Sikorsky UH-34D "Ugly Angel" YL-37 helicopter take-off 

Richard, I flew with Ugly Angels in 1966 too. I arrived on orders with Lt. Mike Carley, who was KIA about 10 miles from Nui Loc Son, where I was the Forward Air Controller for Fox Company, 2/1 by 1967. Great squadron--the best! Semper fi! Virginia Senator Dick Black, Colonel (Ret.)

Thank you for your service

@@richardblack3884 my grandfather brother died in Vietnam war and we are vietnamese

My father, Dock Pegues, flew these in Vietnam as a Marine, very cool looking Helicopter

Thank you for your service. My grandfather served in the Marines and fought in Korea.

Ron Nisbet Sr. Thank you for your service.

Get some get some....

same squadren, 1966-7 also with themin phu bai

me too HMM362 65-67

Me too. HMM-364. Ky-Ha. 65-66.

Back in 'Nam, man...

I'm sorry that it happened but very great full to those who did their part. I have a number of friends who come from excommunist countries and their stories are savage

Thank you for that. When my son was 6 (he was born in 95) he came crying to me and said “Daddy I don’t want to go to war. I don’t want to get drafted”. Almost killed me that my son had to even think about it. I did my best to convince him he had absolutely nothing to worry about. It’s a crime that the government sent sons like mine to die for absolutely nothing. They’ve been sending kids to die every since without any victories or reasons for it but a lot of people made a lot of money doing it. Our soldiers deserve to enjoy those spoils of war and I wish I knew how to make it happen for them.

We were at war with Laos?

@@boathemian7694 MACV-SOG and other such operations conducted missions in Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam, but it was all CIA top secret kind of stuff. Lots of the SF teams that were apart of MACV-SOG, traveled in helicopters like this and not the Huey's, not too often anyways.

@@guardsmengunner yeah that was a rhetorical question, I was Marine Recon myself.

@@boathemian7694 Well, you would be surprised how many people don’t actually now that we were in Laos, my bad.

@@boathemian7694 If you've not heard of him, Jocko Willink has a podcast with King Bee pilot Nguyen Quy An (episode 259), as well as interviewing other SOG guys on previous shows. jockopodcast.com/2020/12/08/259-when-the-call-comes-you-go-w-south-vietnamese-kingbee-pilot-capt-nguyen-quy-an/

Well art do you have any extra patches that were made in Saigon from back in the day ?Yes I'm salivating a little!☺

arthur fanning that’s a great story, these are such influential aircraft and your anecdote only adds to the history. Great stuff.

@Hoy Sum The engine is a Wright R-1820-84D of 1525 hp. This type also propels B-17 Flying Fortresses and proved its reliability many times during WW II. But the bombers are equipped with turbo chargers to keep their power at high altitudes whereas super chargers are used for these helicopters. That's why a B-17 in flight sounds smooth and sonorously while the S-58s/H-34s roar and rattle like most aero radials with open pipes do.

I was at MCAF Santa Ana in 1968-69 after returning to U.S. from Vietnam, HMM362/363, assigned toHMM561 until discharged 3/69

bruno640 you're still a youngster young man.

Were they preferred to the Hueys? Could they carry the same number of troops?

@@mebeasensei, the Marine Corps used Hueys as "gunships", with M60's and rocket pods, while using the larger Seahorse UH-34's as transports. The largest helicopter used was the CH-46 Sea Knight, which was smaller than the CH-47 Chinook which the Army used, and had twin rotors with a back ramp hatchway. Haven't the foggiest as to why the Corps chose each type for it's role, but that was how it was for us.

Mike Ransom and Costello were friends of mine, I was also in their squadron 1966/7 HMM362...Was in school with Mike Memphis Tn 1965 NAS school

I flew one for two years in Germany in US ARMY H34 When I got out I bought one. A German aircraft that was stationed very close to where I was stationed while in Germany My aircraft was converted from the H 34 to a S58E I named it EGOR and flew it nearly 20 years We crop dusted with it in California , fought wildland fires for about 10 seasons , flew it to Alaska and unloaded fishing tenders in dillingham Alaska , built power-line towers With it at Talkeetna Alaska , flew fuel with it to gold mines near Fairbanks , hauled houses with it near Dall Creek , which was above the Artic circle in the winter , recovered 28 wrecked aircraft with it near dillingham , then flew it back to California where we made some really powerful Reno Air Race modifications to its CR R 1820 84D engine giving it aprox 2000 hp then fought wildland fires with it for several more seasons This was the most reliable aircraft that always brought us home safely no mater the weather or conditions I hope to find it some day and restore it back to its pristine condition that I kept it in Dave Mahrt. EGOR

+mnpd3 Flying in this would be so scary to me though. If anything in that lots-of-moving-parts -type of engine would break, the whole thing would come down like a rock :o

+metelidrummer not really, auto-rotation is a good thing.

vector6977 Hmm what do you mean?

metelidrummer As long as the rotor blades keep turning at a certain RPM, the pilot will be able to make a controlled descent.

vector6977 Aa, I see. I had no idea something like that could be done :d

last time I think I saw that bird may have been Dong Ha

R 1820 -82 engine. rode one in 1966 CCN.

