aircommando130 Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 The first Pave Low left Kirtland AFB,NM on 4 January to go to the boneyard at DM. They will leave here 2 a month till June 07...then they will be gone. The 551st will close in March and a skeleton crew will hang around and finish up the cleanup and ferrying the remaining Paves to DM. The 20th SOS will still fly the MH-53M at Hurlburt Field ,FL for a few more years. I had the tail number wrote down but left it at work...it was a 66 year group though. One has been earmarked for display here at Kirtland though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hatchet Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 Sad, a great chopper <_< Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest LITTLE BIRD 117 Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 That sucks! I read in Rotor&Wing that the MV-22 is replacing them. I have been meaning to ask Pavelow44 what he had to say about it. Well, I know I will miss them! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trigger Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 The CV-22 is replacing the MH-53J/M. The MV-22B is the Marine Corps version that's replacing the CH-46 in the medium lift role. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Julien (UK) Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Any idea when the ones based at RAF Mildenhall go? and when they will be replaced? Cheers, Julien Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pavelow44 Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Any idea when the ones based at RAF Mildenhall go? and when they will be replaced?Cheers, Julien By October of this year the aircraft and people will be gone from Mildenhall. They are doing the same thing Kirtland is as we speak. I believe the "Official" closing ceremony is September. We (20th SOS) will be done in October 2008. Right now, there are 17 Paves in the inventory. As of October this year, they will draw that down to 10. I have my name in the hat to stay at the 20th until the last ride goes. Hopefully it will work out. Cheers Matt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest LITTLE BIRD 117 Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 (edited) By October of this year the aircraft and people will be gone from Mildenhall. They are doing the same thing Kirtland is as we speak. I believe the "Official" closing ceremony is September.We (20th SOS) will be done in October 2008. Right now, there are 17 Paves in the inventory. As of October this year, they will draw that down to 10. I have my name in the hat to stay at the 20th until the last ride goes. Hopefully it will work out. Cheers Matt So, after they retire the MH-53J/M what would they have you do? Would you and the others that crewed and flew the pavelows go to CV-22? LB117 Edited January 14, 2007 by LITTLE BIRD 117 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 The first Pave Low left Kirtland AFB,NM on 4 January to go to the boneyard at DM. They will leave here 2 a month till June 07...then they will be gone. The 551st will close in March and a skeleton crew will hang around and finish up the cleanup and ferrying the remaining Paves to DM. The 20th SOS will still fly the MH-53M at Hurlburt Field ,FL for a few more years. I had the tail number wrote down but left it at work...it was a 66 year group though. One has been earmarked for display here at Kirtland though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pavelow44 Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 So, after they retire the MH-53J/M what would they have you do? Would you and the others that crewed and flew the pavelows go to CV-22? LB117 Most of the Flight Engineers will go to CV-22s (it is an easy transition). The pilots will have a lot to chose from. And us lowly aerial gunners will have a short list to chose from (AC-130s or HH-60/HH-47s). I just found out (this weekend) that I will be one of the last gunners to leave Pavelow. By then I am hoping the HH-47 will be at Duke Field, and I can get a slot there. More or less, we all had to give the boss our top 3 choices of what we want to do. Most will get pretty close to what they want. Cheers Matt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jakal lm Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 Sittin' here at work...the tail number is : 66-14428...started life as a HH-53B (1 of 8)...oldest HH-53 in the fleet and never served in Southeast Asia. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pavelow44 Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 Sittin' here at work...the tail number is : 66-14428...started life as a HH-53B (1 of 8)...oldest HH-53 in the fleet and never served in Southeast Asia. I will miss that bird, it is one of the FEW that actually flew straight.......... Thanks for the info. Cheers Matt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fred Garvin Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 By then I am hoping the HH-47 will be at Duke Field, and I can get a slot there. Cheers Matt Hey Matt, FIrst I heard that they were gonna get any at Duke. There's no rescue squadron there. Lookin at when they're planning IOC it looks like I'll get to work out of them towards the end of my career. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest LITTLE BIRD 117 Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Most of the Flight Engineers will go to CV-22s (it is an easy transition). The pilots will have a lot to chose from. And us lowly aerial gunners will have a short list to chose from (AC-130s or HH-60/HH-47s). I just found out (this weekend) that I will be one of the last gunners to leave Pavelow. By then I am hoping the HH-47 will be at Duke Field, and I can get a slot there. More or less, we all had to give the boss our top 3 choices of what we want to do. Most will get pretty close to what they want. Cheers Matt Not to be nosy, but what would you do in a AC-130U? I would go to HH-47, they are some pretty tough birds. Good luck either way! Jake Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Will7813 Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 The CV-22 is replacing the MH-53J/M. The MV-22B is the Marine Corps version that's replacing the CH-46 in the medium lift role. What!!!?? They can't take the Ch-46s away, there aewsome!! Will Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cobrahistorian Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 