loach helicopter vietnam loach helicopter vietnam

In photo #2 you can see the nice graphics. I liked it because in the Bronx, I was a ghetto kid. 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. It would often be crewed by a pilot and an observer; up to five passengers or up to 1,000lb of cargo could be carried internally. [8][9] It was reported that Howard Hughes had directed his company to submit a bid at a price beneath the actual production cost of the helicopter in order to secure this order. While its light aluminum skin could be easily penetrated by small arms fire, it also crumpled and absorbed energy in a crash while the rugged structure protected key systems and its crew; even though the OH-6 was relatively difficult to shoot down, its occupants would often survive forced landings that would have likely been fatal onboard other rotorcraft. A shaft ran to the tail and powered the two-blade rotor at the back. Please direct all other inquiries to militaryfactory AT gmail.com. [22] The remaining H-13s were promptly withdrawn in favour of the OH-6s. The OH-6 Cayuse was developed from specifications issued by the U.S. Army in 1960 for a light observation helicopter (LOH), and the familiar Loach nickname was derived from the acronym. Provision for packaged armament on port side, including an XM-27 7.62mm (0.300in) machine-gun with 2,000 - 4,000 rounds of ammunition; or an XM-75 grenade launcher, Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and Task Force 160, List of military aircraft of the United States, Hearings on military posture and H.R. The Hughes OH-6 Cayuse (nicknamed "Loach", after the requirement acronym LOHLight Observation Helicopter) is a single-engine light helicopter with a four-bladed main rotor used for personnel transport, escort and attack missions, and observation. Light Observation Helicopter (LOH) program, The US Air Force Panicked When Its Top-Secret Stealth Fighter Crashed Into the California Wilderness. These would be used to replace its fleet of Bell H-13 Sioux, a compact first generation rotorcraft. [22], Following the April 1980 failure of Operation Eagle Claw (the attempted rescue of American hostages in Tehran), it was determined that the military lacked aircraft and crews who were trained and prepared to perform special operations missions. (Scouts were known as White Teams and Cobras as Red; the two colors combine to become pink. OH-58 "Kiowa" light observation / scout platform. Although most combat aircraft in Vietnam aimed for altitudes and speeds that helped them avoid anti-aircraft weapons, U.S. Army crews flying Hughes OH-6A Cayuse helicopters flew low and drew fireto set up the shots for the Bell AH-1G Cobras circling above. They were famous for being shot down or crashing in combat. Its effectiveness in battle allowed it to quickly replace the Bell H-13 Siouxs being operated in the country. The shelf life of a scout pilot was probably six months. The Army officially adopted the Bell OH-58 Kiowa in 1969. It had no hydraulic system and its electrical setup was used primarily to start up the enginesimple even by 1960s standards, which for practical purposes meant it was easier to maintain and harder to shoot down than other helicopters. They chose the OH-6A scout helicopter to fill that role, and it became known as the Little Bird compared to the other aircraft in the task force, the MH-60 and the MH-47. Sensing its growing battlefield requirements, the US Army then raised the production ceiling to 1,300 units in all. The NVA [North Vietnamese army] was everywhere. Since units were all but permanently assigned to particular areas, they came to know the local geography intimately and could spot anything out of the ordinary. (7.62MM) In addition, an M60D 7.62mm machine gun could be mounted in the front port (left) or rear starboard (right) door openings. On March 3, 2023, at a White House ceremony, retired Army Colonel Paris Davis received the Medal of Honor. The helicopter was designed around their earlier model 269/300 making use of monocoque steel tube construction techniques, allowing a strong and compact fuselage. It is the product of many hours of research and work made possible with the help of contributors, veterans, insiders, and topic specialists. Vietnam OH-6A "Cayuse" Helicopter The OH-6A made its first flight in 1963. For other AH-6 and MH-6 variants, see MH-6 Little Bird and Boeing AH-6. Most of our engagements [we] were 25 to 50 feet [away] when we opened up on [the Viet Cong], Mills continues. Vietnam War Era Hughes OH-6 Loach Helicopter 60,632 views Mar 30, 2013 327 Dislike Share Save Steve1958OR 221 subscribers A friend came by with his restored US Army Loach OH-6 helicopter. Headquarters, 173rd Airborne Brigade: Jan 70 May 70 You were right in the enemys face with a helicopter and had to know what you were