The CH-34 Choctaw was developed by Sikorsky Aircraft for transport purposes to carry personnel and deliver supplies. Just as I set it down, the tail rotor spun off. We thought they were ARVNs [Army of the Republic of Vietnam] until they started running. While the already-produced OH-6 Cayuses were being deployed to Vietnam in 1967, production costs were beginning to rise. Light Attack Helicopters 3. Loach come from the LOH which means Light Observation Helicopter. 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. Advertising Notice Though Cobra pilots were trained Stateside, most Loach pilots didnt take control of OH-6s until arriving in Vietnam. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); 2023 Vietnam Helicopters Museum. The OH-6A would find targets by flying low, trolling for fire, and lead in a Cobra, or Snake, to attack. It was pretty hairy, and we got the hell out of there. But Boucher got a rush from the missions, and stayed six months beyond what was required of a draftee. We were combat trackers, says Mills. 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. Army units this aircraft deployed with in Vietnam: Built by Hughes Tool Company, it was designed to be a scout helicopter during the Vietnam war. The Vietnam War saw the extensive use of helicopters, though were mostly by the United States military. That was about it.. On 27 February 1963, the first prototype conducted its maiden flight. The Cayuse was publicly introduced in 1966 and set several records, including record for endurance, speed and rate of climb. Queer John was famous not just for crashing, but for keeping the crew safe while it did so. Moore served as an Army OH-6A Loach scout in IV Corps, South Vietnam, 1968-1969: Fort Apache, Vihn Long Province. In photo #2 you can see the nice graphics. Your Privacy Rights President As we navigate rapidly evolving military culture and Like any deployed troops, Russian soldiers make calls Sign up for our newsletter and receive the mighty updates! The OH-6 Cayuse was built with a rugged structure covered in light aluminum. It served in Granada and Panama during the 1980s, as well as in the . The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is a tandem rotor chopper that was developed by Vetrol and built by Boeing Vertol. AH/MH-6J: US Army Special Operations variant derived from the MD-530MG. Krausz was ordered to Vietnam in April 1971, and today teaches Army students how to fly the Eurocopter UH-72 Lakota, a twin-engine trainer. Sensing its growing battlefield requirements, the US Army then raised the production ceiling to 1,300 units in all. But the Hueys proved too slow to do the job properly, and the need to replace both scouts and protectors was immediately evident. If the OH-6 came under fire, the nearby Cobra would then strike at the revealed enemy. The Mil Mi-8 was developed in the later stage of the Vietnam War to counter the Bell Huey UH1. 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. 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 helicopter Continued Flight. The hunter-killer tactic worked well for a few years, but by the time the United States left Vietnam, it was obsolete, says Mills. 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 Hughes OH-6 "Cayuse" (popularly recognized as the "Loach") was a revolutionary light helicopter mount primarily in service with the United States Army and saw combat service during the Vietnam War (1955-1975). The Piasecki H-21 Workhorse was the fourth line of tandem rotor helicopters developed by Piasecki Helicopters. A recontoured nose allowed for greater leg and head room. Over time, the effectiveness of this pairing was such that enemies would often decide against firing on the relatively vulnerable OH-1 in fear of the response that would be unleased by the AH-1. This was a Recon mission for Unarmed Recon The high-low hunter-killer combination gave way to uniform-altitude missions, with all helicopters flying nap of the earth. Furthermore, the helicopter was also developed into a civilian helicopter, the Model 500, which was still in production into the twenty-first century under MD Helicopters as the MD 500. 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 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. Almost as soon as production began, however, it was replaced by a competitors model. In the event of a crash the tailboom and engine separate from the egg-like cabin, improving the survival chances of the crew and passengers. While they were circling the wreckage, enemy rounds hit their ship. [4] The prototypes were delivered to the U.S. Army at Fort Rucker, Alabama, where they competed against the other ten prototype aircraft produced by Bell and Fairchild-Hiller. I could see a cigarette butt still burning. Thats why the majority of pilots who served in Vietnam shared the opinion that, if you were going to crash, it was best to do it in a Loach. About Us | 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. Warrant officer John Shafer was 21 when he arrived on October 16, 1970, to fly Loaches. "Pink teams" of scout and attack helicopters, such as OH-6 "Loach" or OH-58 Kiowa scout helicopters and the AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter during the Vietnam War; In anti-submarine warfare an Maritime patrol aircraft may be employed as "hunter", with surface ships such as destroyers as killers. They could also use grenades and on occasion even homebuilt explosives; more aggressive units mounted forward-firing miniguns. 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. Initially fielded in Vietnam in early 1968, the Hughes OH-6A was used for command and control, observation, target acquisition, and reconnaissance. Hughes Model OH-6A Cayuse or LOACH It can cruise at speeds of 150 mph. Unknown as to mission impact. It was a joy to fly. Kane, who today sells securities in Richmond, Virginia, flew AH-1s in Vietnam from 1968 to 1971. Select the first letter of the last name of the person you want to find: It was reasonably fast, very crashworthy, comparatively easy to maintain and fly, and extraordinarily maneuverable. purchase. The shelf life of a scout pilot was probably six months. 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. On top of this, Fairchild Hiller lodged a formal complaint over Hughes Tool Companys deceitful tactics to earn the original contract. The Bell H-13 Sioux was developed as a light-weight single-engine and single-rotor helicopter. Find Us on Facebook, Safety Standards Acknowledgement and Consent (SSAC). 