The pattern of helicopter operations in the northern provinces throughout the remainder of the summer differed little from that which had emerged earlier in the dry season. Medical evacuation and resupply sorties continued to constitute the majority of the task element’s support missions. Generally, medical evacuation missions, many of which were executed while Viet Cong and South Vietnamese forces were engaged in combat, provided the major source of action for Lieutenant Colonel Curtis’ squadron during this period. On 6 August, for example, a UH-34D was hit by enemy fire while its crew was evacuating ARVN casualties from a landing zone along the Song Tra Bon. Two days later, a second Marine helicopter was hit during an attempt to evacuate dead and wounded from the mountains about eight miles west of Tam Ky. The following day, on 9 August, another HMM-162 UH-34D drew fire while evacuating a wounded U.S. advisor from a village on the coastal plain 12 miles southeast of Tam Ky. In all three incidents the aircraft received only minor damage and were able to return safely to Da Nang. Although the medical evacuation missions generally attracted more Viet Cong attention, many resupply flights also proved hazardous. Small landing zones, high elevations, and bad weather often made even the most routine missions difficult. HMM-162 lost a helicopter as a result of a combination of two of these adverse conditions--extreme elevation and a small landing zone--on 30 August. While resupplying a mountain-top outpost five miles southwest of Nam Dong, the UH-34D struck a tree at the edge of a tiny clearing and crashed. The crew members were uninjured, but the extent of the aircraft’s damage was too great to permit repair. It was stripped of radios, machine guns, machine gun mounts, and other usable parts before being destroyed. In mid-August the Marines also lost their first observation aircraft since deploying to Vietnam in 1962 when an O-1B crashed after experiencing mechanical failure. The incident occurred on the 15th while the pilot and observer were conducting a reconnaissance of the northwestern corner of Quang Ngai Province. Bad weather delayed rescue attempts for over an hour, but the two injured crewmen were finally recovered by helicopter and flown to the Da Nang dispensary for treatment. The pilot’s injuries were severe enough that he was evacuated to the U.S. field hospital at Nha Trang.