G-HUEY (2007 thread revisited with a picture)

I don’t think there was an airforce that didn’t give us parts – except maybe the Argentinians of course!

Well they did supply the airframe 😀

Who owns the one at duxford in the American hanger & was it flown in?

If it came directly from the US military, it was donated to the IWM.

I remember being in the Power Plant bay at Odiham in 87. One of the riggers was crew chief and some of the bits were cleaned up in the bay. Think some of the rotor blade that was totalled in the bridge strike was mounted on wood and sold to raise funds.

Erm… I think thats me!

From 1984-89 I sort of co-ordinated all the crews for airshows and the maintenance checks in between. Some of the wrecked blades (We were given quite a few) were sawn up and glued to Plywood planks and sold at airshows – Actually they looked quite good, a nice cross section of blade construction.

Built as part of the Vietnam requirements as Contruction No. 13560 and registered in 1974 with the US Serial 73-71872 it was sold to the Argentine Army in 1975 and re-registered as AE413.
It was found on the Stanley Sportsfield on or after 17th June 82 intact and was “comandeered” by Rob Tierney to help move the brit troops about. In fact it did 16 Hrs 10 Mins moving 114 pax and 11,100lbs of freight (I still have a copy of the FI Log)

During the rounds of publicity & airshows after the war the RN rammed a bridge with one of the Blades causing enough damage to write off anyone else’s helicopter – but not Rob Tierney’s! All it needed was lots of structural work , new MGB, MRH, Blades, Shafts, etc, etc, etc.

As is said earlier – he became a world renowned scrounger and spares dropped in from places we never knew had cars, let alone helicopters. One morning a Saudi Herc dropped into Odham, pushed out two relatively young Main Blades, and flew off again!

Loads of work was done (free) by a few airframe engineers before I got there – so I’d big it up for those guys…Brian McD, Emlyn P, Spud Murphy Sam B, etc. Dont know where any are now. I left due to a Posting to Germany but
I actually got my A&C Licences from the experience and haven’t looked back since.

In the end all the RAFBF needed was a Tail Rotor Spindle and “we” had to buy it!! and it was flying quite soon after that:D

Thanks for sparking a memory
Rigga

Who owns the one at duxford in the American hanger & was it flown in?

G-HUEY..

I remember being in the Power Plant bay at Odiham in 87. One of the riggers was crew chief and some of the bits were cleaned up in the bay. Think some of the rotor blade that was totalled in the bridge strike was mounted on wood and sold to raise funds. There was also a scrap bin full of astazou reportedly from an argentine Pucara, and a “Amada”(Navy?) Panel cut from a jet by one of the lads after the confict.Wonder if its still there?……………..

.I’m involved with my own aircraft restoration but it’s not a rotary, just some old French ‘wood and rag’ fixed wing.

Now that’s more like it!

at North Weald 25-04-2010

A little bit about G-Huey

Hi, just to give you all a little insight to the arrival of G-HUEY in the UK, I have searched the fuzzy grey matter that resides in my head – so please excuse the odd bit which I just can’t recall. I was based at RAF Odiham during the Falklands war and my ‘boss’ at the time was Robert Tierney (Rob) who was the ‘finder’ of the Huey AE413 (AE) and amongst other aircraft he decided this was the most likeliest candidate to use as it had it’s engineering records available which gave big clues to it’s serviceability. After a ‘press, flick & turn any button’ campaign in the cockpit someone squeezed the start trigger on the collective lever and the Huey burst into life – the starter button on the Huey is not very evident if you haven’t sat in one before!

Rob flew the beast as a support vehicle ferrying supplies/troops etc after the hostilities but had to be painted a distinct colour to stop it being shot down by our chaps! So white paint, red crosses and a yellow band with UK was unleased. Most of this information was pretty much available on the internet at one time or another but has disappeared now. When it was time to go home Rob wasn’t going to leave it there and he managed to get a spot on a ship returning to the UK and promptly landed the aircraft on a low loader with sleepers to avoid any over-hang. To do this was a very skilfull job, which Rob did without problem – there was about 3 inches to spare on each side of the skids and then duly tied down and shipped.

When AE arrived in the UK things became difficult as the Royal Navy wanted to show the aircraft as a trophy and in doing so was dragged around many airshows as a static exhibit. Still trying to get AE we didn’t hear anything until one day the phone rang and we heard that the Huey had been damaged in transit. It was quickly diverted to Odiham where we found that the front blade had lifted and contacted a motorway bridge, damage to the rotor head, mast, gearbox and airframe was very evident. After inspection it looked doubtful that the chopper would be ‘fixable’ and Rob even tried to swap it with the one the Navy brought back for the Yeovilton museum. Even after assurances that it would be repaired to static condition, the answer was a resounding ‘NO’. So if you happen to go to the museum, you will see a practically new, low hours UH-1 that could have been flying with no effort required to get her airborne (at that time).

With this news we had to start stripping her down and make the repairs, this was done with volunteer airframe and engines technicians at Odiham who gave up their spare time to commence the project. I too ended up taking parts away for inspection, one trip was to Bristows at Redhill where the rotor mast was condemmed as it was slightly bent (either 1 or 2 thousands of an inch at the top! – can’t remember).

