I am interested in the Marine Cobras that escorted the TRAP team that recovered Scott O’Grady out of Bosnia in 1995. I have out that they were from HMLA-269, launched from USS Kearsarge, but am having trouble finding any photos of the Cobras involved at that time. Can anybody here steer me in the right direction?
Some info…
“On June 6, 1995, two Gunrunner cobras, assigned to HMM-263 and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit escorted two CH-53E’s from the USS Kearsarge to successfully rescue Air Force Captain Scott O’Grady. During this deployment, HMLA-269 also became the first squadron to deploy the new Night Targeting System on all of its Cobras; effectively adding increased combat compatibility to the forward deployed forces.”
Also, this is a pic of HMLA-269 aircraft and crew/groundcrews from Aug 15, '98. It shows the standard two-tone gray camo.
I think it is safe to assume all the HMLA-269 AH-1Ws were NTS versions and in two-tone gray by that time. Here is one from the Paris Airshow in June '95. It isn’t from HMLA-269, but is representative of W’s from that time period.
More info…
"The Gunrunners, tail code HF, were activated February 22, 1971 as HMA-269 equipped with AH-1J SeaCobras. They transition to the AH-1T in 1977. In 1986 is redesignated HMLA-269 with the reception of the UH-1N Twin Huey and the AH-1W variant of the Super Cobra. "
That should get you pretty close. Good luck.
Yup, that is pretty much what I have been able to turn up during my searching, except for those photos. Thank you for those, sir. Now if Ican get an ideaof the loadout carried for that mission, I will be in business. I have the MRC AH-1W NTS kit already. Two Bobs makes decals for HMLA-269 on their “Whiskeys in the Mix” set.
Wow HeavyArt - you are the man!
I had a good (exceedingly good) look around & couldn’t come up with anything other than a couple of pics with of the CH’s…
You would be pretty safe going with a loadout of TOWs (double stacked, 4 per side) outboard and 7-shot rocket pods inboard on both sides. That was pretty much the standard loadout at that time.
I did see one photo from roughly that time period of a W with two TOWs on one side and two Hellfires on the other, plus the inboard pylons 7 shot 2.75" pods that looked pretty cool, but the quad TOWs do sound more probable.
I fired off an email to Col. Scott Mykleby, USMC(ret). He was the lead AH-1W pilot on that mission. I am curious about this too, as I have one of these in my stash and have thought more than once about doing this same thing. I believe that the HF tail code would not have been carried, as everything I am seeing shows me that the detachment of aircraft would have used the tail code of whatever unit they were seconded to. Hopefully I will hear back something soon, and will post any updates that I receive here. I asked him if he would be willing to share the bu.no. from his logbook, the tail code that would have been carried, whether or not this was a NTS bird yet, and what loadout they carried. Will update as I have anything.
Oh that would be SWEET! Thanks in advance.
Did you ever get an answer to this? I’m pretty sure that the 269 squadron history from wikipedia quoted above is wrong and that they didn’t have NTS AH-1Ws on the 24th MEU deployment. The first NTS hit the East Coast in Feb 1995 and the first East Coast MEU deployment with NTS wasn’t until 269’s next deployment with the 26th MEU in 1996.
If I were a betting man (which I am - any takers?) I’d go with non-NTS Cobras, HMM-263 tail letters and 30 or 40 series side numbers. Beyond that, if no one can produce pictures, who is going to call you on it? For ordnance, I wouldn’t rule out an aux tank since it was a 180nm + round trip.
Nope, nothng more than you have read here
F-8Fanatic, did you ever hear back on your letter about this subject?
Guys, sorry for the delay, I just heard back from the Colonel this afternoon. Here’s what he told me…
1–the tail code on both Cobras was EG, as they were detatched to HMM-263 as part of the 24th MEU.
2–Lead a/c used call sign Bolt 41, and carried the side number 41. Unsure at this time what side number the wingman carried.
3–Bureau #, he is checking for me on this, he recalls that the first three were 160 but does not know the rest off hand. Again, for the lead aircraft. My research shows this cannot be correct, however, since the very first Lot I AH-1W model carried bu.no. 162532, and as far as I am aware, the only AH-1s that carried 160- numbers were T models.
4–Loadout–Bolt 41 carried the following:
Outboard Left–100 gallon aux fuel tank
Inboard Left–LAU-68 7-shot rocket pod carrying flechette rockets
Inboard right–LAU-68 7-shot pod carrying HE rockets
Outboard Right–TOW missile launcher carrying two TOW missiles
Also carried a full load of chaff and flares in the ALE-39 dispensers mounted on top of the stub wings.
Wingman’s loadout was the same except that in place of the TOW launcher, wingman carried an additional LAU-68 pod carrying white phosphorous rockets in case they had to do any FAC work, marking targets for the AV-8B’s to take out during the rescue.
Both a/c carried 500 rounds of HEI ammo for the gun.
5–as someone already said, they did not have any NTS birds at that point. The two a/c both had the standard TOW sight unit mounted in the nose.
Wish I could get that bureau number for you, hopefully he will get back to me as promised. In the meantime, this is as close as I can get you for now. Hope this helps.
Thank you very much! Yes the information is helpful until the NTS portion was quashed. That is the kit I have. But if I can get an older one I will do this bird. It is one that I WANT to do. Thanks again!
Want to issue a correction–the bu. no. could very well be 160—…it seems that there were 179 new-build Whiskeys and 43 W’s that were actually upgraded T models, so it could be one of those upgraded T’s. Waiting to hear back from him, will post here as soon as I do.
No worries. But for a combat NTS W, looks like I am going for OEF, or OIF?
So what was the answer to the original question? Was it grey, black/green/grey, or black/grey?
Yes all surviving T’s were rebuilt into Ws so there were 159XXX and 160XXX bunos on Ws. As far as I know you’ll never see a T in a museum or boneyard - that is why walkarounds of them are so hard to find.