Huey
Posted by: C4A
N 37° 09.986 W 093° 19.842
15S E 470639 N 4113386
Here is a great example of the classic "Huey" most recognized for its use in Vietnam.
Waymark Code: WMHXX
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 07/22/2006
Views: 77
Although the service of this particular helocopter is to me unclear, I think the following is indicitive of the service of many of these model aircraft in Vietnam. All information was taken from the following site, which is well worth a visit:
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Rotor Diameter: 48 ft.
Length: 42 ft.
Height: 14 ft. 5 in.
Weight, empty: 5055 lbs.
What the jeep was to Americans during World War II, so was the Huey to those who fought in Vietnam. All branches of the U. S. military operated them and they ranged to every corner of South Vietnam and into Cambodia and Laos. The term 'Huey' originated in the U. S. Army as a derivative of the original designation HU-1A - Helicopter, Utility, Model 1A. For a time, the Huey was one of the most recognizable aircraft in history. People knew it not just on sight but by sound, too. They usually heard the unmistakable whop-whop-whop of the main rotor blade long before they saw a Huey.
The first Hueys to operate in Vietnam were medevac HU-1As that arrived in April 1962, before the United States became officially involved in the conflict. These Hueys supported the South Vietnamese Army, but American crews flew them. In October, the first armed Hueys, equipped with 2.75-inch rockets and .30 caliber machine guns, began flying in Vietnam. The main role of these Huey 'gunships' was to escort Army and Marine transport helicopters. By the end of 1964, the Army was flying more than 300 'A and 'B model Hueys.
The Huey became a symbol of U.S. combat forces in Vietnam and millions of people worldwide watched it fly in TV news reports. At its peak in March 1970, the U.S. military operated more than 3,900 helicopters in the war in Vietnam and two thirds of them were Hueys. Their impact was profound, not only in the new tactics and strategies of airmobile operations, but on the survival rate of battlefield casualties. U.S. Army patients made up 390,000 of the total number of people transported by medevac helicopters in Southeast Asia. Almost a third of this total (120,000) were combat casualties. The Huey airlifted ninety percent of these casualties directly to medical facilities.