+dennis trident william so many things wrong with what you just said. 1st answer me this, what is the definition of a radial engine? When you answer that I will take my apology without the sarcasm.

+dennis trident william and when your done looking that up look of the definition of an idiot.

Super & Rudolph, A radial engine has it's cyliderscylinders arranged in a circle around the crank shaft. Any piston engine is also a reciprocating engine. And, if you ignore the transmission and blade clutch, gear boxes, and U-joints, the UH34d tail rotor is connected directly to the engine. If I remember my specs correctly the tail rotor is spinning eight times as fast as the main rotor.

hobo master42 Also BTW it is a Piston Engine the Radial Engine uses pistons so it is considered PISTON ENGINE

Yup, the engine-rotor clutch has a hydraulic coupling like an automatic transmission, but it doesn't have different gear speeds. There is only a single "gear ratio" between the engine and rotor (about 11.3 to 1, I think), but the nature of the clutch allows their relative speeds to vary. Once the engine and rotor speeds are in the correct ratio, the hydraulic coupling has a mechanical "lockup" which engages to provide a direct mechanical connection, for more efficient operation. The clutch also has a freewheeling feature so that it will automatically disengage if the engine speed drops below a certain point, allowing the rotor to freewheel if the engine fails. This is needed to allow a safe emergency landing via "autorotation", in which the rotor keeps spinning and the helicopter's forward speed and height are used to give the rotor enough energy to slow and safely cushion the landing.

@@colindhowell Thanks for the precise explanation - sometimes something just nags until you have the answer!

First flew in 1954 and served the military until sometime in the 80's. My company used one a year ago to lift an AC unit onto a roof the cranes couldn't reach. It was the helo used in the Verizon commercials. So they're still working today.

hokanut Anything flying after the 70's is more then likely an S-58T which has 2 gas turbine engines and a number of other upgrades instead of the old air cooled radial. They can lift a lot more and are less maintenance intensive.

kblackav8or Makes sense. Reliability is certainly a plus while lifting. Looks like we're changing out another unit on that same roof in Temecula, Ca.soon. No doubt will have to hire the helo again. I'll be sure to ask the crew.

hokanut You should give CHI Aviation a call or Helimax. This sort of thing is their specialty and they are flying more modern equipment.

kblackav8or Thanks, I'll pass that along. Sure do love watching the Choctaw fly though.

Wasn't the R-1820 used in the F-4F Wildcat or was it the R-1830? My uncle flew B-17G's which had Wright Cyclones I think we're R-1850 or something like. It would have been cool to have R-2800s put on a H-34 and it might have gone 200 mph or faster.

Not a transmission between the engine and rotor, but clutch, you have to drop the engine RPM to engage the clutch, also when you do a magneto check on the engine it will also sound like that.

I think theres a 2 speed gearbox

Transmission with fluid torque converter. First stage pilot revs the engine then turns on oil feed pump to the torque converter as the converter couples you hear the engine load down and the rotor begins turning. Second stage engine revs to maximum while converter continues to speed up rotor.. Then oil feed pump is switched off and engine rpm down to high idle, as the converter drains out a direct clutch is applied the 'gear shift' noise heard, engine revs are then increased as needed for ground idle or flight. These design engineers were brilliant.

Thanks!

YL38 was assigned to HMM362,,,correct, I was there 1966/7

No. It doesn't shift gears.

gearbox, no gear shift, not a truck engine, 9cylinder radial engine

I think the smoke comes from burning excess engine oil that's collected in the cylinders (not so much as to cause hydraulic lock, of course). So if the engine hasn't been sitting too long since its last run, as in this case (it was leaving after just having visited a school), there's not going to be much oil to burn and create smoke.

+CHICKEN SALAD when the rpm's of the rotors are at a certain ratio to the frame rate of the video, it creates the illusion that they're not moving. They're actually moving very fast; it's just a result of the video.

+CHICKEN SALAD It's just a video frame rate issue.

Bob Smith I don't get it. Why do the other top blades twist so smoothly, yet that back one keeps stalling out. Wouldn't that not work if they were skyborn?

+CHICKEN SALAD It's just an optical illusion. It is just a smooth as the other ones. It isn't stalling out.

Bob Smith Yeah but I watched this video 20 times and I don't get it. If the video was being recorded with a VHS style tape, not digital, then the frame rate of the video has no bearing on what is displayed because of the frames per second. But that's just my opinion. I think the tail blades were stalling out.

+Tim Short I'd imagine this noise would haunt him. Hopefully in a good way.

assasing

in order to kill peapol

False. Robinson puts out so many piston helicopters it would be more accurate to say 70-80%.