I know Rob won’t mind me saying this but he has to be the world’s most amazing scrounger! Because Rob was S/Ldr Operations he had the ability to make contact with most of the airforces around the world and got them involved in the project as we needed parts urgently and for gratis! Things started to arrive; rotor blades (lots of them) gearbox etc etc. A formation of 10 or so Luftwaffe UH-1’s landed one day and parts were thrust into our grubby mits. We also exchanged flying clothing as their’s is better than ours – leather flying jackets and the like…a good day had by all! I don’t think there was an airforce that didn’t give us parts – except maybe the Argentinians of course!
As progress was being made I left Odiham and the RAF, but not without my helo licences of course – just in case I needed to fly something rotary.

The rest is history, it flew for some years under the RAFBF and was bought for a pound to remain legal. It even appeared in ‘The Living Daylights’ which was set up long before it was finished and airworthy – now there’s confidence for you! I still keep pointing it out in the film as you can see Robs’ head bobbing down when the camera panned round on the ground. My children just tell me to be quiet ‘…we know Dad, it’s your Huey..!’

The last time I saw it and indeed sat in the ‘hot seat’ was at the Bournemouth Aviation Museum where a logo on the nose proudly announced it was part of the ‘Butane Buzzard’ inc. – a few years ago now, since then it’s been outside and shortly afterwards, disappeared completely. It is nice to see it again, particularly now it’s airworthy once more. What am I doing now? .I’m involved with my own aircraft restoration but it’s not a rotary, just some old French ‘wood and rag’ fixed wing.

Regards.

Andrew

Super Huey Bell 214ST

OK thanks for that correction about the ownership of the civi owned/mil operated Bell 212’s with the AAC…… sorry all, my ‘Facts’ werent quite as accurate and up to date as per my usual standard … i take the hit!..sorry!

However, if you want to hear a blade slap, then you have to hear a Bell 214ST ‘Super Huey’ as indeed i have ….ive had the pleasure of flying one for all of 107 hrs! It has ONE blade that has a track adjusting motor on it so you can tune the rotor in the cruise. I often flew her at 160kts vne with loads of power to spare!!!!!! Just go the WRONG way on the in flight tracking by a beep and the noise it makes is earth shattering as anyone connected with 214ST’s can varify.

This wonderful ‘Huey’ variant is a victim of the US/Iranian trade/sanctions dispute of years ago as it was built specifically for the Shar’s armed forces at that time.

There are several still out there and i believe one is operating up in the Shetlands as i type ??????? is that still the case????

Ive flown 212’s, 412’s, 214ST’s but the old UH1-H is the best…. she is a delight in all ways ……except with the hydraulics switched off !!!! Phil Connolly’s machine is indeed a real gem and a true warbird……. just like G-HUEY.
Fly Safe all

XM172

“NOT to be confused with the Bristows owned but military run Bell 212’s out and about training Army Air Corps crews for Belize and Brunei detachments”.

Just a minor correction. The single 212 at Wallop is owned by FBHeliservices along with the three each in Belize and Brunei. The 212, of course, is derived from the UH1 having the same teetering rotor system but with two engines. It will still make the same distinctive rotor slap especially if you load the disc.

The Wallop 212 is nicknamed ‘Huey Green’ for obvious reasons!

THREE flying UH1-H Hueys in the UK

Hello all,
Just to clear up some points of fact, there are THREE flying UH1-H Hueys in the UK right now!

Firstly, there is G-UHIH which is the ex Vietnam 129th Huey flown on a permit to fly by Phil Connolly on www.huey.co.uk. This machine came in from the US after complete restoration.

Secondly, there is G-HUEY now back up in flying condition and this one was the Ex Argie one captured during the Falklands war. It has been static for some while at North Wield but recently got airworthy.

The Third one is up at Leeds Bradford at the heliport and is on an American N reg with a partial commercial ticket.

NOT to be confused with the Bristows owned but military run Bell 212’s out and about training Army Air Corps crews for Belize and Brunei detachments.

So there you have it, ……..the facts!

Fly safe

And sadly nowhere near enough to recreate the scenes in Apocalypse Now! 🙁 :diablo:

Few years back some bright spark lead a flight of 31 Hueys from a Northern California training ground back to his base.. & thought it would be nice to fly over LA… via the Sepulveda Pass…..:diablo:

There’s a VA Hospital in the Sepulveda Pass… & it has a *Psych* ward…..:eek:

Apparently they were still peeling the patients off the walls 3 days later….:rolleyes:

so anyone have the history of this huey. Captured by military forces I Think? Why did it go to the UK and when did it go to a civilian owner? Now if we could only get a Pucara to fly :p

I found out a bit of info, it was captured and used ,by the AAC?, then shipped back to the UK . It was operated as a fund raiser on behalf of the RAF Benevolent fund (Superkings cigerattes sponsered an airshow that the IAT team organised and their brand was painted on the side of the helo, how times have changed!) and flown by Rob Tiearny,(spl), and friends for a few years on the circuit. I believe Rob was one of its pilots in the Falklands….. May have been auctioned off/ sold to raise a bit more cash…
Thats all, with out a google search.
Alan

What a fantastic bit of formation flying with collared doves!

Seen today on flight tests at Southend:

G-HUEY at Duxford mid eighties

so anyone have the history of this huey. Captured by military forces I Think? Why did it go to the UK and when did it go to a civilian owner? Now if we could only get a Pucara to fly :p

Some images of the Huey from the 1980s

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=AE-413&distinct_entry=true

WB
Tim will continue to use the Wasp as he doesnt own the Huey, we just maintain it with Area 51 for its new owners.

Thats good, I prefer the Wasp

WB
Tim will continue to use the Wasp as he doesnt own the Huey, we just maintain it with Area 51 for its new owners.