More Pics from Ford Island…

This series is the helicopters that are in the museum…

The venerable H-3, flown by multiple services, this one happens to be in Navy markings. They did both SAR and submarine hunting with these birds, along with being used as Marine One, flying the President for many years.2015-04-22 15.21.22

The H-34, originally designed with a Pratt and Whitney 1820 9 cylinder radial engine in the bubble nose. Some of these are still flying today with turbine engines in place of the radial engine!2015-04-22 15.21.42

Vietnam era UH-1B Huey. Single engine 204 model 2 pilots, 2 crewmen, 7 soldiers.

UH1_3

Cockpit view of the Huey. Theย seats were interesting. This is some of the original mid-60s ‘chicken plate’ armor provided for the pilots that gave them some limited protection.ย 2015-04-22 15.22.58

The ‘business’ end of a Huey Cobra. Flown by both the Army and the Marines, the design is 49 years old but still works!2015-04-22 15.23.37

This one is a CH-46 Sea Knight, used by the Marines, designed in 1962.2015-04-22 15.24.38An HS-60B Sea Hawk, flown by HSL-37 at Kaneohe. These were the front line ASW helicopters until just a few years ago. The round holes aft of the side window are the sonobuoy launcher for 25 sonobuoys.2015-04-22 15.24.52

In addition to sonobouys, radar, IRDS and ECM gear, the 60B also carried a MAD system. The ‘bird’ shown was reeled out behind the helo and used to detect/track submarines by their magnetic signature.2015-04-22 15.25.32

And the painted tail of the 60B. This was the ‘show bird’, and was used for airshows and demonstrations. Most of the birds only looked this good when they came out of rework. ๐Ÿ™‚2015-04-22 15.25.42

 

And two shots of cockpits- First the Vietnam era Huey- A very basic panel, they were normally flown only in good weather, they took a REALLY good pilot to fly at night or bad weather.2015-04-22 15.22.40

And a 20 years newer cockpit, the SH-60B. All weather IFR capable. Also one helluva lot busier cockpit!2015-04-22 15.25.08

Comments

More Pics from Ford Island… — 17 Comments

  1. Hey Old NFO;

    Thank you for the cool pics, another place to add to my bucket list of places to visit. Going to Pearl Harbor has been a plan for a long time to visit. Funny, I work at a place that i can fly for *free* but there are caveats…….Still want to go there and check out the U.S.S Arizona Memorial, and the other cool stuff there.

  2. That is awesome history. I love museums and history of all sorts. Would love to see these some day in person.

  3. Whiskey Cobra is just an awesome platform.
    Life is too short to fly an ugly helicopter like an Apache.

  4. Thanks for the pics. I love seeing them…

    If any of you are in the SW Ohio area, make sure you check out the USAF Museum in Dayton. If you like to read the placards, give yourself 2 days to see it all. They have 3 huge buildings full of planes from the Wright Flyer to modern day planes and space vehicles (Apollo 12 capsule, I believe). A 4th building is under construction and they have a hanger full of stuff that is a bus rid away. Last time I was there the hanger had Truman’s and Eisenhower’s Air Force 1’s. I think the plan is to move them into the new building.

  5. Pops crewed ARS HH-3 Jolly Green Giants on his first tour in Vietnam. Long before any one though of wearing a maroon beret and the bush hat was worn because it was a practical piece of kit in the jungle.

    His second tour they were upgrading to the first generation HH-53 Super Jolly Greens.

    While the HH-3 is super venerable and has a decorated service record, I’ve always thought the thing was about as ungainly and ungraceful as could be.

  6. Bob- You’re welcome!

    Fargo- They’re ONLY a 10 hour flight away… ๐Ÿ™‚

    Gerry- LOL, but FIREPOWER!!!

    LCB- Strangely I’ve never been to that one. I’ll get there some day!

    WSF- Yep, these aren’t cleaned up, per se…

    CP- Yeah, and they bounced like one on a hard landing… ๐Ÿ™‚

    SPE- They could take a licking and keep on ticking…

  7. I had that view of a Cobra once.
    Driving a convoy in War Games in N.C.
    I was the first truck after the Captains M151.
    I saw the blades sticking out from the trees, hit the air horns and stopped, but the Captain kept on.
    Then it swung out over the trail in front of me a hundred yards away and I was staring in to those rocket tubes.
    Never wanted that feeling again.

  8. AAron- That they have.

    Dammit- You’re welcome!

    Ed- Oh… NOT good! ๐Ÿ™‚

    Mrs.C- He probably worked on those engines! ๐Ÿ™‚

  9. I went to the museum and memorial in Bastogne last week. Very well done.

  10. The Huey being shown, is a”D”model. Notice the vertical station in the cargo bay. The photo below shows the pilots position. The side armor plate of the seat, was on a slider so it could be pulled forward and locked.
    The “chicken plate”, refers to the chest armor worn on every mission. It can be seen resting in the seat. Our gunner and crew chief sat on theirs.