OH-58 "Kiowa" light observation / scout platform. SA-7 Grail heat-seeking missiles could down a Loach before its crew even realized they were under fire. One, nicknamed Queer John, hit the dirt at least seven times. EH-6B, a previous version of the Little Bird, was used for command, control and radio relay. One of the most dangerous helicopter assignments was a tiny scout helicopter known as the Loach. Officially designated the OH-6 Cayuse, these things were made of thin plexiglass and metal but were expected to fly low over the jungles and grass, looking for enemy forces hiding in the foliage. FAQ | Late in the war, the HH-43 was also deployed for short overland search and rescue missions. The Hughes OH-6A Cayuse, was designed for use as a Light Observation Helicopter (LOH) nicknamed LOACH, military scout during the Vietnam war to meet the U.S. Armys need for an extremely maneuverable observation helicopter. [18] Subsequently, on 6 April 1966, Robert Ferry set the long distance world record for helicopters by flying from Culver City, California, with over a ton of fuel to Ormond Beach, Florida, covering a total of 1,923.08 nm (2,213.04mi, 3,561.55km) in 15 hours, and near the finish at up to 24,000 feet (7,300m) altitude. Kiowas, largely relegated to low-threat cargo and liaison missions in Vietnam, were after the war tasked to spot targets from afar and guide Cobras (and later, Boeing AH-64 Apaches) to good firing spots. Fewer than 2,000 of the type were produced though the original went on to spawn a plethora of viable performers including the Hughes 500 "Defender" and the special forces-minded MH-6 "Little Bird". To this day I am closer to those guys I flew with in Vietnam than my own brothers, says Mills. Infantrymen would also launch an assault from the ground. He shares memories of his service and reflects on what the war meant to him then and what it means to him now. It was powered by a 285-hp engine but the helicopter weighed less than a Volkswagen. In support of the Helicopter Flight Mechanics syllabus, the USNTPS operates surplus Army OH-6B Helicopters which were refurbished by the Army National Guard, Gulfport, Mississippi in 1991. The Hughes OH-6A Cayuse was quite effective when teamed with the AH-1G Cobra attack helicopter as part of what were known as Pink Teams, combining the OH-6A Loach (white team) with a AH-1G Cobra atacke helicopter (red team). Search and Rescue Helicopters 5. The helicopter Continued Flight. The United States deployed all types of helicopter, ranging from massive troop transport choppers, to smaller multipurpose and attack helicopters, and even helicopter drones. Queer John was famous not just for crashing, but for keeping the crew safe while it did so. Nate Shaffer has restored a Hughes OH-6A Cayuse helicopter. 608th Transportation Company (Aircraft Direct Support): Mar 72 What was a loach helicopter? - Quora During the Vietnam War, it was exclusively used by North Vietnam for reconnaissance and VIP transport. Lt. Col. On 27 February 1963, the first prototype conducted its maiden flight. You can have all the guns, vests, and radios you want, but you need street smarts or youre going to be dead within an hour.. An inventive Bell Helicopter engineer was already at work on the worlds first attack helicopter, and Bells decision to keep the project hidden until complete let the model slip into service as a Huey derivative (see The Birth of the Cobra, Aug. 2017). This helicopter was chosen by the US Army over the proposals of a number of other helicopter manufactures, designated the OH-6A Cayuse, and entered service in 1965. Hughes bid $56,550 per airframe, while Bell bid $54,200. Loaches, usually with a pilot and observer and sometimes a door gunner aboard, flew as little as 10 feet above the treetops at between about 45 and 60 mph, scouting for signs of the enemy. In Vietnam, These Helicopter Scouts Saw Combat Up Close However, the choppers frame ensured the crewmen within remained safe. Kane was dispatched to the crash site in another Cobra with copilot Jim Casher. Under enemy fire this nimble machine had to fly low to the ground, just above the jungle canopy. The aircraft, dubbed 500P (penetrator) by Hughes, began as an ARPA project, codenamed "Mainstreet", in 1968. Your email address will not be published. Vietnam War helicopter pilots bring stories and aircraft to Kansas Scout pilots were a different breed of cat, says Cobra pilot Jim Kane, who likens his former colleagues to the airborne equivalent of the Tunnel Rats, soldiers who crawled head-first into Viet Cong-built tunnels without any idea what awaited them there. The North Vietnamese deployed hundreds of the missiles, and from then on, both hunter and killer tried to stay well hidden. The U.S. Army began to use Bell OH-13 Sioux and Hiller OH-23 Raven helicopters, once artillery spotters, to scout ahead of UH-1D Huey formations in the moments before air assaults to gather information about landing zones and enemy locations. The Hughes OH-6 Cayuse is a single-engine light helicopter that was designed and produced by the American aerospace company Hughes Helicopters. 