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AH-6C, MH-6 photos from AH6C-SIP-PICS ARE BACK!


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Heard from one of the AH pilots and here is what he said as far as he can remember.  Some of it corresponds and some of it doesn't to what we 'know'.

First off the new one which according to him was Barber 51- 88-23357- Bad Boys emblem on the nose  I've found it on Google using Bad Boys logo.  It is the logo with the word Bad Boys but not the Club underneath.  No photos are known.  

The others he mentioned were 679, 683 and 362.  Only 362 is known.  I thought it was Barber 51 but according to him it was not.  He wasn't sure which one was but he was 95% positive that 23357 was Barber 51.  I believe him.  He should know.

 

We are still searching for the others and this brings up more questions, not less.  Hopefully more will step up and find us answers.

Floyd

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3 hours ago, Killing Stone said:

Other missions have books and movies made about them as far as I know nothing has been released on what we did in DS and its not my place to do that, we did our job as best we could and ill leave it at that.

Too bad you cant write more, but I understand. The mystery is same as with MH-60A/Ks and MH-47Ds in Gulf ... search continues ....

I also updated my Gulf war AH-6G/MH-6H page, will correct/update the loadout config and also will go through this thread to show what exhaust use for which version. Any input is highly appreaciated.

AH-6G/MH-6H in Gulf

 

Thanks !

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5 hours ago, AH6C-SIP said:

RE:  Switching out gear John, I don't know for sure, but MH's, I don't think, are wired for the Plank system or the Armament Control Panel (or whatever they call them now).  Regards to all, GT

 

I had a conversation with the Little Bird Project Officer circa 1991 and he told me the J models were the first Little Birds with a common wiring system so that any MH could become an AH and vice-versa - not that it happened on a daily basis but that the capability was there.  He also said that prior to the J models standardization was not well done and there were many airframes with mission mods particular to a specific aircraft so that the 160th had a hodge-podge of mods.  I believe the current AH/MH-6Ms follow the same standardization philosophy as the Js, which is why they call them "A/MH-6M".

 

But others may know more....:-)

 

John Hairell

tpn18@yahoo.com

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi GT,

 

I'm going to bite, but need your help to tell me what I'm seeing.....

 

Went onto Wings Air Helicopters website & Facebook page and found this:- 

https://www.facebook.com/WingsAirHelicopterCharterNYC/photos/a.270702042983331.70125.237687942951408/1112991088754418/?type=3&theater

 

This was from their Facebook page, dated 14 October 2016 with an added caption which reads "That day we played military helicopter with the Navy SEALS... @battlefrogseries #navyseals#md600 #helicopter".  So the operators appear to be SEALS, because

1. Wings Air Helicopters say they are and 2. To me, they appear to be wearing AKU boots!! There are a few more photos of it in this scheme, with better pics of the SEALS on their FB page, but dated 2014.

 

Interestingly, she appears to have had a vinyl wrap to alter her metallic blue colour scheme to matt black for an extreme obstacle course type thing.

 

Meanwhile, I found this on the Wings Air Helicopters website and found this:- 

 

https://wingsair.net/gallery/

 

Wings Air seem to have been involved in a number of action movies, none of which I have seen, but who owns this Littlebird? Is it one of Dillon Aero's?

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
On 9/7/2014 at 10:20 PM, Loach Driver said:

Thanks for the link, Sarathi. Sadly, no more Little Bird photos there.

I did a little more digging on the Gothic Serpent Little Birds in an attempt to connect identifiable airframes with call-signs for October 3rd.

We know 4 four-man Delta Chalks went to the target building on October 3rd on four MH-6Hs. Chalk 1 (Delta) flew in on Star 41 and Star 43 is mentioned in the book "In the company of heroes (Mike Durant)", so it can probably be assumed that the four MH-6 lift ships were Star 41, 42, 43 and 44. Karl Maier and Keith Jones flew Star 41 and were the crew that went into the Wolcott crash site. The serial number for Star 41 has not yet been identified. According to "The Night Stalkers (Durant/Hartov)", Tom Wiese and Mike O'Connor carried Chalk 2 (Star 42), Bob Fladry and Bob Witzler carried in Chalk 3 (Star 43) and Joe Spencer and Ron Cugno transported Chalk 4 (Star 44). Star 43 had to do a go-around because of the dust at the target building and the "60 Minutes" video footage shows these four lift Little Birds arriving at the target building and Star 41's left turn on arrival at the target building, just as it is described in Mike Durant's book.

This photo features Gregg Ackley, Matt Nibe and pilots Joe Spencer and Ron Cugno.

MattNibeCW5JoeSpencerGreggAckleycrewchiefKurtSmithMAJRoncugnoFteam_zps574110d4.jpg

This second photo features Ackley and Nibe seated on the people-plank of 81-23635 (note the black serial number and no apparent "UNITED STATES ARMY" markings on the tailboom).

81-23635GreggAckleyMattNibe_zpse75cedbf.jpg

Can we thus assume that 81-23635 is Star 44? Probably, but it is not 100% confirmed.

81-23648 is confirmed as also being present in Somali in 1993 as is another MH-6H in the 81-236** range, but its full serial cannot be identified. "648" cannot be confirmed as a lift bird used on October 3rd as at least 5 MH-6Hs were brought to Somalia, if not more. "648" is on the Werner Wings first Night Stalkers decal sheet.

