The ones flown by 1st Air Cav, late 1965-early 1966, I presume no armored seat for the pilot & co-pilot, probably have those protruding antenna mounts on the nose over the chin windows, what else might set them apart from later Ds?
Yes, the FM homing antennas were on the nose. There is also a pitot tube on the nose and not on the roof above the windshield, no towel bar antenna in front of the doghouse, and depending on how early you want to depict, the M60s were free 60s carried by the gunners and had a bungee cord or surgical rubber tubing to hang them from the roof. The M23 gunmount wasn’t seen until late '64 to early '65.
Typical UH-1Ds
This will be for my “Ancient Serpant 6” build, Winter 1965/1966. Thanks for the information on the antennaes & pitot tube, sir. Most photos that I could find of his mount(s) had the M23 gun mounts. But I do like the idea of the earlier bungee mounted 60s. How were those fed?
They were fed by a free ammo belt hanging out the side loosely.
Roger that! Thanks again.
Great Nam era pics!
From the pictures I have seen of Ia Drang ( I assume this is a We Were Soldiers inspired build) they had both M23 and free 60 armed birds. If you are building Ancient Serpent 6 based on the pic you posted above with the soldiers hopping on board though, she not only has the M23 system, but there are no nose mounted FM antennas. You can also clearly see the armored seats in that photo. I’m guessing it was taken after 66. The one below it is most likely from the battle and shows her with nose mounted FM Antennas and the M23 system. I have never seen really good photos of Ancient Serpent 6 from the Ia Drang battle where I could see the seats, but it isn’t unreasonable to think she had unarmored seats at that time. If have found some, please post them.
Ray
Edit: Assuming this photo is from immediately after the battle, Ancient Seerpet 6 did indeed have armored seats. Go to site HERE and see what you think.
Well, I wanted to build a Huey slick, and I thought that there would be none better to build than one of Col. Crandall’s mounts. I have been doing a bit of web research and it would appear that he flew several different Hueys, and that his crew chief would swap out the doors with his personal art work placing them on to which ever one he woud happen to be flying. Since his actions at Ia Drang in November 1965 are what he would be awared the MOH, I would prefer to do one of those birds. From what you are saying, it sounds like there is a little wiggle room on 60 mounts, and on the nose FM antennas. But it does sound like armored seats were carried in 1965?
All I can say for sure is that the armored seats were around at the time of or immediately after the battle. This photo is of one of the first UH-1C’s in country. It was taken at or around the time of Ia Drang by a CWO Parker of the 2/20th ARA which provided ARA (Aerial Rocket Artillery) support for the battle. You can clearly see this bird has armored seats.
Ray
Thank you sir! I think that I will err on the side of caution then and go with the armored seats.