doing, recalls warrant officer Clyde Romero of his 1,100 hours flying scout missions over South Vietnam in 1971. The following two-week mission was to Yuma for night operation training. They went down in the jungle, and both [members of the crew] survived. The Bell AH-1J was also used for various subsequent assaults and military operations conducted by the US Marine Corps. Casualties = 01 WIA . This story is a selection from the September issue of Air & Space magazine, Donald Porter In response, a task force was developed originally designated Task Force 158 for the next attempt to rescue the hostages, Operation Honey Badger. City of Walnut Creek Special Recreation Museum Tour October 26, 2019, United Airlines Family Day Fly-in October 13, 2019, Napa County Airport Day September 7, 2019, Virginia Rose II Cobra transferred to Vietnam Helicopters Museum August 14, 2019, Memorial Day 2019 Ceremonies at Oak Hill Memorial Park & Cemetery. The Army dictated that after 300 hours of flight time, each Loach go through a thorough inspection, but in practice such inspections were rare: Few Loaches survived to reach that mark. When the Loach debuted in 1966, it broke records for speed, endurance, and rate of climb, all important attributes for a scout helicopter. A rescue operation for the crew of a downed Loach helicopter doesn't quite go as planned and the rescuers become victims themselves. The Loach helicopter was pitted against what was then known as the Bell Model 206. [22], It became common for OH-6s to operate in teams with other rotorcraft, particularly the Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter. In January 1968 PFC Richard Toops went on to Infantry OCS at Ft. Benning, Ga. graduating in September 1968. Following a contentious selection process that included allegations of industrial espionage and political favoritism, the first Hughes OH-6A observation helicopters arrived in Vietnam in December 1967. [24][25] As to indicate the position of concealed enemy ground forces, the observer in the OH-6 would mark the spot using a smoke grenade, assisting other units in effectively firing upon them. Tough Mission LOACH Chopper Vietnam - YouTube 0:00 / 5:15 Intro Tough Mission LOACH Chopper Vietnam Chopperguy 15.4K subscribers Subscribe 1.1K 53K views 1 year ago We fly with Low Level. Adopted after. The Raven was used as a scouting helicopter during the early phases of the war, before it was eventually replaced by the Cayuse in early 1986. Flight Hours in Vietnam: 1,400. South Vietnam It gained impetus with the advent of the Vietnam War, and was aided by advances in helicopter technology, specifically the development of the turboshaft engine. To this day I am closer to those guys I flew with in Vietnam than my own brothers, says Mills. It was a joy to fly. Kane, who today sells securities in Richmond, Virginia, flew AH-1s in Vietnam from 1968 to 1971. The Bell H-13 Sioux was developed as a light-weight single-engine and single-rotor helicopter. 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.. Other Army pilots, most of whom flew Cobras or Hueys, thought of Loach pilots as a little offbeat. Even trampled grass was a clue; it meant that enemy troops had passed through the area within eight hours, the time it took for grass to dry upright. To counter the US, the Vietnamese employed their helicopter fleets of mostly Soviet-made aircraft. It was used for transporting personnel, escorting other aircraft and naval vessels, attacking enemy units, and acting as an observation post. The Light Observation Helicopter ( LOH) program was a United States Army program to evaluate, develop and field a light scout helicopter to replace the Army's aging Bell OH-13 Sioux. 2 M134 7.62-mm 6x barrel, Gatling type twin MG pods OH-6A Cayuse ('Loach') The OH-6A "Cayuse" is a small tactical helicopter flown by units of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment [SOAR]. Army headquarters developed doctrine by building on what worked in the field, rather than the other way around, and each unit in-country did things slightly differently. 13456, "History of Rotorcraft World Records, List of records established by the 'YOH-6A'. Stepping away from her academic career, Samantha previously worked as a Heritage Researcher and now writes content for multiple sites covering an array of historical topics. 