Hello all
With all the interest generated by the Vietnam huey thread, i thought it only fair that AH-1G/J Cobra should have a thread of its own. Owing its roots to the UH-1B & C and being the first helicopter in history designed specifically for the role of Gunship it deserves the same recognition and attention that the UH-1 huey helos have had on this forum.
A few years ago i decided to get back into modeling and went to my local hobby shop in search of a Vietnam era huey, i hadnt built one since childhood and thought it would be a great place to start, but the only helo they had was the Revell 1/32 AH-1G, so reluctently i took it home and thought "this will do untill i get hold of a huey" to my surprise it was an absolute pleasure to build and research.
Initially developed to provide escort and fire support for the CH-47A Chinooks in Vietnam, it soon became apparent that the cobra was also better suited for the role of gunship protection for the troop carrying huey slicks than the smaller UH-1B/C model hueys employed for this task at the time. Although smaller than the UH-1D/H slicks, the weight of the armament and problems with drag ment that at times the UH1-B&C escort gunships had problems keeping up with or getting ahead of the main troop ships to prep the landing zone. Its a well known fact that many of the gunships had to bounce down the flightline to get airbourne. So came the need for a helicopter that possessed the speed ,endurance and firepower to do the job.
In September 1967 the first six AH-1G Cobras arrived in South Vietnam and became operational in November of 67. By the spring of 1968 the US Army had ordered 838 AH-1G's and in May Of 68 the US Marines ordered 49 under the designation AH-1J.
I plan to build another cobra, a little bit wiser than i was on the last attempt, not sure what to go with as i have seen some great pics but maybe something from "Blue Max" all depends on what pictures we get posted here.
Anyway i know there are a few Cobra fans on this forum and hopefully they can share thier knowledge, stories and pictures with the rest of us and make this thread as interesting and informative as the huey thread and a place for us to all return for source of reference on cobras and building a model of this fine bird.
Many thanks for taking the time to read this and for your efforts ive posted some links below to wet your Cobra appetites.
A fantastic video showing the cobra in operation in Vietnam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvFeyslhWRo
An oral interview done by Cobrahistorian from this forum, with a Cobra pilot who served with the 12th Combat Aviation Group in Vietnam from September 1969 to September 1970. There are many oral interviews on this site from Vietnam vets . For this one scroll down to 'Dave Tela' they are all alphabiticaly listed by surname, its long but WELL worth a listen.
http://www.star.vietnam.ttu.edu/starweb/vva/servlet.starweb?path=vva/oralhistory.web&id=newweboh&pass=&search1=WEBOK%3DYES&format=format
If you have anything else to share about Vietnam era cobra's or your models of them please feel free to post here, your contributions will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Andy.
While the rest of the crew may be in the same predicament, it's almost always the pilot's job to arrive at the crash site first.