The Huey UH-1H Was the Workhorse of Vietnam

The Huey UH-1H Was the Workhorse of Vietnam. "If you remember Vietnam, you remember the Bell UH-1H". The helicopter before you is a 1968 Bell Iroquois UH-1, serial number 68-16609. This helicopter was commonly called the Huey and was the workhorse of the Vietnam War for all American Service Branches and the Vietnamese Army., The markings on the nose and tall depicts how Huey's assigned to the 1st Air Cavalry Division, 229th Helicopter Battalion were marked. After Vietnam, this unit was headquartered at Fort Hood, Texas., On March 26, 1971 at Bein Hoa, Vietnam, a stand down ceremony was held bringing to an end to the sat Air Cavalry's tour in Vietnam of 66 months of continuous combat. On May 5, 1971, the 1st Air Cavalry, minus the 3rd Brigade, moved from Viet Nam to Fort Hood, Texas where it had been organized more than 55 years before., From 1968 till 1972 the records of this Huey were redacted by the military. After 1972 the Hoey was transferred from Ft. Hood to Fort Hood Richardson Alaska. In 1986, the helicopter was moved to a new home at Corpus Christi Army Depot, Texas. In 1987, the helicopter was assigned to the American Embassy in San Salvador. It served the embassy until 1990 when it returned to when it returned to Corpus Christi Army Depot for overhaul to prepare it for its next assignment at Jefferson, Missouri where it remained until retirement in 1994., This static display was made possible by many volunteers who donated their time, talents and money in order to honor the men and women veterans who served to make this country the world leader we are today. A special thanks goes to Joe Stewart and Bill James who spearheaded this restoration project., Crude, flying over Vietnam in a Bell UH-1 Huey meant a canvas seat in the back and hot, humid air whistling into the cabin around the pilots doors., Adaptable. Hang rockets on a Huey, grease pencil an "X" on the canopy to aim by, and it was a gunship. Load it with casualties and it was an air ambulance., Enduring. Today the Huey remains the most identifiable symbol of the Vietnam War, in everything from movies, where the noise of its rotors instantly sets the scene, to Broadway, where its silhouette represents the war on a Miss Saigon marquee., In Vietnam, the military helicopter graduated from an underdeveloped promise to a formidable weapon. Among its peers, which included the aging piston-powered H-19 and H-21, the HU-1, with its strong and reliable turbine engine, quickly earned a reputation for dependability and proved itself the best equipped helicopter to execute a new and mobile style of warfare., When the HU-1 went to Vietnam, it shed its given name, Iroquois, and took a moniker derived from the letters in its designation. Later, when the Department of Defense began using the Air Force naming standard, the letters were swapped and the helicopter became UH-1, but the nickname Huey stuck. Every branch of the US military would soon be flying the rugged and versatile helo, as would the air forces of South Vietnam, Australia, and Cambodia., But the cost of the helicopter war was high: The Army lost 2,249 to hostile fire, more than half of them Hueys, and 2,075 to accidents; the Marines lost 424 to all cases. Between 1966 and 1971, one Army helicopter was lost for every 7.9 sorties, 564 pilots, 1,155 crewmen, and 682 passengers were killed in accidents alone. More Hueys were downed in Vietnam than any other type of aircraft., During the Vietnam War over 7,000 Hueys were deployed and flew over 7.5 million flight hours with the vast majority in service with the Army. Over 3,000 were lost to combat operations along with over 2,700 pilots, crew, and passengers. Hueys evacuated more than 90,000 patients from the battlefield, greatly increasing the survival rate of soldiers wounded in combat. It is estimated that over 40,000 helicopter pilots served in Vietnam, most of them flying Hueys., (captions) , Photo from battle of Kham Duc, June 19, 1967., This was a common site in Vietnam. The Hueys arriving bringing in supplies and reinforcements and removing the injured and dead from the battlefields., The distinctive "womp womp" sound of the rotors of the Huey was music to the ears of the wounded or the soldiers who were planed down awaiting reinforcements, desperately needed supplies or ammunition., battalion motto , The insignia of the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion is dominated by a lightning bolt, indicative of the swiftness of the strike capabilities of the unit., The lightning bolt travels from upper left to lower right, showing the association of the unit with the 1st Cavalry Division., In the lower left, against a blue background is a silver sword, denoting combat. On the bottom of the crest is the "Winged Assault".