Huey!

[Bombardier]

Im interested to know how authentic this huey looks to all our VN vets. solthum

http://www.militaryimages.net/photopost/data/775/DSC_2738.jpg

[Zofo]

It's very clean and shiny!

[Hollis]

It's very clean and shiny!

Yeah, and the back doors....... Looks all closed up. I flew in a few and really don't remember any back doors, whether they were locked in a open position or just not there.

[Bombardier]

Heres a photo of the other side with doors open
http://www.militaryimages.net/photopost/data/775/DSC_2735.jpg

[Zofo]

To "our" right of the flag appears to be an unfeasably large pair of shorts! What is it???

[Bombardier]

To "our" right of the flag appears to be an unfeasably large pair of shorts! What is it???

LMAO solaf

I think its just part of the seat mate solthum

[Bill Farnie]

Roterwash would know everything about the different versions of the Huey. I'll see if I can locate him and have him pop in. As far as I remember, the AHC’s slicks didn’t have doors or seats but I did see Hueys flying with the doors on and closed. When we saw one with the doors closed, us grunts always joked that the crew had the doors closed so the smoke from the pot wouldn’t escape. More realistically, I think the Hueys with doors were for VIP’s and such, but RW would definitely have the answers.

[Bombardier]

Thanks Bill (Y)

[John A Silkstone]

Bill if you manage to contact Roterwash, Give him my best and tell him I miss his stories.

Silky

[Eagledriver]

Zofo, the large pair of "Boxers" are a back rest for the seat. I have flown in a few Hueys during my time in service, both with and without the seats. As far as the doors go, they slide to the rear and lock open on rails. I have never seen a Huey without the doors but they could have been removed I suppose.salute;

[Hollis]

Zofo, the large pair of "Boxers" are a back rest for the seat. I have flown in a few Hueys during my time in service, both with and without the seats. As far as the doors go, they slide to the rear and lock open on rails. I have never seen a Huey without the doors but they could have been removed I suppose.salute;

When I was in country it was end of spring/summer, I only remember it being open back there. I would have loved to have been a chopper pilot. In the states I was in the ECP (enlisted commissioning program) to be a pilot but when I found out, my vision was not up to the requirments, I dropped out. The Docter, said i would have problems at speeds greater tha 500 MPH.. BUt that washed me from be coming a chopper pilot.

Marine Chopper pilots where under tighter rules than the Army. the Word had it, if they were careless they would wind up with the grunts as a A/O. They had something like a ten point check off list before they could land, especially in a Hot LZ. Army Pilots would zoom in and out. We had a lot of respect for the Army Pilots.

Hueys were very unique, in that you could feel them, before you heard them, and after they passed, almost nothing. I don't know if that was a plus or minus.

[rotorwash]

She's made up to be a UH-1D or H model - the only difference was the engine. Can't believe all the antennas on that sucker. We had four radios, an FM with the antenna on the top of the tail boom, you can see it in the front on picture; UHF, the blade antenna on the cabin roof; VHF, the handle antenna on the cabin roof, both of these can be seen in the side picture and an RDF, the antenna mounted flush on the cabin roof. Some aircraft had another UHF antenna that zig-zagged down both sides of the tail boom. Pre-1964 aircraft had "cats whisker" antennas mounted on the nose but they were dangerous. More then once I saw a grunt running around the nose to the other side of the aircraft drop out of sight after he clotheslined himself on a cats whisker. In 1974 all of the radios were upgraded and that is when all the cute little loops and pointy things were mounted all over.

The seats are the new style. They could be mounted fore and aft seating five to a side or they could be mounted across the aircraft in front of the transmission. The only units that mounted the seats for and aft were the true air cav units for their Blue platoons.

The large cargo doors could be locked open, if you look right above the door handle you can see the bracket mounted on the door that fits over a lug on the cabin wall and then is pinned. The small door can be removed by pulling two quick release hinge pins. Most of you guys who were CA'd remember the big door open, the small door removed and the seats mounted across the aircraft and then folded up. This allowed the most room for exits.

When we flew ash and trash or command and control missions we kept the small doors on, it helped prevent things from blowing out of the aircraft. The large doors could be closed as long as the small doors were installed, and the back windows removed so the M-60 could be fired. We usually only closed the doors when it was raining or very cold.

The loop step under the small door is a new item as are the engine intake filters. The cute little bulges on the nose are new. This suggests the aircraft was not made by Bell, but perhaps under license - Augusta maybe?

The aircraft represents the 129th AHC, but I don't think the nose art is right.

The M-60 looks like the M-60 D with the spade grips and the aircraft ring sight, but the hand guard looks like a newer type. If someone fires it, the ammo will jam when the airstream pulls it back. There was a plate mounted on the side of the gun to accomodate the 100 round container. We mounted a C ration B-3 can on the plate and fed the ammo over it, worked perfectly. The gun mount and 600 round ammo can are accurate. Behind the M-16 is a flak jacket, the elastic strings on the side are visible.

The web gear hanging on the door is fake, the real stuff would break the handle off. There are other little nit picky things, the yellow tail warning arrow should be black, the red and white tail boom stripes were not used by the battalion the 129th was assigned to, they were peculiar to the 16th Bn. The pitot tube is the cute little silver loop under the nose. On aircraft prior to 1965, it was mounted on the nose where people kept running into it so it was moved to the roof.

We worked with the Marines quite a bit, and generally, I felt sorry for them. We had more helicopters in our battalion then they had IN COUNTRY!!! They never really got the hang of using helicopters and really had their eyes opened when the 1/9th Cav started operating in I Corps. There was one Marine gunship unit that was very good, however, I think you can look them up under scarface.usmc.org. They worked with our SF and SOG units out of Danang. The ARVN's had an excellant helicopter unit, the "Queenbees" flying H-34 deathtraps that flew our recon teams into Laos.

Later,

Rotorwash

[Bombardier]

Wow great info mate, you really do know your stuff (Y)

[Drone_pilot]

Behind the M-16 is a flak jacket, the elastic strings on the side are visible.

I wore one of these for 4 tour of NI, they were very heavy, but would not be seen on the streets with out one.