In one particular clandestine incident in 1972, known as the Vinh wiretap, a pair of OH-6As were heavily modified and used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) via Air America was used to infiltrate Vietnamese high level communications, providing valuable intelligence. Date: 03/25/1970 Pilots called this helicopter as the Loach. Table of Contents 1. They would then call in scouts on the ground or infantrymen to hunt for the enemy in the brush while attack helicopters protected everyone. During the Vietnam War the OH-6 helicopters served in huge numbers and were used for light observation and utility roles. 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). ). 2 .50 cal MG pods Almost as soon as production began, however, it was replaced by a competitors model. 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. 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 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. MD-530MG/Defender: Has a mast-mounted sight, and incorporated upgrades of all previous variants. The CH-34 Choctaw was developed by Sikorsky Aircraft for transport purposes to carry personnel and deliver supplies. On March 3, 2023, at a White House ceremony, retired Army Colonel Paris Davis received the Medal of Honor. 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 US military primarily used the OH-6 for observational and reconnaissance purposes. The Army initially ordered 1,438 Hughes Model 369s, designated by the Army as the OH-6A Cayuse helicopters. This helicopter was REPAIRED IN THEATER While they were circling the wreckage, enemy rounds hit their ship. USNTPS plans to retain the aircraft indefinitely and continue to improve the safety, reliability, and usefulness of the aircraft in the test pilot training role. [19][20][21], In December 1967, the first OH-6As arrived in Vietnam. The Army officially adopted the Bell OH-58 Kiowa in 1969. Select the first letter of the last name of the person you want to find: Can a Helicopter Fly to the Top of Mount Everest. Vietnam following a morning mission with the 11th Special Forces (SF) at Long Than North, South Vietnam. Each time we went out, we got shot at. They were employed in hunter-killer tactics, wherein they flew low over the jungle as bait to draw enemy fire. Systems damaged were: FUEL SYS s/n 67-16304 Systems damaged were: COMM SYS, STRUCTURE, INSTRUMENTS, PERSONNEL Helicopter took 2 hits from: 605th transportation Company (Direct Support): Nov . It was used for transporting personnel, escorting other aircraft and naval vessels, attacking enemy units, and acting as an observation post. The US Army subsequently reopened the LOH program to engineering companies, offering a new contract for 2,700 additional airframes. The Sikorsky S-61R is a twin-engine transport and search helicopter. The aircraft, dubbed 500P (penetrator) by Hughes, began as an ARPA project, codenamed "Mainstreet", in 1968. Served in Vietnam War during 1968 through 1970. For this, a small rotorcraft capable of landing in restrictive locations and easily transportable via US Air Force transport aircraft was necessary. The OH-6 Cayuse, by this point known as the Loach helicopter, made its way to Vietnam in December 1967. That was about it.. Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Survivability/Vulnerability Information Analysis Center Helicopter database. On the night of 56 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. 2 M75 40-mm grenade launchers While barely any American helicopters served in World War II and few flew in Korea, Vietnam was a proving ground for many airframes everything from the venerable Huey to Chinooks sporting huge guns. Hughes Tool Company, Aircraft Division - USA, (View other Aviaton-Related Manufacturers), Dominican Republic; Denmark; Japan; Spain; Taiwan; United States, (OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable), Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance (ISR), Scout, X-Plane (Developmental, Prototype, Technology Demonstrator), (Showcased structural values pertain to the base Hughes OH-6 Cayuse (Loach) production variant), RANGES (MPH) Subsonic: <614mph | Transonic: 614-921 | Supersonic: 921-3836 | Hypersonic: 3836-7673 | Hi-Hypersonic: 7673-19180 | Reentry: >19030, (Showcased performance specifications pertain to the. The Loach helicopters used to transport personnel were given the designation MH-6, while the armed ones were dubbed the AH-6. Warrant officer John Shafer was 21 when he arrived on October 16, 1970, to fly Loaches. Contact | With US Army evaluations of each prototype ongoing, the underpowered Bell offering was formally dropped from contention and the US Army decision favored the Hughes design over the Fairchild-Hiller. Light Observation Helicopter (LOH) program, The US Air Force Panicked When Its Top-Secret Stealth Fighter Crashed Into the California Wilderness. AH-1G Huey Cobra 'Snake' . A rescue operation for the crew of a downed Loach helicopter doesn't quite go as planned and the rescuers become victims themselves. This was a Recon mission for Unarmed Recon If you would like When the 1980 hostage situation of Operation Eagle Claw was deemed a disaster, the US military realized there was a lack of aircraft and personnel trained for such special operations. 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. In contrast, of the nearly 1,100 Cobras delivered to the Army, 300 were lost. The architects of the task force identified the need for a small helicopter to land in the most restrictive locations and that was also easily transported on Air Force transport aircraft. For most of the war, there was no formal Army training to prepare scout pilots and observers. This helicopter was UNK The OH-6 was also exported as the Model 500 Defender. The Cayuse could absorb an extensive amount of small arms fire and still bring the crew home safely. History. Your email address will not be published. 2 Stinger AAM. Kane was dispatched to the crash site in another Cobra with copilot Jim Casher. Jim was unconscious when I helped pull him out of the burning aircraft.. 