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. But the Vietnam War was unlike any previous American conflict; there were few real definable frontlines, and combatants needed to know what was happening all around them, all the time. The AH-1J SeaCobra was used later in the later stages of the Vietnam war. [12] Following a competitive fly-off, the Army requested the manufacturers to submit sealed bids. I tried to move the stuck controls and prayed for a place to set down. It took all of Kanes strength to pull out of a steep dive, and they crash-landed with a horrific thud. | READ MORE. [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. During the Vietnam war, the HH-43 Huskie was used for more rescue missions than all other aircraft combined. The Model 369 was submitted by Hughes, and competed against the two finalists, Fairchild-Hiller and Bell, for a production contract. They underwent two weeks of qualification training and an additional two weeks of mission training. The task force, which had been designated as Task Force 158, was soon formed into the 160th Aviation Battalion. I could see a cigarette butt still burning. 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). Multi-Mission Helicopters 6. The OH-6A could be armed with the M27 armament subsystem, the port (left) side mounting M134 six-barrel 7.62mm minigun or a 40mm grenade launcher on the XM8 armament subsystem. Observation Helicopters Hughes OH-6 Cayuse (Loach) The Hughes OH-6 Cayuse is a light helicopter with a single engine and a four-bladed main rotor. It can cruise at speeds of 150 mph. The Hughes OH-6 Cayuse is a light helicopter with a single engine and a four-bladed main rotor. [8][9], A total of 387 OH-6/Hughes 369s were produced under license in Japan by the Japanese aerospace company Kawasaki Heavy Industries. 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. Reportedly, Hughes had consulted at the last moment with Real, who recommended a bid of $53,550. A total of five prototypes were built, all of which were powered by a single Allison T63-A-5A turboshaft engine, capable of producing 252shp (188kW). 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. [5] Accordingly, the bidding for the LOH contract came down to Fairchild-Hiller and Hughes. Vietnam following a morning mission with the 11th Special Forces (SF) at Long Than North, South Vietnam. Unlike its troop-carrying ancestors, a Cobra was like a World War II fighter, says Jim Kane, who arrived in Vietnam fresh out of Purdue University. Reportedly, 964 out of the 1,422 OH-6As produced for the US Army were destroyed in the Vietnam theatre, the majority of these losses being a result of hostile action, typically ground fire. The Piasecki H-21 Workhorse was the fourth line of tandem rotor helicopters developed by Piasecki Helicopters. a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization EIN 45-4703737We Fly for Our Veterans!. Stanley Hiller complained to the U.S. Army that Hughes had used unethical procedures; therefore, the Army opened the contract for rebidding by all parties. The Marine Corp used it for the sea-based interdiction of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in 1972. 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). In August 1967, the AH-1G Cobra arrived in Vietnam. Flight Hours in Vietnam: 1,318 See Also: How Much Does a Huey Helicopter Cost? Ribbon graphics not necessarily indicative of actual historical campaign ribbons. [16], Early on in the OH-6's career, the type demonstrated its performance in a particularly prominent manner via the setting of 23 individual world records for helicopters during 1966 in the categories of speed, endurance and time to climb. An author of aviation books, his latest is Howards Whirlybirds. 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. In 1966 it entered military service with the US Army. One time we ran into hundreds of enemy troops. This helicopter was UNK The Cayuse had a single articulated four-bladed main rotor, a metal two-bladed tail rotor, and a V-shaped tail. During 1967, following price escalations for the OH-6, the U.S. Army reopened the programme to bids for as many as 2,700 additional airframes beyond the 1,300 OH-6s already contracted. It was deemed, based on Hughes' estimates, his units would be most cost effective in the long run. This was a Combat incident. We were about ready to call in tactical air support to blow up the wrecked ship when another Cobra took a lot of fire. This aspect was further bolstered by the use of self-sealing fuel tanks that lowered the likelihood of a post-impact fire breaking out. In her spare time, Samantha enjoys reading, knitting, and hanging out with her dog, Chowder! His three tours to Vietnam included death-defying scouting missions piloting his Hughes OH-6 light observation helicopter (or Loach) as well as gunship runs inside his AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter.. Cozzalio was also involved in nine aircraft mishaps; he was shot down six times and suffered three hard landings. The Hughes 369 was redesignated the OH-6A "Cayuse" by the U.S. Army. MD-500MD/Scout and TOW Defender: Improved military version of the model 500 with 5 main rotor blades, 375-shp Allison 250-C20B turboshaft engine, and T-tail. To remedy this shortcoming, the Army began developing