Bell UH-1 "Huey" - Hanoï War Museum, Vietnam

[stmerry]

Hanoï War Museum august 2007.

EDIT: Original pictures lost. Kept thread for info below

[swag]

Very nice. Were you able to get inside for some of those pictures?

[Gregory]

Rare bird -- not from US Army but from the USAF.

 

Does anybody know how many UH-1s were captured by Vietcong? They wanted to re-arm them with the Soviet weapon systems for helicopters and looked for the partner in WarPac countries for the R&D and know-how. In 1970s they asked also the Polish Air Force Institute of Technology.

 

Regards

 

Greg

[stmerry]

Very nice. Were you able to get inside for some of those pictures?

No way. Protected by no smiling guards.

Great war museum with many US relics.

[swag]

Looks like it would be a great museum to visit. What else do they have there? Did you visit on vacation or do you live there?

[gwb123]

Rare bird -- not from US Army but from the USAF.

 

Does anybody know how many UH-1s were captured by Vietcong? They wanted to re-arm them with the Soviet weapon systems for helicopters and looked for the partner in WarPac countries for the R&D and know-how. In 1970s they asked also the Polish Air Force Institute of Technology.

 

Regards

 

Greg

 

The markings on captured aircraft in Vietnamese museums are sometimes questionable and should not be taken literally.

 

If this was captured by the NVA, it probably was in the hands of the VNAF rather than the USAF.

 

If you are interested in the VNAF there is an excellent book which was just republished "Flying Dragons" by Robert C Mikesh. I waited years for this to come back in print.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Flying-Dragons-South...220&sr=8-30

 

On pages 150 through 151 he recounts the number of VNAF aircraft captured by Communist soldiers at the end of the war as totalling over 1,100. I won't repeat the whole list but to answer your question the most numerous type to fall into enemy hands were 434 Bell UH-1 helicopters. On the other end of the technological scale were 87 F-5s and 95 A-37 Dragonflys as well as 26 A-1 Skyraiders and 37 AC-119 gunships.

 

That's a lot of hardware.

[nguoi tien su]

Every time you go to a vietnamese museum, the Huey are painted USAF. There is some logic in it, helicopters were part of the VNAF, not the ARVN.

 

At TSN, you have 10 BRAND NEW Huey under the concrete protections. On one occasion my flight was delayed on the tarmac to let helicopters go. That was very exciting to see Huey in Saigon's sky !!!

 

Huey, as well as A-37 and F-5 were massively used during the war against Cambodia in the late 70's.

[Mr-X]

NTS, here are a couple of pics I took Dec 2006 at TSN Airport.

In this first picture you can see the Huey's you mention.

 

[Mr-X]

[Mr-X]

[Mr-X]

[Mr-X]

[Gregory]

We touched long and interesting subject.

 

When I worked in early 1980s in the mentioned PAF's Institute of Technology I discovered the UH-1s and F-5A manuals translated into Polish. The F-5A was delivered to the Institute for R&D works "How to help to fly the Asian communistic brothers?" Fortunately all those communistic idiots were liquidated by history and free elections.

 

Today this F-5A is a part of the Polish Aviation Museum.

 

Best regards

 

Greg

[stmerry]

Looks like it would be a great museum to visit. What else do they have there? Did you visit on vacation or do you live there?

On vacation only, each year, 1998 to 2008, round trips to Thaïland, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. As Frenchman I'm very interesting about Indochina and US military history in this part of the world. They have very interesting captured birds, armored vehicles and weapons. The region from Hanoï to Hué is the place to be.

[MattD]

On vacation only, each year, 1998 to 2008, round trips to Thaïland, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. As Frenchman I'm very interesting about Indochina and US military history in this part of the world. They have very interesting captured birds, armored vehicles and weapons. The region from Hanoï to Hué is the place to be.

 

 

I was in Vietnam in the 90's. The museum was piled with weapons and implements of war. I heard George Peterson was helping the museum with their displays

 

Driving around the country, you would see all the 2 1/2 Tn trucks converted to log or contruction trucks everywhere.

 

I had a friend tell me about an abandoned SAM 2 site in Laos-he said it was a complete site including radar-taht was juat abandoned

 

There are a couple websites-with some great pics of former VNAF aircraft

[stmerry]

I was in Vietnam in the 90's. The museum was piled with weapons and implements of war. I heard George Peterson was helping the museum with their displays

 

Driving around the country, you would see all the 2 1/2 Tn trucks converted to log or contruction trucks everywhere.

 

I had a friend tell me about an abandoned SAM 2 site in Laos-he said it was a complete site including radar-taht was juat abandoned

 

There are a couple websites-with some great pics of former VNAF aircraft

Confirmed. I've seen this kind of trucks still running in Aug.2008 but breaks seem to be home made. I,ve some pictures about these relics. Let me found.