Well, at least you knew the transmission wasn't going to seize, since it still had oil in it.
In 2002 just that verything was on the mond of an Army aviator trying to recover a forced down (12.7mm rounds thoughout the aircraft) AH-64 Apache. The transmission case was pierced allowing all the fluid to drain..in attempt to recover the aircraft from falling into enemy hands, a lone pilot was assigned, the tranny was filled to beyond capacity and the aircraft was flown something like 15 minutes to it's destination...apparently it was bone dry when it was finally shutdown. I bet Bobby can provide the details - I believe a DFC was awarded for this effort.
Re: CH-46 series - watched a transmission "run-dry" test at NADEP Cherry Point. Rear transmission ran 10+ minutes after removing fluids before seeing serious vib's/temps. Gave me a warm and fuzzy it would not just "freeze"