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. Upon encountering enemy fire, Loaches were to leave immediately, dropping smoke grenades to mark the target so that within seconds, the Cobra could roll in. Small Arms/Automatic Weapons; Gun launched non-explosive ballistic projectiles less than 20 mm in size. The small-arms protection aircrewmen armor that was introduced in 1966 was a vest with pockets containing composite laminated plates commonly called chicken plates. 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. 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. The Mil Mi-8 was developed in the later stage of the Vietnam War to counter the Bell Huey UH1. But the light aluminum skin could be easily pierced by rifle bullets, and it also crumpled and absorbed energy in a crash, and a strong structural truss protected critical systemslike the people inside. 60th Assault Helicopter Company: Mar 72 Jun 72, Information on U.S. Army helicopter OH-6A tail number 67-16304 [22] All American rotorcraft in the theatre had to be operated more cautiously following this development. The AH-6 Little Bird Gun, a light attack helicopter, has been tested and proven in combat. Here are the 24 helicopters used in Vietnam. The enemy was moving toward us when a [command and control] ship picked us up. During the Vietnam War Era, different types of helicopters were crucial for providing support for ground forces, scouting locations, and deploying or retrieving soldiers. This chopper is mostly known for having been used to spot enemy artillery. 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. The Gyrodyne company built the Gyrodyne QH-50 DASH (Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter) to combat submarines from a distance. Following the lead, we got peppered with rounds. The Loach had a bad vibration, but he made it about half a mile before he had to land. 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. [8][9], A total of 387 OH-6/Hughes 369s were produced under license in Japan by the Japanese aerospace company Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Hughes, without informing Real, raised the bid by $3,000, and thus lost the contract to Bell. South Vietnam [27] During June 1972, they were deployed to a secret base in southern Laos (PS-44), where one of the helicopters was heavily damaged during a training mission late in the summer. He shares memories of his service and reflects on what the war meant to. The Bell AH-1J was also used for various subsequent assaults and military operations conducted by the US Marine Corps. RMF3TG12 - Warren Motts, who started the Motts Military Museum, walks with a small child, past helicopters that where used in the Vietnam War. The first Loach arrived in Vietnam in 1966, and a total of 1,434 of the primary . 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. This eventually gave way to the loach nickname, and was intended to provide the US military with a light-class, rotary-wing craft that could fulfill a number of purposes: search and rescue, close air support, MEDEVAC, observation, transport, reconnaissance and attack roles. It later turned out that Howard Hughes purposely undervalued his estimate and deceptively won out against Fairchild-Hiller - his reasoning being that a long-term US Army commitment to his helicopter would, over time, make the deal profitable at some point. I could see a cigarette butt still burning. Kiowas, largely relegated to low-threat cargo and liaison missions in Vietnam, were after the war tasked to spot targets from afar and guide Cobras (and later, Boeing AH-64 Apaches) to good firing spots. On a few occasions, the OH-23 was also used for medical evacuation purposes, but this was rarely the case. History | 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. Several Kawasaki-built Loach helicopters were also flown by civilian customers for a variety of reasons, including emergency medical services, law enforcement tasks and for work in the agricultural sector. While in Target Area this helicopter was Attacking at 0060 feet and 010 knots. The Bell H-13 Sioux were used for multiple roles, ranging from transporting troops, conducting medical evacuations, and performing reconnaissance and observational activities. 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. [5] Accordingly, the bidding for the LOH contract came down to Fairchild-Hiller and Hughes. But the Hueys proved too slow to do the job properly, and the need to replace both scouts and protectors was immediately evident. Loach crews were equipped with small arms and returned fire as they fled. Required fields are marked *. [2] The pilot was provisioned with excellent external visibility via its large plexiglass windscreen, while its four-bladed fully-articulated main rotor meant it was considerably more agile than the preceding H-13 Sioux. Initially fielded in Vietnam in early 1968, the Hughes OH-6A was used for command and control, observation, target acquisition, and reconnaissance. It was reasonably fast, very crashworthy, comparatively easy to maintain and fly, and extraordinarily maneuverable. https://warandlifediscussions.weebly.com/Any veteran who served in any combat zone in any capacity is invited to contact Preston Jones: pjones@jbu.edu / (479) 524-7488 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. Joint Services Incident Damage Report. In this theatre, it was commonly operated in teams with other rotorcraft, such as the Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter, using so-called "hunter-killer" tactics to flush out and eliminate hostile ground targets; the OH-6 would act as bait to draw enemy fire and mark targets for other platforms such as the AH-1 to attack. The AH-6 and its troop-carrying sibling, the MH-6, are still heavily used by U.S. special-operations forces, as everything from airborne sniper platforms to transports inserting small teams to expeditionary light attack helicopters. The Kaman SH-2 could extend and increase both shipboard sensor and weapon abilities against different types of enemy units, including submarines, ships, and patrol craft with anti-ship missiles. 2 TOW missile pods (2 each) Loach and Cobra crews lived together, and schedulers generally paired the teams with the partners they requested, though given the high turnover rate, that wasnt always possible.
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