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On 17 February 1974, Robert K. Preston, a [[United States Army]] [[private first class]], stole a [[Bell UH-1 Iroquois]] "Huey" helicopter from [[Fort George G. Meade]], Maryland, and, in a major breach of security, landed it on the White House [[South Lawn (White House)|South Lawn]]. |
On 17 February 1974, Robert K. Preston, a [[United States Army]] [[private first class]], stole a [[Bell UH-1 Iroquois]] "Huey" helicopter from [[Fort George G. Meade]], Maryland, and, in a major breach of security, landed it on the White House [[South Lawn (White House)|South Lawn]]. |
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Preston enrolled in the [[Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps|Junior ROTC]] program to become a U.S. Army helicopter pilot. However, he did not graduate from the helicopter training course and lost his chance to become a [[warrant officer]]; since he was bound by a contract to serve four years in the army, he was sent to Fort George G. Meade to train as a helicopter mechanic. Preston believed this situation unfair, and later said he stole the helicopter to show his skill as a pilot. |
Preston had enrolled in the [[Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps|Junior ROTC]] program to become a U.S. Army helicopter pilot. However, he did not graduate from the helicopter training course and lost his chance to become a [[warrant officer]]; since he was bound by a contract to serve four years in the army, he was sent to Fort George G. Meade to train as a helicopter mechanic. Preston believed this situation unfair, and later said he stole the helicopter to show his skill as a pilot. |
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Shortly after midnight on 17 February, Preston was returning to [[Tipton Airport|Tipton field]], south of Fort Meade where thirty "Huey" helicopters were fuelled and ready to fly; he took off in one without anti-collision lights on or making the standard radio calls. The Maryland State Police was alerted, and Preston flew southwest towards [[Washington, D.C.]] where he hovered close to the [[Lincoln Monument]], the [[Washington Monument]] and over the South Lawn of the [[White House]]. Preston then flew back towards Fort Meade pursued by two [[Bell 206]] JetRangers and police cars. After a chase over Maryland, he reversed course towards Washington again and entered the White House grounds. This time, the Secret service opened fire, and Preston, lightly wounded, landed his helicopter and was arrested. |
Shortly after midnight on 17 February, Preston was returning to [[Tipton Airport|Tipton field]], south of Fort Meade where thirty "Huey" helicopters were fuelled and ready to fly; he took off in one without anti-collision lights on or making the standard radio calls. The Maryland State Police was alerted, and Preston flew southwest towards [[Washington, D.C.]] where he hovered close to the [[Lincoln Monument]], the [[Washington Monument]] and over the South Lawn of the [[White House]]. Preston then flew back towards Fort Meade pursued by two [[Bell 206]] JetRangers and police cars. After a chase over Maryland, he reversed course towards Washington again and entered the White House grounds. This time, the Secret service opened fire, and Preston, lightly wounded, landed his helicopter and was arrested. |
Revision as of 04:33, 8 June 2019
![]() A United States Army Bell UH-1 Iroquois ("Huey") helicopter of the type used in the incident. | |
Incident | |
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Date | February 17, 1974 |
Summary | Stolen helicopter |
Site | White House, Washington, D.C., United States 38°53′48″N 77°02′11″W / 38.896665°N 77.036484°W |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Bell UH-1 Iroquois |
Operator | United States Army |
Flight origin | Fort George G. Meade, Maryland |
Destination | White House, Washington, D.C. |
Crew | 1 |
Injuries | 1 |
On 17 February 1974, Robert K. Preston, a United States Army private first class, stole a Bell UH-1 Iroquois "Huey" helicopter from Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, and, in a major breach of security, landed it on the White House South Lawn.
Preston had enrolled in the Junior ROTC program to become a U.S. Army helicopter pilot. However, he did not graduate from the helicopter training course and lost his chance to become a warrant officer; since he was bound by a contract to serve four years in the army, he was sent to Fort George G. Meade to train as a helicopter mechanic. Preston believed this situation unfair, and later said he stole the helicopter to show his skill as a pilot.
Shortly after midnight on 17 February, Preston was returning to Tipton field, south of Fort Meade where thirty "Huey" helicopters were fuelled and ready to fly; he took off in one without anti-collision lights on or making the standard radio calls. The Maryland State Police was alerted, and Preston flew southwest towards Washington, D.C. where he hovered close to the Lincoln Monument, the Washington Monument and over the South Lawn of the White House. Preston then flew back towards Fort Meade pursued by two Bell 206 JetRangers and police cars. After a chase over Maryland, he reversed course towards Washington again and entered the White House grounds. This time, the Secret service opened fire, and Preston, lightly wounded, landed his helicopter and was arrested.
