UH-60 Black Hawk (1978)

Cameras on the three observation choppers captured the disaster close-up and in color. General Garrison and his staff watched on screens at the JOC. They saw Wolcott‘s Black Hawk moving smoothly, then a shudder and puff of smoke near the tail rotor, then an awkward counterrotation as Super Six One fell, making two slow turns clockwise, nose up, until its belly bit the top of a stone building and its front end was cast down violently. On impact, its main rotors snapped and went flying. The body of the Black Hawk came to rest in a narrow alley on its side against a stone wall in a cloud of dust. There wasn‘t enough time for anyone to consider all the ramifications of that crash, but the sick sinking feeling that came over officers watching on screen went way beyond the immediate fate of the men on board. They had lost the initiative.