Eat, Little Bird 26 August 2017 I need to try Trung Nguyen coffee! In 1972, as U.S. troops slowly withdrew, the NVA began a major push that became known as the Easter Offensive. “It had to do with the timbre of your voice—how you talked to other guys on the radio,” says Romero, who arrived in Vietnam in 1970, initially as a Huey co-pilot. Both Loach and Cobra have been in production, on and off, in one form or another ever since. Contents of this blog/website may not be used withour author's prior written permission. The Boeing AH-6 Little Bird is a Scout Helicopterused by the United States Marine Corps. California Do Not Sell My Info His âlittle birdâ was part of a flying U.S. armada supporting thousands of South Vietnamese ground forces in an audacious attempt to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, the North Vietnamese communistsâ most critical supply line to the south. He has written four books. Krausz was ordered to Vietnam in April 1971, and today teaches Army students how to fly the Eurocopter UH-72 Lakota, a twin-engine trainer. A little gory but that’s how close we were.” As the Loach flew among the trees, the rear-seat pilot in the Snake circling above kept a close eye on the little scout and the front-seat gunner jotted down whatever the Loach observers radioed. Avibase is an extensive database information system about all birds of the world, containing over &1 million records about 10,000 species and 22,000 subspecies of birds, including distribution information for 20,000 regions, taxonomy, synonyms in several languages and more. The Cobras high above had a few seconds of warning—they could spot the missile’s exhaust plume—but were all the more tempting because at their higher altitudes they were more easily seen than the smaller Loaches. Song information for Little Bird of Vietnam - Barry Sadler on AllMusic “Noise is very subjective,” he says. Privacy Statement Birds of Vietnam, the most wanted species of all birders around the World, A review on distribution and status by Nguyen Hoai Bao (2018). Published . I tried to move the stuck controls and prayed for a place to set down.” It took all of Kane’s strength to pull out of a steep dive, and they crash-landed with a horrific thud. Loach crews were equipped with small arms and returned fire as they fled. The 160th SOAR is equipped with both MH-6s and AH-6s, the attack version of the Little Bird, aircraft that were used in almost all US (special) operations: from ⦠In some areas, Purple Teams—one Loach and two Cobras—were also common, as were other variations.) “We got into another aircraft and went back out. Kane and Casher were pulled aboard and returned to Khe Sanh, but the Huey barely made it back; slicing trees had left its blades shredded, and the tail section had almost separated. The recipe for Pho is believed to have originated in the north of Vietnam where, like many dishes from the north, it is simple and uncomplicated; a pho bac is often simply noodles, broth, slices of beef and minimal garnish. Kiowas, largely relegated to low-threat cargo and liaison missions in Vietnam, were after the war tasked to spot targets from afar and guide Cobras (and later, Boeing AH-64 Apaches) to good firing spots. Originally based on a modified OH-6A, it was later based on the MD 500E, with a single five-bladed main rotor. I had another lead that went through 150 feet of trees, and they survived.”, Shafer himself had brushes with disaster, and his luck nearly ran out on a mission west of Dak To, near the border with Laos. “I was flying wing and just dropped into the AO [Area of Operations]. “There was one day of initial training,” says Bob Moses, who was first trained as a tank crewman and then as infantry before a sudden transition to helicopter door gunner. “The shelf life of a scout pilot was probably six months. With Matthew Modine, Nicolas Cage, John Harkins, Sandy Baron. For Cooper, this meant reviewing meteorological reports, poring over route maps, and thoroughly checking every inch of his sleek AH-6 âLittle Birdâ helicopter. Even trampled grass was a clue; it meant that enemy troops had passed through the area within eight hours, the time it took for grass to dry upright. Little Bird of Vietnam by SSgt. “We were so close to the elephant grass that we’d blow the grass apart to see if anyone was hiding in there,” observer Bob Moses says. Ho Van Loc, Former VC Fighter â Enemies No More. These Frankenplanes Are Built From Parts of Other Planes, The Long, Frustrating Saga of the Mole on Mars, The National Air and Space Museum’s New Take on Lunar Exploration, He Was the Fifth Man on the Moon, But That Wasn’t His Most Famous Flight. Loach and Cobra were in constant radio communication, and because of the intensity of hunter-killer missions, it wasn’t long before pairs in each type knew each other well enough to anticipate the other’s moves. In the south of Vietnam, however, their pho broth is more like their people â a bit fancier and more show-offy. $198.50. “It’s like a street cop going into a bad neighborhood. I have come home with blood on my windshield. “I spent more time with them.”. All rights reserved. |, pilot. “I had a wingman shot down,” pilot John Shafer says. Army troops called the OH-6As Loaches, a contraction of “light observation helicopters.” The ship was unusually light and had plenty of power, perfect for flying nap-of-the-earth missions, and its 26-foot-diameter main rotor made getting into tight landing zones a snap. See photos, milestones, feature stories and more. A sobering statistic: Out of 1,419 Loaches built, 842 were destroyed in Vietnam, most shot down and many others succumbing to crashes resulting from low-level flying. David Cenciotti is a freelance journalist based in Rome, Italy. It never flew again. “I spent more time with them.”, This New AR App is the Coolest Way to Learn About Mars. These hunter-killer missions, among the most hazardous of the Vietnam War, tested the resolve of the OH-6 pilots and the aerial observers sitting beside them. “To this day I am closer to those guys I flew with in Vietnam than my own brothers,” says Mills. That was about it.”. Four troop-carrying Hueys (called a Blue Team) often sat idle somewhere nearby, ready to insert troops if the Pink Team discovered an interesting target—or were shot down and needed rescuing. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. One time we ran into hundreds of enemy troops. Dubbed “Quiet One”, the somehow stealth helicopters conducted their secret mission, on Dec. 5 and 6, 1972, when they carried in N. Vietnam commandos to place a wiretap and a solar-powered relay station that enabled Americans to eavesdrop communications on a telephone line used by the enemy commanders. And Hughes engineers’ interest in modifying the tips of the main rotor blades to cut the slapping noise caused by blade vortices has been taken up by other experts. Brand New. Founder of Vietnam Birding, Richard has worked in tourism development in Vietnam since the early 1990s and has travelled and watched birds extensively throughout Vietnam and the region during this time. Copyright © 2021 | MH Magazine WordPress Theme by MH Themes Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. Loach and Cobra crews lived together, and schedulers generally paired the teams with the partners they requested, though given the high turnover rate, that wasn’t always possible. The enemy was moving toward us when a [command and control] ship picked us up. Loach crews regularly walked away from crashes that would doom others. “You had a couple of flights in the Huey, then you rode front seat in a Cobra,” scout pilot Allan Krausz recounts. 1 Battlefield 2 1.1 Gallery 2 Battlefield 2: ⦠Boucher quickly discovered that life as a qualified crewman was extremely dangerous. Some of the Quiet One’s innovations did show up on later helicopters, including the Hughes AH-64 Apache, which has a scissor-style tail rotor. There are Burmese Pythons in Vietnam. An extremely interesting article published in 2008 by Air & Space recalls the story of two OH-6As which were modified to fly with Air America and “to quietly drop off and pick up agents in enemy territory”. “Most of our engagements [we] were 25 to 50 feet [away] when we opened up on [the Viet Cong],” Mills continues.
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