In a plea bargain, Preston pled guilty to "wrongful appropriation and breach of the peace," and was sentenced to 1 year in prison and fined $2,400. This amounted to a six-month sentence, since he had already been in prison for six months at the time. After his release, Preston lived a quiet life, married, and died in 2009 of cancer.
Background
Robert Kenneth Preston was born in 1953 in Panama City, Florida. Preston enrolled in the Junior ROTC program at Rutherford High School and had longtime aspirations toward a military career. He enlisted in the U.S. Army, and was training to become a helicopter pilot, flying in a Hughes TH-55 Osage. He washed out of training due to "deficiency in the instrument phase", losing his opportunity to become a warrant officer. This was a result of the ongoing U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, which in turn led to a surplus of qualified helicopter pilots. However, Preston was still bound by his four-year contract with the U.S. Army, and he was transferred to Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, to train as a helicopter mechanic. At the time of the incident, he was a 20-year-old private first class; he was described by his commanding officer as a "regular, quiet individual" of above-average intelligence.[1]
Incident
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Preston-chart.png/220px-Preston-chart.png)
On February 17, 1974, shortly after midnight, Robert K. Preston left a dance hall and restaurant downhearted due to a failed relationship and his lack of success in his military career. He returned to Tipton Field south of Fort Meade, where thirty Bell UH-1 "Huey" helicopters were fueled and ready. “I wanted to get up and fly and get behind the controls,” Preston later recalled, “It would make me feel better because I love flying.” He parked his car in the unguarded airfield, climbed into one of the helicopters, serial number 62-9020, and started pre-flight checks. Soon after, he lifted off without activating his anti-collision lights or making standard radio calls; a dispatcher in the control tower spotted the stolen helicopter and called the Maryland State Police.[1]
Preston flew low over the restaurant he had visited earlier, then briefly touched down in a nearby field, where his hat was later recovered. He then decided to visit Washington, D.C., 20 miles southwest, by following the lights of the Baltimore–Washington Parkway. Preston's helicopter was first discovered by District of Columbia police when he was spotted hovering between the United States Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial. Flight over this area was strictly prohibited, but the boundary was not enforced in any significant way at the time; after the September 11, 2001 attacks, surface-to-air missiles were installed around Washington. Preston spent 5–6 minutes hovering a few feet above the Washington Monument's grounds, then flew to the capitol, and went on to follow Pennsylvania Ave. to the White House.[2] Secret Service policy at the time was to fire at aerial intruders, but when and how to do so was vague - especially if it could harm bystanders. While Preston was hovering and briefly touched down on the South Lawn, the White House Executive Office control center watch officer, Henry S. Kulbaski, attempted to contact his superiors by phone but received no answer. After the helicopter departed, Kulbaski ordered his agents to shoot it down if it returned.[1]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/LAPD_Bell_206_Jetranger.jpg/220px-LAPD_Bell_206_Jetranger.jpg)
At 12:56 AM, a controller at the Washington National Airport (now known as "Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport") noticed a blip on his radar scope; after realizing it was the stolen Huey, the controller alerted the police. However, Preston then turned back towards Fort Meade in Maryland and left the restricted airspace; an old Bell 47 of the Maryland Police followed, but was too slow to keep up with Preston.[2] The stolen helicopter soon appeared on the Baltimore–Washington International Airport's radar, and two Bell 206 JetRangers were dispatched to intercept.[2] Preston flew northeast, pursued by the two helicopters and police cars. He chased one of the cars off the road with a head-on pass just inches above its roof, briefly hovered above a doughnut shop, then followed the Baltimore–Washington Parkway once again towards Washington, planning to give himself up to U.S. President Richard Nixon. Preston flew back to the White House, evading one of the JetRangers with what its pilots described as "modern dogfighting tactics."[2] With only one helicopter left chasing him, Preston flew along the Parkway at constantly changing speeds between 60 knots (110 km/h; 69 mph) and 120 knots (220 km/h; 140 mph), sometimes only inches above car-top level.[1]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/White_House_-_2015.jpg/220px-White_House_-_2015.jpg)
