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Kiowa Warrior


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I used to love the 58's that we had at FAAF in Nürnberg, they were fast and just cool to look at!! That was the day, Cobras, Blackhawks and 58's!. ( ya, it was a little whle ago... :D )

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Here's an old warbird that came from US stocks. Found this bird on a pad right next to the Kiowa's. I have a soft spot for this helicopter. Never got to pilot one but I did get a few rides in them before. Engine cowlings were removed for maintenance but other than that she looked like she wanted to fly.

 

post-2757-1221213049.jpg

 

As you can see she was born in 1966, "NO. 66-16971." All markings on the outside and inside of the aircraft were in English, just like it was still in American service. In fact the paint job kind of reminded me of the OPFOR Hueys out at NTC, Ft. Irwin, CA.

 

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Flare bucket.

 

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post-2757-1221213973.jpg

 

Here you can see the M60 machine gun mount for the door gunner. The wheeled contraption attached to the skid below the machine gun mount is the ground handling wheels. One on each side, a bunch of guys around the fuselage pushing and one guy on the tail stinger to lift the nose and steer is all you really need to move this bird. The panel inside the aircraft with the Iraqi flag on it is one of the engine cowlings.

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Aside from the paint job and a couple of different navigation/radio pieces this Huey is just as it looked when it served in our Forces.

Man I love the Huey, I don't care who it flies for.

post-2757-1221214027.jpg

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The ones I flew were always reeeeaaaaalllllllyyyyyy slllloooowwwwwww.....

 

I think I may flown the same bird in BCS Varangian! Funny, when you're first learning to fly 80 knots is fast! I think I actually saw an airspeed of 95 knots once during BCS.

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I think I may flown the same bird in BCS Varangian!

 

I learned on TH-55s. You could do 90 knots, but you'd have to push outward on the bubble with your feet to keep it from cracking...next step up was a Huey, and I thought I was flying the Space Shuttle...

 

Your Huey photos are actually of a Huey II, as it states on the label.

 

It's a refurb'ed UH-1H, with a Cobra engine and Bell 212 rotor system and tail boom. Sweet, sweet improvement of the UH-1H. State Department is deploying them over there.

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Kinda, sorta. Its a hand actuated fire extinguisher to be used on people only.

Interesting location for such a thing... trying to figure out where it actually situated... oh wait. I see, behind pilots.

 

Duh!

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Couple questions regarding this thread...

 

Would that Huey be one of the ones most likely used by and turned in by some U.S. National Guard unit that transitioned over to Blackhawks?

 

Also, back in the I think late 1980's / early 1990's, the Army had an MOS which I think was called Aeroscout Observer or something similar. It was a crew position on the OH-58's if memory serves me right, and was I think too basically an enlisted flying spot. Does that MOS still exist for the OH-58 field, or is it an all "commissioned", i.e. warrant and regular officer affair now? I had strongly considered that MOS in my youth, then went to the Marine Corps instead...

 

I'm still not always sure of that was a good decision on my part or not w00t.gif

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