More H-60 stuff

[combatmech]

Went through my external hard drive. Here are some shots from the airborne rifle range at Camp Atterbury 2009. The last two are of our show bird with one of the only flying HAL-3 Huey's that served in Vietnam at its home base in California and again at the Centenial Of Naval Aviation at NAS North Island last year.
Stay tuned...more to follow next week!!

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Must be pretty hard to get shots on from a moving helo with a rifle?

 

[combatmech]

Those guys made it look really easy. I use the follow the tracers from an M-240 method.....

 

[HASSON1911]

Awesome pictures. I hope to fly a bird after I get out of college. An Admiral i talked to told me if I get lots of science and math under my belt, he will set up an appointment with one of the head honchos of the naval aviation program. So in the mean time i guess i'll just drive my Deuce to college.

 

[combatmech]

Best of luck, it's not a bad gig!!

 

[SMOKEWAGON66]

Cool pics combatmech....I always wanted to shoot from a Chopper. For whatever reason, EVERY single time Ive ever flown in a Blackhawk ( maybe 10 or 12 times) , the doors were either open or removed....and only once was I NOT sitting on the outside seat. Nothing like hanging your foot over the edge out into the wind from a moving chopper

 

[wreckerman893]

I took door gunner training when I was in the 101st Airborne Division in 1973.

Most of the pilots were Nam vets and would try to see if they could scare you.........I have had my "knees in the breeze" many times.

Nape of the earth flying is the best........many times our skids hit the tree tops when we were coming into a "Hot LZ"........the "Delta 60's" had the spade grips on them like the .50 cals.

Sights on the weapons were subjective.......most of the time I used the tracers to walk the rounds onto the target.......after a while it gets to be second nature........you just get into a zone and you can hit just about anything you shoot at.

While I was at the course I saw a lot of experimental weapons mounts and systems......they had a twin .50 mount but the recoil was too hard on the airframe.....the Crew Chief told me that after a few thousand rounds the aircraft would get cracks where it was attached.

There was also an early attempt to put a crew served mini-gun on the side gunner position but they were not using it when I went through the course.

I'd rather fly in a Huey than fu............................errrrrrrr........eat.

 

[combatmech]

Hey WM, Walking the rounds seems to be the way to go. Although, we had a gunner that could hit a target, sitting in a window on a high speed pass ( 100 knts or better ) at the mount site at Ft. Knox, with less then ten rounds. Or so the story goes.
Our H-60's can be configured with the M-240 or the GAU-17. They both do very well.
Smoke, It is a blast in the summer, nothing better than having the cabin door and windows open and hanging out in the breeze. Safety first, gunners belt nice and tight!!
Since I've been flying in helicopters, flying above 1500 feet makes me nervous. Thats a long way down to think about "stuff" during an actual emergency auto-rotation....
I'll post some stuff from my last deployment ( 2010 ) later today.

 

[combatmech]

Few shots from summer 2010 somewhere in the Sandbox.....enjoy.
More to follow....