Bell UH-1 Iroquois is an American multipurpose helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter Textron, also known as Huey. This is one of the most famous and popular machines in the history of helicopter construction.
The history of the UH-1 began in the mid-fifties, when a competition was announced to create a multipurpose helicopter that was supposed to replace the piston Sikorsky UH-34.
UH-34
From the proposed projects in 1955, the development of the Bell Helicopter Company with the designation Model 204 was chosen. The helicopter was supposed to install a new Lycoming T53 turboshaft engine. The first of three prototypes of the helicopter, designated XH-40, flew on October 20, 1956 at the factory airfield in Fort Worth, Texas.
In the middle of 1959, the first production helicopters of the UH-1A modification were equipped with a Lycoming T53-L-1A 770 hp engine. with. began to enter service with the US Army. In the army, they received the designation HU-1 Iroquois (since 1962 - UH-1). Some of the helicopters were armed with two 7.62 mm machine guns and sixteen 70 mm NUR.
In March 1961, an improved version of the UH-1B helicopter with a 960 hp T53-L-5 engine was adopted.
The payload of the new helicopter reached 1360 kg, while it could lift two pilots and seven soldiers in full gear, or five wounded (three of them on a stretcher) and one escort. In the version of the fire support helicopter, machine guns and NUR were installed on the sides of the fuselage.
In early 1965, the UH-1B was replaced in series production by a new modification of the UH-1C (Model 540) with an improved main rotor, which reduced vibration, improved handling and increased top speed. The helicopter was powered by a Lycoming T55-L-7C engine. He could carry up to 3000 kg of cargo on an external sling with a take-off weight of 6350 kg and develop a maximum speed of 259 km / h.
Soon after being put into service, new helicopters were sent to Vietnam. The first to get there were 15 helicopters from the Auxiliary Tactical Transport Company, formed in Okinawa on July 15, 1961. Its personnel were tasked with studying the possibility of using the UH-1A to strike ground targets and escort transport helicopters. A year later, the company was transferred to Thailand, where it took part in the maneuvers of the SEATO unit, and already on July 25, 1962, it arrived at the Tansonnhat airbase in South Vietnam. The first combat sortie to escort the CH-21 transport helicopters "Iroquois" was carried out on August 3.
On January 5, 1963, the company lost its first vehicle. Ten CH-21s and five armed Hughs took part in the landing operation in the village of Ap Bak. Transport CH-21 in four waves were supposed to land the South Vietnamese infantry. The first wave reached the landing zone and unloaded without hindrance. The falling fog delayed the arrival of the other three groups by an hour and a half. Helicopters of the second and third waves also delivered the soldiers without hindrance. Another half hour later, the fourth wave came. This time the helicopters were met by a wall of fire. All cars were hit by bullets. One "Iroquois" was shot off the rotor blade, it crashed, the crew was killed.
Based on the experience of combat operations, the Iroquois was continuously improved, new modifications appeared, with improved equipment and more powerful engines.
UH-1D differed from all its predecessors in increased up to 6.23 cubic meters. the volume of the cabin. The payload reached 1815 kg. The helicopter was equipped with a T53-L-11 engine with a shaft power of 820 kW.
A modification of the UH-1E was created for the US Marine Corps. It differed from the UH-1B with a new composition of radio equipment, and starting from 1965 with a new main rotor, similar to the UH-1C. Serially, the UH-1E was produced from February 1963 to the summer of 1968. The helicopter was actively used in Vietnam for landing and rescue operations.
Compared to Army aviation, the Marine Corps had relatively few helicopter gunships. In the spring of 1967, there were only two UH-1E squadrons in Vietnam. Initially, these were unarmed search and rescue vehicles. But soon the development of the tactics of search and rescue operations led to the emergence of special armed vehicles. Marine Corps "Iroquois" often performed missions in Vietnam far from search and rescue. The UH-1E was used in the same way as army helicopters. I had to install four M-60 machine guns and NAR blocks on them. Unlike army vehicles, machine guns were mounted motionless on naval "Iroquois". In 1967, the rotorcraft of the Marine Corps received turrets with two M-60 machine guns.
"Iroquois" from June 1963 began to enter service with light airmobile companies. Each of them included two platoons of transport helicopters and a fire support platoon.
