Aviator Frantisek Hadrava moves Vampira, an ultralight plane based on the U.S.-design of light planes called Mini-Max, out of a garage in the village of Zdikov, Czech Republic, August 23, 2016. Frantisek thought driving to work for 14 minutes was too much, so he built an plane to cut the commute by half. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)

In the spring of 1965, within weeks of 3,500 American Marines arriving in Vietnam, a 39-year-old Briton named Larry Burrows began work on a feature for LIFE magazine, chronicling the day-to-day experience of U.S. troops on the ground – and in the air – in the midst of the rapidly widening war. The photographs in this gallery focus on a calamitous March 31, 1965, helicopter mission; Burrows’ “report from Da Nang”, featuring his pictures and his personal account of the harrowing operation, was published two weeks later as a now-famous cover story in the April 16, 1965, issue of LIFE.

Photo: Man your battle stations: The crew chief of helicopter Yankee Papa 13, lance corporal James C. Farley, mans an M-60 machine gun during a mission near Da Nang, Vietnam on March 31, 1965. (Photo by Larry Burrows/Time & Life Pictures)

A Palestinian boy drinks water from a bucket near the site of his family's tented home, which according to Palestinians was dismantled by Israeli forces in Jordan Valley in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on February 2, 2021. (Photo by Raneen Sawafta/Reuters)

A goat wearing a jacket is seen on a farm on a cold winter morning in New Delhi, India on January 3, 2023. (Photo by Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters)

The Screamin' Sasquatch jet powered Waco Biplane sits on display during media day for the Canadian International Air Show at Billy Bishop Airport, Toronto, Ontario, September 4, 2015. (Photo by Louis Nastro/Reuters)

A Russian Sukhoi Su-25 fighter jet takes off during the withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria at Hmeymim airbase, Syria, March 16, 2016. (Photo by Vadim Grishankin/Reuters/Russian Ministry of Defence)

This April 9, 2016 photo provided by Bertrand Piccard via Global Newsroom shows Piccard taking a selfie on board Solar Impulse 2 during a test flight over the Pacific Ocean. The solar-powered airplane on an around-the-world journey had traveled 80 percent of the way from Hawaii to California by Saturday, April 23. The aircraft's destination on this leg of the journey is Mountain View, Calif., at the southern end of San Francisco Bay. (Photo by Bertrand Piccard/Global Newsroom via AP Photo)

US Maia Weintraub (L) and Japan's Sera Azuma compete during the Women's Team Foil event Bronze medal match, as part of the FIE Fencing World Championships at the Fair Allianz MI.CO (Milano Convegni) in Milan, on July 29, 2023. (Photo by Andreas Solaro/AFP Photo)