QUOTE: Originally posted by ppickett
I stand (actually I'm sitting) corrected. Hey supercobra .. I've never seen this before. Is this common to all production aircraft or just early production? At least I got the part right about the main rotor (Ha!)
Paul
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Look at the photo above. See all of the screws going around the inside edges of the exhaust cowling? They hold on the fairing. Take off the fairing and it looks like the Italeri 1/72 and 1/48 kits. Put it back on and it looks like the MRC 1/35 kit or Cobra Company's upgrade to Italeri kit.
This applies to all Ws. It is simply a removeable fairing. Leave it on and you get less drag and perhaps another knot or two. Take it off and you get cooler exhausts and maybe won't get shot down by a heatseeker. It's up to the squadron. However, I have not seen anyone take them off since the mid-90's. Although it wasn't uncommon to take them off I would say the majority of the time they were left on - one less part to loose.
As far as production or early production I'd say there was no such thing. Marine Cobras have always gone through upgrades but until the Zulu there were never any pre-production aircraft except maybe the first one. The first AH-1J went to the fleet with the rest of them and flew until they all went to the boneyard at Davis Monthan. It is now a hulk in the fire training pit in Yuma, AZ. The first AH-1T's were actualy converted from the last two Js on the productin line. They also went to the fleet and were later upgraded to AH-1Ws with the rest of theTs. All of the AH-1Ts were converted to AH-1Ws. The first one also joined the fleet. All AH-1Ws will be converted to AH-1Zs and all UH-1Ns will be converted to UH-1Ys. Marine Corps reuses everything. That is why you will never see an AH-1T or an AH-1W in museum.