Air CAV? Scale selection

Pharoah,

Hmmm... many prefer 48th, but if you REALLY want detail, go for 35th scale! Plus later this year, Panda is releasing a 35th scale CHINOOK! For modern Cav, you're looking at AH-64 (A or D model, depending on unit) and OH-58Ds. There are good kits for each in both 48th and 35th scales.

Welcome aboard!

cobrahistorian,
Where do these fall in the ranks of the U.S. Army.
Blackhawk
Huey ( decommisioned yet?)
Chinook
OH-1 (littlebird?)
Apache (longbow)

am I missing anything?

Pharaoh,

Ah, ok. Right now the Blackhawk is the primary utility helo used by the US Army. There ARE still Hueys used, although the Army is hoping to retire all of them by 2006.

OH/AH/MH-6s are used by special ops guys in the 160th SOAR, but not really by regular Army units any more. The current scout helo is the OH-58D, which has a secondary attack role. The US light divisions, (10th Mountain, 25th Infantry, and 82nd Airborne) use the -58 in the attack role and have no Apaches in their TO&E.

Regular infantry divisions and Armored divisions each have a single Apache battalion, along with two battalions of lift helicopters (UH-60s). Each also has a single CH-47 unit as well.

The 101st Air Assault Division is the only division-sized unit with three Apache battalions and three Blackhawk battalions. XVIII Airborne Corps also has three Apache battalions, but those battalions can be employed as support for any of the Corps' lesser units. I've got several buddies in the 1/229th of the XVIII Airborne corps, and in Afghanistan they flew in support of both the 82nd Airborne and SF teams.

Most, but not all active Army Apache units are operating the AH-64D now. The primary conversion point is Ft. Hood, where units bring in their A model Apaches and do their D model workups. The Guard and Reserves will be flying A models for a few years yet. If all goes well I'll be flying AH-64As with the TX Guard in two years.

Hope that helps, If I can be of any more help, feel free to email me!

They huey's US Army life has been extended to 2008 as of last month. I am very happy about that. However, I think it will be even longer.

We can only hope! I'm a firm believer in the fact that when the last Blackhawk is flown to the scrap heap, it'll be a Huey that takes the crew back to base. Gotta love those birds!

Amen guys, amen. I have loved the Huey as long as I can remember. It will be a sad day when I can no lomger hear that "whup whup" sound of their rotors overhead!
Lee

Hey Cobra,
What gives anyway? Is it me or when I'm watching Fox news and they are talking about helicopter crashes why is it always the Blackhawks? Are they sub par in some way. As a medic in the Army (when I was in) I flew in both, however they really didn't eduacate us in the pro's and con's of each aircraft. I personally have loved the Huey since I was kid. Its good to hear they will be sticking around!!

Hey guys,
I'm a former UH-1H medevac crew chief and I too love Hueys ... BUT if I'm going to get shot at, put my butt in a Black Hawk. The Black Hawk was the first Army helicopter with a spec (UTTAS) that stated it was to be invunerable to a single 7.62mm round. The reason you hear of Black Hawks going down is exposure and hours. They are exposed to a lot of hostile action and they fly more hours than attack aircraft. Remember, it took RPGs to bring down the Black Hawks in Somolia. There's a lot of armored vehicles that can't take an RPG hit. Any Hawk pilot will tell you there's a great chance to survive a crash in any variant of a Black Hawk if you impact with the wheels down. Take a look at the crash pics in my book (H-60 Black Hawk in Action). That aircraft hit a sand dune at over 100 knots IAS and everyone survived. That's due to hign mass items such as transmission, roter system, etc stay in place. You can't say that about a Huey. That's not a put-down of the Huey, just a refection of how we've learned to build tougher more survivable airframes since the Huey was designed.
Just had to (as Jon would say) add my $.02.
Paul

Paul,

And that $.02 is MUCH appreciated. I've been wondering that myself. I'd heard that one of the biggest problems with the Blackhawk was time on the airframes and lack of spares to maintain safe airframes. Apparently that has become less of a concern with the increases to the defense budget, but for a while there it was a significant problem.

