Unusual Vietnam Hueys

Not that I think it's the same missile but the Huey was certainly a wide test platform for such things.

USMC HH-1K Huey BuNo 157194, firing a Sidewider missile at a tank target, 12 October 1971. Official U.S. Navy photo.

http://www.chinalakealumni.org/1971.htm

Another cool pic!  My guess is, its probably a SideArm being fired at a ZSU-234 "tank".  I need to get me some Huey kits!

 Jon
 

Grandad,

  You ain't kidding.  I have about 70 Huey kits as of now and I ain't closed my E-bay account yet!  By the way, I spent the day climbing on a B model here at Rucker and I found some VERY unusual huey pics in the archive.  Stay tuned for some very cool stuff.  I alo want to take a moment to thank museum Director Steve Maxham and his staff for all their help.  I can't wait to get back in the collection tomorrow!  

     Ray

Glad to hear ya had a good time today Ray! 

Gonna see if I can swing by tomorrow!

Jon
 

Jon,

  I hope you get to come by.  Your reputation precedes you at the Museum.  I got to see your Osprey Apache book, by the way.  Great stuff!!  I can't wait for the Squadron pubs.

      Ray

Here's a little sample of what I found in the archives.  I'm sure many of you have heard of the M24A1 20mm cannon that was mounted on the ACH-47's.  You may have even seeen a pic of one mounted on a Huey like the first pic below.  However, I doubt whether many of you have ever seen,much less concieved of, dual 20mm cannons on a UH-1B!  But pictures don't lie.  Check'em out.

[img]http://[img]http://This was a test bird at Rucker.  I'm not sure of the date.  Note that the ammo chutes are laid out on boards on top of the skids and there doesn't appear to be any ammo in them.  Check out the bracing as well.  Perhaps this pic was staged for a photo op, but it still looks cool to me!

    Ray
 

Anybody notice anything unusual about this "Dustoff?"

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Mel,

  Thanks for the info on the 101st!  I wasn't actually sure it was taken in Vietnam.  It came from the archives of the Army Aviation Museum at Ft. Rucker and had no info attached.  I was very fortunate to be able to talk to lots of helo crew members from the 145 CAB this last week.  They were very helpful and answered many questions I'm sure they don't hear every day.  Things like "Where exactly did you clip your monkey belt?" and "Did you guys use ammo chutes or not on your M23 mounted 60s?"  Thanks again to all the veterans who help us get this stuff right!

     Ray

PS: I would be very interested to see any other pics of armed Dustoff birds. 

I thought I would post this pick I found on the 116th website of Bigdaddy.  As I said on page 3 This ship belonged to the 116th.  The gun is a 20mm wing gun from an A-1 Skyraider (or F-100 if the website is correct).  It was originally mounted on a pintle, but that was a little awkward so they used a mounting bracket under the ship.  They had to put in a blast shield (which you can see in this pic), though, because firing the gun blew out th chin bubble!  The web site said this ship didn't last long because the recoil from the gun cracked the hardpoints!

    Ray

PS: Here's the Hornet home page in case anyone is interested (Thanks for the link, Andy):

http://www.116ahc.org/ 

Here's the original photo from page 3 as well from the other side:

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Ray,

Great pics. thats one mad Huey! After seeing the way the guns on a skyraider bounce back and forward while firing Im not surprised she didnt last long. Would love to have seen her in action though. Another fine example of twin door mounted 60's  .

Andy

A few years ago I found the hand painted art work panel from "Big Daddy" for sale on ebay. I won the auction for $100. I had it verified from veterans from the 116th that it was indeed the original door panel sign from the aircraft. It currently hangs on the wall of my work room.

Chief Snake 

Very timely picture of the M24A1 Cannon! I'm building that very weapon for my 1/35th scale ACH-47A Go-Go bird and I did not have a clear picture of the cannon itself. Got all the bases covered now!

Chief Snake 

Chief,

  Your GoGo bird's coming along nicely!  I'm glad the pics helped.  It's so rare that I can be of assistance to you that I thought I would post all the other M24A1 pics I have, including a couple from Easy Money.  They are all courtesy of the Army Aviation Museum.

       Ray
 

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Good stuff! Thanks!

Chief Snake 

Chief,

  Glad you like the pics.  It's about time these pics saw the light as there are thousands of incredible images just sitting around waiting to be discovered.  I can't say enough about how much I appreciate the help I recieved from museum diector Steve Maxham an his staff!

     Ray

Too cool guys!  Here's another one, this time from the 121st AHC website.

   Thanks for the pics Ray!

Now I want that Huey B with 2x20mm :-))))

 Andy

Jon,

  Nice sprayer pic!  Here are some more of a sprayer being installed by the 121st at An Thiot, RVN on july 27 or 28, 1968.  The drum is fiberglass according to the info provided.  Photos are by SP6 Eugene Randon courtesy of Army aviation Museum.

