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Nate Shaffer and Bruce Campbell at their assigned positions. Total flight hours at this point: 00000265 Vietnam Veteran and his Helicopter Reunited. About Us | The guidance systems on newer attack helicoptersoften working with or even controlling the cameras of reconnaissance droneshave relegated to history the hunter role in the hunter-killer missions. The Army dictated that after 300 hours of flight time, each Loach go through a thorough inspection, but in practice such inspections were rare: Few Loaches survived to reach that mark. The light observation helicopter OH-6 Cayuse, or Loach (based on the LOH acronym), was a Vietnam-era helicopter designed with speed and maneuverability in mind. Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 11/18/2017 | Content www.MilitaryFactory.com The Cobra is a single-engine attack helicopter produced by Bell Helicopter as a primary attack helicopter in the Vietnam War for aerial assaults or as air cavalry. Your Privacy Rights It was the same for Jim. The Loach-derived MD-500 and other civilian variants still roll off the assembly lines at MD Helicopters, Inc., while Boeing produces an upgraded variant, the AH-6 Little Bird, for military forces (including an autonomous drone version). The Cayuse was publicly introduced in 1966 and set several records, including record for endurance, speed and rate of climb. Vietnam following a morning mission with the 11th Special Forces (SF) at Long Than North, South Vietnam. In contrast, of the nearly 1,100 Cobras delivered to the Army, 300 were lost. and Images on this page are gathered from various sources. The Army initially ordered 1,438 Hughes Model 369s, designated by the Army as the OH-6A Cayuse helicopters. Stanley Hiller complained to the U.S. Army that Hughes had used unethical procedures; therefore, the Army opened the contract for rebidding by all parties. They were usually joined by Cobra gunships either in hunter-killer teams where the Loach hunted and the Cobra killed or in air mobile cavalry units where both airframes supported cavalry and infantrymen on the ground. Towards the end of the conflict, the replacement of the OH-6 by the Bell OH-58 Kiowa was imminent across nearly all US Army units. The Bell H-13 Sioux was developed as a light-weight single-engine and single-rotor helicopter. He shares memories of his service and reflects on what the war meant to him then and what it means to him now. The helicopter was hit in the Left Side 2 Stinger AAM. In the event of a crash the tailboom and engine separate from the egg-like cabin, improving the survival chances of the crew and passengers. Cobras, nicknamed Snakes, flew circles 1,500 feet above the scouts, waiting to pounce on whatever the Loach found. We flew down along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, he says of the supply route that wound through Vietnam and neighboring Laos and Cambodia. Hughes bid $56,550 per airframe, while Bell bid $54,200. The Cobras high above had a few seconds of warningthey could spot the missiles exhaust plumebut were all the more tempting because at their higher altitudes they were more easily seen than the smaller Loaches. The small-arms protection aircrewmen armor that was introduced in 1966 was a vest with pockets containing composite laminated plates commonly called chicken plates. While they were circling the wreckage, enemy rounds hit their ship. It never flew again. It was powered by a 285-hp engine but the helicopter weighed less than a Volkswagen. It could accomplish missions that bigger, slower and louder helicopters couldnt do. Ive seen them, whites of the eyes, and theyve seen me, whites of the eyes. Observation Helicopters Hughes OH-6 Cayuse (Loach) The Hughes OH-6 Cayuse is a light helicopter with a single engine and a four-bladed main rotor. The SeaCobra was a twin-engine attack helicopter that was developed from the single-engine AH-1 Cobra helicopter. Loach and Cobra were in constant radio communication, and because of the intensity of hunter-killer missions, it wasnt long before pairs in each type knew each other well enough to anticipate the others moves. Note: The above text is EXCLUSIVE to the site www.MilitaryFactory.com. The Loach helicopters used to transport personnel were given the designation MH-6, while the armed ones were dubbed the AH-6. Hughes Model OH-6A Cayuse or LOACH On March 3, 2023, at a White House ceremony, retired Army Colonel Paris Davis received the Medal of Honor. Unlike its troop-carrying ancestors, a Cobra was like a World War II fighter, says Jim Kane, who arrived in Vietnam fresh out of Purdue University. But the light aluminum skin could be easily pierced by rifle bullets, and it also crumpled and absorbed energy in a crash, and a strong structural truss protected critical systemslike the people inside. The Model 206 was mostly employed as a general utility helicopter, but at times it was also used for transporting troops and high command, in addition to serving observational and reconnaissance roles during the Vietnam war. The OH-6D was an improved version with more advanced electronics and heavier armament. This was a Combat incident. 