My flight in a Huey:

How cool is that? All you need is a couple of M60s on the doors! It looks like it is in great condition.

 

Super Cool !!!!!!!!!!!!

MDS

 

How much $ for the Cobra?

 

Very cool!

 

Flown with these guys a few times and they are great. PCB shut them down a few weeks ago because some person complained about the noise. During Gulf Coast Jam they were doing flights around the area and down the coastline for $50 i think. When I rode in the Cobra it was $250 for a 7-10 minute flight. Then again, it was probably cheaper since it was out of their hangar. My wifes first helo ride was in a Cobra so its all downhill for her now in terms of excitement.


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That's awesome, and $85 sounds like a steal! Thanks for taking the time to post about this.

When I was kid my dad was stationed at Ft. Lewis for a bit, and I remember how seeing all the Hueys and Cobras there blew my mind. They seemed like spaceships at the time.

 

My only flight in a Huey was being picked up from a raft in Miami Bay during USAF water survival training back in 1973. Once was enough.

 

Following the USS Stark incident in May, 1987 the Chief of Naval Operations required the presence of a Flag Officer at each of the burials of the sailors killed in the attack. Thus I was treated to two low level flights in a Pennsylvania Air National Guard Huey to remote corners of Pennsylvania from my base in Mechanicsburg, PA. It was slightly unnerving to observe the pilots navigating by road maps and power lines. One of the ceremonies was particularly memorable as the grieving widow was probably all of 19 or 20 years of age and in total shock. I presented the US Flag to her in appreciation of her husband's service from a grateful nation and through her tears I do not believe she heard anything I said.

Best regards,

Robert

 

Thank you for your service. That is one of the toughest gigs in the military, interacting with the families of the lost. I was a butter bar 6 months out of the academy when I had to bring my best friend home in a box.

 

Will, my very first CACO (Casualty Assistance Calls Officer) assignment involved a recruit who died after 21 days in boot camp in January at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in 1962. I carried the official notification letter with me as I climbed the three stories to an apartment in Brooklyn. As the door opened a very large and mad woman lunged across the room at me screaming "YOU KILLED MY BABY!" Fortunately others in the room restrained her. After that experience I always took a Navy Chaplain along with me on subsequent CACO assignments. Before I forget, that first instance also involved the airline losing the body for three days at the Newark Airport. Never a dull moment!

Sorry, really off topic.

Best regards,

Robert

 

Admiral- I agree. I escorted two of my guys back to the UK after they were killed during Desert Shield. Talking with their families afterwards and explaining exactly what happened was really tough.

 

On a side note I'm surprised the A-10 can keep up with the P-51!

 

Looks like the cruise and top speed are pretty close for both planes... surprises me, too.

 

All the top speeds listed for WW-II fighters are for war emergency power with water injection to prevent preignition at high boost levels. Normal top speeds in military power are quite a bit lower and cruise speeds way, way lower.

 

Went on some missions in a T800 powered Huey (we built 5 of them for a demo program) with the US Border Patrol along the southern border in the mid-90's. It was a nice ride. Got some stick time and it flew nice, considering it was pretty much a flying pickup truck. Control forces were firm but not too high, and I didn't do a lot of yanking and banking, but it was nice to fly. It was heavy enough not to vibrate like a lot of smaller helo's. The T800 was a huge improvement, we could fly much longer missions, close to 6 hrs of endurance on the std fuel load IIRC. The other thing was that with the modern control, unless you were really dumb or in bad trouble you couldn't over-torque the rotor. The net result was you could just pull an armpit full of collective and it would positively jump into the sky, and by that I mean you could jump 200 feet up in about a heartbeat... That would take your breath away for sure. The funny thing about the Huey was that while most outfits had Blackhawks, they flew the Huey's daily, and the Blackhawks sat. The Blackhawks were a lot more maintenance intensive and the units would get their time in the Huey's and the Huey's were a lot less expensive to fly in all aspects, fuel burn, maintenance man hours, spare parts, and avionics maintenance. There's a lot to be said for a simple, reliable and inexpensive aircraft for the utility helo mission and we've gone away from that now. When you think about it, the Huey had a heck of a run. It was in service from Viet Nam until the 2000's with the National Guard and if they had their way they'd still be flying them.

 

If memory serves me right the helicopter you took a ride in is painted in the colors of A Troop, 228th Avn. Bn., 1st Cav. Div. And man is it looking good! Let me be charitable and say ours never looked so pristine ... at least not for long. I smiled at your mention of wishing you had brought a jacket. Believe me, the Central Highlands got cold, and flying with the doors open and the air rushing throughout the aircraft didn't help. Pictured below are UH-1 Huey 'Charlie or Mike Model' gunships, the type I flew in Vietnam. The Mike models were converted Charlie models with larger engines. Note the shorter fuselage with only a bench seat spanning the width and no 'gunners well' or 'hell hole' as we called it. Your ride was in a lift aircraft with more seating capacity. I'm happy you liked your flight. I enjoyed almost all of mine. I'll try to insert a few pictures below ... I hope they make it. We had a letter of authorization from the Flying Tiger Association allowing the use of the sharks teeth nose art. We also had individual art on the helicopters. Thanks for the memories....

A 'Hog' ... with a nose mounted grenade launcher, rockets, and crew fired M-60 machine guns. I loved the grenade launcher as you could walk the rounds in with the aircraft. This helicopter was 'Paladin.'
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A dusty day refueling and rearming at Khe Sanh RVN during Operation Lam Son 719, a terrible time for helicopter crews. Pictured is 'The Grim Reaper' outfitted with minis and rockets ... another fine weapons platform.
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Going to work a long time ago....
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Lest anyone think it was all fun and games.
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