Did the Revell Uh-1C "Hog" actually exist?

HERE is a link from my old unit that shows an earlier hog, I think before it was called a HOG.

http://www.118ahc.org/Bandits.htm  You can also see some pictures of the other flight platoons that has pictures of early aircraft. All our B models had 62-204X serial numbers which meant Army contract 1962 but Bell delivered the aircraft in Sep 1963. The B model had magnesium on the underside of the tailboom, the A model boom was magnesium. Bell finally changed to all aluminum as mag cracked too easily. The B model synch elevator was a symetrical airfoil with a spoiler on top, the C model had a flat upper surface and the tailboom fin was curved which helped unload the tail rotor at higher speeds, the B model wasn't. Armor protection was almost nonexistant. The lower part of the pilots/co-pilots window had a strip of thick plexiglass mounted on the frame. The chin bubbles had what was called tipper plating, it was thin plates of aluminum probably that was supposed to tip the bullet when it went through, (nobody thought much of that idea) The chicken wings were mounted to the doors. This armor was I think the same as the style that later was adapted to the crew seats. Early seats were just that nothing added. Later a tilt back seat came along that allowed you to remove the pilot/co-pilot if they got hit, and it had armor plating that slid back and forth. We removed the tipper plating and but flak jackets in place. Armament on the slicks consisted of whatever you wanted to carry. I had a burp gun, we later went to our M-14s. We also carried a designated door gunner from 25th Inf Div. Later bungee cords were used to hang the M-60's. When I was there all we had were the Browning 30 cal air cooled MG I doubt a bungee would hold all that weight.

An interesting story of why Bell moved the nose mounted antennas to the roofwas that when some aircraft were parked in a farmers field, the cows scratched their backs on the antennas and broke them. Anyway that is my story and I'm sticking to it:-).

Marines at that time 1963 were still flying H-34s in RVN.

The UH-1C model started production at 64-14101 and sub. The first deliveries to Nam were in 1965.  

If the Revell kit has a serial number I can tell you what model it was. The first two UH-1E's produced were 151266 through 151268 bought in 1962. The other gentlemen was right about the roof mounted resuce hoist, however I don't know if the very first E models had them. I have a buddy that worked with the Marines in 66 and was on the Bell assembly line prior to that so he might know.

Ed

Rich,

  Yeah, I've seen that picture and I looked at it again.  That armament configuration (XM-6 + XM-157) was very common early in the war, but I have never seen one in flight with the M-5 40mm grenade launcher on it.  I would expect that a B-model wouldn't be able to take off with full ammo for such a configuration.  The C-model could carry ~1,000 lb more weight than the B-model and would be the only real candidate for the Revell "Hog" weapons configuration, I think.

        Ray
 

Hi Ray,

There's a pic in the Huey Gunship walkaround book by Squadron ( p.8) of a "B" in flight with the XM-6 and rocket pod although from the angle of the photo there doesn't appear to be a "thumper" on the nose, but it's hard to tell.

Rich

Chris,

  Thanks for the reply.  To my knowledge all the Uh-1E's I have seen were owned by the Marines and were identical to Uh-1B's except they had aluminum frames (instead of magnesium) and a rescue hoist on the roof as well as a rotor brake.  Some later production E models did employ the 540 rotor system giveing greater lift capacity.  Also, most, if not all, E-models used the TK-2 mounting system for their armamants (in order to use Air Force rocket pods) and carried the twin sixties inboard of the rocket pods in most cases.  The UH-1C employed the M-156 universal mounting system and always placed the guns outboard of the rockets.  Finally, I have seen E-models with the chin mounted TAT 101 system ( twin sixties) but not with the M-5 grenade launcher.  If you have photos or can tell me where to find them of an E-model with the M-156 mounting system, I would love to see them.  By the way, I love popasmoke and have visited many times.

   Thanks,

        Ray
 

There were some VMO squadrons that armed some UH-1E (borrowed from the Army) like the Revell UH-1C.  However, I've never seen any references to UH-1C's armed that way. 

Check out this site too.  It has some great pics.  www.popasmoke.com

Semper Fi,

Chris 

Ray;

Check www.vietnamresearch.com for the answer. There is a photo of an OH-6A Cayuse armed up this way that was too heavy to get in the air, but nothing that I read about the UH-1C not being able to.

Cheers;

Gregory