Unusual Vietnam Hueys

At last one picture of the interior , thanks rotorwash !

I don't know for how long I've been searching for interior pics of this bird .

My guess that the ammo chutes (I thing it should be two,one for each gun) would be similar to the M5 system is finally disproved .

I wanted to build a UH-1E with the turret since I saw the first MRC UH-1C Huey in 1:35 .

I even machined my own turret dummy to have something to attach the plastic sheet onto , but the interior is still a  mystery to me !

Can someone please help me with this not  'unusual' Huey , but still a kind of mysterious configuration ?

i gotta say the weapons look weird but the heli is fine

The weapons look weird but the helicopter is fine

I am not sure if these have been posted as it's been awhile since I visited the forums. I've been building out 3D flyable gunships.

This is a UH-1C that features the Low Level Light Television that was tested out by the 320th Signal Detachment (Avionics), 334th AHC in October of 1967. Photos US Army Signal Corps

LLTV mounted to the M21 Universal Arm

The 'People Sniffer" was a UH-1D/H with a scoop just under the nose with a tube that ran up to a unit mounted on the center beam inside the cockpit. The actual unit that measure the levels sat on the rear floor. Known as the Airborne Personnel Detector Unit the "People Sniffer" made it's rounds in Vietnam.

This series is from September 1967 B Troop, 1st Squadron, 9th Cav, 1st Air Cav Division outside of An Khe near LZ Two Bits. Photos US Army Signal Corps.

This is the nose mounted unit with the air hose that effectively 'sniffed' up the smell of Victor Charlie. Or more often than not Elephants or monkeys.

Awhile back someone requested images of the interior of the INFANT gunship.

Here are some plus a little more meat. If your like me you constantly search for anything on these particular gunships as well as the units that tested them in Vietnam.

Good detail of the camera 11th CAB Phu Loi 1970

Loading up 2.75" rockets pre-mission Phu Loi 11th CAB 1970

Here is the cherry on top for us modelers.

flight line Phu Loi 11th CAB 1970 as the ship gets ready to head out for some live fire testing

Last one, the mini guns giving someone a hard night of it. Good detail of the IR spotlight

Hopefully this will fill in the gap missing on the INFANT DET

Rotorwash:

You say your Dad was with the 190th Assault Helicopter Company 3rd Gunship Platoon "Gladiators". Well I want you and everyone to know what I found online last night on google. I found a new website that is selling all the Assault Helicopter Companies that serviced in Vietnam Pocket Patches and the have your Dad's patch and both of the 190th's patches, the red "Spartans" patch and also the white "Gladiators" Gunship patch. They are really nicely done and the best part of it all is they are affordable. Here's the info on the site; it's called Patch Quartermaster  and their url is "www.patchquartermaster.com ". Take a look, I think you will like what they have for sale. I purchased several of my units patches and they were great and affordable. They even have the Cobra Hall Gold Pin issued at Fort Rucker to Cobra Pilots. Check them out, you wont be sorry.

Big Snake 8

How about this early UH-1B from UTTHCO? You can see in the  images the same ship with camouflage applied though the weapons stations are modified as was the rotor head. You can tell it's the same B by the identical marks on the stressed tail. (Correction they are UH-1A models from Reuter's slides.

Those are awesome pics but the top pic is a UH-1A and the bottom two are a UH-1B.  Check the shortened rotor mast on the Alpha and bottom facing blade counterweights.  Stressed tail booms were common to early Hueys, especially the Alphas.  Here are some other Alpha pics showing the same stress marks.  The color shot is from Robert Reuter who commanded UTT in 1962 and the second one is another UTT shot from the USAAM archives.

    Ray

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Wij17ooMOlw/T3uX_YCYa6I/AAAAAAAAMiM/P2fXBUpPtws/s800/PICT4391.JPG

I have been looking for a photo of 61-719 hauling another UH-1B for a long time. I was XO of the 102nd Transportation Company at Fort Bragg, NC. We were part of the 82nd Aviation Bn., part of the 82nd Airborne Division. UH-1B 61-719 was assigned to our unit. One of the first things we did was replace the T53-5 engine with our spare engine, a T53-9A for additional horse power.

The UH-1B company was experiencing hot starts which would melt the turbines and the 102nd would have to get the helicopters moved back to Simmons AAF by land. Most of the moves resulted in additional damage which required additional down time. Capt. Barker, CO of the 102nd, felt that we could sling load a UH-1B with no additional damage. 

The first time we tried this method, we were successful. Capt Barker flew 61-719 and I flew the support UH-1B in which we put the main blades through the open doors. We did not remove the tail rotor or horizontal stabilizers. We did drain the fuel. I don't remember removing the rotor head during the first lift. It was not in the support ship. We had the Bn. photographer film the procedure, but when we tried to get an air to air shot, he was out of film. This was in late 1962. We accomplished it again in early 1963, but I was not available to fly the support ship. An air to air photo was taken then and appeared in the "Army Times".

