I’m having a friendly argument with a guy at work about the blade tip colors for combat helos. I thought that even in combat AOs the tips were still painted yellow or some bright color. But he says there’s no markings what so ever . We are specificly talking about a MH-6J Littlebird but in general who’s right?
Depends on the aircraft and when you are talking about. Modern AH-6Js do not have any colored tips. Neither do UH-60s, Cobras, Apaches, or UH-1Ns, etc., etc. Vietnam era and through early 1980s(ish), practically all helos had brightly colored tips of some bright color, usually yellow. Combat zone or not did not matter, it was standard practice for colored tips.
I know that the new Eurocopter Tigres that have just entered service for the Australian Army have yellow tips, but then again, they havnt been used in combat yet, so might change…
Chris in Japan
Chris, combat or not, point is that US has gone away from them. Has nothing to do with combat. Realized they weren’t really serving a purpose and it made the aircraft stick out like a sore thumb on the ground. Not too may bright orange or yellow squares in nature.
Last time I saw painted blade tips (T/R padels) were on some AH-1’s in the 11ACR back in '91. Other than a few UH-60’s at Rucker, I’m fairly sure all line birds have black blade tips.
The MH-6. If you are painting it tactical (US Army Helo Green) then no, there will be no colored tips. If you are painting it a non tac color scheme (such as the white/ navy blue I saw in Baghdad) then you will have two white stripes at the tips. Unfortunately they never let me get close enough to measure dimensions and when I did see them up close, I was on an Observation Post and he was in the air so that was a slightly inconvinient time to do so.
MH/AH-6s in 160 SOAR are painted flat black, not helo drab. If you saw one of the white and navy blue ones, it was not US Army. Most likely was one of the Blackwater Security birds (CIA front company, kind of like Air America was in Vietnam). The Blackwater birds should have had an N number on it as well, and is not a MH-6 or AH-6, but a Hughes/ MD530 civilian version, that is why the blades have yellow/ white colored tips, still required by FAA regs for civilian aircraft.
Plus they have the pointed nose.
Yep. Blackwater flies MD530s with pointy noses. Neat birds.
Everything I’ve seen says that blade warning stripes were done away with right around 1990. As far as I can tell, AH-64s and AH/MH-6s never carried them. The only MH-6s that might carry them are the MH-6Cs that SOAR uses as training birds. These are original OH-6As that have been re-engined with the much more powerful Little Bird engine.
Jon’s right. I’ve got a pic of an MH-6C and one of it’s four blades has an orange tip. I’ll try to get it scanned ASAP.
Tip colors were originally a safety factor for those working around turning blades which make sense in a peace time enviornment but not in combat.
Amazing what you can learn here, isn’t it? I think I’ll just tip the chair back and soak up all the knowledge that gets shared. Don’t mind me, I’m not sleeping, just listening.
LJ,
Mind if I pull up a chair and join you? [8D]
Gino
they may be black now, but they weren’t always black
Yes, some of the early ones were Heli Drab green, but the above two look black to me and they haven’t been green for some time.
Gino
they may look black, but if you click on the bottom photo and look(have to take a close look) at the lettering on the tailboom you will see UNITED STATES ARMY in black not OD. Part of the problem with helo drab is that under some lighting conditions it does look black
Sorry, gotta disagree. Still think they are flat black. The markings on the flat black Littlebirds is a semi-gloss black. Against the faded (grayish) flat black, it still shows up as black. That is just how the ones I saw up close at Hunter AAF, Georgia, home of 160th SOAR, looked.
I know the Marine helo blades these days are usually flat black with the occasional white stenciling to mark center of balance for changing out rotor blades (like on the CH-53Es), but nothing on the tips. Over time, like in Iraq and Afghanistan, the leading edges with wear and show the metallic base. Sand has a pretty good tendency to wear out paint.[:D]
(Having sat next to Albymoore and LemonJello for some time[;)] )
About the age old controversy Are US Army Helo’s Black Or Just Very Dark Green: there has been a lengthy discussion on this at the ARC-forum as well. Interesting stuff (although I know that some (many?) on this forum are on the ARC-forum as well).
I must say that, although I always was ‘on the black side’ of this subject, I accidently discovered that combining Revell Olive yellowish (!) green with a dull Revell Clear finish results in a colour that my wife and daughter describe as black, until they see it in bright light when a glimpse of green appears to peek through the black.
Please continue, while I join LJ and Am again.[8D]
Gertjan
PS: none of my family members have a history of colour blindness[;)]
To clear up any confusion. Normal US Army helos are painted a very dark green called Helo Drab. They are green though. The only US Army helos that are painted black are those operated by the 160th Special Operationations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), named the Nightstalkers. All the 160th SOAR helos are painted flat black.