Fathawk/Wethawk FARP setup

Yeah! we did it in Germany for a while. I hate to say it, but it was better and easier to use Chinooks. They had the room to internally carry the fuel bladder, which holds more fuel. We had to use fuel from our external tanks. that sucked because the POL guys thought they could just get all grabby with the aircraft and we ended up smacking them upside the head for being stupid and everyone was worried our tanks were not clean enough since we didn't always use them. We never preserved them since we were always taking them off and slapping them on when the mission called for it.

I hate to say it, but it was better and easier to use Chinooks. They had the room to internally carry the fuel bladder, which holds more fuel.

 

The Chinook set-up is called a Fatcow FARP.

yeah! their crewdogs got mad when we brought that up. so sensitive

oh yeah. we also did another set up but don't recall what it was called. We sling loaded a fuel blivit and refuel eqipment to a field, let the POL crew out, they set up the hoses, lil birds came in to refuel, and the POL guys used weights or they stood on the blivit to create pressure to pump the fuel into the aircraft. when everything was done, POL guys picked up their equipment, set up for slings, jumped in the aircraft, we picked the loads and went home.

Leadfoot, Gino, thanks guys!

Man I knew someone on the forum would know. I wasn't around 58D's (we had an old A for HHC and Charlies for the gun companies) so all I ever saw was the typical HEMTT tanker/ blivet setup that we all know and love.

I would like to do this in small scale if possible.  I will assume for argument that you were carrying four stubwing tanks with a pump. Was the pump the typical pump used with blivets, or was it airframe/cargo bed mounted? Also, how long would the POL droolers run the hoses out to the FARP ?  Any diagrams or FMs would really help!

Thanks guys!

David

Leadfoot

where were you at? I was 2/3 AVN BN at Giebelstadt 86-88 (pre redesignation we were 3rd AHB, 3rd AVN BN ). I was with 101AVN BN on Ft. Campbell prior, we never used tanks or wings...just curious how often you guys actually used your tanks.

Thanks and have a good one.

David

Dude! I don't want to lie to you, so let me get all my facts straight. The last time I did it was maybe 6 years ago. I've been out of the Army since 2003. The one thing that I definitely remember was the we only used 250 gallon externals on the outboards. Our ESSS was only set up for those. i won't be able to tell you about the hoses. i was only in 1 day mission where we did it. the rest I did at night. I guarantee there was AT LEAST a 100 ft distance between our rotor disc and the 58's. i don't think the pumps sat in the cabin. Let me get a hold of some of my buddies and ask them. most of them are still in or still work around the birds so they can verify what I'm saying. I'll get back to you on this.

Suh-weet!

I know the kits are all avialable in 1/72 scale, 100 would be better....but.....

 

David

I was in 2nd Bn /1st AVN Regt. Katterbach/ Ansbach. We were pretty much general supprt through out. We did everything from VIP to... actually everything. At home we swapped tanks from one bird to the other. We did alot of missions with long hours in the field. usually log runs or C2. My bird in particular was free from that since it had the Volcano system installed most of the time. We also self deployed to and from the Balkans most of the time. In '99, all the birds in our brigade (3 Apache and 3 Blackhawk batallions) self deployed to Kosovo. We had to do it in 2 separate flights 1 day apart. I don't think Albanians had ever seen so many helicopters tearing *** through the hills like locust 2 days in a row.

i saw an early Volcano system fitted into a A /101 blackhawk in 85 not long after I arrived, thought it looked pretty damned cool mounted up, but never got to see it in action. I dont know if they even flew the bird with it installed.

David

I have a picture of mine with the full load of training canisters installed. I'll dig it up and scan it when I get home. We fired the dummy rounds a few times in Graff, but they were'nt full loads. that would have been too cool.

I've been trying to get a hold of my crewdawgs, but nothing yet. I'll keep trying. I might have to go get a Myspace account to look them up.

Thanks, I appreciate it, this is good for a long term project. I still have come up with zero as far as net research goes.

Maybe one of those military.com or formermilitary.com websites. I havent joined, but I know a few people that have joined and found old shipmates quickly.

 

David

 

what scale are you planning on? I had a some Uh-60 models but never got to finish them. 1/48 would be a better for detail. the FARP stuff would be easy to replicate. hoses and T's, a couple of nozzles.

1/48 will be it, I work mainly in that scale and I have built the 1/35 beast and it is taking up a LOT of my shelf space http://www.angelfire.com/ca4/hlmp/articles.html

I definitly want to keep it 1/48 for being able to see what it is that is going on internally and with the wings/tanks it will not be too big, plus I have the CE resin tanks. Ive got lots of solder and WAVE option fittings! :-)

I appreciate the help on this one, once I get going I will have something quite unique!

David 

Well, just in case you know any OH-58D pilot who was stationed in Schweinfurt, Germany, ask them if they recall doing this missions between 2000 and 2002. They were the only 58 unit we worked and deployed with (I think). 1/4 Cav "Darkhorse". We used to call them "1/4 horse" because when we had to redeploy back to Germany from Macedonia in '99, they fit all their aircraft and crews in one C-17, and we needed 3 C-17's to get our 8 UH-60's home.

Sorry, No dice on the FARP info.

But I did find the Volcano picture of my bird back in Germany.