2 Stinger AAM. The Sea Stallion is a line of heavy-lift transport helicopters. Each time we went out, we got shot at. Hughes Model OH-6A Cayuse or LOACH The Incident - Operation Triumphus When Chuck Gross left for Vietnam in 1970, he was a nineteen-year-old army helicopter pilot fresh out of flight school. The US military primarily used the OH-6 for observational and reconnaissance purposes. They were employed in hunter-killer tactics, wherein they flew low over the jungle as bait to draw enemy fire. Her research focused on Victorian, medical, and epidemiological history with a focus on childhood diseases. On March 3, 2023, at a White House ceremony, retired Army Colonel Paris Davis received the Medal of Honor. An Army article written after Johns seventh crash credited it with surviving 61 hits from enemy fire and seven crashes without losing a single crew member. During the Vietnam War the OH-6 helicopters served in huge numbers and were used for light observation and utility roles. Shaffer, 63, rode in the military helicopter as a door gunner with Charlie Troop 1/9th, 1st Air Cavalry while . Terms and Conditions, Safety Standards Acknowledgement and Consent (SSAC) Within that same year, help was on the way. The Bell UH-1 Huey & the Hughes OH-6 Loach Helicopter took 2 hits from: I spent more time with them.. (He later transferred to the Air Force and flew F-4 Phantoms, and eventually became an airline captain.) The enemy was moving toward us when a [command and control] ship picked us up. It was used for transporting personnel, escorting other aircraft and naval vessels, attacking enemy units, and acting as an observation post. Your email address will not be published. The Cayuse was publicly introduced in 1966 and set several records, including record for endurance, speed and rate of climb. After around 10 hours at the controls of a Loach, the pilots were deemed worthy of flying in combat. [10][self-published source][11], Due to price escalations for both the OH-6 and spare components, the U.S. Army opted to reopen bids for the programme in 1967. Multi-Mission Helicopters 6. Loach History - Fly in a Vietnam War Helicopter With US Army evaluations of each prototype ongoing, the underpowered Bell offering was formally dropped from contention and the US Army decision favored the Hughes design over the Fairchild-Hiller. Built by Hughes Tool Company, it was designed to be a scout helicopter during the Vietnam war. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine A.J. A sobering statistic: Out of 1,419 Loaches built, 842 were destroyed in Vietnam, most shot down and many others succumbing to crashes resulting from low-level flying. The Huskie was used by the US Air Force, US Navy, and US Marine Corps. They could also use grenades and on occasion even homebuilt explosives; more aggressive units mounted forward-firing miniguns. Both the Pilot and Observer/Gunner positions were equipped with carbon fiber side panels and seats. Light Observation Helicopter (LOH) program, The US Air Force Panicked When Its Top-Secret Stealth Fighter Crashed Into the California Wilderness. This. The Hughes OH-6 Cayuse is a light helicopter with a single engine and a four-bladed main rotor. Can a Helicopter Fly to the Top of Mount Everest. When the opposing forces exposed themselves, the crew would call upon an accompanying Bell AH-1 Cobra to attack. Today, the Little Birds in use by special operations are MH-6Ms derived from a similar but more powerful helicopter. The Mil Mi-8 was developed in the later stage of the Vietnam War to counter the Bell Huey UH1. The "loach" was the LOH (Light Observation Helicopter) or OH-6A. When the training was completed, C-141 Starlifter airlifters transported both rotorcraft and crews to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, for two weeks of mission training. Cartas de Lee: La historia de un hombre de Vietnam por Larayne M. Topp The OH-6 was developed in response to the United States Army issuing Technical Specification 153 in 1960 to replace its Bell H-13 Sioux fleet. This simple design made maintenance easy, while the choppers 26-foot rotor made it much easier to maneuver in tight landing zones. Vietnam Veteran and his Helicopter Reunited. Total flight hours at this point: 00000265 It never flew again. In 1960, the US Army issued Technical Specification 153 and established the Light Observation Helicopter (LOH) program. It was used prolifically because of its unique hovering abilities. They were operated by a number of military organizations, including the Japanese Army, Navy and Coast Guard. 