2 M75 40-mm grenade launchers Both Loach and Cobra have been in production, on and off, in one form or another ever since. Two of these designs, those submitted by Fairchild-Hiller and Bell, were selected as finalists by the Army-Navy design competition board. 2 Hellfire ATGM A.J. The Cayuse was publicly introduced in 1966 and set several records, including record for endurance, speed and rate of climb. You had a couple of flights in the Huey, then you rode front seat in a Cobra, scout pilot Allan Krausz recounts. 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. OH-6A/MD-530F Super Cayuse/Lifter: Upgraded engine to a 425-shp Allison 250- C30 turboshaft, and avionics in 1988 for the US Army. This story is a selection from the September issue of Air & Space magazine, Donald Porter s/n 67-16304 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. Loach crews regularly walked away from crashes that would doom others. (He later transferred to the Air Force and flew F-4 Phantoms, and eventually became an airline captain.) During 1966, the OH-6 entered service with the U.S. Army, it promptly arrived into active combat in the Vietnam War. In 1966 it entered military service with the US Army. As a separate part of the project, armed OH-6As were being developed at Fort Rucker, Alabama. Multi-Mission Helicopters 6. I had another lead that went through 150 feet of trees, and they survived., Shafer himself had brushes with disaster, and his luck nearly ran out on a mission west of Dak To, near the border with Laos. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine Infantrymen would also launch an assault from the ground. Material presented throughout this website is for historical and entertainment value only and should not to be construed as usable for hardware restoration, maintenance, or general operation. A little gory but thats how close we were. As the Loach flew among the trees, the rear-seat pilot in the Snake circling above kept a close eye on the little scout and the front-seat gunner jotted down whatever the Loach observers radioed. We were about ready to call in tactical air support to blow up the wrecked ship when another Cobra took a lot of fire. 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. Ribbon graphics not necessarily indicative of actual historical campaign ribbons. The United States deployed all types of helicopter, ranging from massive troop transport choppers, to smaller multipurpose and attack helicopters, and even helicopter drones. (7.62MM) In contrast, of the nearly 1,100 Cobras delivered to the Army, 300 were lost. While in Target Area this helicopter was Attacking at 0060 feet and 010 knots. Shortly thereafter, the aircraft were returned to the U.S., where they were dismantled and converted back to a standard configuration; they continued to be operated as such for a time. To counter the US, the Vietnamese employed their helicopter fleets of mostly Soviet-made aircraft. So I engaged the enemy, but didnt make it out of that one. These choppers were modified for combat rescue missions and had self-sealing fuel tanks, rescue hoist, and in-flight refueling abilities. The aircraft, dubbed 500P (penetrator) by Hughes, began as an ARPA project, codenamed "Mainstreet", in 1968. 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. While successful in this respect, the Loach helicopter also had a reputation for being easily gunned down. During May 1965, the U.S. Army awarded the production contract to Hughes. Ribbons are clickable to their respective aerial campaigns / operations / aviation periods. On the night of 5-6 December 1972, the remaining helicopter deployed a wiretap near Vinh, Vietnam; useful information provided from this wiretap was acted on by the United States on several occasions, such as during the Linebacker II campaign and Paris Peace Talks. The Cobras high above had a few seconds of warningthey could spot the missiles exhaust plumebut were all the more tempting because at their higher altitudes they were more easily seen than the smaller Loaches. Late in the war, the HH-43 was also deployed for short overland search and rescue missions. Overtop of the fuselage was the OH-6s single engine, attached to a four-blade main rotor assembly. Kane and Casher were pulled aboard and returned to Khe Sanh, but the Huey barely made it back; slicing trees had left its blades shredded, and the tail section had almost separated. Reportedly, 964 out of the 1,422 OH-6As produced for the U.S. Army were destroyed in Vietnam alone. Shaffer, 63, rode in the military helicopter as a door gunner with Charlie Troop 1/9th, 1st Air Cavalry while . Read the harrowing story of what happened on that tragic mission. 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. a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization EIN 45-4703737We Fly for Our Veterans!. 2 MK19 40-mm grenade launcher 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 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. It had to do with the timbre of your voicehow you talked to other guys on the radio, says Romero, who arrived in Vietnam in 1970, initially as a Huey co-pilot. | The following text is exclusive to this site. 2 Stinger AAM. 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. Hughes bid $56,550 per airframe, while Bell bid $54,200. 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 Bell Model 206 is a line of both single and twin-engined helicopters with two primary rotor blades. The Loach helicopters used to transport personnel were given the designation MH-6, while the armed ones were dubbed the AH-6. Unlike previous aircraft, the Tarhe was extremely successful during the Vietnam War. [13][3] Beginning in 2001, the JGSDF OH-6s were supplemented by the indigenously-developed Kawasaki OH-1, a more advanced observation helicopter. MD-500E/MD-500MG/Defender II: Had a more elongated nose for streamlining, and an optional 4x blade tail rotor for reduced acoustic signatures. The back plate was often not used owing to the weight, and even the chest plate was deleted. Aircraft took off, fully flight capable. The helicopter was hit in the Left Side Home | Donald Porter September 2017 Pilot Clyde. Vietnam OH-6A "Cayuse" Helicopter The OH-6A made its first flight in 1963.
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