As for the AH-6Gs used on October 3rd, it appears that 2 AH-6s launched initially with the Task Force. It seems then that as things kicked off a further two AH-6s went into the fight and all four spent the rest of that day and night over the city. Three AH-6 serials have been identified so far and mentioned earlier along with GT's excellent photos. It might be the case that only four AH-6s were in Somalia and all were used on October 3rd/4th. Hopefully more info and photos of Gothic Serpent Little Birds will come to light in the future.

LD.

FYI, Call signs for two of the AH's were Barber 51, and Barber 52

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We actually have Star 41, 43 and 44 identified.  We still need Star 42 tail number and the maintenance back up MH-6.  There were five of each AH and MH-6s in country.  We have them all identified except Star 42 and the back up.  Anybody out there that can help or reach out to someone who can?
Floyd

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4 hours ago, JakubJakepilot said:

Hi Floyd, updated my table again, but missing the serial number for Star 41. Can you help me please ?

MH-6 Gothic Serpent

 

Thanks !

It is definitely 81-23648 as verified by various sources.

 

Here is what we have.

MH-6J Tail numbers

81-23648-Star 41

81-23652-Star 42 (Probably)

81-23653-Star 43

81-23635-Star 44

90-25359-Spare (Probably)

Floyd

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Great !!! Page updated again. Any idea for the AH-6J serials ? Is the 88-23357/Barber 51 the only one identified so far ?

Thanks !

 

EDIT: I checked the 88-23357/Barber 51 serial number, and this number does not exist. It is probably 88-25357 or 90-25357. So where is the truth ? Thanks !

 

EDIT 2 : I just re-checked and update my SpecOps H-6 page with all (?) known serial numbers and conversions. You can find the link HERE

Please, check, update, anything, and let me know. THANKS !!

Edited by JakubJakepilot
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  • 7 months later...
On 8/1/2009 at 7:48 AM, rotorwash said:

 

 

 

Quote

 

OutWest800005.jpg

 

 

OutWest800009.jpg

 

 

 

 

YumaDec820011.jpg

 

Hi Folks,

Firstly, this is a fantastic thread thank you.

 

Are there any clear photos or diagrams showing how that rocket pod in the photos is mounted?

 

What would be the best weapon to use as a base to create that Hughes 7.62mm Chain gun in 1/35, I guess its not readily available in 1/35 

 

A question for ROTORWASH....Hi, why the photo of the Kenyan UH-1 at the foot of your posts?

I had a look at that exact Uh-1 no 1502 and took a few photos of her about three months ago in Kismayo, Somalia and she looked pretty much newly sprayed in that same scheme?
 

IMG-20181004-WA0070.jpg

Edited by gregair
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There was a 1/35th build of an AH-6C a few years back and it had good details on the mounting for that rocket pod. 

 

I think there are a few kits that have 1/35th miniguns and you can also get aftermarket sets for barrels too.

 

LD.

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6 hours ago, Loach Driver said:

There was a 1/35th build of an AH-6C a few years back and it had good details on the mounting for that rocket pod. 

 

I think there are a few kits that have 1/35th miniguns and you can also get aftermarket sets for barrels too.

 

LD.

That build referenced above might be mine.   If so, check out

I don't recall the specifics but I'm fairly certain that the rocket pod mounting hardware was pretty close to the real thing, based on some reference pics I came across.  Just excuse the semi-crappy build quality!   Werner's Wings used to have a great resin minigun, no idea if it's still in stock.

 

Hope this helps a bit.

 

John

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There is a 1/35th scale 7.62mm Chain Gun included with the Tamiya HMMWV kit listed as #35143, HUMMER with M242 25mm Bushmaster mounted on the roof .  The 7.62mm Chain Gun 'shape' is mounted on top of the larger M242 25mm weapon.  Not much to look at but it gives you an appreciation of the size difference between the two gun systems. 

On 12/10/2018 at 11:47 PM, gregair said:

 

YumaDec820011.jpg

 

<snip>What would be the best weapon to use as a base to create that Hughes 7.62mm Chain gun in 1/35, I guess its not readily available in 1/35</snip>

 

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Many thanks 11bee, your very nice build clarified the rocket pod mounting fog quite a lot 

 

Thank you jeffryfontaine, I will see what I can find

 

This is what I am trying to build, Kenyan Md-500 in Somalia with the same weapon system as used on those Ah-6C's, unfortunately I did not think to take photos of that rocket pod mounting at the time....yeah dumbass!

 

 


 

Untitled.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 12/11/2018 at 1:47 AM, gregair said:

 

YumaDec820011.jpg

 

Hi Folks,

Firstly, this is a fantastic thread thank you.

 

Are there any clear photos or diagrams showing how that rocket pod in the photos is mounted?

 

What would be the best weapon to use as a base to create that Hughes 7.62mm Chain gun in 1/35, I guess its not readily available in 1/35 

 

A question for ROTORWASH....Hi, why the photo of the Kenyan UH-1 at the foot of your posts?

I had a look at that exact Uh-1 no 1502 and took a few photos of her about three months ago in Kismayo, Somalia and she looked pretty much newly sprayed in that same scheme?
 

IMG-20181004-WA0070.jpg

 

I had the privilege of visiting Bell Ozark when the Kenyan birds were being flight tested.  The photo is one I took of her in Alabama.

   Ray

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  • 3 weeks later...

Fantastic series of shots. 

 

If you have Photoshop, run them though the Shadows/Highlights filter, you would be amazed at what you can see.

 

The CARC paint plays hell with the sensors and film before that.

 

Regards,

 

Bryan Wiblurn

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