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"They probably think we are smart enough to make it fly again. "The government won't let us have an engine," Mr. Tarr will provide the Pentagon an annual letter detailing its status. The Huey remains federal government property and Mr. Gauges and wiring have been located in Virginia, a windshield and other parts in Pennsylvania. He said the basic frame and drive shaft are intact but the turbine engine has been removed. "It probably needs a thousand parts, but I know where each and every nut and bolt goes," Mr. Wires cascade from a blank instrument panel and half the tail rotor is missing. A piece of canvas covers the front and top of the cockpit. Tarr, Mike Smith, a Huey crew chief with the 1st Cavalry Division in 1967-1968, and other members with working knowledge of the aircraft.Ĭurrently, Huey 66-15238 sits behind the chapter home - the officers club at the former Fort Holabird, now an industrial park - surrounded by a locked fence. The resurrection of the Huey will be undertaken by Mr. It was used to train Vietnam-bound pilots at Fort Rucker, Ala., saw duty at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., moved to an Army Reserve unit in Mississippi, a government storage yard and then was left on the junk pile at Aberdeen Proving Ground.
Vietnam huey helicopter serial number#
Tarr, who dropped out of Temple University to join the Army, said his research shows the chapter's Huey was manufactured in 1966, serial number 66-15238, but never left the United States. The Huey was rescued from Aberdeen Proving Ground's scrap heap, where it was used to supply parts for others still flying and, before its rescue, for artillery target practice. The aircraft were used primarily for troop and. Bell developed the powerful helicopter in the mid-1950s and produced more than 16,000 units between 19, over 7,000 of which served in Vietnam.
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"Those ships could save lives or deliver to your fire base that stale chocolate cake mom sent two months previous."Ī team of vets from Chapter 451, whose more than 630 members make it one of the largest chapters in the nation, has networked to scrounge parts. The Bell UH-1 Iroquois, commonly known as the 'Huey,' was a multipurpose utility helicopter famous for its widespread use during the Vietnam War. "The medevac system that was developed with the Hueys in Vietnam is practiced all around our nation today, and that's such a wonderful legacy," Mr. He was a door gunner and crew chief on Hueys in 19, was shot down seven times, and now is the senior technician of a Baltimore County trucking firm. "The Hueys did anything we asked them," says Jack Tarr, almost lovingly. Door gunners and crew chiefs often sat on their flak vests, wary of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong who often fired at the bottom of the airborne choppers while lying on their backs. They could be peppered with enemy small arms fire and continue flying because of their protected fuel cells the honeycombed main rotor could sustain numerous bullet and shrapnel hits. They toted Jeeps or artillery pieces ferried generals and VIPs and sprayed Agent Orange and other toxic defoliants on enemy jungle sanctuaries. They delivered ammunition, hot meals, beer and mail. Other Hueys carried troops into battle and extracted them, the wounded and the dead. They were gunships, armed with a vast array of weaponry.