UH-1H 67-17678, Vietnam Vet still going strong

MikeD

MikeD

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This is a neat story. Just a few months ago, a California man went to Montana to see and fly the exact same UH-1H Huey he last piloted in Vietnam, and he last saw after it getting shot down in Laos in 1971.

Following being recovered from where it was shot down in Vietnam, 67-14678 returned to the USA, was rebuilt and served longer in the active US Army, later being transferred to the Oklahoma National Guard, before finally being retired to the boneyard. Purchased from the AZ boneyard, 67-17678, a 1967 model UH-1H, became N458CC on the FAA register and flies firefighting operations in the northwest US. Besides being shot down in Laos during the Vietnam War, it's crashed while performing spraying operations in Alabama, as well as having another accident near Yellowstone, MT; each time being repaired and returned to airworthiness.

Very interesting story here:

The Laotian hilltop where hundreds of shattered and bleeding South Vietnamese troops had swarmed in a desperate huddle waiting for U.S. helicopters to rescue them March 19, 1971, was suddenly deserted and quiet.

Pilot Roger D. Riley, a California boy flying his third sortie through a virtual shooting gallery in the jungle below, had barely touched down when an enemy soldier popped out of a foxhole a dozen feet away. Before Riley’s door gunner could cut him in half with 100 rounds from his M60, the man from the People’s Army of Vietnam raked Riley’s Bell UH-1H Iroquois utility helicopter from tail rotor to nose, emptying the magazine of his Russian-made AK-47.

“I was amazed that only three bullets out of 30 in the magazine hit us,” Riley said nearly 40 years later on the eve of his reunion in Billings with his old warship.

On Saturday, Riley saw her for the first time since he bid his crippled helicopter farewell on an airfield in what was then South Vietnam.

The helicopter, now with a new civilian number, N458CC, has been a familiar sight in Montana since the late 1990s, when it became part of the fleet at Billings Flying Service..........(cont)
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Full article here:

http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/article_5358cbda-87ea-11df-90c1-001cc4c002e0.html
 
At flight school, I remember flying UH-1s that had bullet hole patches in them. This is a great story and it's a great helicopter. Thanks for posting!
 
Amen! When we switched to BlackHawks we were pretty happy to keep a couple of "Hueys" around to shuttle parts! We just knew the "Huey" would start everytime......
 
Great read!! Everytime I think of going Nat'l Guard or Reserve to fly UH-60's, I think about how cool Hueys are.
 
Nice! Good friend of mine who flies Phrogs with the Purple Foxes said they have a couple birds with Vietnam era bullet patches in them as well.
 
dustoff17 said:
Amen! When we switched to BlackHawks we were pretty happy to keep a couple of "Hueys" around to shuttle parts! We just knew the "Huey" would start everytime......
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I have 1/4 of the time in Hueys than in -60s, but far more EPs in Hueys than in -60s including a loss of tail rotor control at night. In a combat environment and landing in the desert I will take the -60 any day over the Huey. I did things in Hawks that it shrugged off that would have torn apart a Huey. BTW, my primary copilot when I was deployed for a year flew Hueys in Viet Nam and he said the same thing.
 
Blackhawk said:
I have 1/4 of the time in Hueys than in -60s, but far more EPs in Hueys than in -60s including a loss of tail rotor control at night. In a combat environment and landing in the desert I will take the -60 any day over the Huey. I did things in Hawks that it shrugged off that would have torn apart a Huey. BTW, my primary copilot when I was deployed for a year flew Hueys in Viet Nam and he said the same thing.
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One of the A-model Blackhawks we fly in my unit....80-23465....was shot down in the Grenada invasion in '83, ditched into the ocean, was recovered, rebuilt and loaned to us.
 
MikeD said:
One of the A-model Blackhawks we fly in my unit....80-23465....was shot down in the Grenada invasion in '83, ditched into the ocean, was recovered, rebuilt and loaned to us.
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That's hilarious!

"Hey, guys! I got a new project for the phase team!"
I shudder to think how much wrench time that took. The corrosion control must have been a nightmare.
 
Firebird2XC said:
That's hilarious!

"Hey, guys! I got a new project for the phase team!"
I shudder to think how much wrench time that took. The corrosion control must have been a nightmare.
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I'm pretty sure they rebuilt the thing down at the Army's Corpus Christi facility. But yeah, I'm very surprised it wasn't a write-off.
 
///AMG said:
Nice! Good friend of mine who flies Phrogs with the Purple Foxes said they have a couple birds with Vietnam era bullet patches in them as well.
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Most of ours used to be upgraded Marine A models that saw lots of service in Nam. It was cool to look in the log books and see all the beatings those airframes took. We had one that was actually two different airframes pieced together!:eek:
 
///AMG said:
BTW to anyone who hasn't been, that place is pretty impressive
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I know a unit at Bragg that got some of the 106th A models after they were made "good as new" at Corpus. A year after they got them the Army ACE Team (Airframe Condition Evaluation Team), came through and inspected their aircraft. Every one of them was grounded for cracks in the frames.
 
Wow and I was just impressed that you guys fly helicopters. You guys have some big brass ones...
 
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