Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 I have always admired the Hueys and a very good friend and former neighbor flew one in Nam. However being a older than dirt kind of guy, I never got to fly in one. We were served by the older Sikorski 19s when I was stationed in Augsburg Germany. I can understand the warm feeling that our Vietnam Vets have for these birds. But I ask the questions if some of my peers out there in cowboy land ever rode in the SK 19s as I did. I suspect the difference in the two is similar to the buckboard and the newest automobile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 When I was in Germany in 68 we used H-34s, mostly for pay jumps. Rarely had access to Hueys. The Luftwaffe was still flying some H-19s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Dan Troop 70448 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 When I was in Germany in 68 we used H-34s, mostly for pay jumps. Rarely had access to Hueys. The Luftwaffe was still flying some H-19s. There were H-34 in Nam also. I tried several times in civilian life learning to fly a helo, but never could. I admire those that can. Its constant concentration and anticipation. MT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted July 29, 2011 Author Share Posted July 29, 2011 Maybe they were H 34s. I really never paid any attention to the nomenclature. I was generally too busy making certain that we had the base plate and tube to go with the bipod and sights. We had a built-in loading area at Gablingen, with the drop zone directly behind our barracks. I always thought at the time, that they were so big on the outside and so small in the inside. IIRC we could only get a gun crew in one, with all of our equipment. Of course the squad and equipment would generally fill the back of a 3/4 ton vehicle. I do recall that they were boxy in outside appearance and the pilot and co pilot were sitting on top of the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Harley, #14153 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 My dad rode in the 19's for rescue missions in the Air Force. He was out before the Hueys entered the inventory. I did contact, instrument, and tactical training in the Hueys during flight school. Those birds were something special to fly! We used to say that when they took the last Blackhawk or Apache to the bone yard they'd bring the crew home in a Huey. I'm not so sure about that any more. The Pig Boats are getting pretty scarce these days. Occasionally I'll hear that far off WopWopWop of the 324 rpm main rotor. There's something primal in me that has to go to the window and look one more time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Houston # 35508 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Ya hear the stories about Blackhawks going down and killing everybody on board. I went down on a Huey once and everybody was just fine. We auto-rotated into a rice paddy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Maybe they were H 34s. I really never paid any attention to the nomenclature. Coulda been H-19s Badger, as they look so much like the H-34s. The H-19 Chickasaw had an 800 hp motor while the H-34 Choctaw had a 1,425 motor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 I always thought at the time, that they were so big on the outside and so small in the inside. Kind of a reverse Tardis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 There were H-34 in Nam also. I tried several times in civilian life learning to fly a helo, but never could. I admire those that can. Its constant concentration and anticipation. MT A helicopter is a collection of spare parts all trying to go in different directions at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Harley, #14153 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 The thing is, helicopters are different from planes. An airplane by it's nature wants to fly, and if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or by a deliberately incompetent pilot, it will fly. A helicopter does not want to fly. It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in this delicate balance the helicopter stops flying; immediately and disastrously. There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter. This is why being a helicopter pilot is so different from being an airplane pilot, and why in generality, airplane pilots are open, clear-eyed, buoyant extroverts and helicopter pilots are brooding introspective anticipators of trouble. They know if something bad has not happened, it is about to. — Harry Reasoner, 1971 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted July 29, 2011 Author Share Posted July 29, 2011 When I was in Germany in 68 we used H-34s, mostly for pay jumps. Rarely had access to Hueys. The Luftwaffe was still flying some H-19s. Did you ever jump at Gabligen? I was there from January 1959 until June 1960. Mostly the 505th used our DZ since we replaced them when they went to Lebanon in 1958. We trained around Bad Tolz with the Special Forces in 1959. They led an attack against us at some place the alps during a training exercise. Surprise us cold turkey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Did you ever jump at Gabligen? I was there from January 1959 until June 1960. Mostly the 505th used our DZ since we replaced them when they went to Lebanon in 1958. We trained around Bad Tolz with the Special Forces in 1959. They led an attack against us at some place the alps during a training exercise. Surprise us cold turkey. Bad Tolz is where we did most all our jumping. Dang canopy takes forever to open when you jump from an H-34! If it was a big exercise and we went somewhere else. Then we usually used C-47s. Don't recall ever using Gablingen. It's fun to surprise people, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocWard Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Kind of a reverse Tardis. Looks like the inside of a Police Box? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Coffinmaker Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 I had an ugly opportunity to ride a '19 just once. Sucker was loud and vibrated a lot. Spent a year standing in the door of a CH 53. People shot at me ..... a lot. Just for giggles I went on an Air America run for side money. Was a Piasecki flying Banana. People were shooting at me then too. Helicopters do NOT fly. They simply beat the atmosphere into submission. If the motor thingy (tech term) quits, they fly like rocks. Went thru auto-rotation twice. That was two to many. I don't ride in 'em now. Coffinmaker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Oh man. A Flying Banana? That's livin on the edge!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergeant Smokepole #29248L Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 I was in 4 that the ground ate the damned things.... I'll never get in another...... bad luck..........lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Mostly rode in Hueys (one really scary auto-rotaion into a rice paddy) and CH47s in 'Nam, and one very exciting trip in a OH-6 LOCH. Saw some time in CH46s after I moved over to USMC green. Got some extensive time riding in a HH43 after I begged and begged...about 4 minutes from one end of Ton Son Nhut to the other in a rescue "egg beater". I also rode a Piasecki H-21 in Boise the summer after high school. I think it was a ANG chopper, but don't remember much about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apache Hawk 60642 Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 I remember riding in some Hueys either going or coming from battle, so I don't remember much. Ether scared to death going in or trying to deal with what had happened when I was coming out and my mind was in neutral. Just that the VC would wait for them to land before firing. And lobbing mortars. And had to throw water inside'em to wash out the blood . Just don't care to think about'em much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willie Wheelgun Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Glid path of an egg beater is equal to the diametor of the rotor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noz Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 I rode in a few Hueys, a couple of Chinooks and a Bell HU-1B. Also spent a memorable afternoon, on what I thought was going to be a pleasure flight over the Delta, in an O1-A. It turned out we were going to put a bomb strike in. The pilot didn't tell me that until he handed me smoke grenade and told me to throw it out the window when he told me. It was on that flight that I learned what an AK-47 bullet sounds like going by. The problem with me and the sound of Hueys in the air is that we were on the flight path leading into the hospital. One going over was never a good sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sawyer#34250 Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Lots of us Nam vets in this SALOON. A Huey beat the hell out of walking. They can not fly!! It is the collective imagination of all persons on board that moves them from place to place. The rule for the Huey is generally contrary to what us guys were taught--Going up is better than going down! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Once upon a time in a land far far away, I and my team were strapping down a weapon in a helicopter. The pilot asked me "What is that?" I replied "You don't have a need to know." I asked "What kind of helicopter is this?" He replied "You don't have a need to know." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apache Hawk 60642 Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Lots of us Nam vets in this SALOON. A Huey beat the hell out of walking. They can not fly!! It is the collective imagination of all persons on board that moves them from place to place. The rule for the Huey is generally contrary to what us guys were taught--Going up is better than going down! Don't care what make or model it was...... Da ground repals'em cuz dey is so u-gly ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Don't care what make or model it was...... Da ground repals'em cuz dey is so u-gly ! I have previously posted my thoughts on the venerable .UH-1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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