This photo is said to have been taken in late 1963, I left the 102nd in March, 1962. When I was with the 102nd, we did not have the AA logo on the tail and there is a new antenna mounted on front of the rotating beacon.

We used the lifting cable for moving the UH-1Bs in the hangar by overhead crane. It attached to the main mast. 

If someone has the original photo used in this posting, I would appreciate a copy.

Thanks

Thanks for your service, sir.  Shoot me a PM with your e-mail address and I will send you a high res version of the image you can make a print from.  The original is part of the Army Aviation Museum archives.

   Ray  

How do you PM on this site

E-mail sent. 

   Ray

Dear supercobra - can you pl reload picture

Kenneth,

 What pic exactly are you referring to?  

    Ray

Ray

i am referring to pg 2 of this thread, at least that is what i see on my computer, where the Helicopter Trap Weapon was discussed - there are references to pictures but the link to the pictures is dead

Ray

as i view more pages, i can see that more pictures are lost and cannot be viewed. from my side i can several blank picture icons. is there a way to re-install the missing pictures?

Kenneth,

 Unfortunately, the photos are all linked form some photo sharing site like Photobucket.  If it was a paid account and the owner stopped supporting it or if the owner removed the photos, an error message will appear in those posts.  I will see if I have a pic of the helicopter trap weapon though.

   Ray

Thanks Ray

i am a modeler myself as with many of the forum contributors and i would appreciate the photos - by the way i have never seen so much details about the Huey as in here - marvelous and weldone - keep it up and coming!

Can someone identify what this UH-1B (or C?) is carrying? XM31? if so, the protruding gun barrel is not visible - then what can it be?

Kenneth,

 First off I can't seem to find any pics of the Helicopter Trap Weapon in my collection of images.  The best I can do is the diagram posted by Marko in this thread.

 Regarding the image you posted, first off it is a UH-1B.  You can tell that by the nose mounted pitot tube on the left hand side.  Second, it is a test aircraft which you can tell by the test equipment mounted above the rotorhead.  Third, I am pretty sure this is not armament, but ferry tanks which give the aircraft a longer range.  The system somewhat resembles the M159/M200 rocket pods with aerodynamic fairings on the front and back, but they are not pointy enough.  Here is another pic of the same bird from the USAAM archives.

    Ray

Thanks Ray

that was very informative. i think the B model can also be recognized by the rotor mast as well. what baffles me about the supposedly fuel tanks is that, and this is more clearly seen in your last picture, there seems to be an ammunition belt coming out of the lower fuselage, unless that is part of the mount.

also, can anyone share a photo of the command and control version of the Huey?

Kenneth

Kenneth,

 You are correct that the B model can be identified by the 204 head with blade counterweights, but the nose mounted pitot is a dead giveaway it's a B as well.  I really don't think that is an ammo belt.  It looks more like part of the mount to me.

 As for the C and C bird, I have a number of pics, but it's way too late for me to dig them out right now.  I'll try to get some posted for you soon.

  Ray

thanks Ray

no problem will wait - i don't think they have ant exterior feature in particular, but will see.

Looks like I posted those HTW pics and the photobucket album got moved.  Here is  one of them:  img.photobucket.com/.../FrenchySlide1-28_edited_zpse98de0f7.jpg

Very interesting thread !

Ray i have noticed that some Huey armament subsystems are repeated, namely:

there is the XM18 gunpod (with XM134) and there is the XM18 mine (or flare?) dispenser;

there is also the XM3 people sniffer and the XM3 ARA

have you got pictures of the XM18 dispenser (if it exisits)

do you know why the repeated designations?

cheers Kenneth

Kenneth,

 I have a friend, Joe Trevithick, who knows this stuff like the back of his hand.  He was kind enough to send me this reply to your inquiry:

Ray,

"The alpha-numeric bit (like XM18) is only one component of the designation in the Army's nomenclature system. The alpha-numeric is not a complete designation in of itself and requires the full descriptive text string to avoid the confusion you point out. You can find a full description of the specifics of the system here: www.designation-systems.net/.../miscsystems.html

In short, these designations are not in fact repeated.  The full designations in this case are:

- ARMAMENT SUBSYSTEM, HELICOPTER, 2.75-INCH ROCKET LAUNCHER: XM3

- DETECTOR, CONCEALED PERSONNEL, AIRCRAFT MOUNTED: XM3

- ARMAMENT POD, AIRCRAFT, 7.62-MM MACHINE GUN: XM18

- DISPENSER, AIRCRAFT: XM18

Also, the XM18 aircraft dispenser is just the US Army designation for what the Air Force designated the SUU-14/A. The dispensers themselves should be essentially identical.  Here is a picture:

I think that should help clear things up.  Happy to help.

Joe

Thanks Joe

that clears the confusion. and thanks for the pictures and quick reply. i have been googling for a long time to get a picture of the UH-1 equipped with the XM18 dispenser

Ray/Joe

was the XM15 mine dispenser used on any model of the UH-1? i have read that it can take the XM170 fares or XM165 grenades - can you expand on this please?

Kenneth