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Best Kits For Vietnam Era Aircraft


Rosenberg92

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15 minutes ago, Air Hockey Propellers said:

Question here, did the AH-1T Cobra play a role in the Vietnam conflict? It was introduced in 1972 so...

 

The AH-1T prototype flew in 1976, with the first unit operational in early 1979, so no T in Vietnam. The first use in combat of the AH-1T was in 1983 over Grenada

 

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1 hour ago, Giorgio N said:

 

The AH-1T prototype flew in 1976, with the first unit operational in early 1979, so no T in Vietnam. The first use in combat of the AH-1T was in 1983 over Grenada

 

Oh, very helpful. Wikipedia was wrong... Off the topic a bit, would you know when the Marines started using the grey/green/black camo on their helicopters? And if that camo had a name? Thank you in advance.

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9 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

The scheme was knowns as Land Camouflage Scheme, It was tested starting in 1985 and was officially approved in April 1986

Again, very insightful. Thank you very much. 

 

To be clear, the TOW Cobras, whether S models or T models, appeared in the late 70s, way after Vietnam. So during Vietnam there was essentially the G and J Cobra. Oive drab and field green. US Army and Marines respectively.

 

To my knowledge, although some of these helicopters might have been used by a specific branch to a very small extent, this is how it mostly worked out (according to my casual research). Main ones in bold.


US Army helicopters: Cobra, Huey, Chinook, Kiowa, Cayuse, Tarhe.

US Army helicopters LIMITED SERVICE IN EARLY SECOND INDOCHINA WAR: Chicksaw, Shawnee, Choctaw, Mojave, Raven, Retriever, Sioux.

 

USAF helicopters: Jolly Green Giant, Pave Low, Huskie, Iroquois.

USAF helicopters LIMITED SERVICE IN EARLY SECOND INDOCHINA WAR: Chicksaw, Shawnee, Sioux.

 

NAVY helicopters: Sea King, Sea Sprite, Sea Stallion, Huskie, Iroquois? Sea Knight? Cayuse?

NAVY helicopters LIMITED SERVICE IN EARLY SECOND INDOCHINA WAR: Chicksaw, Choctaw, Raven, Retriever, Sioux?

 

Marines Helicopters: Sea Knight, Sea Stallion, Iroquois?, Huskie?.

Marines Helicopters LIMITED SERVICE IN EARLY SECOND INDOCHINA WAR: Chicksaw, Choctaw, Mojave

 

Once the war got well under way, the camo schemes were mostly as follows:

US Army helicopters were mostly olive drab.

USAF helicopter were mostly SEA camo though sometimes simplified with one less tone of green and/or wrap around.

Navy helicopters were... no clue.

Marine helicopters were wrap around field green.

 

Please feel free to make any corrections, comments, whatever.

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3 hours ago, spaddad said:

Don't think the B-47 was all that involved

Other than some RB-47 missions i don't think they were involved at all ? 

 

From Wiki.

”The only B-47s to see anything that resembled combat were the aerial reconnaissance variants.”

“While a few of these aircraft performed special duties during the Vietnam War, such as relaying ELINT data from drones, they were eventually replaced by much more efficient and capable Boeing RC-135platforms. The last RB-47H was retired on 29 December 1967.”

 

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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4 hours ago, Air Hockey Propellers said:

Again, very insightful. Thank you very much. 

 

To be clear, the TOW Cobras, whether S models or T models, appeared in the late 70s, way after Vietnam. So during Vietnam there was essentially the G and J Cobra. Oive drab and field green. US Army and Marines respectively.

 

 

 

Correct, the first TOW equipped variant was the AH-1Q, that entered service in 1977. The TOW system was used in Vietnam by a small number of UH-1s during the battle for Hue

 

id:

NAVY helicopters: Sea King, Sea Sprite, Sea Stallion, Huskie, Iroquois? Sea Knight? Cayuse?

NAVY helicopters LIMITED SERVICE IN EARLY SECOND INDOCHINA WAR: Chicksaw, Choctaw, Raven, Retriever, Sioux?

 

 

The Sea Knight was widely used by the USN for missions like vertical replenishment.

 

id:

Marines Helicopters: Sea Knight, Sea Stallion, Iroquois?, Huskie?.

Marines Helicopters LIMITED SERVICE IN EARLY SECOND INDOCHINA WAR: Chicksaw, Choctaw, Mojave

 

 

While the USCM used the Huskie in the observation role, I'm not sure any was used in Vietnam as the type was to be withdrawn at the beginning of the war.

On the other hand the H-34 saw much more than limited service, being one of the most important USMC helicopters up to 1968.

 

id:

Once the war got well under way, the camo schemes were mostly as follows:

US Army helicopters were mostly olive drab.

USAF helicopter were mostly SEA camo though sometimes simplified with one less tone of green and/or wrap around.

Navy helicopters were... no clue.

Marine helicopters were wrap around field green.

 

Please feel free to make any corrections, comments, whatever.

 

Navy helicopters were generally in overall grey FS 16081, although some were camouflaged in various schemes (for example the HH-3s used for C-SAR duties).

 

 

 

 

 

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On 3/15/2011 at 6:29 AM, XV571 said:

Some USN aircraft were painted in an experimental camouflage with A-6s, RA-5Cs, A-1s and F-4Gs (not to be confused with the later USAF Wild Weasel version with the same designation) having dark green upper surfaces. Some also had two tone green and at least one Vigilante used the SEA scheme. The dark colour caused problems during carrier operations so was quickly dropped.

 

Hello Jonathan, ...eight years ago... well, do you have any pics of these experimental camouflage? I once saw one, just one, Skyhawk with and olive drab upper side like that used on the Huey. 

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