Warbird Information Exchange

As I was leaving the Temple air show yesterday, I noticed all of these parked Hueys in a National Guard compound, being stored for?? Wonder what the ultimate fate of these birds will be? Bet these machines could tell some stories! There must have been over 50 of them parked there...








I stuck my camera lens through the chain-link here



And the sign out front

That's quite remarkable. I bet there are a lot of museums out there would love get their hands on one of those.

Thanks for posting those pictures! I bet they've all got some interesting stories.

Cheers,

David M.

Interesting pictures.

Lets see what we can from the pictures.

First all a/c are missing thier mast and tail rotors. This is common with airframes that are ground transported. So; these were all most likely transported on the back of a flat bed to Temple.

Second the red doors on some of the Hueys are indicative of a/c used at Ft Rucker to teach new aviators how to fly.

One of those airframes looks very much like one I prepped for shipment in Ohio about five years ago.

I believe that the National Guard/Army is scheduled to use approximately 50 airframes through fy12.

It is possible that this is a storage areas for airframes that will be used for controled exchange.

I do note that the airframes I can see still possess engines that are covered and protected from fod.

I might be able to dig into some army sources, give me a couple of days

Joe

Hey JM good eye on the rucker birds.

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Hang The Expense

Thanks for the info. JM. I have wondered before what the orange doors and large numbers on the tail booms meant on other Hueys I'd seen. Now I know

Interesting about the rail shipment. I'm guessing those storage containers are full of rotor blades then, eh? Hope you can find something out for us via your army sources.

I thought Temple rang a bell.

Temple is home to a refurbishment center for the Huey and Kiowa.

Originally they were going to refurbish airframes for foreign sales. Later sales were to domestic law enforcement agencies and for US Governmental agencies operating in Iraq and Afganistan.

There also seems to be some thought to re-introducing the Huey, in one form or another, into the US Military. It seems that there is nothing out there that is as cost effective.

Joe

WHAT!?! Are you trying to tell me that the brand new UH-145 LAKOTA that we are purchasing from EADS isn't living up to it's B.S. and hype as the HUEYs repalcement???
I'm shocked, shocked I tell you................

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

The 145 is a sweet ride. Living up to the legend that is the UH-1 is going to be tough, but the Huey is not in the same class as the 145. The Huey is a good 4,000 lbs heavier than the UH-1. We use the 145 in EMS, and I can tell you that it is an amazing aircraft.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

When they retire the last 145 the crew will be ferried out on a Huey.Still the best bird for the buck. We old people dont like change except for our shorts.

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Hang The Expense

How was the show and any pictures??

Lynn

The show was great on Saturday. Here's some of my pictures in this thread:

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... hp?t=21652

I love that quote. Ha Ha. The 145 really is a great helicopter. Like I said, the Huey is a legend.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

If there were only 50ish left they've been busy there as I counted over 250 in 2005!

Wow! Did you take any photos?

When I go to drill, we are sometimes out at Ft. Indian Town Gap, near Harrisburg, PA. They have a few Hueys on the back side of the field, in the same condition. Wonder why all of the National Guard treats these ol' warriors like that.