The HU-1A Iroquois (later re-designated UH-1A Iroquois) first entered service with the 57th Medical Detachment, the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Fleming, a USAF Lieutenant piloted a UH-1F Huey on a Novemmission that would earn him the Medal of Honor. Towards the end of the Vietnam War, the UH-1 Huey was tested with TOW missiles and two UH-1B helicopters were equipped with the XM26 Armament Subsystem which were deployed to help counter the 1972 Easter Invasion by the Vietcong. These were the Hughes OH-6 Cayuse (Loach) and the Bell OH-58A Kiowa. Huey’s also flew “Hunter-Killer” teams with observation helicopters. Gunship UH-1 Huey’s were commonly referred to as “Cobras” or simply “Guns” if they had guns and “Hogs” or “Frogs” if they carried rockets. During the Vietnam War, the UH-1 was used for a variety of purposes and various terms were given for these tasks. In early 1962, UH-1 Huey’s were modified by local companies assigned to them who made their own mounting systems. UH-1 Huey’s tasked with armed escort or ground attack were fitted with grenade launchers, rocket launchers and machine guns. The Vietnam War would also be known as the “Helicopter War” because this would be the first time in the history of warfare that the helicopter would be used in such a wide variety of roles.īattle Stations: Huey Helicopter – Air Armada (War History Documentary) This sound was welcomed by US troops and feared by the Vietcong. It sounds like thunder from above as she passes overhead. No other aircraft on this planet sounds quite like a Bell UH-1 Iroquois. One other trait that is unique to the Huey is the unmistakable sound she makes. Because of that conflict, the Bell UH-1 Huey has become one of the world’s most famous and recognized helicopters. The sound of the choppers coming in to pick up soldiers and return them to base was named by many veterans as their favourite sound in the years after the war.The Bell UH-1 Huey Helicopter was the workhorse during the US involvement in Southeast Asia and Vietnam. In Vietnam the Huey was used for everything from troop deployments deep into the jungle to medivac flights out. Bell and the US Army weren’t far behind and “official” gun mounts quickly became widely available. Many flew with a door gunner however new machine gun mounts were welded up by enterprising US servicemen and significantly more firepower was added to some helicopters, turning some of them into rudimentary helicopter gunships. Once deployed to Vietnam the soldiers on the ground began modifying their Hueys almost immediately to give them more firepower. The main fuselage is a semi-monocoque design that makes extensive used of aluminum alloy, and it has tubular landing skids that can also be equipped with skis or floats. It would be this twin bladed main rotor that gave the Huey its distinctive “chop chop chop” sound that some have pointed to as the origin of the term “chopper”. A simple twin bladed main rotor, and a twin bladed tail rotor.
WHAT IS A HUEY HELICOPTER TV
The UH-1 wasn’t just used by military operators however, it was also used extensively by search and rescue operators, police departments, TV news channels, private corporations, and even wealthy private citizens.Įarlier UH-1 helicopters were fitted with a single powered by a single turboshaft engine producing between 700 shp and 1400+ shp. The US Army, the US Navy, and the US Air Force would all order and deploy significant numbers of Hueys, they were also used extensively by militaries around the world including in Australia, Argentina, El Salvador, Germany, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Lebanon, the Philippines, Rhodesia, Yemen, and many more. In total, 20 companies submitted designs and these were whittled down to just two serious contenders, the Bell UH-1 Model 204 and the similarly turbine-powered version of the H-43 by Kaman Aircraft.īy 1956 Bell had functional prototypes in the air, they won the contract and over the following 30 years almost 16,000 of them would be built in a wide variety of sub-models. The US Army had concluded that the currently available helicopters were too big, insufficiently powerful, or too complicated to maintain. Very early in the lifespan of the helicopter the model name was changed to UH-1 however the nickname stuck, and it’s now been known as the Huey for over 60 years and counting.īell developed a design for the UH-1 Model 204 in 1952 to meet a US Army requirement for a medical evacuation and utility helicopter. The name “Huey” comes from the original model name HU-1, as it looks like “HU-I”. The reason so many people know what a Huey is, is largely due to the helicopter’s heavy involvement in the Vietnam War, and the countless subsequent documentaries and Hollywood films about the war. In fact it’s probably the most famous outright. The Bell UH-1, or “Huey” as it’s commonly known, is one of the most famous helicopters in the world.
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