great heli. I remember being QRF cmdr in Cookstown NI in 1993. I got re tasked and Gazelle came in to pick me up. I was amazed to see pilot with Para smock and 2 Para dz flash. He had transfered to army air corps! I had a brilliant low level flight. Respect.
...I graduated from 67N class in Rucker in the summer of 1975 - a year after I got back from Germany (as an 11E) - I joined an aviation unit out of Westfield, NJ as was lucky to be sent to Rucker...I still missed the military lifestyle...at 73 I still love the sounds and smells of Hueys (or Loaches) starting up and taking off...
@PatrickVillers, actually they beat the air into submission…..lol 😂….I worked and flew on commercial versions of these great helos , for the SanDiego Sheriffs dept. Bell B205A1++, Bell 406’s, MD 369, MD 530s….never got old…truly amazing, yes..
Part of my childhood was spent in Fort Campbell, (Kentucky, USA). I was in love with the helicopters, and always stopped to watch whenever one or more went flying overhead, (which was all the time). I'm almost 60 now, and to this day, the sound of the two-rotor Bell Huey and Cobra is lovely to me. We also spent time in Ft. Wainwright, AK, and the orange tail on this OH-6 reminds me of the fact that all the CH-47 Chinooks in AK had their transmission housings (whatever they call them) painted orange, even though the rest of the craft was normal olive drab. I always wondered why they used this highly visible color, and no one seemed to know.
Huey crew chief 1968-75. Best years of my life. The two best aircraft ever. Was helping launch a loach into Laos from Khe Sanh and pilot gestured me closer to say something. Was skid light and it shifted enough to land on toe of my boot for a few seconds as we were talking. A good pinch but no injury. Owed me a beer later. Huey sitting at Ft Fisher MWR museum at Ft Fisher NC. Just rotting away and have tried to get help for it to no avail. See it about once a month.
The nostalgia is strong here. I grew up in Shropshire, England, and used to hear these all the time around the airbase at RAF Shawbury and near the training camp at MOD Nesscliffe. It's like 1997 all over again.
Here in Cyprus there is a UN Huey that patrols the green line (cease fire border) on a regular basis and I can hear it coming and passing by. The Hughes due to the 5 bladed rotor has a smoother faster beat and is more versatile and comes past here too.
I graduated from Rucker class 80-39 back in April of 1981, and to this very day, I still get heart palpitations at the sound of both of these aircraft. Once you've been bitten by the "BUG", there's NO GOING BACK to normal!
