War Story!: July 2018

US Army Aviation - Past, Present, Future

The following series of images shows the development of the UH-1 Iroquois, the Hughes OH-6/MH-6/AH-6 series and the innovations developed during the Vietnam War that made their way into federal & local law enforcement, Search & Rescue, and general aviation.

A US Army Dustoff - Medevac UH-1D with an unpainted zinc chromate tail boom during the Vietnam War. Mission tempo dictated whether there was time to paint replacement items and images taken during the war often show unpainted doors, skids, tail booms, etc.

From Hawk Magazine published in Vietnam showing a UH-1H with a tail boom swap from another Huey with darker OD shade and earlier tail boom markings that hasn't been re-painted yet with FS 34087 Olive Drab.

Dan McClinton Images El Salvador FEB 1991 - MAR 92

'Dangerpig' was the codename for the operations that took place with US military personnel serving in an advisory role in El Salvador. These UH-1H were interesting in that they had the Anti-Strella missile mods which consisted of the "Toilet Bowl' exhaust that routed hot turbine exhaust upward into the main rotor system, engine heat shield covers, the flat plate oil cooler shield on the rear underside near the fuel drain gang, and the addition of the ALQ-144 IR jammer known as the 'Disco Ball' mounted on the underside of the tail boom to counteract shoulder fired MANPADs. The also have the early long-line VHF antenna that ran the length of the tail boom and the improved particle separator.

Vietnam, Tan Son Nhut Airbase 1965-66. I line up of UH-1B gunships showing various load out options that could employed by the Huey gunship.

USAF UH-1N with the Star SAFIRE III FLIR turret mounted under the nose

Early emergency flotation bag equipped skids on this Bell 206 in the 1970s.

Current emergency float bag system and high skids for the Bell 206

Bell 206 Long Ranger from John Carpenter's The Thing 1982 with floats

106th SOAR Ft. Campbell, KY circa 2001 - MH-60K

English prototype UH-60A at RAF Lakenheath with interesting pylons for weapons stores

1969 Vietnam, Camp Eagle 666TH TRANS CO. showing the painting of the top of one rotor blade all white which was a safety directive sent down by the 1st Aviation Brigade to improve visibility from above of other aircraft and helicopters in the hopes it would cut down on mid-air collisions. Image by Aisbet

The following images were sold on Ebay and came from the estate of an unnamed Vietnam Veteran who served with Green Delta CAC/VIP. They show an interesting UH-1H with a .50 caliber machine gun dubbed 'The Love Machine' and another .50 caliber equipped UH-1H dubbed 'Fat Albert' in the same unit.

LLTV - Low Light Level TV was first tested operationally during the Vietnam War by ACTIV - Army Concept Team in Vietnam. Standard fare in most military aircraft and helicopters since Vietnam most of the men who flew these systems never even consider themselves aviation pioneers. Systems like LLTV would become instrumental in SAR - Search and Rescue and Law Enforcement enabling 24x7 operations.

The People Sniffer - The Airborne Personnel Detector. The APD system was a device developed to detect the condensation nuclei and ammonia (sweat) given off by enemy personnel. Unfortunately the system did not discriminate and often Elephants and Monkeys were targeted in Free Fire Zones when they had artillery called in on them. An interesting concept that actually worked but needed further refinement.

UH-1M Infant Iroquois Night Fighter Night Tracker

An INFANT gunship firing a night and showing the flashless ammunition which had been developed for use by US Navy Seawolves on SEAL missions. The INFANT program used the same ammunition not only to not give away the helicopters positions but flashing ammunition caused the monitors to white out and rendered them useless for night operations.

Arming the INFANT gunship for a night mission from Phu Loi. The IR spotlight was mounted above each M-134 minigun which fired flashless ammunition.

The telescopic lens, or Mickey Mouse ears, located on each side of the image intensification tube.

A night mission at Phu Loi

A rare color image showing the optic viewing tube and early monitor on the copilot side of the gunship.

35 slides from UTTCO 1962 Robert Reuter Commanding Officer, Republic of Vietnam depicting early UH-1A with short masts, UH-1B gunships with improvised weapons systems consisting of skid mounted .30 caliber machine guns and rocket systems.

Commander of IV Corps in Vietnam, General Richard G. Stilwell in his VIP helicopter with special armored seat installed just for him.

M-61 20mm system and Mark 12. This was from a successful evaluation in 1964. Note the roof mounted feed chutes. The system eventually made it's way to Vietnam where it was ruined in a hard landing putting an end to the program. At that point it would've been the must heavy caliber helicopter gunship in Vietnam.

Marines UH-1E with MAG-16 taking off from Phu Bai

A US Marine Corps UH-1E

1969 This helicopter from the 25th Infantry Division is loaded with CS Riot Gas Canisters. Photo by SP5 D.R. Goff

Dropping CS Riot Gas canisters July 1969. Photo by Dave Ondrey A Co 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion

CS Riot Canisters after they've exploded. Photo by Dave Ondrey A Co 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion

A rare image of the Hughes 500P 'The Quiet One' in open daylight in Laos. Kept at the far of the secret strip and hangared during the day. This was a risky proposition for the photographer who could've lost his clearance and been immediately flown out and interrogated on why he was taking images.