Other Unusual Vietnam Helicopters. (No Hueys Allowed)

I'm new to the site...found it a few weeks ago while doing some research for a friend of mine to get some parts to restore his flight helmet.  Here's the God's honest truth on the first loach with a door mounted mini-gun. It was fabricated using a spare collective stick robbed from another ship...the obsever/co-pilot position had a removable collective that could be stored and then quickly installed if needed in an emergency. The creation was by a loach crew chief/gunner by the name of Chris 'Favats' Favata, hometown, Northvale, NJ. Chris was attached to D Troop (Air), 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry (3/4 Cav), 25th Infantry Division operating out of Cu Chi. Chris was there from Spring 68 to Summer 69. The name of his ship was 'SNAFU'...I have to double-check the tail number...might have been 308...but I'll get back to you on that and in what month he and some maintence guys made their creation. Also, Chris has some photos....I'll have to scan them and post them here. The photo of the loach 'Borrowed Time' is after SNAFU already had her gun.         

Got it..."the tail number of 'SNAFU' was 16308. The mini-gun project was done in early '69 before TET that year.  The brass wanted more 'count' in case more 'shi*' was coming for TET '69 like what happened in '68.  The door mounted 60 just didn't get the job done especially if they were out without a cobra. Can anyone create a loach model with the mini-gun in the door and correct tail number and name for Chris ?  He's willing to buy.       

Another shot of one of the NOH-6As.

The cockpit with the FLIR monitors.

And while doing some research I found out that one of them is even flying today!

I even contact the Snohomish Sheriffs department and asked if they know what they have there. They do!

Just out of curiosity, where did you come across the NOH-6 photos?  I only ask because I scanned those from the US Army Aviation Museum archives myself some time ago.  They are indeed cool though.

    Ray

I don't remember where the first one is from but the cockpit photo is from this article.

http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/the_quiet_one.html?c=y&page=1#

/edit: The other pic is from here.

http://sobchak.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/air-americas-black-helicopter/

This article also has this and an other cockpit pic but what is more interesting is the linked PDF there.

No worries.  I see at least three photos there that are from material I scanned from the archives and posted as well as several others that i also have but can't prove came from me.  It's all public access so that's not a problem.  i just wish folks would credit the US Army Aviation Museum when they use them for articles and such.  Heck, I even saw some dude posted my father's pic of his bird Gladiator 36 as their own!  Now that did annoy me.

   Ray

Not worried at all. Maybe you're not the only person that visited the museum and scanned the pics? I know there are a lot of copyright issues but I try to stay away from such material if it's explicitly marked as copyright protected or ask the respective owner of the copyright if I'm allowed to use his material which in most cases isn't a problem (example follows).

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Some pics of USN CSAR choppers.

SH-3A "Big Mother 70" of HS-2 in SEA colors on the landing deck of USS Mahan (DLG-11).

"Big Mother 70" after its conversion to HH-3A standard and in new color with HC-7.

The M134 mounted in the door of "Big Mother 70".

Note: The last two pics marked (C) W.Tanneberger are used with his kind allowance!

Following the only shot of an UH-2 with doorgun that I know of.

Another shot of an UH-2A with camo and a nice noseart.

If you want to know more about the history of USN CSAR helicopters and also Lt. Lassen you may check out this PDF.

http://www.ussmahan.org/HC7.pdf

Nice shots!  Thanks for sharing.  As for the photos, I'm pretty sure they are the ones I scanned, the NOH-6 pic even has the same black mark in the upper right hand corner!  Plus I am the only person who has scanned them to my knowledge (they are slides and the collection is locked away on the 3rd floor), but as I said, it's not about me getting credit just the Museum collections.  I just want folks to realize that they are trying their best to preserve the history of Army Aviation.  

Here's a shot that might be of interest.  A Camo UH-2A shots from the National Museum of Naval Aviation collections:

Thanks for the photo...every single one is interesting.

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Jollies and TATs (Tactical Armament Turret 102B, M134 pod with 8.000 rounds) which could be carried instead of the external fueltanks. The crews doesn't seem to like them much and prefered the extra fuel above firepower instead. They were aimed via door/window mounted electro-optical sights.

 

Some pics that I got from the grandson of a GoGo (ACH-47A) crewmember and which are used with his kind allowance.

This photo shows ACH-47A #64-13151shortly after the crash which led to its nickname "Stump Jumper" as hit a large tree stump after the forced landing due to enemy fire.

"Stump Jumper" with painted nickname and tree stump.

Some pics of "Stump Jumper" after the groundtaxiing accident  in which it hit an other parked Chinook. The helicopter was a total loss.

I was a member of  Night Vision Flight Detachment from 1980 to 1986 and maintained 66-17825 during this period . The main rotor blade in this picture are not the original ones. The original blades were similar to the UH-60 blades with the sweep on the tips. Additionally, there was a Bennie that mounted to the top of the main rotor hub. These items were stored in one of the 2 parts trailer in back of our hanger. There was also the exhaust cowling showmen on the other photos.

The blades were longer than the standard OH-6 that we used because of their price. The Bennie on the main rotor remained off because of being a headache for daily maintenance or doing per-flight checks. I do know that the bird was sent out on operations that called for them to be installed. To this day I cannot answer what the operation was or where it went during these trips. Unlike our other OH-6 this ones engine was different and was flown at usually 60% power.

I found some old paper work dated May 1977 where the aircraft was sent to Hughes for some work to be done on it.

I remember one flight returning from Aberdeen, where we were running classified Night vision tests. The service ceiling was low when a small private fixed wing came through the clouds about 500 feet in front of us. Thank God that Dave had excellent reflexes and banked hard left and down. The person in the private plane had entered the restricted helicopter low level routes around D.C.

Unfortunately, we just move and I cannot find my pictures of it.  If I can find them I will up load them.

I had a lot of hours in this great helicopter and even more stories about it.

Sincerely,

Bob A.

Bob,

 Thanks for your service, sir!  I really hope you find your photos.  I look forward to seeing them if you do.  Thanks so much for sharing your story with us.

   Ray

Bob & All,

 

We are still flying the Hughes NOH-6P up here in Snohomish County, WA.  I am working on replacing the helicopter and finding an aviation museum that will take good care of her. This aircraft has a lot of significant history.  video:

 

Bob, if you find any more photos or history please post them. 

 

Here is a photo from 1994 when our Sheriff's Office picked up 66-17825 in Mississippi. It still had the "duckbill" FLIR mount on the nose.   -Bill