Loach Driver

Thanks for that info. I have an old Hughes brochure (1984) for the Stinger option fitted to an OH-6 and it seemed to incorporate a pilot sighting system for the Stinger, mounted on the roof glazing above the pilot's seat. I always thought that the Stinger was a "fire-and-forget" type missile but apparently it needed to be fired using a target sighting system, perhaps to at least acquire the target in the launch phase. As for the H-6N, I think the same test ship was flown in both MH-6 and AH-6 configuration. The photos I've seen of the armed H-6N shows it fitted with dual loaded Hellfire missile rails . The other armed configuration had it carrying two seven-shot rocket pods on the outside stations with no miniguns fitted. I've also seen it fitted with people planks, clean with just the range-extender tank in the rear cabin and with the FLIR mount fitted under the nose but no FLIR actually fitted. I'm not sure if one or two aircraft were converted to H-6N configuration for testing. Thanks. LD.

KS, I second what John has said. Thanks for this fascinating information on the Hellfire-equipped Little Birds. I have a few questions on two more topics that you might be in a position to answer. Firstly, can you recall the 160th test-firing the Stinger ATAS missile from a Little Bird in the 1984-85 period (or indeed any time after that)? I saw it mentioned in an issue of Army Aviation Digest (if I recall correctly) that the Army was due to test-fire this missile from an "MD500" as they called it. I asked a contact at Hughes/MDHC to see if they ever test-fired a Stinger from one of their test-ships and he can't recall that the Stinger was ever fired in their testing. Hughes had a mock-up Stinger Pod fitted to their Defender II Scout helicopter in 1980 and the Stinger was also an armament option on the Hughes/MDHC 530MG Defender (1984 onwards) but no test-firing took place during the development of either version of the Defender. Secondly, can you recall any details of the MH-6N NOTAR conversion that was tested in the early nineties that was ultimately rejected? Very little detail has come into the public domain in relation to this version of the MH-6 and the flight-test report has, so far, not been released to the public on the DTIC website even though a test-report is listed in their bibliography of all test reports. Thanks for any information you can offer. LD.

Do you plan to use those rivet decals or use a riveting tool that creates indentations in the plastic to represent rivets? LD.

I think I know the photo you are referring to (folded rotors under netting). Does that mean that Bob Fladry's FLIR bird was also fitted with a minigun and no rockets? I'd always assumed his FlLIR bird was unarmed. Thanks. LD.

There is a limit as to how big each photo can be on this forum. If you save your full-size photos to an album elsewhere online and then post a link, that might work. LD.

Some cartoon character that is popular with infants these days. It's still good that we have an Enstrom model to finally build. The new Enstrom TH180 looks like a cool little machine too. LD.

Finally a kit of the Enstrom. Hopefully some of the earlier piston Enstroms also get kitted at some point. LD.

Switch Number 6 is the anti-ice for what? Is it for the engine air intake or something else? Thanks. LD.

Very nice diorama. Having been a kid of the eighties listening to "99 Red Ballons" and "Two Tribes", you were never too far away from some mention of a nuclear holocaust. Thankfully, this has not happened! LD.

Looks impressive. The question on everyone's lips is: What's next? LD.

I mentioned Chip with regard to that photo only because I believe that same photo was printed in a newspaper and he allegedly was identified as being that man standing near the tail of that Little Bird. How true or not that identification is, I don't know. This photo below, which might have appeared on the forum previously, is also an MH-6E in Grenada, as far as I can tell. It looks like it is about to be packed up into a transport for the journey back to the States. LD.

I count four MH-6Es and one AH-6C in the top photo and it looks like the four-blade TR MH-6E is at the end of the line up. The four-blade tail rotor looks like the standard four blade system that was an option for the commercial 500D and the first commercial customer received their "Quiet" 500D in September 1980. It looks like Hughes might have flown a 500D with a four blade TR as early as late-1978. This TR is a direct descendant of the four blade TR from the "Quiet One/500P" project. This TR is heavier, more expensive and induces a little more vibration but apparently is a decibel or two quieter than the NOTAR system so it does deliver a significant noise reduction over the standard two blade TR. It has less tail rotor effectiveness though so for a heavily-loaded Little Bird, it might not be the best option. It would have been more suited to an EH-6E but I'm not suggesting this H-6 is an EH-6E. This is also the only evidence I have ever seen of an MH-6E Little Bird fitted with this four blade TR. Chip Tatum is allegedly the pilot in the photo. So far, MH-6Es involved in Operation Urgent Fury include -23630, -23631 (white cross) and -23651. At least three MH-6Es had the white cross marking so two remain to be identified yet. The photo below shows two MH-6Es with empty people pods departing the airport in Grenada during UF. LD.

I found this photo on a Google search but can't link it to open. I can't access it as a European web user but it shows an MH-6E in Grenada in 1983. It has that mysterious white cross marking on the fuselage behind the rear door. Hopefully someone can link and attach the photo. I saved it to my PC but the image is too large to attach directly to this post. https://timegoggles.com/news/archives/collection_f5fdc7bc-f4e8-11e9-97ce-7ffe267f2666.html LD.

Both models look good! Well done. LD.

It's a pity the decals didn't co-operate. A good build though. LD.