79th Transportation Company: Jun 70 Jul 70 Shortly thereafter, the aircraft were returned to the U.S., where they were dismantled and converted back to a standard configuration; they continued to be operated as such for a time. By Richard Toops. FAQ | External load capacity was approximately 1,200 Lbs (550 kg), and transport capability 2 or 3 troops or cargo internally. They underwent two weeks of qualification training and an additional two weeks of mission training. As a separate part of the project, armed OH-6As were being developed at Fort Rucker, Alabama. In January 1968 PFC Richard Toops went on to Infantry OCS at Ft. Benning, Ga. graduating in September 1968. The following two-week mission was to Yuma for night operation training. This helicopter was REPAIRED IN THEATER The Little Birds weaponry is a far cry from the M60 machine gun carried aboard a Loach in Vietnam: AH-6s can carry miniguns, rocket pods, grenade launchers, Hellfire missiles, and air-to-air Stinger missiles. 1:00 Jan. 6 will mark 50 years since former Newburgh resident Dave Middleton was shot down in Vietnam while piloting a Loach helicopter on a mission to which he wasn't originally assigned.. A rescue operation for the crew of a downed Loach helicopter doesn't quite go as planned and the rescuers become victims themselves. Flight Hours in Vietnam: 1,400. The OH-6 was largely removed from active U.S. Army service in favor of the Kiowa, but modified versions of the helicopter flew with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment as the MH-6C Little Bird as late as 2008. [5] Accordingly, the bidding for the LOH contract came down to Fairchild-Hiller and Hughes. On top of this, Fairchild Hiller lodged a formal complaint over Hughes Tool Companys deceitful tactics to earn the original contract. Army units this aircraft deployed with in Vietnam: Its four-bladed full-articulated main rotor made it particularly agile, and it was suitable for personnel transport, escort and attack missions, and observation. For this, a small rotorcraft capable of landing in restrictive locations and easily transportable via US Air Force transport aircraft was necessary. One, nicknamed Queer John, hit the dirt at least seven times. Army headquarters developed doctrine by building on what worked in the field, rather than the other way around, and each unit in-country did things slightly differently. The OH-6A "Cayuse" is a small tactical helicopter flown by units of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment [SOAR]. Find Us on Facebook, Safety Standards Acknowledgement and Consent (SSAC). Within that same year, help was on the way. I went up in a Loach with an M60 machine gun to get used to firing the weapon. Can include a combination of the following across two fuselage wingstubs (though some weapons operated from cabin doors): (Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above), Hardpoint Mountings: 2 (if wingstub equipped). Donald Porter served in Vietnam with the helicopters he writes about. The shelf life of a scout pilot was probably six months. ", FAI Record ID #11656 Absolute Rotorcraft World Record, Distance over a closed circuit without landing, FAI Record ID #11655 Absolute Rotorcraft World Record, Distance without landing, Obituary: Robert G. Ferry; Air Force veteran was record-setting test pilot, "In Vietnam, These Helicopter Scouts Saw Combat Up Close", "Jane's Aircraft Upgrades, MD Helicopters (Hughes) Model 500 (Military Versions)", "Dominican Republic Air Force Unit History", "Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force OH-6J", "Breda Nardi Hughes NH.500M in Armed Forces of Malta service", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hughes_OH-6_Cayuse&oldid=1133333304, This page was last edited on 13 January 2023, at 07:46. The 1-245th AVN BN enlisted were sent to the Mississippi Army National Guard's Army Aviation Support Facility (AASF) at Gulfport, Mississippi, for two weeks of qualification training in the aircraft. [27], During the early 1970s, Soviet-supplied SA-7 Grail shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles emerged amongst North Vietnamese troops; one hit could down a Loach, potentially dealing fatal damage before its crew were aware that they were under fire. Accordingly, this tactic had resulted in substantial losses being incurred on the contract with the U.S. Army; the company had allegedly anticipated that an extended production cycle would eventually make the rotorcraft financially viable. South Vietnam Each time we went out, we got shot at. All Rights Reserved. contact us here and we will remove the Boucher quickly discovered that life as a qualified crewman was extremely dangerous. Despite a strong outcry from crews in Vietnam, the Bell OH-58A Kiowa, powered by the same Allison T-63 engine as the OH-6, was being distributed to Army units. This chopper is mostly known for having been used to spot enemy artillery. During the Vietnam war, the HH-43 Huskie was used for more rescue missions than all other aircraft combined. The Bell Model 206 is a line of both single and twin-engined helicopters with two primary rotor blades. Scout crews argued that the Kiowa was nowhere near as nimble as the Cayuse, but scouting flights were changing. Hughes, without informing Real, raised the bid by $3,000, and thus lost the contract to Bell. Worthy, the OH-6 Loach and two other air scout helicopter pilots, all decorated, were in Topeka on Saturday night for an event at Forbes Field Airport designed to increase interest and. Its effectiveness in battle allowed it to quickly replace the Bell H-13 Siouxs being operated in the country. Despite having been designed for anti-submarine combat, the Gyrodyne QH-50 was mostly used for conducting reconnaissance of enemy vessels in the Vietnam war, instead of actual combat. Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Survivability/Vulnerability Information Analysis Center Helicopter database. Books/Magazines Onboard UH1 Huey helicopter (SN 66-163-56) was Aircraft Commander, WO William H. Seaborn Jr., myself as .

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