HEY! When did you sneak in here Sal? Good to see ya on here buddy! Jon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chappie Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Most of the Flight Engineers will go to CV-22s (it is an easy transition). The pilots will have a lot to chose from. And us lowly aerial gunners will have a short list to chose from (AC-130s or HH-60/HH-47s). I just found out (this weekend) that I will be one of the last gunners to leave Pavelow. By then I am hoping the HH-47 will be at Duke Field, and I can get a slot there. Cheers Matt Matt, what is your AFSC? Are you a 462/2W1? I'm an old guy, I still say I'm a 462. USAF Chinooks? I had not heard of this? Chappie Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trigger Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 USAF Chinooks? I had not heard of this?Chappie Last November the USAF selected a variant of the Army's forthcoming MH-47G (which itself is an MH-47E with a new all-glass cockpit and a few other bells and whistles) to replace their MH/HH-60G Pave Hawks in the CSAR role. It will have a few differences from the MH-47G based on the USAFs CSAR experience. This Chinook will be designated HH-47 (I don't know the suffix letter, but I've heard it'll be H). It was competing against the Sikorsky S-92 and the Lockheed-Martin/Agusta-Westland US101 (H-71). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Su-34 Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Does this belong to real aviation? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hawg53 Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 It was a sad day for me also as 428 was the very first H-53 I ever flew. That was way back in 1977. Then it was a HH-53B, Night Recovery System bird. It had a low level TV camera mounted on the left side of the nose and a device called the Hover Coupler. At the time it was state of the art. The low level TV gave way to the FLIR in the Paves but the Coupler remained basically unchanged in the J and M Pave Lows. I flew H-53's for 16 of my 20 years in the Air Force. Logged over 4000 hours just in H-53's. In my opinion, the H-53 is one of the best helicopters that ever flew. It could and can do anything!!! I know the CV-22 will do some of the missions the H-53 does now, but it won't do it as well as the -53 does!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pavelow44 Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 It was a sad day for me also as 428 was the very first H-53 I ever flew. That was way back in 1977. Then it was a HH-53B, Night Recovery System bird. It had a low level TV camera mounted on the left side of the nose and a device called the Hover Coupler. At the time it was state of the art. The low level TV gave way to the FLIR in the Paves but the Coupler remained basically unchanged in the J and M Pave Lows. I flew H-53's for 16 of my 20 years in the Air Force. Logged over 4000 hours just in H-53's. In my opinion, the H-53 is one of the best helicopters that ever flew. It could and can do anything!!! I know the CV-22 will do some of the missions the H-53 does now, but it won't do it as well as the -53 does!!! I don't know if this will make you feel any better, but it went to the boneyard with the coupler still installed. And we still use it. In fact, I flew Thursday night and the FE in the door used it for a night water hoist. So THANK YOU for "Paveing" the way for what we are still doing today. Cheers Matt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cobrahistorian Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 Does this belong to real aviation? No. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat Fanatic Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 It was a sad day for me also as 428 was the very first H-53 I ever flew. That was way back in 1977. Then it was a HH-53B, Night Recovery System bird. It had a low level TV camera mounted on the left side of the nose and a device called the Hover Coupler. At the time it was state of the art. The low level TV gave way to the FLIR in the Paves but the Coupler remained basically unchanged in the J and M Pave Lows. I flew H-53's for 16 of my 20 years in the Air Force. Logged over 4000 hours just in H-53's. In my opinion, the H-53 is one of the best helicopters that ever flew. It could and can do anything!!! I know the CV-22 will do some of the missions the H-53 does now, but it won't do it as well as the -53 does!!! I don't really know enough to make a meaningful reply, But I find myself agreeing. The MH-53J/M have size on their side. They are very fast and maneuverable from all I've heard, especially for such large birds, and have room for a lot of gas. That same size also means that they should be able to carry a lot more people and gear than the CV-22, which I've heard referred to as the Pave Hammer, at least in Dale Brown's books. Although what I really would have liked to see would have been an MH-53E Sea Dragon (the one with the ridiculously large fuel sponsons) fitted with the avionics and weapons from an MH-53M. THAT would be one badass SpecOps bird, and it could be thrown together very quickly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yardbird78 Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 I am very sorry to see the Pave Lows going to DM. I worked at ARRS HQ at Scott 79-84 and was involved in the initial developement of the Intel support. Primarily the targeting and moving map display stuff. I spent quite a bit of time TDY to Kirtland working with Major/Lt Col Bob Rossi and a TSgt first name Paul, can't remember his last name. Darwin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
grandadjohn Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 Hate to see them go, but I hope one makes it's way over to Pima Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pavelow44 Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 Hate to see them go, but I hope one makes it's way over to Pima I didn't see Pima on the list (crying shame if you as me). I can't remember all of them (there are only like 8 going to be on "sticks"), But I know Kirtland, Edwards, Scott (WHY?????), Wright Pat, Hurlburt, and somewhere else on the East coast. I will see what I can dig up. If I can find the list I will post it. Cheers Matt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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