On This Day in History: February 17
Buzzing the White House in a helicopter
Nixon wasn’t even home at the time. He was embroiled in the Watergate scandal, only six months away from resignation, and some pissed off Army private stole a helicopter and used it to buzz the White House to get his attention.
--On This Day in History Shit Went Down: February 17, 1974--
Private Robert Preston wanted to be an Army helicopter pilot, but he flunked out. Nevertheless, he was required to serve four years, and the Army made him a helicopter mechanic instead and stationed him at Fort Meade in Maryland. Preston wanted more out of his service; he did Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corps in high school and later obtained a private pilot’s license while studying aviation management in community college. He enlisted in 1972 and had dreams of flying choppers in Vietnam.
His dreams crushed and recently going through a breakup with his girlfriend, he returned to Fort Meade after a night out in the early morning hours of February 17, 1974. On a whim, Preston decided to take one of the Bell UH-1 Huey’s out for a spin. The base air controller, seeing a helicopter being stolen, called the Maryland State Police.
He flew around a bit then went to visit D.C. and local police took note because he was zooming around in mega-fucking-restricted airspace near the Lincoln Memorial. He then went over to buzz the White House, landing on the South Lawn for a moment.
This was long before 9/11 made the Secret Service trigger happy as fuck. They didn’t have surface-to-air missiles yet and had no firm policies about where and when to shoot at aerial intruders. Preston decided to go back to Fort Meade but en route he was intercepted by two Maryland State Police helicopters. He did some fancy flying and evaded one, then caused a cop car to crash when he buzzed it. The other police helicopter continued the chase and Preston returned to the White House with the intent to surrender personally to President Nixon, who was actually in Florida visiting his sick daughter.
Seeing him return, the Secret Service said okay fuck this guy and opened fire with automatic weapons and shotguns. Preston was wounded in the foot and landed the Huey on the South Lawn. The Secret Service fired about three-hundred rounds and he was hit five more times, but they were all minor injuries. Preston jumped out of the Huey and ran toward the mansion. His adventure ended with him being tackled by agents. They took him to the hospital, and he was reported to be “laughing like hell.”
Preston was court-martialed and sentenced to a year in prison, as well as given a general discharge from the Army.
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Has anyone written about attempted attacks/stunts like this directed at the White House? It would be interesting to learn how accurate "The West Wing's" portrayal is.
"Laughing like hell"!! No shit! Dude musta been a helluva rotorhead, given the Charlie Foxtrot he managed. And survived the whole shitshow!! He shoulda run for POTUS, likely woulda been a shoo-in.