a special aviation task force to prepare for the next attempt to rescue the hostages: Operation Honey Badger. Ive seen them, whites of the eyes, and theyve seen me, whites of the eyes. Four troop-carrying Hueys (called a Blue Team) often sat idle somewhere nearby, ready to insert troops if the Pink Team discovered an interesting targetor were shot down and needed rescuing. Light Attack Helicopters 3. Total flight hours at this point: 00000265 I spent more time with them., Kids Start Forgetting Early Childhood Around Age 7, Archaeologists Discover Wooden Spikes Described by Julius Caesar, Artificial Sweetener Tied to Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke, Study Finds, 5,000-Year-Old Tavern With Food Still Inside Discovered in Iraq, The Surprisingly Scientific Roots of Monkey Bars. The 1-245 modified infantry night vision goggles and worked to develop the necessary skills for rapid deployment with Little Birds and C-130s.[31]. In 1961, twelve companies submitted proposals to meet U.S.Army requirements for a four-seat turbine-powered light observation helicopter (LOH). 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. One, nicknamed Queer John, hit the dirt at least seven times. [2] This shaping, combined with the provision of internal bulkheads, has been attributed as giving the rotorcraft its uncommonly strong crashworthiness properties. The helicopter Continued Flight. In order to reduce their acoustic signature, the helicopters (N351X and N352X) received a four-blade 'scissors' style tail rotor (later incorporated into the Hughes-designed AH-64 Apache), a fifth rotor blade and reshaped rotor tips, a modified exhaust system, and various other performance boosting modifications. The US Army subsequently reopened the LOH program to engineering companies, offering a new contract for 2,700 additional airframes. It was used prolifically because of its unique hovering abilities. After evaluation, three designs were selected and 5 of each: the Bell OH-4A; the Hiller OH-5 and the Hughes OH-6, were ordered for trials by the U.S.Army Aviation Board. There was one day of initial training, says Bob Moses, who was first trained as a tank crewman and then as infantry before a sudden transition to helicopter door gunner. The killer role persists. The OH-6D was an improved version with more advanced electronics and heavier armament. When the opposing forces exposed themselves, the crew would call upon an accompanying Bell AH-1 Cobra to attack. Primarily, it was used by the Marine Corp to transport personnel and cargo. Jim Kanes Vietnam tour abruptly ended one day in February 1971. On a few occasions, the OH-23 was also used for medical evacuation purposes, but this was rarely the case. Heavy Attack Helicopters 2. Some crews argued that the Kiowa was nowhere near as nimble as the OH-6, however, the transition proceeded while scouting doctrine was changed to emphasis operations from greater distances. In the hunter-killer teams, the Loach would fly low over the jungle, drawing fire and then calling for the Cobra to kill the teams on the ground. About Us | That was about it.. A Troop, 7th Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division: Aug 70 Feb 72 Its first overseas deployment, as well as into frontline combat, was the Vietnam War. Despite a strong outcry from crews in Vietnam, the Bell OH-58A Kiowa, powered by the same Allison T-63 engine as the OH-6, was being distributed to Army units. Military operators included the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF), Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), and the Japanese Coast Guard. Hughes is reported to have told his confidant, Jack Real, that he lost over $100 million to construct 1,370 airframes. The hunter-killer tactic worked well for a few years, but by the time the United States left Vietnam, it was obsolete, says Mills. The Aircraft Division of Hughes Tool Company came up with the Model 369, which became one of three finalists, alongside designs from Bell Helicopter Company and Fairchild Hiller. These choppers were modified for combat rescue missions and had self-sealing fuel tanks, rescue hoist, and in-flight refueling abilities. The "OH-6C" was the creation of the Maintenance Section of The Real Cav, B Troop 7/17th Air Cavalry Squadron, which was stationed near Pleiku in early 1972. The Cayuse was organic to division, brigade, and battalion size units. The UH, nicknamed Huey is a utility military chopper that was used for troop and cargo transport, medical evacuation, and sometimes for military purposes. The OH-6A Cayuse fulfilled this role and became known as the Little Bird. The pilots tasked with operating the choppers were selected from the 229th Attack Helicopter Battalion. During the testing phase, it became clear the Bell prototype was underpowered, so it was dropped.