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.. During the course of the competition, the Bell submission, the YOH-4, was eliminated as being underpowered (it was powered by the 250shp (186kW) T63-A-5). The Bell UH-1B/C was modified from the UH-1A Cobra to include a set of machine guns for attacking ground targets. The Cobra was fast and deadly. Moses, a 19-year-old draftee, arrived in Vietnam in July 1970 for the first of two year-long tours, and later worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs as a therapist and administrator. The US Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS) trains and graduates qualified engineering test pilots, flight test officers, and flight test engineers to conduct test and evaluation (T & E) at the Naval Air Warfare Center-Aircraft Division (NAWC-AD) Patuxent River Maryland and other activities. Served in Vietnam War during 1968 through 1970. I was flying wing and just dropped into the AO [Area of Operations]. Unit: DIR SUP / TRAN When the opposing forces exposed themselves, the crew would call upon an accompanying Bell AH-1 Cobra to attack. In the Vietnam War, these choppers were used to recover downed aircraft. The Mil Mi-1 was a Soviet-made light utility chopper with three or four seats. Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War - VHPA The Sea Stallion is a variant of the Jolly Green Giant, but its used only for sea transport. About Us | Accordingly, the U.S. Army's fixed-wing airplane, the Cessna O-1 Bird Dog, which was utilized for artillery observation and reconnaissance flights, would be replaced by the incoming OH-6A. Some of them were able to tell how large a force was and how recently it had passed. Vietnam War Era Hughes OH-6 Loach Helicopter - YouTube Anthony comes from a military family and has served his country proudly in the military as a pilot. The Model 369, with its Allison T63-A-5A series turboshaft engine, took its first flight on February 27, 1963, under the military designation YOH-6A. Rattler One-Seven puts you in the helicopter seat, to see the war in Vietnam through the eyes of an inexperienced pilot as he transforms himself into a seasoned combat veteran. These hunter-killer missions, among the most hazardous of the Vietnam War, tested the resolve of the OH-6 pilots and the aerial observers sitting beside them. The Sikorsky S-61R is a twin-engine transport and search helicopter. Most of our engagements [we] were 25 to 50 feet [away] when we opened up on [the Viet Cong], Mills continues. I still have scars on my legsit was terrifying. The OH-6/Model 369 was also license-produced overseas by the Japanese aerospace company Kawasaki Heavy Industries for both military and civilian operators. Cobras generally attacked with rockets, preferred for long-range accuracy, switching to the less-accurate chin-mounted machine gun and grenade launcher only if they were far enough away from friendly troops or if the rocketsAH-1s could carry as many as 76 rocketsran out. The OH-6A could be armed with the M27 armament subsystem, the M134 six-barrel 7.62mm minigun or the M129 40mm grenade launcher on the XM8 armament subsystem. These choppers were modified for combat rescue missions and had self-sealing fuel tanks, rescue hoist, and in-flight refueling abilities. Vietnam following a morning mission with the 11th Special Forces (SF) at Long Than North, South Vietnam. Another such gunner was 19-year-old Joel Boucher, drafted and sent to Vietnam from 1967 to 1969. article/image or apply full credit information. The AH/MH Little Birds were lifted by a single C-5 Galaxy, and two C-130 Hercules, along with all support kits for the battalion. The "Military Factory" name and MilitaryFactory.com logo are registered U.S. trademarks protected by all applicable domestic and international intellectual property laws.
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