Cobrahistorian here you go.

Jon

No problem, know how busy you are, if and when you have a chance will be fine. Know the unit transitioned to Cobra's in the early 80's.

Whiskey,

It is possible.  The records I have go to '75, but with the archives and some contacts, I could probably figure out what was where when.  I can't promise that I can get it done in a timely fashion right now, as I've just begun to "drink from the firehose", but if you email me the info you've got on the bird(s) you're looking for, I'll see what I can do for ya.

G'dad,

I'll see what I can find on those birds.  Your H model could be in storage, being remanufactured as a 210, in a museum or overseas somewhere.  The C/M model, may be a bit tougher to track down, but I'll see what I can do.  Again, things have gotten a lot more active here in the past few days, so I'm not sure just when I'll be able to get to things, but I will get to them!

 

 

Both birds were assigned to the 1157th Avn Co(Attack helicopter), later Co. D 40th Avn Bn of the Colorado Army National Guard in late 1975 and were still there when I was discharged in 1980.

You were right about the tail number 66-15145 and was my assigned bird, configered as a heavy hog. I believe but could be wrong that it had been upgraded to M standards. I have just wondered what it's fate is/was.

While not my assigned bird, I did crew it on many occasions. We got it from depot(Pensacola) and it flew with that unit until the hours logged sent it back to depot. She was a great bird and again I've wondered  what happened to her.

66-16610, photo taken by a friend of mine, was crewing her at the time

Jon, thanks for the info, anything further you find would be appricated

Hey Jon, speaking of tail numbers I was wondering if there is any way of looking up Cobras by what units they served in, post-vietnam.

John,

I couldn't find records for a 65-15145, but I did for a 66-15145.  She was in Vietnam from June of 67 through February 1973 and then went to Thailand with the US MAAG until May 1974.  By December 1975 she'd been turned over to the National Guard, but I don't have any further info right now as to what happened to her after.  While in-country, she served with the 61st AHC, 282nd AHC, 92nd AHC, 187th AHC, F/4th Cav and C/16th Cav.  WOW!

The H model Huey started life as a D.  She served with the USARV Flight Detachment, 240th AHC, A Company 227th AHB 1st Cav Div, and then came back stateside and was at the Naval Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan.  After being there for eight months, she went to Germany in July 1971 and stayed there for three years before coming back stateside and being handed over to the Guard.

Great stuff, I'll see if I can find more on their post-1975 careers

Jon

these would be after 1975

UH-1H 66-16610

UH-1C 65-15145

Thanks no rush

John,

Sure can, to an extent.  The records I have (US Army Goldbook) are good up until 1975.  But that's pretty much for every helicopter that flew in Vietnam.  After that, I've gotta piece together stuff, but it is possible, especially with the museum and internet access.  What's the tail number and I'll see what I can do for ya.

Jon

Jon, can you trace old tail numbers to see what happened to old HUEY's?

Pharoah,

The others (serials beginning with 22) are post-Vietnam birds, so accessing info on them is a little more difficult. Vietnam era Cobras had four contract years, beginning with 1966.  Tail numbers for 66, 67 and the first block of 68 helos began with 15.  The second block of 1968 birds started with 17.  1969 birds (only about 35 machines) were 16, as were the few 1970 machines that made it in-country.  I'll have to check my records (back in Dallas) to see whether those later machines are P,Q, or S models. 

let me see if i can find a picture of that exact helo.

haha yeah 1 huey was in there... its the tail with the rust colored mark across it. That paticular huey was sitting next to the ah-1 in the picture in " various stages". I saw those and figured you would like to see them. I made sure to take pictures of the tails so you could look them up. Pretty cool seeing them in various stages assembly. One of them still had parts on pallets next to it. Its pretty hear of its actual history. Sweet!

Pharoah,

Awesome man!  Great stuff. Are they all Cobras, or did I see a Huey or two in there?  I just looked up 15533 and all I can say is WOW!!!! That bird was flown in combat in 1969 by a then WO1 Jack Dalton.  The same CW5 Jack Dalton that flew Gray Apaches in Iraq with the 1-151st!  It has some combat history!  It flew with D/3-5 Cav, B/25th Avn, A/3-17 Cav and C/2-17 Cav.  Man I love this stuff! 

THANK YOU!!!!