October 12th, 2024
8minute read
Its really expensive to teach somebody to fly a modern military aircraft.
Im the luckiest guy in the world.
I was fortunate enough to fly four.
According to the author, the Boeing CH-47D is big, fast, inimitably powerful, and beautiful in a fat, ugly-sort of way. He stated it’s arguably the coolest aircraft he flew in the Army.
Back in World War II, single-engine and multi-engine made a difference but not too much.
I have known of guys who bounced fromP-40 WarhawkstoSupermarine Spitfiresto P-47 Thunderbolts as the need arose.
Nowadays the process is much more formalized.
The author found the Bell UH-1H Iroquois was a reliable platform. Flying the Huey was like driving a minivan that would do 143 miles per hour and turn on a dime.
I flew Hueys in theU.S.
I kind of fell into Cobras.
However, with a fair amount of stick time in four different helicopters, heres how they compare.
A U.S. Marine Corps UH-1 variant delivers supplies to a unit during the Vietnam War. Image: U.S.M.C.
The controls all move the same way and do similar things.
Flying the UH-1H Huey
Everybody who has ever flown one adores the Huey.
Imagine flying an SUV.
United States Army soldiers jump out of a Huey during a training exercise in 1976. Image: NARA
Theres an art to doing this well.
Once you break ground, the UH-1 naturally wants to hover in ground effect at about three feet.
While at a hover, the cyclic is shockingly sensitive.
Members of the 1st Cavalry Division deploy from UH-1 Iroquois helicopters during an exercise in 1975. Image: NARA
However, the Huey is big enough to dampen some of that out.
Nudge the cyclic left, and the aircraft slides left.
Nudge it back to arrest the slide.
An AH-1 Cobra helicopter flies over several UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters at Point Salines Airfield during Operation Urgent Fury in 1983. Image: NARA
The pilots in a Huey sit side-by-side and share the work.
The pilot-in-command (PIC) sits on the right and has a better set of flight instruments.
The cockpit of a Huey is fairly spacious and roomy.
A U.S. Army AH-1 Cobra helicopter gunship participates in Exercise Solid Shield during 1987. Image: NARA
Striking the Enemy in a AH-1S Cobra
The original Cobra was designed around the Huey chassis.
The S-models I flew were heavier and more powerful than the Vietnam-era Gs.
However, the aircraft still flies much like a Huey, only faster.
Tankers give hand signals from M60 main battle tanks during a field training exercise. Two AH-1 Cobra helicopters are hovering overhead. Image: NARA
It also seems unnaturally skinny.
The two pilots sit one in front of the other in a Snake.
The aircraft does not feel much wider than your shoulders.
A U.S. Army OH-58 Kiowa Warrior flies over Forward Operating Base Frontenac, Afghanistan. Image: Tech. Sgt. Francisco V. Govea II/U.S. Air Force
As a result, it is more aerodynamic and slipperier than a UH-1.
The slab-sided nature of the fuselage makes the Cobra want to fly straight.
All helicopters do that, but I recall the Cobra being more pronounced in that regard.
OH-58 helicopters from 137th Aviation Regiment, South Dakota Army National Guard, fly by Mount Rushmore. Image: U.S. Army
The PIC sits in the back and slightly higher than the front seat.
The second pilot runs the weapons from the front.
Relative to the Huey, the Cobra is a big, heavy machine.
A team from the 4/319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment prepares a howitzer to be slingloaded by a chinook during a 2009 training exercise in Grafenwoehr, Germany. Image: U.S. Army
It does not feel as nimble as the UH-1H.
It is also rather badly underpowered, particularly with lots of ordnance under hot and high conditions.
If the ammo bay is filled with ammunition there is no place to put personal gear, either.
CH-47 Chinook helicopter crewmembers deliver fuel during a simulated jump fueling and re-arming point (FARP) exercise at Hohenfels Training Area, Germany. Image: Sgt. Gregory T. Summers/U.S. Army
Regardless, the view, particularly from the front seat over that stubby little nose, is simply spectacular.
The Cobra is also the only aircraft I flew with an air conditioner, which is no small thing.
OH-58A/C The Airborne Motorcycle
The OH-58 is like a three-dimensional motorcycle.
U.S. Army Paratroopers assigned to 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) conduct a training jump from a CH-47 Chinook. Image: Visual Information Specialist Gertrud Zach/U.S. Army
Flying that thing single pilot with the doors off is a rush like none other.
The controls on the Huey and Cobra are sensitive, but those of the OH-58 are positively ethereal.
There was no harm done, but it scared the bejeebers out of me.
The author (at front) wanted to fly gunship helicopters like this one since he was a little kid. Reality did not disappoint him.
The OH-58, particularly the A-model, is also rather badly underpowered.
However, when flown low and fast without much of a load it was just a joy.
Cell towers would make that harder today, but what a rush.
If you were paying taxes back in 1992, sincerely and from my heart, thanks.
Those two massive Lycoming turboshaft engines churn out an aggregate 9,000 shaft horsepower.
Think four P-47 Thunderbolts.
Conventional helicopters sacrifice a portion of their engine power to drive the tail rotor.
Thanks to the Chinooks contra-rotating design, every drop of that go juice goes into flying.
Unlike the other aircraft I flew, the twin rotor Chinook was exceptionally resistant to crosswinds and tailwinds.
It also looks simply spectacular to bystanders.
We always flew Chinooks operationally with two pilots, a crew chief, and flight engineer.
That in itself made for a unique aviating experience.
The crew dogs were our indispensable eyes in confined spaces or while managing slingloads externally.
Coming from OH-58s, I thought having four people on board the aircraft might feel cluttered or burdensome.
However, operating the machine as a coordinated crew was immensely satisfying.
The CH-47D is also exceptionally fast.
It is also just as comfortable flying NOE on the deck as is the OH-58.
The left-sided collective control in a Chinook is called the thrust lever and does something similar.
However the two separate engine condition levers on the CH-47 come down from the cockpit ceiling.
The twin-engine Chinook was a much more complicated machine to fly.
However, it was, if anything, the most fun of the four.
Flying different tactical helicopters was not unlike driving different types of cars.
Aeroscouts were pure unfiltered fun, and Hueys just dripped nostalgia.
Gunships were cool, but you only rarely got to perform your wartime mission.
Vive la difference…
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