The number of helicopters operating in Vietnam grew very quickly, in the spring of 1965 there were about 300 "Iroquois" there (of which about 100 were shock UH-1 B), and at the end of the decade the Americans had only more "Iroquois" in Indochina, what was in service with the armies of all other states of the world - about 2500.
Air cavalry squadrons are widely known. The squadron consisted of three platoons: reconnaissance, fire support and transport. The first was armed with light helicopters OH-13 or OH-23, the second - UH-1B, and the third flew on the UH-1D. Very often reconnaissance and attack helicopters operated in single combat formations.
To increase the carrying capacity of helicopters, seats and doors were often dismantled, as well as auxiliary equipment, which could be dispensed with in flight. The armor was also removed, which the crews considered useless ballast. According to the pilots, the main defense was the speed and maneuverability of the helicopters. But an increase in flight characteristics could not guarantee invulnerability.
The loss of helicopters can be judged by the recollections of flight engineer R. Chinoviz, who arrived in Vietnam in January 1967. The newcomer found at least 60 damaged and completely broken Iroquois at the Tansonnhat airbase. At the same time, most of the holes were in the middle parts of the fuselages - shooters and technicians were killed and wounded much more often than pilots.
Very soon "Iroquois" became the "workhorse" of airmobile units, the Americans switched from using rotary-wing aircraft as part of small units (platoon - company) to the formation of a helicopter division. In mid-February 1963, the formation of the 11th Air Assault Division and the 10th Aviation Transport Brigade attached to it began. The staff of the division was determined at 15 954 people with 459 helicopters and aircraft. The "air cavalry" squadron was supposed to have 38 UH-1B fire support helicopters (including four helicopters armed with SS.11 or "TOU" ATGMs) and 18 UH-1D transport helicopters.
The divisional artillery included an aviation missile battalion - 39 UH-1B helicopters armed with unguided missiles. For operations behind enemy lines, the division included a company of "trackers". The delivery of reconnaissance and sabotage groups was entrusted to six UH-1B helicopters. The main striking force of the division was two assault helicopter battalions, each with 12 armed UH-1Bs and 60 transport UH-1Ds. Unlike the helicopters of the "air cavalry" squadron, the UH-1B assault battalions had only machine-gun armament and were intended to escort transport vehicles and finally clear the landing area. In total, the divisions in the state were supposed to have (in addition to other aviation equipment) 137 UH-1B attack helicopters and 138 UH-1D transport helicopters. The usual proportion of armed helicopters in relation to transport helicopters in combat missions was at first 1: 5, but according to the experience of the war, the number of combat helicopters had to be increased: one UH-1B for three UH-1Ds.
The most advanced modification used in Vietnam was the UH-1H with an Avco Lycoming T53-L-13 engine with a shaft power of 1044 kW. Its deliveries began in September 1967.
Combat experience revealed a number of Hugh's shortcomings. Due to the low speed, heavy armed vehicles of the UH-1B modification were easily hit by machine guns, especially large-caliber ones, and most importantly, they did not keep up with the faster UH-1Ds. Insufficient strength of the tail boom was noted - during a rough landing, it broke from contact with the ground, damaged from frequent blows against tree branches when flying at low altitudes. The power of the UH-1D engine was enough to carry only seven soldiers with full equipment instead of nine or, moreover, twelve. In the heat, the UH-1D, flying in the mountains, took on board only five paratroopers. The lack of power made it impossible to install serious armor on the helicopters. Often, in a combat situation, pilots loaded their "horses" according to the principle "climb while there is room." As a result of overload, the engine is jammed; the helicopter fell, turned over and caught fire. Reflex movements were another reason for non-combat losses. There is a known case when the pilot jerked his hand sharply at a close break. The helicopter tilted sharply, catching the telegraph pole with the rotor blade. The car crashed.
The Iroquois became, perhaps, along with the Phantom and the B-52, the most recognizable symbol of the Vietnam War. In just 11 years of the war in Southeast Asia, according to official data, US Army helicopters made 36 million sorties, having flown 13.5 million hours, 31,000 helicopters were damaged by anti-aircraft fire, but only 3,500 of them (10%) were shot down or made an emergency landing. Such a low ratio of losses to the number of sorties is unique for aircraft in conditions of intense combat operations - 1:18 000. However, a significant part of combat losses fell into the column "flight accidents".
