Huey

[cessna152towser]

Today our air museum was visited by this Bell UH-1H Iroquois helicopter. Known among the US Army as a "Huey" , the UH-1H was introduced in 1959 and over 7,000 were used in Vietnam. The last of the type has only recently been retired by the US military.
This Huey was built in 1972. It was purchased from Seattle in derelict condition in 2003 and brought to England where it was restored to full working order. It called in at our local airport (Carlisle) today to refuel while en route between its base near Preston in the north of England, and an air show at the Scottish Museum of Flight at East Fortune near Edinburgh.
www.huey.co.uk

[bigdad1]

Thanks for sharing that photo Alex. I spent much time being ferried in and out by those fine machines and the very brave men who flew them. Between being delivered and medivaced I owe a lot to them.

[Cowher]

Really cool stuff. I live in a training flight path and I love to see the military aircraft.

[bigdad1]

Unless my memory is failing (again) I believe our esteemed owner Mr. Steve Ashton flew one of those machines.

[LANCER1562]

While I was at work on the outskirts of Fremont, California yesterday I watched one fly around for several hours. I thought they had all been retired years ago. Maybe this one was also privately puchased by someone.

[Woodsheal]

Got to ride in the Huey many times. Even rapelled down from one once, which was... interesting!

[The Wizard of BC]

Well, yes I did fly H model Huey's at one time. But that was long after the bullits stopped plinking thru the skin and half a world away. I started in CH-53D's. Then later flew Mattel Messerschmits, UH-1's, OH-58's AH-1S and ended up test flying AH-64A's.

Huey's are lumbering pig and rice haulers. They had the longest career of any US Helicopter and have so many fans that they are synonomous with the entire V-N era. To many who served during that period even the sound of those two blades whomping the air into submission will bring it all back.

From the Navigation light and radio antenna and wire cutter configuration this is probably one of the training birds from Ft. Rucker that was sent to Ft. Lewis for use as door gunnery basic training (you can see the door gun mounts outside the side doors which date from this period.) These were then decommissioned and turned in at the Boeing plant in Seattle for civilian sale. If I remember correctly there were 285 airframes involved in this sale which made it the largest single aircraft garage sale in US history.

A lot of towns and small museums got a chance to buy an empty airframe for static display for as little as $1000.00 (some assembly required)

[English Bloke]

Preston you say? There is a Huey flies over my house from time to time, I wonder if it's the same one? Can't be many working Hueys in Britain let alone Lancashire. They do make a fantastic noise. "Whomping the air into submission". I think that about captures it Steve.

In Germany in the 80's when I played soldiers on joint exercises with the British and US Armies, these UH-1H used to appear in our environment occasionally, much to the delight of the British squaddies on the ground. As medics though, we primarily worked with US UH60 Blackhawks in their casualty evacuation role. I seem to recall they called those "Dust-offs" for the clouds of sh** they would throw up in the low level hover. Good times indeed!

[LANCER1562]

I can think of a few things you know what it is the minute you hear it.

1. Bagpipes

2. Harley-Davidson motorcycle

3. Huey helecopter

[EagleJCS]

They do make a distinctive sound. When I was in high school, we lived near the local municipal airport. The Army has a hangar there to support the nearby Army Reserve training division HQ. Back then, there were 6-8 Hueys stationed there, marked as medical evac 'copters. We could hear them revving up from a mile away, across the interstate highway. (Granted, the interstate is lower than the airport and the nieghborhood, so the noise doesn't carry as far.) The normal airport approach took them either directly over our house (at about 200 feet) or across the back yard. Rattled the windows and sometimes the dishes!