Sheriff’s Ready to Put Up His Dukes

The Duke would have been proud.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Air Support Bureau got off the ground Monday as two Hughes 500E helicopters were christened Duke I and Duke II in honor of John Wayne at a ceremony at Santa Ana Stadium. Orange County was the last major metropolitan county in the state to get helicopters, Sheriff Brad Gates said.

The helicopters, each decorated with a caricature of the late actor, were christened by members of Wayne’s family with bottles of Sauza Conmemorativo Tequila, Wayne’s favorite drink. Gates said Wayne represented “the strong patriotic American who stood for good over evil.”

Aircraft Were Long Sought

“In many films he played a lawman,” Gates said. “His personal support of law enforcement was well-documented.”

The Sheriff’s Department has been trying to get helicopters for at least four years, Lt. Dick Olson said. The Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and Anaheim police departments have helicopters and have provided the sheriff with assistance in the past, he said. “We’ve had to call on help from other agencies an awful lot. It’s a very big occasion for us.”

Gates said one of the major uses of the helicopters will be visual observation of suspects leaving the scene of a crime. The helicopters could cut down on the risk of bystanders being injured during high-speed chases because police could “follow by air until they decide to stop,” Gates said.

The helicopters will also enable deputies to more effectively patrol the hilly unincorporated areas of the south county, he said. “The obvious benefit is we can respond to emergency situations very quickly,” he said.

Cost Was $390,000 Each

The identical four-passenger helicopters, both slightly used, were purchased from the manufacturer for $390,000 each. The annual cost of the program, including maintenance, insurance and personnel, is approximately $1.5 million, according to Lt. William Miller, supervisor of the Air Support Bureau. The county saved approximately $70,000 by buying used helicopters, Miller said.

The helicopters have a top speed of 175 m.p.h. and can stay airborne for about 3 1/2 hours without refueling.

Orange County Supervisor Bruce Nestande, an advocate for years of a helicopter program, said other supervisors “weren’t sure of its cost-effectiveness” until last year. Finally, however, they realized that helicopters could provide a faster response time in emergencies, particularly in the south county, where the population is very spread out, he said.

“The board realized, ‘Hey, we have come of age,’ ” said Gaddi Vasquez, Gov. George Deukmejian’s community representative and Nestande’s former aide, who worked with the sheriff in preparing the helicopter budget. “It is an expensive operation (but) we have a lot of traffic, a lot of congestion.” He said the helicopters can get to an emergency faster than patrol cars.

The helicopters are each equipped with a powerful searchlight and a radio system that allows the sheriff to contact officers on the ground, Miller said. The helicopters can transport SWAT team members and provide observation for fire commanders, he said.

‘Probably the Best’

The helicopters will be tied down at John Wayne Airport, Miller said. Teams of a pilot and observer, who will operate the radio and direct law enforcement on the ground, will patrol the county from eight to 10 hours a day, he said. John Wayne’s son Ethan, 22, spent a few minutes inside the cockpit of Duke II Monday. “It’s fantastic,” he said. A Hughes 500E “is probably the best you could hope for. Very fast and very safe.”

Ethan Wayne said he has learned how to fly helicopters in the last two years and hopes the few hundred hours he has accumulated on five or six different helicopter models will help him enter the Army Reserve or National Guard as an officer.

John Wayne owned two Jet Ranger helicopters in which he flew to Los Angeles or around the area of Newport Beach, where he lived for 21 years, Ethan Wayne said. “He didn’t have a pilot’s license, but he loved to fly.” He added that “sometimes he would take the controls.”