Preston's Huey came in over the White House grounds at 2:00 AM, barely high enough to clear the steel fence surrounding the area.[3] According to the pilot of the JetRanger, Preston was so close, he "could have driven right in the front door." The stolen helicopter was suddenly illuminated by floodlights, and the Secret Service opened fire with shotguns and automatic weapons. Some buckshot hit Preston's foot, but he was able to regain control and settled his helicopter on the South Lawn, just 300 feet (91 m) from the mansion.[4][5][6][2]
Some 300 rounds were fired, but only 5 hit Preston and caused only superficial wounds. He exited his helicopter and started running towards the White House, but was tackled by Secret Service agents. Handcuffed, Preston was taken to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center for overnight treatment, where he entered smiling and "laughing like hell."[1]
At the time of the incident, President Richard Nixon was traveling in Florida, and First Lady Pat Nixon was in Indianapolis, Indiana, visiting their sick daughter, Julie.[7]
Aftermath
The next day, the helicopter became a major tourist sight; after it was evaluated and found to be flightworthy despite its many bullet holes, shortly before noon the next day, it lifted off in front of cameras from many major TV networks and reporters. It was locked in a hangar at Tipton Field as evidence. The helicopter was extensively photographed as part of the investigation, then was repaired and returned to service. It was later put on display at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove.[1]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Preston_helicopter.jpg/220px-Preston_helicopter.jpg)
Initially, Preston was charged with unlawful entry into the White House Grounds, a misdemeanor with a maximum six-month jail term and a $100 fine. However, his lawyers negotiated a plea bargain in which all civil charges would be dropped if Preston's case was transferred to the military. At court-martial, he was charged with several attempted murder charges and several other minor charges. Although the pilot of one of the JetRangers stated he had thought Preston intended to "end it all" by crashing into the White House,[8] he maintained that he only wanted to draw attention to the perceived unfairness of his situation. Preston pleaded guilty to "wrongful appropriation and breach of the peace," and was sentenced to one year in prison and fined $2,400. This amounted to a six-month sentence, since he had already been in prison for six months at the time. He eventually served two months of hard labor at Fort Riley, Kansas, before being granted a general discharge from the U.S. Army for unsuitability.[9]
The only known response to the incident by the Secret Service was to increase the size of the restricted airspace around the White House. When President Nixon returned to Washington, he congratulated Secret Service officer Kulbaski, as well as the pilot and copilot of the JetRanger. The three, along with other agents, were presented with pair of presidential cufflinks in a White House ceremony.[1]
In 2005, there were several incidents when unidentified planes flew into the Washington, D.C. airspace.[6] In comments on these incidents, Timothy Noah of National Public Radio reminded his audience of the 1974 Preston incident, when he suggested that Washington, D.C. security officials had an unacknowledged policy to not fire on unidentified aircraft when doing so might lead to injuring bystanders on the ground. He pointed out that security officials had held their fire until Preston's helicopter was hovering low over the deserted South Lawn, where a crash would not have caused collateral damage.[6]
After he was released, Preston moved to the state of Washington, married in 1982 and raised his wife's two daughters. He worked at a series of odd jobs and became a Christian. Preston died of cancer on July 21, 2009, in Ephrata, Washington.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Freeze, Christopher. "The Time a Stolen Helicopter Landed on the White House Lawn – Robert Preston's wild ride". Air & Space. Smithsonian. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Public Report of the White House security review, Federation of American Scientists.Archived December 2, 2006, at WebCite
- ^ Robert Kearns (September 12, 1994). "Uninvited guests are nothing new". Deseret News. Retrieved December 3, 2009.
- ^ Robert Kearns (May 25, 1995). "'Jumpers' Have Intruded on White House For Years". New York Daily News. Retrieved December 3, 2009.
- ^ "Guards fire on 'copter in White House drama". The Age. February 17, 1974. Retrieved December 3, 2009.
- ^ a b c Timothy Noah (May 12, 2005). "Slate's Chatterbox: The D.C. No-Fly, No-Shoot Zone". National Public Radio. Retrieved December 3, 2009.
- ^ "Mental Observation Ordered For Pilot of Stolen Helicopter". Evening Independent. February 18, 1974. Retrieved December 3, 2009.
- ^ "Copter attacks White House". Daily Collegian. February 18, 1974. Retrieved December 3, 2009.
- ^ "Robert Preston". Kentucky New Era. October 24, 1974. p. 26. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
External links
- Public Report of the White House Security Review (See the section entitled "Air Incursions and Attempted Air Incursions".)