Wow! What a trip Ft. Worth was! A couple of weeks ago I posted pics of two Academy 1/35th UH-1C’s, which I tried my best to convert to USMC UH-1E’s. Well, I painstakenly hand carried these in boxes on the plane to the USMC Combat Helicopter Assoc. reunion Aug 10th. I placed them for auction and both netted $200.00 dollars each to be given to their Scholarship program. Met some really great heroes there. The assoc began in 1985 just as one former Marine helo pilot was watching a news story about the 10th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. He got to thinking and tracked down a couple of other Vietnam pilots and asked, “what have you been doing?” Well, a few of them got together that summer in Vegas, and it just grew from there. It evolved from pilots only, eventually to combat aircrewman as well. Until only this year, it was limited toVietnam Marine helo crews. In an effort to infuse new young blood into the organization, it is now open to any Marine helo pilot/aircrewman who flew in combat in any war/campaign/expedition. These guys are great and really appreciate the guys in Iraq and Afganistan right now. They are at popasmoke.org.
I had many people ask me to make them a model plaque, so I pretty much have my next two years booked up!
Glad your hard work met with success! Those were some good looking models! I’ve been trying to find the time and effort to build a couple for my Unit Reunions. 174th AHC have been meeting for about 14 years now down in Ft. Walton Beach, FL. Thanks for sharing!
Heloguy
Great support to those guys, by any chance did you take any pics of your kits.
Jose
Way to go Helo guy! [tup]
Hey Mel,
A buddy of mine flew slicks with the 173rd AHC Robinhoods…were they ever stationed near you? and were you a Shark or a Dolphin?
Hey thanks Jose,
I did take some pics, I posted them in the forum about three weeks ago under “UH-1E” pics. I wish I could post them here, but if you scroll back I think you can find them. I was curious about your name, “Firehawk Ordie.” Was it you that made that awesome Firehawk with the scratchbuilt tank some time ago? I have a friend who works for LACo Fire on those and the 412’s, maybe you know him. That was a really nice custom job.
Heloguy
No I didn’t build that Firehawk, great model though. I am a reservist in the Navy and am assigned to HCS-5 “Firehawks” I’m an Ordnanceman “Ordie” for short.
Jose
Papa Echo,
I don’t remember the 173rd AHC being stationed at Chu Lai while we were there. I was actually in the Maint. Section of the 174th AHC, the Witch Doctors. I was the Maint. Bird Crew Chief.
You kept them flying and that was not always easy and like the chow dogs and spoons for the most part they respected you guys…hey they had to…I sure wouldn’t want my FE cranky and have the tranny come off it supports, loose (all) hydro, oil pressure in mid flight!
THANKS FOR SERVING Mel!
Thats great to hear. They were some good looking birds. If anybody wants to check out the pics they are in the the gallery section at www.CustomHobbyDecals.com I did the checkerboard decals on the front of the bird.
Steve