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I'll leave you with the same system Jon posted above during testing phase at Ft. Rucker:

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Ray,

That's probably the bird that I posted pics of as it was getting the equipment installed!

Very cool stuff!

Jon
 

Jon,

 I figured they were the same system, but I know better than to make assumptions anymore.  Also, the 121st pics don't show the fan blades or the markings of your pic so I couldn't be sure.

        Ray
 

Ray,

Thank you so much for sharing the pictures you found from your visit to FT.Rucker, You are now an invaluable source of pictoral information for anyone stuck on my side of the Atlantic and anyone without access to the Army Aviation Museum. Did you get to see the Vietnam War memorial for aviators? From what i have read its quite a sobering experience.

I look forward to future posts and seeing more pictures from your collection.

Anyway im not to sure if this unusual but i dont think ive seen rockets mounted this high before.

Andy

Andy,

  Sorry, I didn't make it to the Vietnam Memorial at Rucker, but I did spend several days with the aviators themselves, and that was a very sobering experience.  This stuff is history to us, but its part of their lives.  

  The system you posted is the XM-6E3 quad 60 subsystem coupled with the MA-2 2.75 in Spin Stabalized Folding Fin Aerial Rocket (SSFFAR) subsystem (also known as Mighty Mouse rockets).  It was in use very early in the war (~1963).  I'll try to post more pics of the system later.

Rich,

  You can have the 20mm.  I'm more inclined to go with the XM140 30mm.  This bad boy is the great grandad of the AH-64's M230:

This pic from TACOM site

Here's what the system was supposed to lok like on the HUEY (called XM30 system):

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And here is what it actually looked like on a HUEY (all other pics from Army Aviation Museum):

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and with the faring in place:

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here's a color pic of the XM30 system:

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Here are a couple of pics showing the pair of XM140's from the front and back (note all these pics are of UH-1C's):

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And I will end this post with what may be one of the coolest pics I have found yet.  a XM30 armed bird rockin' and rollin' in flight!

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What do you reckon that feels like in a HUEY?!

   Ray
 

Awww come on.  The Huey's cool and all, but if you're gonna show an XM140 cannon, at least put it in proper context! ;)

Jon,

  The AH-56 is cool and all, but the experimental Huey sported TWIN 30mm's.  Can any other US helo claim that distinction!?

    Ray

The man has a point!

Of course, you're the guy who got me on the Huey kick that I'm on now!  

 Jon
 

Well it's time to rejuvenate this thread.  I have chosen some birds from the 4/77th ARA (actually, B Battery, 2-20 ARA, 1st Cav Division, thanks Jon) for this post.  These pics were all taken by a CWO Parker and donated to the Army Aviation Museum.  Let's start with a couple of UH-1B's sporting the Maxwell system:

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Note that this bird has the old style un-armored seats, but improvised armor has been added to the seat and the door. 

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This bird is in the midst of having the UNITED STATES ARMY repainted.  The pegs sticking off of the tailboom indicate that this ship carried a HF "high line" antenna.  Check out the red paint on the front of the skids.

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A very early version of a Firefly ship.  Note those red skids again.

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You might look at the two pics above and say "so what, its an M16 subsystem", but wait.  Check out the type of Huey they are on.  This bird has nose mounted antennas and the early VN air intakes without the partical separators so it's a B model, right?  Not so fast.  Check out the roof mounted pitot, the 540 rotor system, the assymetrical horizontal stabs, the wide chord tail rotor, the armament mount supports and the left handed fuel filler cap.  This is one of the earliest VN UH-1C pics I have ever seen.  Also, I can't even remember seeing a Charlie model armed with the M16 system.  Definitely unusual.

Finally, let's end this one with a couple of pics of B Battery, 2-20 ARA, Griffon nose art:

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Edit: I found this caption for the photo above at the VHPA museum site:

"WO1 Chip Parker  with one of the ARA acft flown in the Ia Drang Nov 65"

I thought you might like to know that, Andy. 

Both of these birds are Bravos sporting M3 24shot 2.75 inch rocket packs.  another words, they are both HOGS.  Enjoy!

Ray 

Ray,

I just copied that CD yesterday. It is mis-labeled.  Those are NOT 4/77th birds.  They're from B Battery, 2-20 ARA, 1st Cav Division.  Some really neat birds in there too, like that earrrrrrly C model.  Both ARA units started off with Griffin nose art.  By 1968, the 2-20th had transitioned to the Cobra and Blue Max was born.  I'm already working on markings for some of those birds, along with some other stuff I've found recently.  Lets just say that the 250gig external hard drive is slowly but surely filling up.  

That Firefly bird is carrying an IR searchlight from an M-48 tank.  Pretty cool!

Jon