believed this situation was unfair and later said he stole the helicopter to show his skill as a pilot.
Shortly after midnight, Preston, on leave, was returning to Tipton Field, south of Fort Meade. Thirty helicopters at the base were fueled and ready to fly; he took off in one without turning on its anti-collision lights or making the standard radio calls. The Maryland State Police were alerted. Preston flew southwest toward Washington, D.C., where he hovered close to the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument and over the South Lawn of the White House. He then flew back toward Fort Meade with two Bell 206 JetRanger police helicopters and police cars in pursuit.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article 1974 White House helicopter incident (revision 1374711574), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Browse more: battles in United States · North America · Post-1945 battles