You’re welcome, Andy and thans for the other picture of “Big Mother”. I have never seen that one.
Hello Guys!
I am glad to see that interest in the unusual has spread from Hueys to other vietnam choppers as well! I think we all eagerly await Jon’s Cobra pics 
So, to give You something to do while we wait I got a couple of pics that might be of interest to You. First some addtional info on the ‘‘Big Mother’’. She was a CH-54A 67-18418 and, as previously noted, in service with 478th HHC. I found a colour version of the photo of Big Mother being prepped for bombing mission. The photo was taken in 1968 at Da Nang.
And a couple of rather dramatic images of ‘‘Excedrin Headache’’ on its way towards the target. I did some digging and apparently the whole idea didn’t live up to expectations as bombing accuracy wasn’t really good and only one of the four bombs dropped by the Big Mother produced a usefull clering for a LZ. Nevertheless, the sight of that thing going off must have been spectacular…
Now, from the biggest to the smallest I found a couple of pics of the Loach with the door mounted mini. As far as I can tell it is the same system as the one depicted in Andy’s post. The OH-6A ‘‘Borrowed Time’’ was in service with the D troop 3rd Squadron 4th Cavalry (the Centaurs). Note the addition of M60 flash suppressors to the minigun barrels. Hope this pics will help anybody who decides to build this one-of-a-kind Loach.
Enjoy,
Marko
Marko,
WOW!!!
Where the hell do you find your pics lol?? i want in on the secret [:D]. Either you have a search engine over there in Slovenia that none of us have ever heard of,or you have insider information [;)].
Great pictures mate [tup], Thanks for sharing the results of the hard work you have so obviously put in to your helicopter research.
Awsome stuff.
Andy.
(PS. The OH-6 in the door mounted Minigun picture i posted was from the 25th Avn Bn and called “Diamondhead” i dont have any tail number info… sorry. But i think we can safely say that we have a two-of-a-kind loach now).
The cranes were new to the 1st Cav in 1964, records indicate 4-6 airframes were in use in 1965-66. As more cranes became available new companies were raised, the 273rd and 355th. By 1968 it appears that each company may have had as many as 9 airframes each. The 478th was split between the 1st Cav and the 101st Abn Divisions with 4 aircraft each. The 159th Avn Bn supported the cranes within the 101st Div.
Chief Snake
Thanks for the new photo’s of Big Mother and the additional info.
OK, here are a couple of Seasprite photo’s
Tested by the Army in the early 60’s as a gunship, another nearly identical model competed against the Cobra, but lost in the later 60’s
Another testbed SeaSprite.
These aircraft were returned to the manufacter after testing. Please note they did not serve in Vietnam
Grandad,
Nice pics! I thought I might add a few others of armed AH-2’s
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Here’s 9786 before it’s Army paint job:
All of the above are courtesy of the Army Aviation Museum archives.
Ray
Man! I get in the car for a couple hours and you guys steal my thunder! I was gonna start off with pics of the AH-2!
Oh well. After dinner I’ll throw up some coooooool AH-1 pics. [:P]
Jon
Jon,
I gave you a nice opening to post those UH-2 pics, but you disappeared and Grandad put his up so I HAD to put mine up too! Sorry about that, but it sounded as if you had Cobras on your brain , not Seasprites!
Ray
No worries Ray!
That was said very tongue-in-cheek!
Anyhow, here are a couple pics, as promised. The first one is N209J, the prototype Cobra, although not as you’re used to seeing her. This configuration was done in the early 70s to test out the TOW missile system on the Cobra. From what I know, it didn’t have any live missile systems on it, just mockups of the pods, sensors and gun.
The next two are my favorites, and as Chief Snake can attest, I’m a bit hooked on these two. The first is the CONFICS (CObra Night Fighter Imaging Combat System) AH-1G, which took the Huey INFANT system and modded it for the Snake. The second is the SMASH (Southeast-asia Multisensor Armament System Helicopter) Cobra that took night fighting to the next level.
