the mother of all hueys

[Viking528]

I have a few more photos, but they are a rash to convert. Will email if interested

[Rakkasan187]

Thats a great picture,

 

I like the Cobra's on the left side of the shot...

 

Leigh..

[Cobrahistorian]

Always loved that shot!

[memphismeister]

I have a few more photos, but they are a rash to convert. Will email if interested

Im interested

[Viking528]

I will post the rest tomorrow.

[Mercenary25]

It gave me a chill when I wondered how many of those were shot down in the nam.

[Viking528]

[Viking528]

[Viking528]

[1944]

Excellent Pictures you have got there very nice to see

Thanks For Sharing Amazing :thumbsup: .

[memphismeister]

thank you

[grog18b]

Awesome. I love UH1 photos... Wish I had one to play in...

[Viking528]

You can come play in ours :thumbsup:

[gwb123]

 

Interesting... considering all of the UH-1's that were built, the factory does not look that big from the outside. I realize that could be because of the perspective of the camera, but somehow I thought it would be bigger. Then again... it looks like they have every square inch of that building in use.

[Viking528]

This photo is in the 50's before the UH-1 program began. Note the absence of hueys on the flight line. it has gotten significantly bigger since then.

[gwb123]

This photo is in the 50's before the UH-1 program began. Note the absence of hueys on the flight line. it has gotten significantly bigger since then.

 

Ah.. that explains a lot. Looking again at those interior shots, it does look bigger than the exterior one. I think I've driven past this building when I lived in Dallas.

[devildog34]

Wow amazing I teach a JHS that feeds into L.D. Bell High school in Hurst, TX. The property for the school was granted to the city by Bell helicopter and therefore the school is named in Lawrence D. Bell's honor. I have a lot of kids whose parents work at Bell helicopter down the road, very cool to see this picture.

Semper Fi,

Kevin Seldon

[05B4S]

Here's one that's on display at the Airborne & Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville, NC, which is a great place for militaria buffs to visit. http://www.asomf.org/

 

 

There's also a WWII C-47 (hung from the ceiling) inside the museum, with a paratrooper standing in the door, and a Glider displayed in a landing scene, with the nose open.

[grog18b]

You can come play in ours :thumbsup:

Haha, I'd LOVE to, but you wouldn't let me take it home.

[Custermen]

Thanks for posting the photos of the assembly line and the engineer's drafting tables. I worked there 10 years after that photo; the assembly line wasn't so crowded but I recognize a lot of the same layout.

 

The engineers worked on drafting tables and still did in 1980's. There were no "cube farms"----i.e. cubicals.

 

Steve

[Mr-X]

Thanks for sharing these pics :thumbsup:

[Rotorwash]

Thanks for the pics! Here's the actual Mother of all Hueys. it's the XH-40 on her maiden flight Oct. 22, 1956. As you can see she is in front of the Bell plant so I figured it fit the thread theme.

Ray

 

 

[hawk3370]

It gave me a chill when I wondered how many of those were shot down in the nam.

 

Mercebart25,

From what I could dig up, there were over 8000 US Army helicopters shot down with 5087 destroyed during the Vietnam war. Of those 2290 were various models of the UH-1 and 270 AH-1G's. The rest were OH-13's OH-23's etc. The Airforce, Navy and Marines also lost some UH-1's.

 

Terry

[Custermen]

Nice Stats. The number of helicopters produced at the Hurst plant is amazing. I have seen other photos of their airstrip which seemed like almost 50 helos parked there. By 1970's the assembly line was still pretty brisk with the Marine AH-1J and AH-1T and the reliable UH-1H.

 

I always enjoyed taking a walk thru the assembly line during my lunch break. You could stroll thru the different "hangars", one was dedicated to the construciton of the XV-15 Tiltrotor. Next building would be final assembly and you could watch a technician sit in the front seat of an AH-1S and operate the nose cannon. Then you walked out the Western door of the last hangar, and there would be a AH-1 making a engine run-up test some 50 feet away. So cool.

 

Too bad digital pocket cameras weren't available at that time.

 

Steve