For example, if a downed helicopter landed at its airfield, where it burned down safely, then it was not counted as downed. The same thing happened with decommissioned cars, which managed to return, but could not be restored.
Due to the vulnerability of the UH-1B fire support helicopters, which suffered heavy losses, a program was launched to create a specialized attack AN-1 "Cobra" on its basis, which had much better protection. The Iroquois proved to be too vulnerable to small arms fire, and especially the large-caliber machine guns that form the backbone of the Viet Cong air defense system.
Several hundred helicopters were transferred to South Vietnam; these machines were actively used in battles until the very last days. When the collapse of the Saigon regime became inevitable, they were used to flee the country.
South Vietnamese "Huey" pushed overboard to make room on the deck
A significant part of the helicopters transferred by the Americans to South Vietnam, went after the fall of Saigon as trophies of the DRV army. Where they were actively used until the end of the eighties.
After a successful debut in Vietnam, the Iroquois have spread very widely throughout the world. Often used helicopters were handed over to "pro-American" oriented countries as part of military aid. More than 10,000 helicopters have been exported. In Japan and Italy, they were produced under license; in total, about 700 cars were built.
In the early seventies, on the basis of the UH-1D, a twin-engine modification UH-1N was created for the Navy and the Marine Corps (ILC). The power plant of the PT6T Twin-Pac helicopter of the Canadian company Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Canada (PWAC) consisted of two turboshaft engines installed side by side and rotating the main rotor shaft through a gearbox. The shaft output power of the first production helicopter was 4.66 kW / kg. In the event of a malfunction of one of the two turbines, the torque sensors located in the collecting gearbox transmitted a signal to the serviceable turbine and it began to generate shaft power in the range from 764 kW to 596 kW, for emergency or continuous operation, respectively.
This technical solution made it possible to increase the safety of flight and the survival of the machine in the event of damage to one engine.
Around the same time, a civilian version of the helicopter was created. It differed from the military model in the cockpit furnishings and electronic equipment.
8 Model 212 helicopters in 1979. were delivered to China. Model 212 helicopters named Agusta-Bell AB.212 were also produced in Italy under license by Agusta.
Helicopters of the UH-1 family in the US Army were gradually supplanted by the more lifting and high-speed Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk.
But the USMC was in no hurry to abandon a well-proven machine.
The compact Iroquois took up much less space on the decks of the amphibious assault ships.
To replace the aging UH-1N at Bell Helicopter Textron, in the early 2000s, work began on the creation of a new modification of the helicopter. The helicopter modernization program was carried out in parallel with the work on the AH-1Z King Cobra helicopter.
The new modification "Hugh" received the designation UH-1Y Venom.
The helicopter has a four-bladed main rotor made of composite materials, 2 General Electric T700-GE-401 gas turbine engines, the size of the fuselage for additional avionics has been increased, a new set of avionics has been installed, including GPS and a digital mapping system, and new systems of passive and active radio-technical countermeasures have been installed. The range of weapons used has been significantly expanded. The passenger capacity has increased to 18 people, and the maximum speed is up to 304 km / h. Serial production of the UH-1Y began in 2008.
The cost of the entire modernization program of almost three hundred Hugh and Supercobras, as well as the purchase of new helicopters by the US Marines and the US Navy, will exceed $ 12 billion. Tellingly, the principle of production economy has not been forgotten either. The hull systems, avionics and the UH-1Y propulsion system are 84 percent compatible with the already mentioned AH-1Z King Cobra fire support helicopters, which will greatly simplify maintenance.
The tendency to wash out old models of aviation equipment from the combat composition, clearly visible in the 90s and 2000s, paradoxically does not apply to some machines. There is no alternative, for example, the B-52 bomber and the C-130 military transport. Simple, familiar and reliable "Hugh" also became such a weapon.
Since the start of mass production in 1960, more than 16,000 units have been produced. UH-1 in various modifications. Machines of this type have been used in more than 90 countries. Most of them are still in flight condition. Given the launch of a new modification, there is no doubt that these helicopters will take to the air for several more decades.