Also, I'd heard that low-level night ops using NVGs over unfamilar terrain were the reason for some of the crashes last year. Any thoughts?

Hey Jon,
All the aircraft that came back from Desert Storm were in pretty sorry shape. I haven't heard a lot about the spares situation since then but I'm sure the 'Meals on Tracks' program of the Clinton administration taxed the system. Kind of hard to pay for parts on that budget when you're getting deployed to every third world country in the world. The enviroment that the Black Hawks operate on a routine basis is extremely hazardous. As you indicated, flying under tactical conditions with NVGs can test the abilities of any crew. While many will say the Apaches operate Lima Lima as well, you must remember that all Apaches have FLIR in the form of the PNVS. Only in the last few years has FLIR started to become available in significant numbers in the Black Hawk community and even now that's still mostly confined to the special ops sectors. While the resolution has seen significant improvment in recent NVGs , depth perception is still the greatest shortcoming. The only real problem I've discovered that has to do with design and reliability of the Black Hawk family ... and I'll talked to a lot of Hawk drivers ... was the early concerns over the stabilator in high RF enviroments. The installation of the 'Pinky' switch on the cyclic (and hardening of the circuits) put that concern to ease early on. Let's face it, I don't think many of us would hesitate to crew any of our active duty helicopters but all the lastest generation aircraft benefited siginicantly from what we've learned about crashworthiness. Another example is sound. While we all love the sound the rotor system of our Hueys make, all the newer aircraft are designed to lessen acoustic signatures. I remember thinking during my days of crewing the Huey that while I love that sound ... the VC must have heard our guys coming (from altitude) from such a long distance away that they had time to clean their weapons before taking their shots at us! Trust me, it took a lot to convince me the Black Hawk was as good as they claim ... but I'm a believer in every way except one. The Huey still LOOKS better!
Try 'em ... you'll like 'em.
Paul

hello gents if you dont mind i will get in you tread. i have flown the huey UH-1H, AH-64A and lately the AH-64D, the huey was a wonderful aircraft that would autorotate like a dream, but not only being and army aviator but a safety officer as well the huey had crash resistance of an egg drop on cement, when the original model was developed as a primary medivac aircraft the pilot's safety was not in mind think 1953, but was the first operational american turbine helicopter and a great one at that, the uh-60 is much more crash resistant helicopter due to improvements in safety devices ie. stroking seats and stroking struts. but the king of safe helicopters is the ah-64 apache which can take a 30 g vertical descent and the crew should survive. but autorotates like a rock due to the low inertial rotor system. if you want some markings of a cav helicopter these days you are in luck i am currently assigned to 3-6 cav part of the famous 6th cav regiment stationed in korea, by the way i have been through 3 unit fielding programs 1 apache and 2 longbow units at ft. hood. so i have some experience of the markings of the cav aircraft now. the flir we have now "pilot night vision system" suck it is still the first gen flir. hopefully will get upgraded soon. the front seat usually flies either nvg or tads. please if you have any questions i will be more than happy to answer them. if you need pictures or marking info let me know.

CW3 Bob Roebuck
"CHECKMATE08"
roebuckkr123@aol.com

Mr. Roebuck,

Would you happen to know CW3 Zac Noble with the 1/229th? He's a buddy of mine. I'm hoping to be in the front seat of an Apache within the next 2 years or so (I'm currently an ROTC MSIII cadet) and also writing my second book, this one on Apaches in Afghanistan and Iraq. Would love to talk to you about the rig at some point!

Later

cobrahistorian,
yes i do know mr. noble we where stationed in camp page korea in the 4/501 aviation back in 95/96. send me your email so i can send these pics i will also post them on a thread soon. keep up the good work you are a very informative and well versed person. if you need anyother help other than this let me know.