From the date of its inception there never has been a more used, abused, tested and tried aircraft as the Huey. The utilitarian aspect of the aircraft made it invaluable, its low cost and ability to take punishment made it famous, but the version that everyone gravitates to was the testosterone model, the gunship. No other aircraft has been saddled with as many ridiculous, stupid, ingenious, absurd, amusing armament configurations as this aircraft.
Before I discuss the tough guys, I went to spend a few minutes discussing the weapons that were standard on the “D” model, the M-23 system using the M-60D with the spade handle grips.
Generally it was a well designed system, but needed some modification in the field. The ammo chute easily jammed so it was discarded. That created another problem because the rounds wouldn’t feed well, this was cured by a field expedient modification of adding a C ration can to the gun. Still, there were problems, on the left side the wind could push the empty casings back into the gun causing jams, so the brass catching bag was necessary. Also on the left side, without the ammo chute the rounds would string out in the wind. I have literally had 150 rounds of 7.62 flapping in the wind with me trying to pull them into the gun before they hit the aircraft or broke off.
A good picture of the unauthorized field modification C ration can on the M-60.
Another day at the office for the heroic door gunner (ahem.) I wonder if this picture might be posed.
The earliest attempts at serious armament for gunships involved rocket pods and the old .30 caliber machine gun mounted on the skids. The pods were knocked out of whack on every landing and the machine gun had a handle attached to the charging mechanism that required the gunner to sit on the floor, and in the old “A” model with just slightly more horsepower than a serious muscle car, getting airborne with a reasonable load of fuel was a challenge.
I think that wire to the pods might be Romex 12-2 w/ground.
The “B” model had more horsepower and hardpoints for external stores, so naturally the guns got bigger and the ultimate helicopter super weapon, a 20mm gun cannibalized from an A-1 Skyraider was mounted under the belly on the centerline of the aircraft. The first shot blew out the chin bubbles.
Then came the “C” and “D” models, much more power, other improvements like a longer rotor on the “D” and a wider blade and improved head on the “C” and of course armament to match. There was the mortar dispenser that dropped 81 mm mortar rounds. And the dispenser for CS canisters and bomblets. I was on the first combat assault using CS, the battalion said it was “a rousing success.” I beg to differ, it was a goat rope.
There were the searchlights, loudspeakers, people sniffers, spray booms, smoke generators and the little known “238 tube rocket launcher” which was actually a photograph of a Huey with two rotor blades in their containers loaded across the cargo compartment. Everybody wanted a .50 cal on their Huey, never mind that for every ten rounds fired you popped two rivets in the airframe. The bigger the gun the better. All the way up to a 20mm 3 barrel Vulcan mounted in the door. Even an infra-red night sight on an M-5. This aircraft has seen every idea men could throw at it, yet it still retained its dignity and composure.
Loudspeakers, boxes of leaflets inside to litter the countryside.
A true novelty item, the aircraft was useless for anything else. With all the weight on this side, I wonder if they got a fat crewchief to sit on the other side.
The Huey was the first helicopter to purposely go hunting tanks, and did it very successfully with TOW kits on old “B” models brought directly from the states during the 1972 Easter Offensive.
Before I discuss the tough guys, I went to spend a few minutes discussing the weapons that were standard on the “D” model, the M-23 system using the M-60D with the spade handle grips.
Generally it was a well designed system, but needed some modification in the field. The ammo chute easily jammed so it was discarded. That created another problem because the rounds wouldn’t feed well, this was cured by a field expedient modification of adding a C ration can to the gun. Still, there were problems, on the left side the wind could push the empty casings back into the gun causing jams, so the brass catching bag was necessary. Also on the left side, without the ammo chute the rounds would string out in the wind. I have literally had 150 rounds of 7.62 flapping in the wind with me trying to pull them into the gun before they hit the aircraft or broke off.
A good picture of the unauthorized field modification C ration can on the M-60.
Another day at the office for the heroic door gunner (ahem.) I wonder if this picture might be posed.
The earliest attempts at serious armament for gunships involved rocket pods and the old .30 caliber machine gun mounted on the skids. The pods were knocked out of whack on every landing and the machine gun had a handle attached to the charging mechanism that required the gunner to sit on the floor, and in the old “A” model with just slightly more horsepower than a serious muscle car, getting airborne with a reasonable load of fuel was a challenge.
I think that wire to the pods might be Romex 12-2 w/ground.
The “B” model had more horsepower and hardpoints for external stores, so naturally the guns got bigger and the ultimate helicopter super weapon, a 20mm gun cannibalized from an A-1 Skyraider was mounted under the belly on the centerline of the aircraft. The first shot blew out the chin bubbles.
Then came the “C” and “D” models, much more power, other improvements like a longer rotor on the “D” and a wider blade and improved head on the “C” and of course armament to match. There was the mortar dispenser that dropped 81 mm mortar rounds. And the dispenser for CS canisters and bomblets. I was on the first combat assault using CS, the battalion said it was “a rousing success.” I beg to differ, it was a goat rope.
There were the searchlights, loudspeakers, people sniffers, spray booms, smoke generators and the little known “238 tube rocket launcher” which was actually a photograph of a Huey with two rotor blades in their containers loaded across the cargo compartment. Everybody wanted a .50 cal on their Huey, never mind that for every ten rounds fired you popped two rivets in the airframe. The bigger the gun the better. All the way up to a 20mm 3 barrel Vulcan mounted in the door. Even an infra-red night sight on an M-5. This aircraft has seen every idea men could throw at it, yet it still retained its dignity and composure.
Loudspeakers, boxes of leaflets inside to litter the countryside.
A true novelty item, the aircraft was useless for anything else. With all the weight on this side, I wonder if they got a fat crewchief to sit on the other side.
The Huey was the first helicopter to purposely go hunting tanks, and did it very successfully with TOW kits on old “B” models brought directly from the states during the 1972 Easter Offensive.
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