Jon
Jon, interesting photo’s and I didn’t mean to steal your thunder, I envey you and Ray for havibg the time to go through those archives at the Museum. Hope someday to get back there myself. When I was there in 68, it wasn’t much of a museum then, just a small chain-linked fensed enclosure with a few aircraft in it. Our instructors always told us to go down there and see the old CH-21 since it was the only place we would see them. Went to Korea and quess what, they still had a whole company of them there
Hey guys,
I’m sorry if that came off as me being mad, I meant nothing of the sort! I was just kidding around. I’d been researching the AH-2 testbed a bit and was thinking about posting those pics. They’re up for everyone to enjoy, that’s what counts!
Now here’s an intersting bird, just cuz you don’t see many of these with the armament kit.
OH-58A 69-16114 served with HHB, 4th Infantry Division DIVARTY and later had a brief stint with D Troop 1-10th Cav. Her whole time in Vietnam was spent in II Corps with the 4th ID.
Jon
Jon, I didn’t think you were mad, sorry if the tone of my post gave you that impression
Grandad and Jon,
I guess we’re going to have to use those darn emoticons![oX)]
Ray
[D)]
[tup]
nuff said!
Jon,
You want Cobras, here’s some Cobras:
First up is a repost of the cool bird I posted in the unusual cammo thread:
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As I said, she don’t look quite finished yet!
Next, anothe pic of N209J in her OD phase. Are those teeny little things on the wings rocket pods?:
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A couple more CONFICS pics. You probably have these as well since they were in the same set of pics as the one you posted:
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Finally, another picture of the SMASH cobra, this one has a mini and a thumper in the turret instead of the twin thumpers your bird had:
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I hope I didn’t steal anymore of your thunder![:-^]
Wow guys! Superb photos of unusual H-2s and AH-1Gs. Please keep 'em coming I’am especially interested in some cockpit shots of CONFICS and SMASH Cobras. Do You have any info on wheather any of these Night Fighter AH-1Gs were tested in Vietnam? According to my references they weren’t, but then again… The AN/AAQ-5 FLIR on SMASH AH-1Gs was tested on UH-1Ms in Vietnam integrated with the M21 subsystem as was the INFANT. Just to provide some additional info on the SMASH: the sensor pack included the nose mounted AN/AAQ-5 FLIR and AN/APQ-137 Moving Target Indicator Radar pod on the right outboard wing station.
Well, I got a couple of unusual or rare Vietnam birds. First a couple of HH-2C-a CSAR version of the Seasprite flown by the HC-7 Seadevils in Vietnam. It was fitted with armor and TAT-102K minigun turret for fire suppression. HH-2Cs of the HC-7 went under the callsign ‘‘Clementine’’.
And two shots of a AH-G of the D troop 3rd Squadron 5th Cavalry, tail No. unknown, that was used to test mk81 250lb bombs, October 1968. According to my info D/3/5 conducted several successfull drops, but the bombs would not detonate for reasons unknown (maybe the USAF provided them with duds [;)]). Anyway, not many photos of choppers armed with bombs around…
Marko
Marko,
From what I’ve been able to discern, CONFICS never made it to Vietnam, but SMASH did. I do have cockpit shots of the SMASH Cobra and will post em later today when I get home. I’ll be up at my unit in-processing for most of the day, but I’ll see what I can do tonight… and they’re color shots!
Jon
For all of you that have the Lindberg “Cobra” kit, the Model 209 here is what comes in the box…
David
Jon,
I did some some research into SMASH and CONFICS AH-Gs deployment to Vietnam and I keep getting contradictory information!?! For example, in Simon Dunstan’s ‘‘Vietnam Choppers: Helicopters in Battle 1950-1975’’ the author claims that both systems were deployed to Vietnam on experimental basis. However Mike Verier in his ‘‘Bell AH-1 Cobra’’ notes that neither of the systems lived up to expectations and were never deployed to Vietnam…[%-)] Anyway I can’t wait to see those cockpit shots
And a couple of images of a OH-6A 66-07915 of B troop 7th Squadron 17th Cavalry at Camp Enari, Vietnam in 1968; it was armed with XM27 minigun subsystem on the left side and a four-tube rocket launcher mounted on the right side. The rocket launcher was not an in-the-field modification but an experimental unit developed by the Rock Island Arsenal. Does anybody have any more info on this rare rocket system?
Marko
Marko,
Here’s another pic of the OH-6 rocket system. I know I have other pics, but I’ll have to dig for them. This one is from the Army Aviation Museum archives, and It has no info with it. Ray