well, speaking as a member of generation x who's father came home in 1971 when I was 20 months old, please know that I've lived in the shadow of the blade my whole life and have always felt the vets of that war deserve so much more than they got, they also deserve a whole lot more historically accurate documentation than exists........

Mel

I couldnt agree more, i think the media caused far more silent casualties than the NVA/VC ever could. would the brave men who served in WWII still have recieved those medals if the same media crews from Vietnam had been there. people had never seen real war on the tv and couldnt handle it. To me all of you who served in Vietnam are heroes.

Just some info for those that dont know, Big Blu 82 or (Daisy cutter) was a 15000 lb bomb that was used to create a quick landing zone for helicopters, it had a 38 inch long 'daisy cutter' fuse extension to trigger an explosion above ground, to increase destructive power and to avoid making a crater.

Andy

Just a quick question, are the poles that hold the canvass seats in the back of the UH-1H/D silver or grey ??

Andy

Has anyone got a picture of the control panel on the ceiling in the UH-1H cockpit?

Andy

Andy

Lou Drendel's HUEY Squadron/Signal book* has a picture of the control panel on the ceiling 

but it's a B/C... All of the poles/tubing frame for the passenger area seats that I saw in 

person or photos were grey, as was the entire compartment including the sound proofing 

fabric - appx FS 36231 Dk gull gray (which isn't dark, it's a medium shade)...

Thanx Mel - I never knew what those brackets were for medevac litters!

Gino & Andy:  Wayne Mutza's WALK AROUND UH-1 GUNSHIPS* is a great pictorial reference 

incl the overhead panel, seats, etc. But on one pg he states to the effect that the only 

long-fuselage (D/H) heavily armed Hueys were RAAF and VNAF but a couple of pages later he says, 

"Long-fuselage Huey variants were designed primarily for the troop transport role; however, 

they qualified as gunships when equipped with offensive armament." It depends on which of

his definitions you want to accept! 

In Squadron's GUNSLINGERS IN ACTION, they tell the history of arming helicopters because 

it didn't take long to realize the bad guys weren't going to let you come and go as you 

pleased unmolested.  They even armed those little bubble Bell OH-13s - and on the other 

extreme were the Chinook Guns A Go-Go!  I have no argument that my company's ‘slicks' 

with the XM-23 M-60 armament was defensive.  But from the day they installed the minigun, 

searchlight (from Sheridan tanks!) and night vision scope with Army standardized equipment 

and mountings, on one of my company's slicks (which wasn't a one of a kind) until the day it 

went down killing the entire crew, that ship was a gunship. So were the D/Hs with twin M-60s,

 twin .50 cal, etc.  

Clear right!

Howie

Mel

Thanks for that, i couldnt tell from the pictures, i have finished scratch building one of the seats ,2 more and 2 of those support poles to go :o\

Howie

Thanks for the info, i will keep hunting for the control panel photo in color, the nighthawk would make a great model, would just need to get a sheridan in same scale for the searchlight

Andy

Here's another of the Nighthawk/Firefly ships.  Though you all might find it intersting. 

Another D/H model showing the "Sagami" mounting system I mentioned earlier in this post.

Rotorwash,

Those pictures are of an early "D" judging by the intake scoops aft of the transmission.  The older flight helmet dates it also.  The .50 cal. wasn't widely used because the recoil really played hell on the airframe.  They definitely gave you some "stand off " firepower and were used on a lot of "night hawk" birds which were few and far in between.   

A question for the door gunners.

I have noticed in a few UH-1H pictures (mostly Air Cav ones) that only the left side door gunner has an ejection bag attached to his M60!

The only reason i can think of for this is.. if spent shells are ejected from the right side of a 60 and if a gunner on the left fires forward of the helicopter the spent shells fly into the crew compartment.

Where as the shells from the gun on the right side of the helo fly back away from the compartment so he doesnt need the ejection bag.

can anyone confirm this?

Its just something i have spotted and if it was standard practice to do this i thought it worth mentioning for model accuracy.

Andy