door gunner question

EXCELLENT info ChiefSnake!  Right on!  Always good to see the "right stuff" getting put out!

 

Typically, the crewchief (CE) sits on the left side of the aircraft. The "six pack" can be seen easily from the left side gunner well or the bench seat, even if sitting far to the left. The armor panel on the right seat ( left arm of the pilot) pretty well blocks the view of the gauges from anywhere on the right side because it stood away from the seat. This left room for the pilot to operate the collective without hitting the panel. Usually the gunner would sit on the right side as they weren't always tuned into being a crewchief, some would train OJT, other just liked popping caps. The gauges of most critical nature for the engine and transmission, temp and pressure, have colored markings along the bezel of the gauge and the gauges could be rotated within the clamp so that all the greens, yellows and reds sat in the same "o'clock" formation. A quick glance at the gauges was all you needed to see if the needles were in the green, or elswhere! Fuel pessure and quantity were less urgent in monitoring, if fuel pressure dropped off  below normal you just set down. Fuel quantity had a 20 minute reserve limit which was indicated by a segment light illuminating at appropriate time. That almost always caught the attention of everyone on the helicopter who was familiar with the audible "click" of a segment light coming on. Unless the CE was running a fuel consumption check, these gauges were not all that relevant to him. The only only other gauge that was of real relevance for a CE was the torque indicator. If the red line on the torque gauge was exceed, special inspections had to be performed when the aircraft landed. An overtorque situation wasn't always a life threating situation immediately, but it could have serious consequences if unchecked damage was not repaired. In the heat of combat, the pilots are usually eyeballs out the window and unless having to actively defend the aircraft, the CE would keep an eye on the critical gauges to warn of an impending problem situation. Certain tiedown rings had more strain rating than others, that's why you usually see the monkey harness hooked up high. Those rings had a load rating of 1250 lbs, the ones installed lower in panels only had a 400 lb rating. The floor rings also had a 1250 lb rating. The 1250 lb rings are screwed into solid airframe structure, the 400 lb ones were screwed into structural panels.

 

Chief Snake 

Level with the bench seats that the Gunner and Crew Chief sat on were 4 rings to attach the seat belts.  They some times attached the harness there.  The ones shown hanging on the transmission wall are the same type of rings that had a threaded eye that screwed into specific spots on the wall.  They look like small dark circles in the sound proofing where the inserts were located.  There are a lot of them!  The extra threaded rings were hard to come by sometimes.  The ones in the floor were slightly different in that they swiveled.  A pin arrangement fit into the pin in the depression in the floor to enable them to be stored flat.  Sorry don't have time to locate a good picture right now. 

We monitor oil pressure, temp, etc gages to make sure they stayed in the green, also caution and fire lights were on the instrument panel

no sheit!???

 

that's unreal!!...that's pretty far away to be monitoring what>???...the "six pack"???

 

 

Black and white photo's show it the best.

Crew chief sat on the left side which allowed view of instrument panel which was part of his responsiblity to monitor also

Bounce

Great pictures mate thanks alot

"I just pranged my wine glass setting her down in LZ Computer Desk and almost broke it...I may need to switch to plastic"

lol Funnily enough i noticed that after a few flights into LZ computer desk, my approach faze goes a bit wobbly to lol 

Andy

 

here's one I think, draped over the handles of the m-60....

 

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I looked through my UH-1 Huey in Action and found at least 4 examples of the same looking "y" harness but they were attached to a location behind the gunners head if he were in the gunner's position........these straps (I'll post pics soon) that are hanging from the clip I assume correspond to these shiny objects behind the gunner's left shoulder (last and latest edit:  dammit it's his right shoulder!!)...in the photo below...which I think BTW is one of the better gunner photos I've seen.... looks intense....

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lemme scan my book and show the photos....two of them are from UH-1D's in 1967 at Tan Son Nhut, on rescue or chase birds...they have twin sixties or  a .50! for the gunners...google the location and date...you may find some more....otherwise I'll get these up soon...

 

ok...here's left..err.. I mean right side door gunner with twin 60s....which side does the crew chief sit on?

 

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here's the right side with twin .30s.....:

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I hope I'm getting you on the right track...I'm not sure though....

here's the left side .50 cal shot:

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the .50 caliber gunner's position was on a nighthawk uh-1d , FYI...

 

ok...I've finished adding photos to this thread for the last 45 minutes....heheeh...I want to demonstrate my learned huey terminology now, and apply it to present day circumstances....ready?...here ya go:  "I just pranged my wine glass setting her down in LZ Computer Desk and almost broke it...I may need to switch to plastic"....  is that good?   hehehe

 

Salute!!!

Yes, plus they should be on the floor also, original use was for tying cargo down

Thanks john

On the kit i have it looks like theres a tiny little thing in the mold behind both seats that looks like a little vertical strip of material with two tiny circles (rings) one at the top of the strip and one at the bottom. Its positioned just above the seats at waist hight, does that sound about right?

Andy

Thanks Bounce that would be great

ive seen loads of pictures but never any of the harness attached or what it attaches to.

Andy

I think I still have a harness in a locker.  I'll look and see if it is still there.  The one I have may be slightly different, but it should be essentially the same.

Mac

I will find a couple....I have them in books...I've got one with the door gunner outside, facing the ship and the photographer is behind him...with the monkey harness on...as stated by the photo caption.....I think maybe I saw this one on a website though...it may be hard to relocate...

 

and I've got one with what appears to be the "leash" which is clipped to a ring behind where the gunners head would be...and it is hanging down to the seat....good definition on the leash itself....gimme a day or so...to post

 

Salute!!

Sorry no photo, but the harness attached to the rings on the rear bulkhead or the floor